In today's video, we're gonna tour Jonnie's home on wheels that she built herself, so let's go!
What is going on YouYube. Greetings from rural Missouri. We're at one of the four
covered bridges in Missouri. Jonnie introduced me to that so this is a really cool backdrop to tour.
Jonnie's van for those that don't know johnny has a youtube channel she does a lot of live streams
she does a lot of cool van type videos she built her own van and that's why we're here today let's
go and check out johnny's van hi i'm johnny from johnny's journey this is my ram promaster that i
built out for travel nursing i start my first assignment next week and decided that i was gonna
do it from home on wheels so i built it out myself and i'm super excited to give you guys a tour okay
so let's start with the outside on top i've got 600 watts of solar i have two 200 watt panels
and two 100 watt panels i've got a small deck area that's 48 inches by 59 inches and then i have the
max air fan and the wii boost cell booster okay so let's work our way inside the van in front i put
swivel brackets on both the passenger seat and the driver's seat and then i have the lagoon swivel
table so that gives us a nice area to sit at while we're eating or why we're video editing above
the lagoon table i have my attic i didn't want that to have the open look so i put a nice door on
that that comes down and up there i keep my window shades my first aid kit stuff that i really don't
get access to a lot but it has a closed in nice finished look in my promaster i have an area above
the windshield that kind of is my catch-all for my stuff that i want access to while i'm driving also
in the front i do have to keep my shoes there i've got a little basket that i've got i need
hiking shoes and i need work shoes so that just goes up front between the two seats as well and
then right next to the driver's seat i actually have an ottoman so that when i'm in the driver's
seat i can elevate my feet after a long day do my computer editing and that ottoman turns into
my shower i did not want a shower that took up a humongous amount of space in the van i wanted more
usable seating the ottoman so my shower turns into a shower when i need it and when i don't need it
i put it away and i've got more seating area also opens up that area really really well
and then next is the kitchen area and i have a butcher block top and i wanted a deeper sink so
i do have a bar sink in there it's nice and deep and wanted a faucet that i could also use outside
to rinse off my feet after a hike so my sink does spin around and i can also use it on the outside
as well as the inside i didn't want to run plumbing to the shower area so underneath here i
have a six foot spray nozzle it's a shower nozzle and that reaches plenty over to the shower and
then underneath the sink i have my catch-all for all my cleaning products my trash can and i also
actually have a one gallon water container under there as well and then next to the sink area i
have my utensils my spices my towels and then i wanted an area in the van to hang up a couple
of tops for my scrub tops i did not want to fold them i wanted that nice non-wrinkled appearance
while i'm at work so i've got an area next to the refrigerator that i can have three or four
hang up shirts or a drain jacket if i want to on also on the counter i do have enough space for my
induction cooktop my coffee pot and then just a little cute area for my coffee cups and my hand
sanitizers and soap products all right so then across from the sink is the dresser area and i
probably have a larger dresser area than most van builds but i knew that i was going to be full-time
on the road and i wanted to take multiple season clothing with me so the drawers are very deep and
there are four of them i've got two full drawers for clothing they also have slides on them so that
at the end of the day i can empty my pockets and everything goes there it's my junk drawers
two clothing drawers a pantry drawer and a full electronics drawer in the dresser now i do have
a very unique dresser top it is an epoxy poured dresser top it is very unique and i love it it is
really one of the highlights of the the build and then next to the dresser is my toilet area i also
wanted another seat so my toilet area doubles as seat more seating too i take the pad off the door
lifts up and then everything is hidden away when not in use there's plenty of space in there for
extra toilet paper i have the composting toilet it's the nature's head composting toilet and i
love it there's no odor it is one of probably my favorite parts of the build and then across from
there would probably be my most favorite and that is the isotherm cruise 165 refrigerator it holds
5.1 cubic feet of space it is huge and i love it because i only want to shop once or twice in a
two-week period so underneath the bed i also have a nice storage section in front of the bunk i've
got an extra pullout table that i can use if i'm cooking or if i'm sitting on the seat then i also
have a workstation that i can work at for those big utensils that don't fit everywhere i've got a
nice drawer underneath there is a big drawer that houses all of my dishes if i bring my instapod on
the road it is the perfect height for that and my ice maker my induction cooktop goes in there
all my plates all my tupperware it is perfect and then underneath that i have the pull-out step
which is how you have to get up on top of the bunk so it's a pull-out step but it seconds
as more pantry space i put all my dry products in there and my canned goods because they're so heavy
and then underneath the refrigerator i also utilize that space when i've got my puppy
with me she is litter trained and that's where the litter box goes but when she's not with me
i have a basket underneath there and that's where all my toiletry items go and then the bed we made
it the height that we did because we wanted to utilize as much space in the back of the van for
the garage area i have a lot of hobbies and i wanted to be able to take as much of those with
me on the road that i could so the bed has enough area that when i sit on top of it i
clear the ceiling and that's enough we wanted that area to be nice and open we didn't want any
big cabinets that's what we did so we've got one window on both sides of the bed some nightstand
areas on both sides of the bed and just one small basket on the wall so that we have a nice open
feeling when we're on the bed area one of my other favorite features is the wrap around led lights
i love the ambiance that that gives that's that warm cabbie cabin feeling that i've got
so outside of the van in the garage area i also wanted an outdoor kitchen i used the same butcher
block counter to the back of the van it's a pull out kitchen area i put my black stone on there i
can also put my induction cooktop back there and i have a nice area for cooking the lid has a ton of
storage underneath there and then i've got a pull out drawer that gives me a ton of extra outdoor
space for storing all my outdoor cooking stuff and i like to do a lot of bushcraft stuff so that also
houses all that also underneath both sides of the bunk there's a 20 gallon water tank i wanted to
be able to be off grid for a long time and not worry about sparing the water and being able to
use my shower i have a four gallon on demand hot water heater that's also underneath there
that is powered by the blue eddy solar generator i have the ac 200 and that's how i did my complete
electrical system it is an all-in-one lithium system it gives me enough to power everything
that i need in the van now the hot water heater i put a switch right by my bed i turn the switch on
15 minutes later i've got hot water as soon as i'm done with my shower or dishes i turn that water
heater back off so that it's not pulling from the battery and then i've got a ton of more storage on
top the water containers to the right in front of the water heater i've got a ton of extra storage
i do mount my mr buddy furnace on the door because i don't want to have to move a lot of stuff to get
to it some nights it's chilly and i just want to get it out to take the chill off the van and that
is an easier access so that's why i did that all right now it's time for a little q a all right the
question i know everyone is going to be interested in how much did it cost you to completely build
out this van counting the cost of the man i am right under about 60 000. i don't have it down
to the exact dollar amount but it is between 55 and 60 000. including the very expensive
isotherm refrigerator and the composting toilet and all the solar on top and the van and the van
and the van you mentioned you're a travel nurse do you plan on traveling full time in your van i do
when i get to west virginia which is my very first assignment i'm going to spend the first two weeks
at a campground i didn't want to get there and not know where i was going on my first assignment
so i'll be at a campground for two weeks and from there i'll decide if i want to go stay there while
i'm on the assignment but when i'm not at work because i'm only going to do three days a week
when i'm not at work i am going to travel and tour the area and i will be boondocking during those
times you mentioned you're going to be boondocking does your solar panels provide enough electricity
to keep your blue yeti powered or do you have to plug your yeti in so the blue eddy you can
charge that multiple different ways it's a good question because i've got 600 watts of solar
on the roof that i can charge that with but when i'm driving or if it's an overcast day like today
in missouri i have it set up where i can charge it off of the car alternator i've got a inverter
to the battery and it just plugs directly into that inverter and it charges at 350 watts while
i'm driving so that blue eddy solar generator will power the entire van while i'm off grid
if i don't have sun then i just charge it off the alternator if you could change one thing about
your build what would it be probably the van that i bought after being on the road it's not as hard
to get a diesel worked on as i originally thought so i bought a gas it's the ram 3500 it's the gas
and i think i would probably do a diesel if i was gonna do another build and i'd probably do a 4x4
what is your favorite thing about your van i have so many but i think my favorite thing is just the
warm cavity feeling all the finishing touches that i added to it that really gives it a really
homey feeling while i'm there it is a very very close tie to the shower system that i
put in you recently took your van to court site and met bob wells and filmed a video with him
what was that experience like well it was it was super exciting getting to meet bob when you're a
van lifer person or want to get into van life bob wells is like you know the grandfather of van life
and boondocking and the nomad life so it was super exciting to meet him just getting to do the town
the tour and meeting him was it was unbelie i can't even believe that that happened to me
all right johnny thank you so much for letting my audience come inside your home
giving us a tour and sharing your build with us it's truly amazing i've seen a lot of these
and i think this is probably my favorite van build that i've seen so far thank you
filling out my cup coffee talk on the spring porch so in love now you're the one i'm losing sleep for
and i hope the wrong ones slip right through your magic fingers and i hope we find some way to fall
in love like we were yeah you're the only reason i was california dreaming in the first place