The story of Eco - the Toyota Dolphin

What's a better road trip machine than a Ford Ranger?

I'd been exposed to Toyota Chinooks and had also done many road trips in my little pickup truck.

Got it in Bend, OR

The previous owners were a late 20's couple leaving Bend, OR

They paid $6k for it one year before selling it to me for $4k

They put ~$1,000 in maintenance into it.

The previous owners were an older couple who had it for many years and even lived in it for one year.

After Austin

After using to get Groceries and for weekend trips in Austin. I traveled up to the grand canyon to work and live (in the camper) for two months. Afterwards I went on a road trip to Seattle via Banf and Jasper, CA.

Seattle

Having sold a startup and having a decent resume for a post college grad, I thought I'd be able to get a job in Seattle quickly.

I didn't realize that there were ~40,000 H1B competitors, and thousands of US people there with low level tech skills similar to mine competing for the same jobs.

Living in the dolphin in Seattle lasted 17 months longer than anticipated.

2017

After my contract at Microsoft was up, I traveled for 10 months inluding a one month stay at the Grand Canyon North Rim again and a trip to El Paso. I even stayed two weeks working remotely in the mountains in Washington.

Downsides

The Dolphin interior is about 2" too short for me to stand in, and I want to go on more rugged forest service roads.

The timing chain broke and I had a rebuilt engine put in.

Carb choke seal is bad.

Upsides

I've averaged 18mpg on hwy, even got 20mpg across Souther Utah once.

It's one of the better looking motorhomes.

Easy maintenance

The Ultimate SUV

After climbing rainier for ~20h stright w/o camping, I got back to the parking log and slept 6 hours in the RV. In a real bed. Hard to beat that!

This thing has been everywhere.