Introducing our New Van: 2020.5 Winnebago Travato GL

As we shared a couple months ago – besides some gripes, we loved our 2016 Travato G so much, we were ready for an upgrade to a new model.

Having a van in our fleet of nomadic vehicles has been perfect as a daily driver and shuttle craft between our vintage bus conversion in the west and our boat in the east. And during this pandemic, our van has been wonderful for quick camping trips to mix it up while we’re mostly stationary on the boat.

Now that we’re hooked, we wanted the lithium package, dual pane windows, quieter AC and the Rolef side screen door.

And in either grey or blue.

But the struggle was the backlog obtaining a new van in today’s RV-crazy market – every dealer we contacted had nothing on their lot. And there’s a several month wait for custom orders. And we knew that in spring time, a new model year would be out that could potentially address even more of our desires.

Since we’d have to wait either way, we were torn between when to order – what model year to get and not knowing where we’d physically be that far in advance.

So thus, we put out a hope that perhaps there was someone out there that had recently taken delivery of our dream van, and had decided it wasn’t quite right for them.

And voila.

The e-mail arrived.

Just such a follower had taken delivery of a decked out 2020.5 Travato GL in March with every feature we wanted, but they decided the GL floorplan didn’t quite work for them.

And, because they’ve been following us and other Travato owning YouTubers, had done a bunch of our desired modifcations (TV swing arm, a REAL kitchen faucet, pantry conversion and much more).

Oh, and it was in the very rare Patriot Blue color (which we drooled over when briefly released a year ago – but knew we’d be hard pressed to score).

But wait.. there’s more. They were returning from a cross country trip back to Florida where their new KL (the twin bed model) was awaiting them.

So, our dream van would be DELIVERED to us?!?!

Now that’s serendipity. We picked up our new van just before Thanksgiving.

So, here’s our video introduction:

The layout is pretty much the same as our 2016 (which we so loved) but with several refinements and upgrades.

We’re planning a more in-depth dive into a comparison between the two, so we won’t overwhelm you with details now.

But here’s a few photos of the interior – we just love the brighter appointments that really open up the space.

The Rolef screen door is awesome!

The 2020.5 G/GL kitchen upgrades include a window, compressor fridge/freezer and counter extension.

We love the lighter interior and Ultraleather seating.

Couch mode in the 2021 and older G models.

The new windows are nifty, but not cat proof.

The new AC is definitely improved!

Travato 59G Floorplan

And the name is…

We actually named the van long before we saw it in person. It happened something like this:

Chris: You know.. our current van’s name is Cooper.

Cherie: Yes… where are you going here?

Chris: And this one is Blue.

Cherie: So a Blue Cooper?

Chris: Yeah… that would be Blooper

I groaned.

And, then.. it instantly stuck.

We could never call this van anything else but Blooper.

We just returned from our inaugural camping trip in Blooper at Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recretation Area – just a quick hour drive from our boat’s location in Sanford.

And let’s just say.. we’re extremely happy campers!

And score, our 2016 Travato sold quickly.

We ended up cutting the trip short to meetup with Clarissa who hopped on a plane right after calling us and sending us a deposit.

I don’t think we’ve ever met someone more excited (well, except us with every RV or boat purchase we’ve had.)

We feel extra blessed that both the selling and buying process went off so smoothly, and we met some incredible people in the process.

New friends, actually, we who we hope to see in the future. And that’s pretty heart warming.

We just might have a thing for blue vehicles?

More on our van life history:

• Is It Time For #vanlife?!?  Starting our Hunt For a Class-B Van RV
• Our Class-B Van Hunt Continues & Clarifying Some Criteria
• Winnebago 2016 Travato 59G Design Flaws & Time For a New Van?
• Introducing our New (to us) 2016 Winnebago Travato 59G Class-B Conversion Van
• Travato Van Mods for Living & Working on the Road – 3 Month Full Time Update