What a birthday present, the van was purchased on Andrew’s birthday in 2018. We were supposed to take a backpacking trip that weekend, but the weather predicted snow and freezing temperatures. So we looked for vans and planned our layout all weekend. We were leaning towards a Ram Promaster, and had been searching online in our area for something with low mileage. We came across a trade-in at a Nissan dealership less than an hour from our house. We went to check it out and a few hours later we were the proud (and slightly terrified) owners of a big, white, empty cargo van. We were famished from all the stressors of making such a large purchase, so we went to grab some dinner. As we sat there, we contemplated names. We wanted it to mean something to us and be a little funny too.
We were brainstorming ideas that were nerdy and funny. Quickly, one of us asked, “Who is a famous sheep?” We could think of none more famous than Dolly, the first cloned sheep. Maybe you are asking why sheep? Well, they are white (and so is our van) and our van is a Ram (a male sheep). The moniker “The Rambler” has three meanings. First, the word Rambler starts with Ram. Second, the definition of a rambler is someone “proceeding without a specific goal, purpose, or direction.” We like to think that this is fitting for what we doing in Dolly. We have the freedom to ramble around this country, going wherever we feel like going. Finally, we are both graduates of Georgia Tech, where the Ramblin’ Wreck is an icon of the school. We combined all this into the perfect-for-us van name, Dolly the Rambler.
-A+H
