Andrew Muse's 2004 Ford F-550 Custom Museroamer

Andrew Muse, a professional multi-sport athlete and photographer, has been through a lot in the past three years. After a devastating car accident, Andrew lost everything, including his best friend (his dog Booter) and a truck camper that was his tiny house on wheels. He thought his life was over and wondered how he could get back everything he lost. In this story, Andrew takes us through what his life was like before the accident and how he’s rebuilt it from the ground up.

According to Andrew

“When I was 18, I went to the Hawaiian island of Kauai by myself and lived out of a backpack for more than two months. After that trip, I decided I wanted to live out of a VW Golf car during the climbing season. And that inspired me to step up my game and build a bed inside a 4×4 Chevy Astro van. But, I was still living in a house and was acquiring more stuff than I knew what to do with.

At 25 years old, I decided to follow my dreams of traveling by doing what I love and finding a way to make it sustainable. I moved out of a master bedroom into a garage, purchased a Nissan Titan truck and bought a 1976 truck camper for $500. I realized I had signed up for a lot of work than I expected when I discovered it would be a two-week remodel and cost $1,000. Nearly three months later, the camper turned out beautifully and I moved in with my best friend Booter (my 5-year-old Golden Retriever).

During this time, I was producing a lot of videos and I decided to make a show about Booter and my adventures. I called it Tiny Home Adventure. During the first season, Booter and I traveled for more than six months, and we had the wildest adventures. We set up some of the world’s largest rope swings, cliff jumped off of massive waterfalls and hiked Havasupai Falls.

Everything had gone exceptionally well up until I made the drive home after filming the final episode.

I fell asleep behind the wheel just two hours from home and rear-ended an 18-wheeler semi-trailer truck. When I woke up, the trailer was 12 inches from my right shoulder. And I knew Booter was sitting next to me. I did absolutely everything I could to save him. Once the paramedics showed up, I refused care and demanded they save him. But there wasn’t anything anyone could do. He passed away in my lap on the side of the road. Booter was not just a pet, he was my soulmate, and the best dog I could have ever imagined. I lost him because I was too stubborn to pull over and go to sleep.

Eventually, I made it home, but I was both devastated and lost. No money, no home, no truck, no belongings, no Booter. Nothing. It was safe to assume my life was completely over.

Then, all of the sudden, hundreds of people who had been following the Tiny Home Adventure reached out, offered support, told me how inspiring Booter and I were and how we had changed their lives for the better. I was completely overwhelmed and inspired.

I stayed in contact with one of the firefighters from the accident, Paul, and he helped me through one of the most tragic days of my life. I shared with Paul the special relationship Booter and I had. A few weeks later, Paul reached out and told me that he and his family were breeding Golden Retrievers (Red Canyon Retrievers) and Goldendoodles (Copper Canyons Doodles) and that they would like to give me one when I was ready. My life was still so up in the air, so I initially turned them down. But then, GoPro reached out.

GoPro wanted to fund Season Two of the Tiny Home Adventure. And my other sponsors wanted to help me get a new tiny home, an incredible 1996 Ford E-350 4×4 van.

I spent a few weeks quickly building out the van’s interior and headed to Alaska to film another six-month, 12-episode adventure series.

This time, it told the story of Kicker (an 8-week-old puppy), our travels to Alaska, and how Kicker became a full-blown adventure dog. We just released the 12th and final episode.

Nothing will ever fill the part of my heart that is missing with Booter, but if you had told me things could be as good as they are now, I would have never believed you. Thank you all for the love and support.”

The Birth of The Museroamer

Andrew was really impressed with the Earthroamers built on the Ford F-550 chassis, but didn’t like the $500,000+ price tag. He decided to up upgrade from his E-350 van and build his own version of the Earthroamer that he would call the ‘Museroamer’.

Starting with a $30,000 budget, Andrew bought a used 2005 Ford F-550 4×4 that had a utility bed, and then sold the bed to make room for the camper. Andrew chose to build his own camper to save money, and to make sure that he had plenty of room to live and work out of full time.

Andrew knew the layout he wanted from past experiences of living in vehicles. An editing bay is a huge must have due to the countless hours he spends behind the computer. His desk spaces is made out of the custom sycamore raw slab counter that he installed from Red Point Woodworks.

Under the desk area is a shelf for all his camera equipment and below that is a comfortable bed for Kicker to sleep in.

He has a sound bar installed over a 32″ 4K monitor that makes editing and watching movies in bed a breeze. On the opposite side of the rig is two benches and a custom sycamore table for eating and working at.

There’s his and hers closets at the back of the rig and cabinets on both sides to store all of their gear for their adventures.

There’s an over cab queen size bed with a foam mattress and the Froli system underneath to help combat moisture build up and provide extra comfort.

At the foot of the bed is two storage cabinets for laundry and extra camera gear.

There’s a window on either side to let air flow during warmer months.

His girlfriend Ashley insisted on having a bathroom if they were going to live out of it full-time. The wet bath has a shower with a Dometic cassette toilet that has an access hatch on the side of the vehicle.

There’s also an outdoor shower where the access hatch is to make washing off a muddy Kicker Dog easier.

The wet bath doubles as wetsuit storage in the summer months and ski gear storage in the winter.

There’s custom under-belly boxes mounted on each side and (2) custom boxes mounted on the back for the maximum amount of gear storage.

On the back, they have a 1Up bike rack and a custom ladder to access the roof where the spare tire, gear box, and (3) 175 watt solar panels are mounted. There’s an awning that extends over the right side of the vehicle as well as area lighting so they can easily set up base camp outside.

The front of the rig is lit up with Baja Designs lights and they have a 16,500 lb Warn Winch installed in the Buckstop Bumper.

The kitchen is Ashley’s favorite part about the rig since she loves cooking. The Dometic propane fridge is actually bigger than the mini-fridge they use to have in their apartment and has a freezer compartment.

They have a stainless steel sink mounted into the raw slab counter and next to that is a Dometic 3-burner stove and oven. Having the oven has been great for meals on the road and treating themselves to some of Ashley’s baked goods.