9 Things I’ve Learned From a Year of Van Life

in #adventure7 years ago (edited)

This is the honest truth …

My husband and I left out lives in Boulder, Colorado a year ago. We had good jobs. We enjoyed our lives. But we wanted change and circumstances in our lives screamed, “Do It! Now is the time to take the leap! Or maybe you never will.”

So we rented out our home with all the gardens and the bees and the chickens. We held garage sales. Got rid of stuff. Cleaned out the garage. And then loaded up our VW Van, repaired it’s engine as best we could, and left with a rough plan.

We had dreams you see. Dreams of finding farmland somewhere we could afford it. Maybe five or ten acres that we could build a life on.

Oh what we’ve learned.

When we left we were sick of the 9–5. Aren’t we all? We wanted flexibility, time to work on our own projects, and maybe a bit more diversity in our jobs. To be able to leave without being bound by limited time off. You know, the usual stuff that you probably want too.

But what we’ve found is having a job doesn’t suck. Sure you make money, that’s a big plus of a job. But outside of that there’s the routine of it. That’s actually pretty nice to have and helps with productivity. And what about the coworkers you love to hate? They’re nice to have too. I suppose it’s the whole, “grass is greener” phenomenon. Not having a job makes you realize how much you miss having one. I’ve heard retirees say the same thing (but I always thought they were out of their minds).

This experience helped us make the realization ourselves. But there’s a balance with this too. Finding jobs that can support us financially but also give us the freedom we need. Now there’s the pickle. I’ll report back on the dichotomy of it all when I pick up a job again.

I’ve spent a few seasons now working with many small farmers. Doing this part time farming made us feel confident that we could go out buy some land and start our own farm. When we left our home and jobs we started WWOOFing more or less full time while keeping an eye out for that perfect spot to start out on our own. Is it not a beautiful dream?

The people who do it full time, year after year, are superheroes. But I’ve realized it’s really hard work. I mean I knew that but now I really know that. It’s the kind of work you don’t go home from, as I had in the past when I volunteered. It’s the kind of work that is repetitive. It’s the kind of work that is really hard on your body (I mean aching back and knees hard). It can take up your weekends too. Vacations are tricky. And farms, real working farms, are a mess. Tools get left out. Mud and puddles find homes where you don’t want them and sometimes things don’t go as planned. Sometimes bugs out do you. Other times it’s the weeds. And sometimes it’s the weather, that can be rain or sun or snow or wind or hail. And you’ll kill yourself if you try to do it alone.

No. Farming is not for me. A big garden all my own with a few chickens and some extra eggs for my neighbors, that will do. But a production farm, even a small one, leaves me too little time for what I truly want to spend my time on. And I’ll support my superhero local farmers who are badass enough to call farming a career.

… and I hope we start realizing it

On our journey we’ve gotten the chance to stay in some small towns and some sprawling metropolises. Word is that more and more people are moving to the big cities. Why? Because of the opportunity for better jobs. But that often comes with traffic, high property prices, competition, and too many people. How does your local trailhead look?

What about these small towns? Many have adorable main streets, I imagine them revived with cool local shops. They have cheaper properties just waiting for some renovation and they have room to grow without the crowding.

We’ve struggled with the idea of moving to a small town. There are countless examples of places waiting for a community of people to move in and revive them but we need creative ways to bring opportunity and jobs to these smaller communities. I don’t want to move to a big city. But we can’t exactly find meaningful incomes in some of these adorable small towns. This year of living on the road has helped me see that we need to work together to crowdsource ideas for how to create more jobs in these small towns so that we have an option other than the big cities to jam ourselves into. Because a small town growing feels a lot better than a large city bloating.

Like a bathroom you’re comfortable in, or consistent access to the internet, or space, or a place to park your car without getting harassed. Van life does not supply these things.

Our van has no bathroom or shower. That means finding them or responsibly using nature. A stream shower is really cold in Alaska FYI. And although we’ve got a solar panel and battery system and can hotspot our phones, there are problems you’ll run into. 100 amp hours of battery life (theoretically at least) isn’t much power for a hungry laptop, two cell hones, an iPad, LED lights, and a fan. It’s really that laptop. A MacBook Pro is a power hog. Who knew? And that old 4G signal … it’s missing from some pretty critical spots when you’re on the road, like camping spots. Even local coffee shops are hit or miss on their wifi.

Which leads to the final discomfort. Where to park. Honestly we only got told to leave once on this whole year long trip. And that was in a Walmart parking lot in Portland! Sometimes we’d pay for sites wedged between two giant glitzed out busses housing a couple of baby boomers for $30 a night. That’s $900 a month, more than rent in some places! If we’re going to pay for camping we don’t really like to pay more than $20 a night which is about $500 a month in rent (if you were to pay every night that is). We prefer free. But unless you are far out from the city free usually means you’re paying in paranoia and a lack of cell service. We balance it all by switching it up.

Space. 80 square feet is what I’ve read we’ve got in this van. 80 square feet for 3 is tight. There’s no desk, only your lap or your dog’s back. Maybe it’s an excuse but fostering motivation is tough here. You get working on something and your partner puts on a movie. Or you have to move because dinner needs to be made and your feet are on the cooler, or your papers are on the stove.

Or you’re driving to a new destination and you get car sick. What I’m saying is I’ve had a pretty difficult time getting the amount of work done that I keep feeling like I should be able to do with this much time on my hands. When we find a decent coffee shop like the one we’re in now in Golden, British Columbia, we can get productive but then you look up and the day has gotten away from you and the chairs are getting stacked and they are trying to warn you that they’re closed. No! I was just getting into the flow!

Maybe it’s all an excuse. If you live on the road tell me about your productivity levels. For me having a dedicated desk to get work done at is a pretty big help.

When you’re on the road all the time you meet a ton of interesting people but you don’t get to really know anyone. I miss fostering long lasting relationships. I mean the kind where you’ve known someone for years. Where you get to know who they are. What I’m saying is, I miss my friends. I miss their familiarity. I miss non-awkward silences with them. I miss them. But I’ve gotten to know my husband a whole let better.

My husband has this saying he picked up in Thailand, “Same same but different.” He’d asked for cocktail sauce and gotten ketchup.

“No, I’m looking for cocktail sauce,” he’d told the waitress.

“Same same but different,” she’d told him waving him off.

And that’s what we’ve found on our travels. We left Boulder looking for what we didn’t know was the, “same same but different.” We wanted cheaper, less trendy, and less populated. You know the same but a little different. And that’s what we found. Just not in the ways we were looking for.

We found gorgeous towns with empty trail heads but no jobs. We found towns with jobs and recreation but unbearably dark cold or wet winters. And places with cheap properties that were ugly and lacked the culture we want to surround ourselves with. Everywhere, anywhere you go will ultimately be, “Same same but different.” You just have to decide if you can learn to eat that shrimp with ketchup. Places look different, people are different, but ultimately there are similarities everywhere you go.

I don’t know what to tell you about Cryptocurrencies other than that they are. I could tell you that they are amazing, or the next big thing, or here to stay, or will make and break the millennial generation but it’ll be one or all of these. And they could be a pretty good way to fund a trip like this.

Our generation looks at stocks and 401ks and social security and our weak financial system and the inflation of the dollar and I think a lot of us feel lost. Left out. Poor. Living paycheck to paycheck or saving by putting our money in banks we don’t really trust and watching our cash lose it’s purchasing power by 3% a year.

And then in comes Bitcoin and it’s circus troop of cryptocurrency buddies and it gives us options. I’m no monetary advisor but I see this as a once in a lifetime opportunity to join in a financial revolution and take your cut from the pie. I think of it as a way to both diversify your savings and to stick it to the man, or the FED.

There is the potential that you could be part of one of the greatest wealth transfers in history and that’s enough to to gamble on I figure. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you. Go inform yourself.

It may not be the final thing I’ve learned from life on the road but it’s certainly an important piece of knowledge. We dug up our roots to join this community of people glorifying the wanderlust lifestyle. And sure, people aren’t trees or wild flowers, but I think we can take some advice from our fellow earthlings. Roots are important, even for us. Having your people. Having the familiarity of home. Having a place to start something and to finish it.

And as crazy as it may seem, my root chakra hurts being on the road this long. Maybe it’s just because sitting on your ass, driving countless miles tends to irritate your lower back but it doesn’t hurt to read into it a little.

So in conclusion I’m not saying you shouldn’t join in the van living culture and give your wheels a whirl. And I’m not saying you won’t like it either. What I am saying though is that after you’ve learned all the things the experience has to teach, you might just want a permanent place to call home. To stretch. To be familiar with. Balance. A little bit of vagabonding and then some enjoyment of permanence, or rooting. Or as much of it as you can get to leave behind something that lasts.

I’m going home. But I’m going home with new motivation, new intentions that have been made stronger through the challenges of living on the road in our little spaceship.

BONUS: #10… It’s Not Free

Okay. You are free. But I’m talking about money. Sometimes you have to pay for a campsite. You still have to pay for food (unless you’re a dumpster diver but that’s not my style). You’ll spend a lot on gas. Somehow we went a year on one tank of propane (we like to joke that we have a magic never ending propane tank, maybe we actually do). And you will need to have that emergency fund for breakdowns or when your dog gets kicked by a moose and breaks her leg or you tear your ACL and need surgery (all of which we dealt with). Oh yeah and you need insurance and a cell phone which add up too.

So get out of debt. Then save up a lot of money because working on the road doesn’t come easy for us all. I made a total of about $1000… and that’s because I got a job at a nursery for a month. I’ve made around $250 online through a mix of transcriptions and a couple Upwork jobs. Remember that whole thing about internet connections, it might be harder to find than you think.

I read here that most people can’t handle a “$500 surprise bill” so save up before you go out on your adventure. As a reference we saved up $10,000 for this trip and made money on the road. And we’re cheap asses too. And we have no debt. This is a great way to get a tight hold on your finances and to learn some financial planning too. Don’t be afraid of money, don’t scoff it off as something you don’t need. When you finally give in to it and balance yourself with your monetary needs, you’ll be so much more satisfied.

Happy Tripping. Enjoy the ride.

This will also be posted on Medium ... because why the hell not it's my own work ... you got that cheetah bot!? ( ;

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Outstanding story! Thank you for sharing.

Thanks for enjoying!

You're welcome. Have a great day!

I Agree, I heard of these people who did something similiar, but it was on the ocean and with a small yacht, but it was only for a year. I consider myself a digital nomad but only travel to various starbucks not countries LOL.

You know i used to despise Starbucks but I learned on this trip that they fill a needed niche. You always know you are gonna get good internet and some place to plug in at a Starbucks. There's something to say for that. I really appreciate them now.

I have this dream of having land, but I hate bugs and critters that go bump in the night. Even coyotes can be intimidating. So, I go hiking and come home to our too big, air-conditioned house and all my writing toys. And at night, if things go bump, I check my security cams, motion sensors, door alarms etc. and armed with my police billy bat, bear spray and with my 65 lb. dog at my side, I check things out. Did I mention, the police regularly patrol? So, getting close to nature comes down to walks on the nearby trail

Haha! To each his own right! (;

My mobile phone has this sensor that counts my steps every day, I think my "goal" is 6000 steps per day, and then it links to my medical insurance. I get benefits and discounts if I walk a lot. But there is a difference between like taking the stairs instead of the elevator or walking in nature. Nature does something really positive to your body and mind I think.

I totally agree - anytime I can hike a path rather than walk a street, the choice is easy

Apparently also your mind cannot think certain types of thoughts - like thoughts associated with worry or very technical thoughts when you are walking.

So some people (I think Zuckerberg from FB does this) when he interviews people he goes on walks with them. Harder for them to then just recite lines that they were taught by interview coaches and stuff like that.

Great journey you took me on with your writing. Your words were easy to read but intricate and complex in your conveyance. I appreciate your candid nature on the all to easy to over idealize idea of striking out on the road in some minimalist modality or another. I know I have my own yet I'm sure it's light years from the reality of such. Good read @jayjayjeffery.

Thanks so much @bloomview I really appreciate the review of my work. This platform is so wonderful because of people like you who help make other writers feel appreciated!
XO

Great post, I can relate to a lot of this, but I also remember what it was like when me and my partner took to the road all them years ago, before we had kids, we lived in a tiny van with no heating and now real plan, we still managed a year but it was tough, we tried again a year later and only for six months but it was more enjoyable, we then had kids, house, family car and realized that the road was tough but I was nowhere near as tough and as boring as having a house. We have been on the road 4yrs now with the kids and we truly feel at home now, we have our friends land in Spain where we spend a lot time, and then when we are back in Sweden we stay at the same place, so we have places that feel like home but it's so nice to be able to pack up and move on when we get bored or restless. We have been searching for land this whole time, and in September we go to Portugal to start our eco community, but I'm sure we will still jump in the truck and hit the road as much as possible.
I would say it takes 2years to fully get into the swing of it, and if you make it past 2yrs it will be hard to go back.
Thanks for sharing

Thanks so much for the advice. This is the end of our first year in the van. And we return "home" soon. But it's certainly changed the pattern in which we live our lives. Getting back on the road when we have children is certainly something we hope to do. And we are looking for our own land/community to become a part of. But I guess you're path is a few years ahead. (:
Excited to see what you do and what new advice you come by.
Tell the family hi!

I find this really interesting. Most people with this type of lifestyle either "live" in bali, or they travel around, but they are usually single. Amazing that you can do it with a family. And I think it has to be good for relationships within the family when you go through a lot of things together - and see a lot of places together. Meet a lot of people together.

Seems like you learned some great life lessons!

Good thing you have a husband you can do an adventure like that with ;)

Well... at least you have time to write great posts :)

Thank You very much for this! it is something I have considered doing just to see more of my country and have considered a van instead of a RV. I have been watching a ton of YT videos about the different kinds and trying to narrow it down to what is something I just will not do without.

Part 3 of this post which i hope to have out tomorrow is a list of things we wish we had brought. That post will probably be really helpful to you especially if you still haven't gotten your caravan yet.
I hope you get the chance to do this it's really a wonderful adventure to mix into life (:

Some sound advice and insights! Reminds me of the sunscreen song from the 90s, remember that one?

It was pretty grounded of you guys to acknowledge when your dream wasn't actually your dream (farming). Sometimes I think people doggedly stick with it out of a sort of pride or fear to be seen as failures.

I'm thinking of saving up for vanlife (to in turn probably save up for a bit of land to hang a hat), a lot of what you say resonates and makes sense to me. I've been planning my ideal van conversio - it has two dedicated computer desk areas!! No working off dogs backs for me!

Thanks for the thoughtful and well-written post.

I totally remember the sunscreen song! Ha! Im glad you liked the post! Can't wait to see what you do with your own conversion, I will be pretty jelly of a desk!
I've thankfully never gotten down on myself about failures, you learn so damn much when you decide to let go of what you thought you knew (:

No-one ever did it perfect the first time!!!! It's so gratifying and fun to always be learning more about the realities of vehicles and camper vanning (every time I'm stuck at the side of the road due to car failure I learn something!). I think that's even more so the case with camper vans (and vehicles in general to be honest), especially when there's tight budgets and compromises to be made. Although it's really cool with the internet that we can delve into vanlife communities and learn from other people's mistakes or opinions. I also always love asking for van tours when I meet people with campers, I love it! Love that youtube eternalises the van tour experience!

I was thinking to live at my parents for a while, buy a little Berlingo van to facilitate working and rough campervan camping for festivals and short trips away (these tiny little vans have quite a following in the UK, I've seen some ingenius campervan set ups with them), and of course for retrieving useful scavenged things for a proper conversion build, and allow myself to save up properly, and also recruit my father into helping with a conversion. He renovated his own house so he's quite handy. I'm lucky that I often have quite lucrative summer seasonal work available to me in Ireland as I'm a trained and experienced ecologist, it's very seasonal work cos the growing period is really only between April and September (for identifying plants). Although it' still a good way away I started dreaming about how I'd go about the conversion and recently made a very rough around the edges diagram so i could show a friend - what do you think?

MyDucatioLayoutb.jpg

My idea is to make it tiny home style and to foresee living in it full-time for a good while, plan to allow for sharing with a partner and maybe even an ickle baby if things went that way without having to start from the beginning again to accomodate such a scenario. Maybe strap a small motorbike to the front/back so if travelling can park up and then have more local nippy mobility with the bike.

It would be a Fiat Ducato LWB High top van (they are squared right up to the ceiling as opposed to the tapering Mercedes), if I were plush with money I'd get a nearly new one and convert it to be 4x4 (a company called Dangel in France do this for Fiat vans less than two years old), maybe even convert to a double tank waste veg oil system (those two options would be so awesome but probably won't happen that way!).

I got inspired by plush posh campers that have van lift beds, and after some research saw that you can fairly cheaply do a DIY equivalent using either an electric winch or an electric garage storage lift....so instead of having the bed permanently down across the back you can lift it up with the electric lift so it is pulled flush against the ceiling and opens up opposite facing benches with a table between them for daytime use. I'll be excited to share that as I only came across three people on the internet that had done their own DIY camper builds of this. Whilst researching about drop down beds I also saw that several people had beds pushed up against the cabin ceiling in some vans, that you unclip and it sort of hangs down to create a suspended double bed, so that would be another aspirational feature. Whilst it could be complicated with gas struts and so on, if the mattress weren't a really heavy one it could just be a very simple manual mechanism for clipping it back up (ultimately if needed that bed there'd obviously be someone there to help stick it back up again!). I don't like the idea of having to fold up and down and basically do origami with the sitting room furniture every time you want to sleep (hence why so many people opt for permanent beds) so I liked the idea of these sort of drop down beds that you don't even have to make up, just hide them away until needed at night with the press of a button (I'm a real messy pup).

A lot of people with there vans put in swivel seats in the front, but I think I'd actually maintain three seat belted seats in front (which is standard with these commercial vans) and then put in two, preferably even three, seat-belted seats against those looking back. That way could have 5 or 6 people travelling legally in the van, so cool for a holiday or going to a festival! Cos the bed lift allows there to be a seating area in the rear that space behind the cabin would be more a quiet spot for computer work away from the main living area.

Other exciting features would be about heating, I decided that a mini wood stove (like the cubic mini cub) would be awesome for heating as it dries out the van as opposed to creating condensation like propane and so on, and also is way more affordable than diesel heaters (which would be another cool option but very expensive), and totally comfy and also you can wild camp easily as can get wood for free (obviously depending where you are), can even cook on top of it. Ideally I'd combine that with underfloor heating (madly enough it's really not an expensive option) that runs off battery (bit of solar would be nice) - so that could be turned on when the van is driving to keep the heat level up, and also timed to come on in the morning to heat things up before a stove can be lit or if there's driving to be done and don't want to light stove in that case. I've been also trying to get my head around DIY solar water heaters (coiled copper wires painted black kind of thing)....something like that would be cool to supplement a more traditional water heater (I'd be between places like the dull crappy winters [or anytime of year really] of Ireland and the scorching climate of southern Portugal so wouldn't be able to rely on solar all the time for hot water).

This is all blatant procrastination to distract from my PhD work that I should be concentrating on! And I'm a whole load of money away from here and there, but sure aim for the stars and you might actually make it over the garden fence. Any constructive comments or ideas welcome!

Wow! You've got it all planned out! Can't wait to see you do it! Show us all the process of your conversion and the final results when you get around to it. We had a lot of plans for ours but it was nice that it was pretty simply already made to work. Not too much to change. But it'd be wonderful to start from scratch and design it all yourself.

lol - after all the planning who knows, I might just buy one already done!! I like the idea of learning new skills though.

My biggest tip would be whatever you buy, know how to repair it. Learn how the engine works, what the parts are that make it up, and what are common problems with that engine. Then always have the basic supplies with you for fixing normal problems, things like jumper cables, a jack ... This is a crucial part of it all. We learned ours better than any mechanic would. Especially since she's got some weird one of a kind engine!

oil! and oil changes! Don't forget those! Make sure you can do them yourself.

Good tips!!!! I love learning about engines little by little.... maybe will need to properly dive in!

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