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Retired 96

Artist Traveler
Joined
Jul 28, 2020
Messages
73
Reaction score
57
Location
Home based Detroit Michigan Everywhere Anywhere
I'm in the throwing out stuff phase ,still in my sticks and bricks.
Pretty soon it will be the renting storage phase and am still fooling around with the van making it road worthy $
Can't wait for the selling house phase.
Every now and then I hang out in the Planet Fitness parking lot or the local Walmart just trying to get used to being in a small space and testing out other things I may or not need.
Eventually I will be sketching and painting from my van and moving around a little more.
 
Good luck to you.....maybe you could take the occasional weekend get-away at a local campground...or maybe just an overnight at a Walmart or rest area or truck stop. Or if you dont feel comfortable with that yet, you can maybe stay in the van overnight in your own driveway or a friend's driveway.

Staying overnight somewhere a few times, might help you learn about how comfortable you will be and maybe what you can change or improve if needed.
 
Great idea! Thanks.
During the housing crisis I lost my Condo and I fixed up my mini van and put a air mattress and mini fridge in there.
I didn't have any knowledge about other Nomads ..and Cracker Barrel.. Walmart etc..so I hung out at one of the Islands here in Michigan.
The local hotels were horrible and expensive.
Fast forward and today I see a repeat with high rents and inflation and unstable neighborhoods.
Every thing changes and is in constant motion...so I change too.
Eventually I wanna do some sketches of folks and their activities and post them here ...a sort of play by play of what I'm seeing.
 
Eventually I wanna do some sketches of folks and their activities and post them here ...a sort of play by play of what I'm seeing.


We'd love to see a sketch or 3 of whatever you might want to share. Feel free to do that!

If you do upload here you should try to keep the uploaded image at medium or maybe a lower resolution (as long as we can see it on a webpage) because we want you to remain the owner of any high-res digital images you create.
 
Can't wait for the selling house phase.
If you're selling your house to live in a van, you might want to consider living in the van before you sell your house.

Every now and then I hang out in the Planet Fitness parking lot or the local Walmart just trying to get used to being in a small space and testing out other things I may or not need.
Eventually I will be sketching and painting from my van and moving around a little more.
Is there a reason why you can't move into the van right now? Even if you have a job to go to everyday, you can commute from the van instead of the house. If you need a shower, join Planet Fitness and start using their facilities. If you want sketch, take your easel out to the van. You don't have to sell your house to live in a vehicle. That's a risky way of trying out "vanlife". What if you get tired of it after 6 months?

What's stopping you from acting on your dream today?
 
It's easy to find local examples of a very common van dweller activity...sitting in a chair and looking at their cellular devices.... That habit does not seem to change at all. Of course I am usually where there is a good enough signal.
 
If you're selling your house to live in a van, you might want to consider living in the van before you sell your house.


Is there a reason why you can't move into the van right now? Even if you have a job to go to everyday, you can commute from the van instead of the house. If you need a shower, join Planet Fitness and start using their facilities. If you want sketch, take your easel out to the van. You don't have to sell your house to live in a vehicle. That's a risky way of trying out "vanlife". What if you get tired of it after 6 months?

What's stopping you from acting on your dream today?
Making some changes within the last 48 hours.My camper van class B has all the amenities .I decided to keep the house and use as a home base.
Being retired etc and I own the house - I decided I will just travel by van ,plane , train and I also follow the art circuit doing the fairs across the country.
(I did get a taste of van life in 2008 when the housing crisis started )
Thanks to everyone for their input on this mobile art studio project!IMG_20220621_134932.jpg
 
I like the idea of you sketching vandwellers and their activities. I'm currently reading The Shirley Letters - a book of letters about a mining camp during 1851-1852 on the Feather River in California. It is illustrated by a variety of sketches from the time - and what a powerful way to document what happened there. Were it not for the artists who recorded what they saw, we wouldn't have such a great appreciation for what the places looked like - and now these mining camps are mainly gone.. all the buildings disappeared over the years. I might try doing some sketching around here too. I'm in an area where there was a forest fire, and a lot of us are living in travel trailers still.
 
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