Thruhiker with van dwelling aspirations

[Scarlottedorian]

Hey y'all! It is so great to find a forum for living in vehiclulars. I thruhiked both the Appalachian and Pacific Crest Trails and loved the simplicity of my life out there. I stumbled upon a few fellow thruhikers that converting from their traditional lives to a van life and I was intrigued. So I started reading up on the whole idea and got hooked. I am still living in a house in the high Rockies in Colorado and I work a 40 hour per week environmental job outdoors. I am a 33 year old female with a pretty nice job that I worked hard for but i can't shake my huge desire to live the simple life again. How do you keep the dream job and work as little as possible? So I am thinking I have to give up the dream job and all my hard work to live simple life and travel. A conundrum I am sure many people here have.

Well so hello! I will be spending the next year trying to glean info from the professionals here before I take the leap. -Beth

 

[sephson]

I think it's more a case of having to decide what's important to you. Are you happy where you are? Will living a more mobile life make you happier? Can you find a way to do both?

The people here are a good resource for learning the ins and outs of life on the road. You'll find many different perspectives here. Some of the members are full time RVers. Others live in vans. Some live in cars. There are even a few of us who live in apartments, houses or condos and see the road more as a place to spend some of our down time.

My advise to you is to do what you're doing, take the varying shared life lessons from this community and learn. Learn from their successes. Learn from their mistakes. Learn from the stories shared.

 

[Suanne]

Welcome Beth,

As a thruhiker, I think you're already very skilled at living simply. In fact, when folks don't understand how I can live out of a car, I often use thruhikers as my way of explaining how I do it. I figure if you all can live for months at a time on the trail, I can certainly live for months at a time out of a car.

As for how to have a career while living in a vehicle, I'm not sure how to respond since I don't know your job or work culture. But, I've often wished that I had discovered vandwelling before retiring. I would have definitely lived out of my vehicle part of the time to reduce my commute and the number of nights spent in hotels.

Suanne ... part time in a Prius

 

[Patrick46]

Hi Scariottedorian

Suanne ... part time in a Prius

YES...you read that right!!! ^^^

Welcome to the forum!

My daughter is a conservation biologist, and works in the woods too, so I understand your love of being in nature for a living, and what it probably means to you.

Can we ask what it is that you do...and what EXACTALLY IS your dream job???

I'll bet that there is a way to do both...just gotta fingure out the angle. We'd love to help.

I've always wanted to hike the PCT, as I live in Oregon, and I read alotta books about hiking the big 3. I also enjoy books about bicycling across the country (and around the world), and I also love reading stories about solo circumnavating the globe.


Hello form the Oregon Coastline!!!

 

[akrvbob]

You can:

1) Be a campground host in a National Forest and get paid for every hour you work and get a free site.
2) It's nobodies dream job but you can work for Amazon at one of their distribution centers from Sept-Dec and make LOTS of money $11 an hour plus overtime.
3) Work at any tourist area in-season ans save lots of money.
4) Since you are a seasonal worker and you will get laid off you can draw unemployment in the winter!! It doesn't matter what state you work in or where you spend the winter. You can still draw.

here is a post I did on a job that would be perfect you in a place that would be heaven on earth!

http://www.cheaprvliving.com/blog/grand-teton-np-photos-come-work/

Here is a post I did on another thru-hiking vandweller:

http://www.cheaprvliving.com/blog/have-adventures-when-you-are-young/

I know he worked in Sedona, AZ for a winter for a tour company giving tours then he took the time do the Colorado Trail.
Bob

 

[Spirituallifetime]

Welcome, this is the place to learn about vandwelling. I hiked many sections of the PCT in OR and did a lot of camping in the OR cascades. Back then if I knew about vandwelling I would have bought a van and lived out of it, instead I fallowed the traditional path to job and credit slavery!

 

[Donedirtcheap]

Could you do both? Use the van life to provide cheap living and sock away all the money you can and build a plan to early retirement. Being mobile would give you no strings to owning a house or having a lease if that job is lost. When it comes to money its one of 3 things. You are either making progress and increasing your net worth or you are staying the same or you are going down.
If you are in a position of only treading water then it may be better to say the heck with it and tread water in any place you want. If you have a job that is letting you increase your net worth why chuck that? If you adopt a mobile lifestyle where will the next van or RV come from? Do you have enough resources to keep to keep it running? Do you have money for the next van or RV? Many who are doing this have sources of income even if they are small. My advice since you are so young is to earn as much as possible and save save save and retire early.
If you have to work, earn as much as you can during each hour of it. If needed get more education. Adopt an extremely frugal lifestyle so you can retire AND have money.
All that glitters is not gold.

 

[blkjak]

welcome....blkjak

 

[Scarlottedorian]

Thank you all for the thoughtful responses. I am a monitoring coordinator for a nonprofit watershed organization in Colorado. Before this I worked for Starbucks for 10 years. It is my first career job and it is actually going REALLY well. The only problem is not having time to travel or hike more distance trails. And I and treading water with my debt and bills. That is one of the main reasons I want to van dwell. I can't continue to get anywhere financially and still work 5 to 6 days a week. It feels a bit like a trap I am allowing myself to be in.

 

[Patrick46]

I'm treading water with my debt and bills. That is one of the main reasons I want to van dwell. I can't continue to get anywhere financially and still work 5 to 6 days a week. It feels a bit like a trap I am allowing myself to be in.

This is as good as any reason I've ever heard of for vandwelling...even without the potential for travel.

But you could always take off for short jaunts on your weekends, and I'm sure there's at least acouple weeks of vacation tyme somewhere in there too!!!

 

[SoulRaven]

If you have a full time job just get out of conventional housing.

I went from a $750/month + utilities rental to a 35” travel trailer that I live in for eight months per year in the Poconos and my lot rent with electric is $1600 per year. In the winter months I travel to Florida and live in a big truck cap. I have all the comforts of home in 240 square feet, hot/cold running water, 32” TV, wireless internet great audio system etc.

If you like your job I would visit your local campgrounds and see what is for sale that you can move into. You might not have running water in the winter but you could use the camps bathhouse and a porta potty in your camper. A 3 gallon water cooler on the counter by your kitchen sink helps too.

 

[Suanne]

Beth,

I agree that the financial reasons for vandwelling are very compelling. You can basically put your rent money into paying off debt and building your savings.

Here is what I did when active in my career to pursue other interests. Depending on your work culture and/or opportunities, it may or may not be a good strategy for you. And, it's a method that takes a while to come to fruition.

I first decided what I wanted. For example, to work only 20 hours per week, or 2 months off in the summer, or ????. Then I designed a job (that didn't currently exist) which would benefit my employer that would include the time off that I wanted. Preferably this designed part-time job requires highly specialized skills that I had or could acquire. Then, I spent the next period of time proving myself indispensable using those highly specialized skills. When I was sure that my employer recognized me as an asset worth keeping, I would make a proposal for implementing the part-time job for myself that I had designed earlier.

I did this twice in my career.

I think this strategy works best when you truly like working for your employer, and you are personally fulfilled by the work that you are doing. It takes some thoughtful planning, extra effort, and lots of persistence.

Again, this was my experience within my work culture ... your mileage may vary

Suanne

 

[Kimbopolo]

"And I and treading water with my debt and bills".

Do everything you can to get out of debt before going mobile. Your opportunities will increase exponentially.

 

[Vic.]

The interim step (the one I hope will work) is going mobile in town.

 

[Kevin H]

"And I and treading water with my debt and bills".

Do everything you can to get out of debt before going mobile. Your opportunities will increase exponentially.

X2 on this. Even if you simplify to a van, you can still be strangled with debt. Is there anyway you could downsize to a smaller apartment/house and spend a couple years concentrating on getting out of debt? If you pick up another (or two) part time jobs, you will be spending so much time working your environment won't matter.

Downsizing to a van and not being able to be mobile could be a real downer. But, after a couple two or three years of working your butt off and getting debt free and THEN getting your van could make that experience incredible.

Have you heard of Dave Ramsey? Check him out and attend one of his free seminars if possible. You will be amazed at your ability to get out of debt and then live your dream. It's not technically difficult, it just takes TOTAL commitment.

Good Luck and keep us posted!

 

[Kevin H]

If you pick up another (or two) part time jobs, you will be spending so much time working your environment won't matter.

After rereading my post I realized a bit of a conflict with the above statement and then suggesting to postpone your van.

My thought is that if you do spend a couple years doing virtually nothing but working, the convenience of the full facilities in an apartment would make it much more comfortable than dealing with the issues of living in a van. Specifically, full bathroom facilities and abundant cooking space.

After getting that debt monster off your back, the world is available for what ever you want to do.

Again - Good Luck and keep us posted.

 

[akrvbob]

It's cold in Colorado but you can still make a van comfortable. Here's exactly what I did in Anchorage, AK. 1) Buy a van, insulate and make it ready to live in. 2) Dump the apartment! 3) Save every penny of your rent money and pay off all those bills! 4) Live the life you want, in the way you want to live it!!!

It worked for me!
Bob