What's your story?

[Matty Van Halen]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I am interested in knowing about your pathway into van life/ nomad life. So I thought I would start a thread so you can tell your story!  There may already be one but I cant find it.[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Here’s my story as condensed as I can make it:[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Six years ago I   w[/font][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]oke up one day and decided I was going to sell my house and all the furniture included .   I had come to the realization that stuff was not making me happy.  The house sold quickly.  I became a minimalist. I could fit everything I owned into a jeep wrangler. I moved into a house with a roommate for a year. I have since moved on to get an apartment by myself but I still have very few  material items.[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Moving on...For the last two years I have worked  six days a week / 60 hours a week. About 4 months ago I asked myself why am I doing this?   Why am I working my life away?    I interviewed for a few other jobs but they too wanted me there six days a week.  Rent is very high here! So I had thought about doing the roommate thing again or something that could lower my largest expense so I could work less.  But I also wanted freedom to move about. [/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]So I started seeking alternatives. I had toyed with the idea of getting a travel trailer but then I would have to get a truck to pull it with and Then I would have to incur the expenses that go with insuring it and renting a space at an RV lot and with all that I would really be in no better position.  long story short, I eventually narrowed it down to just a van. [/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] I got my van one month ago! I’ve now got it 90% ready to live out of.  I am way ahead of where I thought I would be right now. My apartment lease doesn’t end until July 2019.  Then I launch!  I will take a few months off to travel out west and to Canada. I will eventually get another job but it  definitely will not be six days a week! Five days a week or less will be plenty sufficient. [/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] So that’s my story. I’d love to hear yours. [/font]

 

[Kenwrite]

My parents beat it into my head that I "didn't need to go out running around, didn't need to go out getting into trouble, didn't need to go off on trips where [insert horrific disaster] could happen." Instead I "should go to school, get a job, stay with job, get married, have a family, live where I grew up, be a RESPECTABLE part of the community, go to church, get old and feeble where people could take care of me, and die where I can have a nice funeral on a weekend so that a lot of people could come."

    But now I'm 65.  My parents are dead, my brother is dead, I'm divorced, no children; no house, no retirement or pension or savings; I've never lived outside the state I was born in, only traveled more that 350 miles from where I was born FOUR TIMES, never for more than a week; hell, I've never even flown in a plane!

    Then, at 60 years old, with no one left, I sold the empty house I grew up in and bought my first RV ever.  And since I had NO experience with RVs and was eager to go mobile, I bought a 36' PoS that made it 300 miles to a friend's property, to work on it and get it ready for the next decade of travel and adventure.  Big mistake.  I did NOT know what I was doing.  A very bad choice of an RV.

    Life happened, and it's not moved an inch since then.  Although I've lived in it comfortable for 4 years, it was/is a piece of crap that will never see the road again.  Damn it.

    HOWEVER, for the last 4 years I have learned and thought and planned.  I've learned to be a frugal minimalist.  All my water is brought into the RV in gallon jugs, averaging a non-drinking water budget of about 24 gallons a month.  My heat is two Mr. Buddy heaters, fed by four 20lb. tanks.  My hot water is from a Mr. Heater BOSS 12volt propane hot water heater.  Black and grey tanks are emptied by a septic tank pump truck about 9-10 weeks on average.  And for the last 4 1/2 years, I have learned to live on less than 2400 watts of electricity tops(!) provided by a single heavy duty extension cord from a 120volt 20amp outlet in a shed next to where I'm parked.

    The DREAM is now to buy an old but roadworthy step van, build it out myself by hand into an RV, and hit the road.  I have finally paid off most of my debts, and the money previously servicing them will go into savings for the new vehicle. 

    There WILL be an RV 2.0!

    There is NO other option.

 

[RogerD]

I sold my house 4 months ago. What belongings I still hadn't sold I put in a 500 sqft workshop and have been advertising on craigslist.

I built an 8Wx12Lx8H insulated room with AC in the workshop and I work/live out of it from 8am -12am. I'm in FL and you have to have AC. From 12am-8am I slept in an SUV until a month or so ago when I purchased a van.

I miss nothing about the house and it was 6000 sqft on 2.5 acres. It was a really cool very modern house, 4 bedrooms, 7 baths, 2 living rooms, home office, pool, sauna room and more ... something you would see on MTV Cribs. However, I only ever used a tiny fraction of it.

Now I spend pretty much all my time in the 8x12 room and I feel no different.

The biggest transition was really just trying to figure out how to have reliable internet. Which took me about 30 days and that was the hardest part. I have an internet marketing company and have to have internet in order to work.

I've actually become a very boring person in my older age and is probably why the transition was so easy. I pretty much just work and watch movies. It's what I enjoy doing.

Eventually, I will transition to just the van. Which isn't much smaller than the 8x12 room and I expect it will be easy. I have just been waiting for cooler weather before doing any real work to it. Which is getting close. The biggest issue I do see is the fact that I live in FL and the van will have to have AC. Anyway, I have plenty of time to get it worked out.

So that is basically my story.

 

[RoamerRV428]

Husband and I are outdoor adventure types. We are easily types to go on the fly and want freedom now that we are older.

We 'did' the jobs. We owned a full working farm and it was brutal having livestock for sausage sales and egg sales and crops and hay and horse breeding operation etc. ALL while working 'real' jobs. BUT it was FUN when we wanted it. Sold farm, lock stock and barrel and still selling off farm equip.

WE ARE DONE DONE DONE Can I say we are DONE DONE DONE with it all again? HA

Done with home maintenance, fence maintenance, car/truck/equip. maintenances, paying thru the nose for all of it and more.

I am a minimalist anyway, always have been. We love and enjoy our life on the road from our tents to truck camper to rv etc. and know thru 30 yrs of camping how we want to roll. Truck and camper. We know what we want on the road to life and to have a good nomadic life. We know also we want NO ties for a very long time anymore. We want NO ties until comes the day health issues or whatever forces us into some type of more permanent lifestyle cause we have no choice.

Many have that yearning for no ties freedom yet are reluctant to take that step thru fear, uncertainty, is it truly what they want? Not us, we know exactly what we want and we are going for it.

Still a few years off due to kid in school and she wanting to graduate from there and we said OK...this is your time. When you hit college or whatever, it is our time Fortunately we can set her up in a very good living situation thru her transition time into her adult life and we can have our freedom as we want.

Will it all go down as planned? Hope so Nothing is guaranteed ever to anyone, but we do have our plan set and with luck we will have it working well and put it all into action.

I think it is phases thru life. Everyone goes thru them. At that certain age tho it kicks in to 'what in the heck do I really want and how do I want to truly live' thru my life. Fortunately for us we know what we want and we are going straight at it as soon as we can.

 

[travelaround]

I've got traveler blood. My mother was a traveler without roots and drove several different types of RVs during her traveling years. My grandmother had an RV but stayed mainly in her s/b house. I now find myself with the means and opportunity to travel, and so hopefully I will, starting in April or May. I haven't bought the van yet.

In my youth I hitchhiked a lot - even across the continent and back, just to see a total eclipse of the sun in 1972. Also explored the Southwest, and hiked the Grand Canyon on the Bright Angel Trail. Also backpacked through the Tahoe Desolation Wilderness and other places.

Later in life, I got in the habit of driving my homeschooling children to California historical state parks or along Hwy 49 in the Mother Lode, or even up to Canada and back. Social studies, right? We had so much fun! We always slept in the car.

Eventually we settled down in a cabin-like house in the middle of the Klamath National Forest near a town called Happy Camp, California, 20 miles south of the Oregon border. I lived there 13 years before moving to Northern Idaho to live in a senior independent living apartment 5 years ago.

The apartment I've been blessed with is the best apartment in the entire apartment complex and I have views of the southern end of the Selkirk Mountains, and to the east I can see the Bitterroot Mountains just past Coeur d'Alene. Because this is such a nice apartment, I thought I was going to live here the rest of my life but . . . I've always wanted to travel and now, I have the money for a van and I'm going to do it. I'm going to give up the best apartment here just so I can go live in a van!

I have plans for while I'm "on the road" . . . first of all, there are certain sites I want to see. I have a blog called Journey! California which has been a pet project for quite a few years, which I've never been able to develop much because until now I haven't had the means to travel, or so I thought. I was born in California and lived there for the first 61 years of my life. It was on my bucket list to eventually move to a different state, and so now I've done that by living in Idaho, but I'd like to go finish my California writing project.

Another plan I have is to volunteer for Samaratin's Purse disaster relief efforts. If I had the van already I'd probably be in Florida cleaning up after Hurricane Michael. The hurricane cleanup appeals to me especially because in January 2017 I was in Rockport, Texas visiting my mother, who had just moved herself into an assisted living home there. She lived in Rockport the last twenty years of her life. She wanted to give me her car and I wanted to see her again. She died about a month later... then six months after that, Hurricane Harvey destroyed the town she'd called home!

Another volunteer effort I want to participate in is an organization called Feed My Starving Children ... they had a traveling event come to Spokane Valley, near where I live, and I was able to help there for a few hours. I love having the opportunity to help families in developing and war-torn areas get basic sustenance food. I want to be able to go to other traveling events (they are listed on their website) and there are 5 permanent sites in the US where I can help with food packaging efforts. One is in Mesa, Arizona so I have my sights set on that.

Aside from that, I love sightseeing. I'd especially like to travel what's left of Route 66 and I want to visit my mother's extended family in Sand Springs, Oklahoma while I finish writing a novel I started about my great-grandmother's life.

 

[closeanuf]

Grew up in a parsonage and wasn't allowed to have fun, graduated from high school, spent 4 years in Air Force, married a woman who had 2 kids and we had one of our own, went to college and got a worthless degree, helped my wife become an RN then she didn't need me anymore because her two kids were raised.  Got remarried and spent 20 years there and got another kid who wasn't mine raised and this time I left.  So 37 tears of wedded bliss and I've been alone and quite happy for the last 13 years.  When I left the second marriage I moved from a 4 bdrm house into a log cabin for 2 years, bought a 42'TT that I lived in for 8 years then bought a 22' TT that I live in presently and I'm very happy here.  I live in an RV park and it has worked out very well for me.  I'm 70 and have medicare and VA healthcare and where I am works very well for me .

 

[Anhedonic]

I knew I wanted some form of mobile house. I realized this when I was about 8 years old. I was watching Star Wars in the theater for the first time. Han Solo got up from the pilot's chair of the Millenium Falcon and walked into the back where there was a living space where people were playing games and talking. In that moment, I knew that I wanted that. To be able to get up from the drivers' seat of a vehicle, step into the back, and be in a house. Getting there has taken a lot longer.

I also always wanted to travel. I've always loved road trips and wanted to see the world. I always deferred that to later on the basis that I would have more money later and be able to travel more comfortably and longer. For many years, there was school or job or something to keep me tethered. There was always a good reason not to buy a van so I just kept with what I was doing.

About 8 years ago, at the age of 40, I was in school, getting ready for a second career, about 2 classes, and internship, and a thesis away from a Masters' degree with hopes of going on to a doctorate when I got sick. In about a week I went from being able to run a mile to not being able to walk across a large room. It took doctors five years to figure out that what's wrong with me is a kind of heart failure. It's unlikely to ever go away but it's also not likely to kill me in the next 20 years if I'm careful.

With no savings, and no prospects for ever working again, I've been fortunate to have family that has kept me off the street. I also had to seriously re-assess my life goals. Realizing that I would always be poor and never be healthy, I still wanted to travel. How to accomplish that? Well, it occurred to me that *going* places is relatively cheap. *Staying* places is expensive. A van built to accommodate my limitations would allow me to travel, if not as broadly as I once wished, at least around this continent. When I realized that, I got to work.

I'm not planning to go full time, but this is how I got the van bug.

 

[mpruet]

I’m retire now. I’m currently a part-timer.  In my working life I was a software developer for IBM.  The team that I worked with was mainly in Portland, Oregon, but I lived in the Dallas area.  So for some 15 years I worked remotly, which made it very easy to become a mobile worker.  

In 2008 I was able to purchase a small condo (650 square feet) in southern Colorado.  My wife and I started spend most of our summer months there.  This made me a quasi mobile worker in that I was able to do my development work both in the Dallas area as well as in my Colorado condo.  -  Have laptop, will travel...

In 2014 my son and daugher-in-law had our first grandson in Hoston where they were finishing medical training.  My daughter-in-law asked my wife to act as a nanny as my daughter-in-law was finishing her fellowship in Houston and would be pretty busy.  My wife suggested that we get an RV to live in Houston.  We found a rather old class-A diesel pusher.   This was the last year of my work life so I still needed good internet connection so I could remain productive during that time.  I found that my cell phone provide and excellent wireles modem and we had an unlimited data deal.  

Upon retirement, I started upgrading my rig in preperation for an RV trip.  That July, 2016 we started our first Alaska trip, including some time in Yellowstone and Glacier NP.  When we got back home my wife said that she didn’t want to take any more long term RV trips so I started trying to sell the class-A and preparing my car (a Prius) to be a mini-RV. 

In 2017 I spent most of the summer camping all over the place in my Prius-RV.  I spent time in San Antonio, Big Bend, Rocky Mountain, Arches, CanyonLands, and Bryce National Parks.  Also I used my Colorado Condo as a base camp and explored much of Colorado in the Prius-RV.  The reason that I used my Prius-RV instead of the class-A was that I wanted somthing much smaller and nimble than a 37 foot class-A.  Also I didn’t want to have to deal with a tow car. The Prius-RV was a perfect solution. 

I finally was able to sell my class-A and included the sale money in funds to purchase a class-B (Travato).  I was able to purchase a new model which I have used this year in my travels.  My first adventure in the Travato was to the 2018 RTR.  This past summer I was able to make another Alaska trip, including a trip to the Arctic Ocean in Tuktoyaktuk.

 

[rm.w/aview]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I am interested in knowing about your pathway into van life/ nomad life. [/font][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] [/font]

Looking back, in more than one conversation and with all the courtesy that they could muster, my past has been described as colorful. It seems the nomad life has always fit like a good pair of socks.

 

[QinReno]

Here: always trying to mend my ways, but not too good at it.

 

[lenny flank]

It's a big country, I want to see all of it, and van-traveling is the most flexible and most interesting way to do that.

And since I am able to make my living while on the road, I can go anywhere I want, stay as long as I want, and go see whatever I feel like.

 

[LivGolden]

Ummm, a simple Story - 

For almost my entire adult life, I loved and adored my husband and the life and home we built together. My husband died and I no longer loved our home or my life so I set out to travel rather than to sit and cry my heart out- forever. I do not regret my travels and will continue to travel until I cannot. I'm just not cut out for the widow's pew... :heart:

 

[steamjam1]

My story is easy:
Up to my eyeballs in Uni loans. Up to my eyeballs in revolving door credit. Income hassn't gone up in years. Got desperate. Used my X-mas bonus to buy a van. Moved into it in three days. Never looked back.

 

[DannyB1954]

My story is in reverse of most people here. I lived on a power boat and then a sail boat for most of my adult life in the San Francisco Bay Area. From there I lived in a 30' Class A mon-fri parked on the property of a business that I worked for. I was on- call often so the business and customers liked the response time. Sat & Sun I would go to a cabin in the sierras that I was buying.

After retiring I wanted out of California, so I moved to Nevada and bought a house.  I still have the Class A, but it was a bit large for boondocking. I thought a van would be nice so I bought an old one cheap. I converted it, but missed being able to stand up, so I bought a 22' Toy hauler trailer. I considered a cargo trailer but when I added up what it would cost to buy the trailer and all the parts, I could buy a quality used toy hauler already fixed up. The van had a 318  engine so it struggled to pull the trailer here out West. I bought a 360 engine, rebuilt it and the transmission and put it in. It worked OK but I thought you know it would be nice to have a truck camper. I had a 1/2 ton truck already but by the time I put a camper on it,  I would be overloaded. I went shopping for a 3/4 ton pickup, but got a 1 ton dually instead as it would hold any truck camper made.

This is like the Story of Goldilocks looking for the one that is just right. I bought a 1 ton dually. It pulls the trailer no problems. Trailer weighs under 5,000 lbs and the truck can tow 14,000 lbs. I went to Lake Havasu with the dually and trailer and used the bed of the truck for the generator and storage. Again my thinking drifted to a truck camper or at least a shell. After a week, I was bored with camping. I think I like building things more than I do using them. I had some health issues that kept me close to home the last two years, but I am hoping to travel next summer.

I didn't have the funding to buy a good quality full size camper, but I found a real nice shell cheap so I got that and put it on. If I pull the trailer I can use the truck as covered storage, and if I just take the truck, I can use it as a truck camper. I offered the van to someone who said they wanted to become mobile, but they never followed through to come get it. They recently remodeled their apartment and seem to be happy there.  I will likely keep the van now for summer time use here in Southern Nevada. It has enough solar panels to run a window air conditioner that keeps my dog cool while I shop or dine.  

I have too many vehicles, but also I host people from Couchsurfers and WarmShowers, (they are people who travel the country by bicycle). So I let them stay in the RV's.  They get a safe place to sleep for a night or two and I still keep my privacy in the house. I had 5 people stay here at the same time and all of them had a bed.

 

[Grim Beret]

I’m just very tired! I work 12 hours a day 5/6 days a week, been doing that since my last vacation break of 7 months in 2005! It was in an apartment and I blew through 10,000 savings to do it! So this time around I figure I want another vacation break and hopefully a longer one! So I researched van builds on YouTube and came across Mr. Bob Wells and learned my idea to live in a van isn’t so original as I thought! I hope to make new friends and learn to combat my love for isolation cuz that’s not always a good thing! I’m moving back west this year! Then I’m going to rest, sleep and sit around and think about how great it is to rest and sleep. For awhile until the green disappears..

 

[maki2]

There was never any one day when I had a sudden revelation that I had to change my life and start living full time on the road. I still remember when I was a teenager and was focused on a particular social issue  that my father said life is a road and as you go down it something will come close to you that seems large and important but then you will move on past and it becomes distant and detached and then something else comes closer. He was right about that. We have all of us been living full time on the road all of our lives, sometimes we are involved with one thing then after a while we will be involved in another :heart:

 

[Vonbrown]

Gosh, i will try to keep it as a "short story"

It was the year 1967 and I turned 14 years old in August. I smoked my first joint then too.
The world was turning upside down and today, they would call it child abuse. My father was abusive and I could no longer take it, so, I ran away from home, yup, living on the streets and my wits.
Hold on, I'm explaining how I got this way.
A Spanish woman took me one day and as her house was being raided by the cops, she said she would meet me in Dallas, Texas, I jumped out a window and ran as fast as I could.

So my hitchikeing, traveling life began.
Inevitably, I had to "grow up" and take on responsibility.
But I was determined to live that life again after I got a job, raised a family and retired. Everyone knew it.

The time had come and in 2012, I retired on a monthly fixed income, bought a midsize station wagon and tent, and with all the camping gear stuffed into my car, I attended my first RTR.
I have since progressed to a van and now I tow a travel trailer.
Damn, I love this life.