Van Dwelling

Around late 2010 I discovered a blog for a graduate student living in a nearby city. This doesn’t seem like much but I have to say his blog had a profound effect on me. He was in graduate school like me but had, before coming down here, worked really hard to pay off all his student loans from undergrad, and he was determined not to take out another loan for graduate school. He reasoned that room and board was the main expense in student lives and by reducing that amount he could pay for grad school out of pocket from savings and part time work. I should mention he was going to one of our most prestigious private university in the state and perhaps the east coast. I was skeptical to say the least.

But he took me by surprise when I learned he had decided to buy a van and convert it into living space. I’m not sheltered to have never heard of people who live out of their cars but usually out of need, recently lost their homes being the chief cause. But never had the thought that there were people who would WANT to live out of their cars, not RVs, but cars. That was something different and interesting. Now I will preface this with I have no inclinations to live in a car. RV? Maybe...A caravan? Possible but not a car. And even those would be for short periods.

After reading through his blog I realized what really ruffled my feathers was that sense of independence and adventure his words radiated. It was an experiment that was ultimately causing him to go perhaps outside of his comfort zone, there were trails and errors but he was learning on the way. But he now has a story (although he’s had awesome adventures before this) to tell. He had to be conscious of every purchase he made, every thing and every person he brought into his life. He had to create a simplified life because there was no room for complicated nonsense.

His blog has led me to other great blogs of people doing the exact same thing. Some on a temporary basis and a growing group on a more permanent base. He’s no longer living in his van, he's currently staying with a friend who owns his own place up in the mountains (still jealous of that). Where they are learning to live off the land and continue that simple kind of life. These people have made me think about what I consider necessary in my life. The junk I’ve been lugging about for the last decade with the reasoning of “I’ll miss it if I didn’t have it.” Is it really worth the stress?

Maybe my life doesn’t need to be so cut and dry, but again I’m not going to go live out in my car. But a few weeks traveling in this beauty wouldn't be so bad.

image one and two found in a google search; image three; image four; image five