We’ve learned a lot in our first four months of van living. So many things, in fact, that it’s hard to summarize. But we’re going to give it a try. Below are are a few facts, figures from our first four months on the road … and “fails”, too. Because it wouldn’t even be an adventure if not for a few fails now and again, right?
On the Road
Many Miles: We traveled roughly 10,000 miles Between September 1st and January 1st. This is waaaay too much! But we were eager to visit with family over the holidays and the (many) miles in between could not keep us from it.
Much Maintenance: We spent roughly $3000 on van repair and upkeep(!) This was definitely more than we wanted or planned for. Run of the mill, routine maintenance in Casper, Wyoming early on, an oil change in Corpus Christi, Texas in December …. and (wah, wah, wah) a blown spark plug that required open heart surgery after we arrived in Florida… just before our 4 months mark. We’d planned to invest in new shocks or and/or a raptor liner while in the sunshine state, but these things are on hold while our bank account recovers.
Reading Log: We read 1 Audiobook. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. We enjoyed it but were a little underwhelmed after all the great reviews we saw (looking at you The Guardian). In addition, Perri read 8 “traditional” books, most found by chance at public library book shops. The most memorable ones were Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (Stick with it. Totally worth your while) and Sense of an Ending By Julian Barnes (Which is written with lovely precision but annoyed me up until the end where it came together in an interesting way) and An Unfinished Life by Mark Spragg.
Soundtrack: We created 2 new spotify playlists. “And Here We Go!” to capture the feel of starting off on our (crazy/brave) adventure and “A Long and Lovely Autumn” which is mostly music brought up by the places we visited (The terrible but amusing “Southern Nights” by Glen Campbell, for example, that visited us in Louisiana and would not leave) and songs that inexplicably stuck in our heads (Dan had a long term relationship with “Pump Up the Jam” by Technotronic in the deserts of Arizona. Go figure.)
Rocks: We rockhounded in 15 different locations. This figure doesn’t count all the times Perri just wandered around looking for stuff around camp.
Scrubbing Bubbles: We availed ourselves of 4 self serve dog washes (In Grand Junction, CO, Henderson, NV, Las Cruces, NM, and Pensacola, FL) ranging in price from $6-$35 depending on location. We are embarrassed to say we didn’t do much better, availing ourselves of 8 Planet Fitness gyms for showers. (We did use state park showers and other spots… promise!)
Camping
We slept in 76 different places in our first four months of van living. The majority of these were dispersed boondocking sites. But we checked out many different kinds of camping situations too.
Here’s the breakdown:
22 “dispersed” sites: (camped in unofficial but allowed backcountry spots with no hook ups or services)
16 state parks in 8 different states: (Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana)
12 National Forest/Bureau of Land Management Campgrounds
8 National Parks or Monuments
6 Town or County Parks
4 Urban stealth spots on city streets or parking lots
4 Driveways: (The first was our own, as we emptied out our house. The others were visits with family.)
2 Private RV Parks: Both were due to extenuating circumstances: The need for Wifi for work commitments and the need for a safe spot with electricity during a snowstorm Private RV parks are generally not our style… or part of our budget.
1 State Forest: (Bald Eagle State Forest in Pennsylvania)
1 Truck Stop Parking Lot: (Love’s in Three Rivers, Texas)
0 Walmarts: (So far)
Fails
Our biggest “fails” in our first four months of van-living involved weather. We didn’t plan for cold weather, figuring we’d just drive ourselves into balmier climes when we needed to. And that was the plan. But damn! Those cold snaps were BIG. And the rain, when it happened, was sudden.
Limping Away From Snow: In central Utah, we found ourselves trying to outrun a snowstorm (bouncing along 30 mile stretch of pot-holed washboard road, no less). We made it out, and over a steep mountain pass before the snow caught up to us in Torrey, where we holed up until the roads thawed out. Our van is not particularly insulated and, though we were able to bundle up and stay warm, we did not much enjoy van-living under 4 inches of snow and mostly stayed in bed reading and catching up on screens.
Hard Rain: In Louisiana, we hit days of torrential rain. Again, we found ourselves holed up while unpleasantness pounded on the roof. Unfortunately, we discovered that sideways rain, and Steven’s back doors are a bad combination. Leakage ensued. We were lucky it was a manageable amount but, no fun. Still working on a repair. And of course there was the dirt road debacle (also due to big rain) in Curtis Gulch, Wyoming
Technical Difficulties: Google led us astray a few times. Once, we arrived at our planned stop, a State Park in the western portion of Louisiana, only to find the campground was being rebuilt. The ranger could not give us a site, but she did give us a couple of oranges picked from her own tree. (We called them “sympathy oranges” and they rode with us a while). Another time, we planned to stay on Rutherford Beach, Louisiana but the ferry on our route had been closed for repairs. Thanks a lot, google. We ended up staying in a city park… which is our next “fail” of 2022.
Christmas in Lake Charles Louisiana: This would have been an okay place to stay: beautiful lake and sunset, greenspace, bathrooms nearby. But there was some sort of Christmas event going on (and on and on). Mule-drawn wagons decked out in Christmas lights and blaring Christmas carols passed by our van over and over until late in the night. By the time we realized this was a thing, we were set up for bed and it was too late to move. Felt a little grinchy that night.
Blown Budget We lost all restraint in New Orleans. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do? One of us (Perri) ate Cafe Du Monde Beignets not once, but twice. In a single day. We took suggestions from friends more familiar with “The Big Easy” and, over the course of our two day visit, tried charbroiled oysters, oyster po-boys, sazeracs, the aforementioned beignets, absinthe (absinthe!!!) and topped it all off with the Clover Cafe’s greasy diner food at midnight. We did not find spectacular live music but we did find live music, and walked a lot of city streets. We did more restaurant eating than we’d done in our all previous weeks on the road put together. It was great! And we will not do it again for a long long time.
Numbers Do Lie
In tallying up our first four months, it occurs to us that numbers don’t come close to the real story. In words, our first four months on the road were a tremendous learning experience: busy, exciting, challenging, both comfy and uncomfortable by turns… even a little boring sometimes. Just like living in a house, or anywhere else. For us, they were perfect. Even the bad days were not so bad. The good days found us feeling so lucky and so grateful for the chance to live this way. It is indeed a crazy brave adventure.
Our next post will be a list of favorites from our first four months on the road. Stay tuned!
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