Dialing Up the Excitement

Here I am, sitting in half an inch of insulation foam sawdust, looking around at the walls of my van, which are slowly disappearing behind these big shiny panels, and one day soon it’s going to be my home. Completely surreal.

Pre-TripCarson CostaApril 15, 2019Van Build, Vanlife, Insulation, Planning, Appliances, Excitement, Final Product, Diagrams, FramingComment

A New Plan, and Reflections So Far

I wanted this experience to change the way I live my life, to help me become the kind of person I want to be. Maybe it’s working.

Marathon March

Suddenly, a whole category of van build tasks was wiped off the to-do list. The roof is finished. The only thing left to do is toss the solar panels up there when we’re ready to connect the electrical system.

Van Build, or Comedy of Errors?

I was adamant, though, that I was going to break ground on this thing today. So we finished the prep work — cleaning the surface and marking off the exact places we were going to drill— and got out the drill.

Tidying Up and Rearranging the Furniture

A big part of van life, for me, is learning to be less self-conscious, to worry less about what others think, and to see my own beauty as something that comes from my health, who I am as a person, and how I see myself.

Pre-TripCarson CostaApril 1, 2019Vanlife, Van Build, Layout, Blueprint, Designing the Layout, Solar, Solar Panels, Zamp, Tidying Up, Tiny Living, Paring DownComment

Finding my Footing

Dave and Nancy finished their 600-day, America-to-America odyssey last month, and they came to dinner at our house tonight. Their blog, leavewithoutpay.com, is an amazing read, and they pointed something out to me: the emotional journey is as interesting, if not more so, than all the technical bits.

Pre-TripCarson CostaApril 1, 2019Vanlife, Van Build, Panic, Self-doubt, Friends, Leave Without PayComment

Four Major Decisions to Make Before Buying a Van

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the “perfect” van for me. I wanted to make sure that every specification was ideal for my plans. I tried to make comparison charts, looked at all kinds of details that made absolutely no sense to me, and tried to figure out how to become a mechanical guru overnight.

Here’s the problem: plans change, and so do people.

Pre-TripCarson CostaApril 1, 2019Vanlife, Van Build, Buying a Van, Buying the Van, Ford Transit, Four DecisionsComment

The Plan

Good news: as of December 17th, I am officially finished with college. Now that I’ve put school behind me, I can focus on the van and the impending trip. There’s a lot that needs to happen before I leave, a lot more than just buying and building the van.

Pre-TripCarson CostaApril 1, 2019Vanlife, Van Build, Planning, The PlanComment

The Decision

I once again find myself without a clear explanation for my decision to leave home. There is only the endless fernweh, the longing for places I’ve never been, that has always dogged my heels, and the relief of a debilitating tension that has hounded my mind since I returned from exchange.

I feel, for the first time since my exchange year, that I am on the right path.

Pre-TripCarson CostaApril 1, 2019Vanlife, Van Build, First Post, The Decision, Why?Comment

The Open Road is an iconic image.

I wanted this experience to change the way I live my life, to help me become the kind of person I want to be. Maybe it’s working.