Watery waves of heat rising off the blacktop, wheels purring as they rush over asphalt. The ever-changing picture show rolling by outside: the motley greens of a forest, the pastel brushstrokes of a desert, the sharp lines of a mountain, the open blue sky over a canyon. The windows rolled down, the radio turned up, and all the world before you, accessible from the endless miles of connecting roadways that weave and curve and loop their way across the land.
The road has always called to me. After graduating college, I decided to answer it. I packed up, built a tiny home into the back of a cargo van, and took off. Every step of the way was an adventure, from buying the van to saying goodbye to it.
You can read about it all here, starting with buying the van and converting it into a tiny home, a process which took 2 years. I took two major trips in the van: the first through Canada and around Alaska, and the second in a loop around the United States. Ultimately, Danica and I visited 25 American states and 4 Canadian states together, including national parks, capital cities, historic sites, and more.
Unfortunately, I realized that as great an experience traveling with Danica was, van life wasn’t really for me. In 2020 I decided to sell Danica and use the money to embark on new adventures, which you can read about on Pushpins and Passports.
Forth of July was the one day every year that I always felt unstoppable. It made me feel empowered, one person supported and held up by millions of people, like every dream I’d every dared to entertain was as close as those fireworks, falling down upon me from the stars.
Read MoreI was dead set on pretending I had no van, and that I’d never been crazy enough to start this insane project, for the rest of the day.
Read MoreNo promises how long this will last. I think it’s both one of my biggest assets and greatest faults that I’m easily distracted and go through regular phases of serious over-achieving.
Read MoreFor about 60 seconds I felt like I was going to pass out with horror, but the solution is pretty obvious and not that big of a deal, even if it wasn’t going to turn out super pretty.
Read MoreDespite the distractions, I’m trying to stay on top of the build and figuring out how to work with some of the delays.
Read MoreI don’t think I’d ever so much as touched a saw of any kind, I had no idea that 2x4 really meant 1.5 inches by 3.5 inches, and the descriptions of some of these screws sounded like gibberish to me (how can a screw be both a Phillip’s and flat? Why is it a #8 but it’s 2 inches long?).
Read MoreHome Depot and the local hardware stores have become such a milk run that I‘ve actually gone to them in the same clothes I slept in the night before, without brushing my hair (but I did brush my teeth, I still have some standards).
Read MoreI think people like that, people who really try to make others’ days better, deserve to be recognized.
Read More…And all I could think was: “The VanGods have spoken.”
Read MoreWe tugged, and yanked, and pulled, and wiggled, and pled. It was completely anchored down, not moving an inch, and I realized I’d made a massive mistake.
Read MoreI’ve got this general sense of being totally overwhelmed sitting in the back of my mind, and these moments when I’m so uncomfortable and can’t seem to get something to work right just hit me really hard.
Read MoreI can’t help but think about what I would do differently if I were to do another build. There is one big thing that I wouldn’t do the same way over again if you dared me to.
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