The American way of (Van)life
After lots of curse words, mistakes, and beers, Jessie Leonard and her father finished the conversion of her Dodge Ram Van 1500 for hitting the road full time and turning her back to the classic 9-5.
I am a freelance writer with a wine and environmental sustainability background. I love the environment and try to live all aspects of my life to protect it. The way I live impacts my writing, I am working on a poetry book to hopefully be completed by the holidays.
My 9-5 life working in the service industry was not fulfilling. My job at a winery was soul sucking, to the point that I had to quit my job before I meant to because I had no energy to work on my van on my days off. I was always drawn to the idea of traveling full time because on the few long trips I experienced, I learned how much I enjoy meeting new people and seeing things I hadn’t imagined I could see. I wanted to experience awe-inspiring moments.
I have what’s called a “conversion van” in the States. It has a fiberglass top so it is a little taller than a normal low-top and usually has a bench seat in the very back that can convert from a seat to a bed. It was often used as roadtrip vans for families.
I had my eye on a different style of van but every one I tried purchasing kept getting sold out from under me. I wanted to get on the road faster so I settled for this one as my transition van to make sure I wanted to live on the road full-time.
My dad and I built the interior in my Dodge Ram Van 1500. Lots of curse words, mistakes, and beers went into it. Despite the arguments it was so nice spending that much time with my Dad.
It took about 4 months. I spent a lot of the beginning of the build waiting for my dad to help on his days off, but by the end I needed to be done and on the road. I sucked up my fear and picked up the powertools!
HEADLAMP! When you’re out in the middle of nowhere it is so much easier to use a headlamp when you go outside so you have complete use of your hands.
I do social media copywriting and blog writing. Eventually I would love my blog to bring in an income, and my poetry book will also be an income source!
I have only explored the west coast of the USA. I hope to see Baja Mexico this winter!
I have lived in my van for a little over a year now. I do live in it full time.
I love free camping! It’s one of my favorite things to be able to sleep with my window covers off to wake up with the sun. Also my dog is very protective at night and if there are people close by she barks most of the night.
It was very hard at the beginning when everything shut down. With my job, I use public wifi from libraries or coffee shops and that was gone overnight. I was exploring Arizona when everything started closing so I made the choice to go to my parent’s house in California. Now that I am back on the road, showering is the hard part. I rarely wash my hair, so that makes it much easier.
Some places were very strict about no out of state plates, I wasn’t in places like that but a woman in a grocery store parking lot yelled at me when she saw my license plates weren’t from the state I was in. Other than that everyone understands the struggles for the most part
I think it’s the friends you make. While I live in my van alone, I am rarely alone. Sometimes it’s hard to get rid of friends and actually spend time on your own. But I love the connections I am making. They make these memories so much sweeter.
Also seeing my dog enjoy all the places we go and the things we get to do makes me so happy.
The shower thing is pretty hard. We try not to seem like smelly hippies who live in vans but without showers that makes it a little less convincing.
The breakdowns aren’t great either. I just had to spend $1400 on my van’s engine.
The first weeks are the hardest. Any change is hard, you are changing every habit you had for new ones. Keep going, but also remember you can always change your mind if it doesn’t work. I told myself, this could be six months or three years, but I have to love it.
All the time! The west coast is one of the best places to explore and live in a van. There are so many vanlifers everywhere. The town I am in now is a lot of my friend’s home base, and it is now mine, so I am always running into them and making plans for trips.
