I have been seeing a few posts here that are about living in a van full-time. It’s interesting this is suddenly coming up because this Tuesday, March 17, my wife and I are picking up our camper that we ordered on October 31, 2019.
A quick introduction about us and our plans, quoted from our website:
“We love to travel by land, which you may know as overlanding. We've been exploring various locations and countries together since 2010. We have traveled in a handful of different rigs, and we are always accompanied by our pigs, Nilla the (stinky) French Bulldog, and Penny the (...special) Pug. In 2019, I retired from the United States Marine Corps and after a few months being back in our hometown, we began to realize the standard 9 to 5 work grind is not for us. So, we made a leap of faith decision to live a van-life while we are still young. In summer of 2020, we will embark on our biggest journey yet: Living in our Toyota Tacoma, full-time, while wandering across all of North America.”
I have a 100% rating and between that and the small amount of money I make from my Tacoma website, and possibly a little more from our YouTube account, we will be living out of the truck for at least 3 years, probably more, while traveling North and South America, and maybe taking it overseas if everything is going well.
I thought I would do 20 years in the USMC but it was cut short at 6 due to a back injury and mental health. I was depressed to the point of not leaving the house once I moved back to my boring hometown. I basically made a YOLO decision to follow a dream and travel by vehicle, full-time. (Sorry about the YOLO, but it really is a great way to describe it.)
I know I’m lucky to have the 100% rating and I believe anyone else thinking about doing this should just go for it. To me, what is the point of life other than to make good memories? Fuck waiting to retire for something like this. I’m not interested in what I can and can’t do when I’m 60+ years old, if I make it that far. I’m interested in what would make me happy now, at 28, and what will make me thank my younger self for the wild decisions I made if I do become an old fart.
Again, I really encourage you guys to do this. I really think it will help with the depression. While I haven’t hit the road yet (looking at Summer 2020), I know a lot about the road life and have multiple long term nights spent in my truck via a tent. If you need advice or want to link up in the future, please hit me up.
Disclaimer: I don’t think you should go into it without a plan. For example, we have vaguely planned routes, I know people around the country whose driveways I can use, I know my resources (iOverlander app, Walmart parking lots, free National Parks, free military gyms, etc.) I already know what it feels like to live minimally. We have already sold most of our unnecessary material items. We know the costs of living like this. My wife is a CNA, going for RN, and she knows she will be able to go right back into that when we stop. We know we love nature and surfing, hiking, etc. We know our two dogs love traveling like this. I have been preparing the truck for all the weight. Etc, etc.
I’ll be documenting my journey on Instagram and YouTube but I’m not going to put a link here because I don’t want this to seem like a self promotion.