VAN LIFE
After hiking the Appalachian Trail I was looking for a way to minimize my stuff and maximize my life and #VanLife seemed like the ideal solution. In 2014 I moved into a self-built Honda Element home and lived on the streets of Santa Barbara, California while holding down a regular job and serving as the youngest Club President of the Rotary Club of Santa Barbara. In 2015 I upgraded to a 1985 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia campervan, secured a Digital Nomad income stream, quit my job, and hit the road to travel full-time. For 3 years I crisscrossed North Ameican in Tantor the VW van visiting friends and family and having adventures including driving the Trans-Canada Highway, camping in the Florida Keys, and getting to know a few tow truck drivers due to breakdowns along the way.
Van Life Videos
Van Life Highlights
Home Sweet Honda
Published: October 2, 2014
2015 Road Trip
Published: January 11, 2016
Me Tarzan. Meet Tantor.
Published: June 5, 2015
The Trans-Canada Highway
Published: February 23, 2017
All Van Life Posts
Western Ramblin’
The summer kicked off with Born To Run and was quickly followed by Race Across America. I enjoyed both, but was looking forward to hitting the open road with less…
Winter Ramblings
The best way to ring in the New Year is to run a beer mile with your closest friends at midnight! Well, I’m not sure if that’s actually the best…
Hiking The Wave, Arizona
The Wave sits peacefully in no man’s land at the border of Arizona and Utah. This unique sandstone formation displays vivid red desert strata that have been eroded overtime into…
Westward Westy
I thoroughly enjoyed exploring Canada and driving through New England, but my heart, and Tantor’s motor, were both yearning for the place we feel most at home, the Southwest. Before…
Nuevo England
I approached a federal border crossing one last time to bring an end to my Great Canadian Road Trip. I’d enjoyed bouncing between the United States and Canada all summer,…
The Great Canadian Road Trip – Part 2
After a brief visit to the United States my Great Canadian Road Trip continued in Ontario. I left Chicago, crossed Michigan, and made it through the border crossing with no…
The Great Canadian Road Trip – Part 1
While basking in the February South American sun on a beach in Ecuador I wondered, “What should I do for the summer?” The previous year I spent 6 months driving…
VanLife – How I Get Drinking Water For Free
I rarely go completely off grid as I travel, but I do utilize the campervan’s water tank to carry up to 11 gallons of potable water for cooking, washing, and…
Top 7 Things To Do In Slab City
Slab City is an off grid “community” in the Southern California desert a few hours inland from San Diego. Originally built in the 1940’s as a military base, by the…
20,000 Miles
24,901 Miles – The distance around the earth 20,000 Miles – The distance I traveled in my van around the United States in 2015 In March of 2015 I bought…
Arizona
I could almost hear a sigh of relief from Tantor as we slowed to a park in front of Grandpa’s townhouse. 20,000 miles in 5 months was a lot to…
Go Westy Young Man
Leaving Florida I had 10 days until I needed to be in Arizona for Thanksgiving. It wasn’t a lot of time, considering that I wanted to see new cities, visit…
Florida
I woke up sweating in a truck stop gas station just a mile north of the state line. The overnight temperatures hovered near 80, meaning I had a warm balmy…
Georgia
My first stop in Georgia was Hiawassee to see Jim and Maggie, our first “Trail Angels” on the Appalachian Trail in 2012. They had met us the day that we…
Why I Will Probably Sleep In Your Driveway
This summer I’ve been fortunate to visit friends and family around the country, and each time I arrive in a new town I receive a myriad of offers, most often…
Appalachia
The day that I left Indiana I woke up on a couch in my buddy’s basement, which was good because it was below freezing inside my van in his driveway….
Back Home Again In Indiana
I speed across The Great Plains (read as ‘I pressed the pedal to the metal and almost hit 65’), focused on reaching Chicago and kicking off my 3 week visit…
VanLife Shower
I often get asked how I shower while living in a van. The best way to answer is to show you. Don’t worry, the video below is PG. #VanLife Shower…
The Great Plains
With Tantor back in running condition we were ready to cover some miles. I had a few more places I wanted to see in Wyoming and South Dakota, but then…
Broken in Bighorn
Sunday morning I woke up at 3:00 AM in a Walmart parking lot in Cody, Wyoming. “Am I moving too fast?” I pondered. “Should I slow down and enjoy this…
Yellowstone Take 2
On a crisp autumn morning I drove toward Yellowstone National Park through patchy clouds below snow capped peaks. My first visit to Yellowstone had been just one month ago, but…
Glacier National Park
I had a few simple goals for my visit to Glacier National Park. Stand on a glacier Unplug for a few days Not get eaten by a grizzly bear The…
Washington
I was looking forward to my visit to Seattle, partly because I had never been to the city, but mostly because my cousin Brad had just arrived in town for…
Oregon Coast
It was late August and I’d been FunEmployed and living on the road for just over 2 months. Most of that time I’d been staying with family, sleeping indoors, with…
Going Green TV Interview
Living in a van has a lot of benefits…simplicity, freedom, adventure, and this week I was interviewed by Brooke Welch of WFFT-TV in Fort Wayne, Indiana about going green and…
Ashland, Oregon
I drove east along the Oregon Trail and got lost in the nostalgia of sitting in the middle school computer lab, shooting pixilated deer, and praying that I wouldn’t drown…
Yellowstone
I left Breckenridge and drove north through Colorado and into Wyoming, covering 500 miles in a single day. It was more driving than I like to do in one stretch,…
Colorado
My first month of FunEmployment was spent based in Arizona, as well as traveling to Michigan and the Appalachian Trail in New England. I had not slept in the van…
First Stop – Arizona
It was 5:00 PM on Friday, June 12, 2015. I closed my laptop, opened a cold beer, and exhaled. Ahhhh…I was finally…unemployed. Well, self employed, but like my buddy Luis…
Me Tarzan. Meet Tantor.
I am writing this as I’m sitting in my living room, which also happens to be my kitchen, office, bedroom, workshop, game room, lounge, and oh yeah, my vehicle. I…
Brittany’s Birthday In Yosemite
What does a van dweller get his girlfriend for her birthday? Good question. A special coffee table book? Nope, no coffee table. A new sweater? He could, but then she…
Running in Ridgecrest with Rios
Fat Ass Race: The name given to a low key run characterized by the phrase “No Fees, No Awards, No Aid, No Wimps”. Fat Ass: A person with large buttocks….
Living Free In Death Valley
“What are you doing this weekend?” a co-worker asked. “Heading to Death Valley!” I enthusiastically replied. “Really, is there anything cool to do in Death Valley?” Ummmm….yes. Friday after work…
Re-Creating in Big Sur
Recreation. Re-Creation. To create anew, restore, refresh. As 2015 began, we knew that we not only needed adventure and recreation for the fun, but to also continually “re-create” ourselves, to…
Twas the night before Christmas – The van dweller edition
Living in a car means I have a lot of time to think, and come up with silly things like “Twas the night before Christams, the Van Dweller Edition”! Twas…
Home Sweet Honda
I wake up every morning with a weird sensation and a brief nightmare. In my half awake haze I see Matt Foley from Saturday Night Live standing above me saying…
Summer Vagabonding
Vag·a·bond (ˈva-gə-ˌbänd) 1: moving from place to place without a fixed home: wandering 2: of, relating to, or characteristic of a wanderer My life changed a lot in 2014. I…