Van Life | One Year Update
Today marks one year since Jeremiah and I bought our beautiful converted 2001 Dodge Ram Van. This year has honestly flown by. When we started this, we said we were going to give van life a year and reassess after that. Well after one year, there's no doubt we love this path and want to continue on it. Especially since because of quarantine, there is so much we haven't been able to do. I'm excited for our upcoming season in the southwest!
So let's start back at the beginning…
2019 was a rough year for us…
I worked harder than I ever have before and accomplished some incredible things, but we felt like we wasted a lot of our time and money we worked so hard to earn. We paid rent on an apartment we were only at half the time, spent a lot on gas and flights going back and forth for our clients, and ultimately felt like we were too busy to ever really enjoy anything. We hated constantly living out of a bag and never being in our own bed.
When we started talking about what was next for us, we knew we wanted to own something, something that was 100% only ours. Once we realized what made the most sense was van life, we started looking to find our van perfect van!
Facebook Marketplace!
There's an amazing Facebook group called Class B Campervans For Sale. In person we looked at two vans, and the one pictured above is second one we found! It only had 40,000 miles on it and a beautiful conversion. It's absolutely the best thing we could have found for our budget. I highly recommend if you're looking to start van life, join this group and see what's for sale.
Buying the van + starting part time.
November 3rd 2019 we boarded our one way flights to Utah to see our van. We got to meet Quinn & Charlene, the awesome couple who converted it. We slept in the van, test drove it, and on November 4th purchased our home on wheels.
Our first month was hectic, but beautiful. We spent most of it on the east coast for work, and got our first taste at how wonderful this lifestyle is. I especially loved being able to park at whatever venue we needed to be at the next day, and work on my laptop in the back with our doors open taking in the fresh air. The east coast was a beautiful warm welcome to van life.
In December we drove south to Florida where we celebrated our first wedding anniversary and my 20th birthday (we worked both days lol).
Our apartment lease ended at the end of January, we then spent the whole month of February in Japan. That brings us to March 1st, the day we hit the road and started full time by making our way to Arizona.
The best two weeks
& then Covid-19…
Excited and hopeful for what was in store, we left everything behind and began living our dream lifestyle. We had emergency contingencies plans in case something horrible happened, such as a loss of income, the van breaking down, suddenly needing to come back to Ohio, etc. However, no emergency contingency plan could've prepared us for the horrible pandemic that struck our world.
We had two weeks of total bliss. We visited a new national park for Jeremiah's birthday, hiked in Sedona everyday, met up with old van life friends and made new ones. Everyday I was working at coffee shops, showering at planet fitness, doing our dishes at friends houses, it was everything I imagined.
Then all the sudden, everything closed. I remember sitting in Starbucks doing work, and watching them put up the chairs onto the table's and tell customers their lobby was no longer open.
Everyone was being advised to stay at home, quarantine with their households and wait it out. Just one problem…
we didn't have a home.
I'm really thankful for some friends who put their own safety at risk in order to help us. Most notably, Courtney Wilson, Sara & Mitch's family, Bethany, & Emily & Noah.
We quarantined in nature from mid march to mid April by staying away from people as much as we could. BLM land in southern Utah was our favorite, but we also enjoyed driving up Idaho, seeing the national forests and using the natural hot springs to rinse off.
One night our friend Noah facetimed me to ask how we were doing. I told him it was 10 degrees outside, we had no heat in the van, and hadn't showered in over a week. He asked us to come to Kansas and stay with them in safety to wait things out. I'm still so thankful for this. Being able to properly quarantine in Kansas with a couple friends was such a blessing, and made the quarantine so much more fun! Emily and I even convinced our guys to binge the twilight movies with us. That was genuinely the most fun I've had all year, and definitely making a tradition out of this now (team Edward btw).
By the end of May we were back in Ohio, where aside from some small trips like Colorado and Michigan, we have been in Ohio ever since. Honestly, this has been very hard on me mentally. We didn't do the big hikes this year I dreamt of, or visit the national parks, or see a lot of our friends we have on the west coast. I especially miss California, as it's now been 15 months since my last visit.
Physically I did get really into working out. That mixed with the gluten allergy I developed, I've lost 25 pounds and am the healthiest I've been since high school.
The good amongst the bad.
Being an enneagram 3 (the achiever), it's not in my nature to take a step back and chill from activity. This year has taught me so much, and honestly changed me as a person. Here's some areas I've grown in this year:
More money does not = more happiness.
You can live a much fuller life working less.
Physical and spiritual health must come first.
Slowing down is okay.
Being forced outside your comfort zone is so hard, but it will facilitate such growth. For me, having almost nothing on my to do list this year was wayyy outside my comfort zone. But, I am a much better person for it. Because of these lessons I've learned, my goal is life is no longer to appear successful. It's no longer to work every weekend, have the most followers, money, success, etc. My goals going into 2021 is to be happy and healthy, and live life to the absolute fullest. Here's some things I am excited about 2021!
Ending 2020 and beginning a new year by doing an 18 mile hike with Bill and Traci!
Finally hiking El Capitan with Jeremiah in September.
Applying for Havasupai and Half Dome permits.
Rock climbing!
All 25 of our incredible couples for next year.
Even with the difficulties of this year, I honestly wouldn't change any of it. Thanks for reading our one year update!
