After watching vanlife videos nonstop during the two-year pandemic lockdown, I made the leap in the summer of 2022 and bought my own van, a 2007 Ford E250. The van was a cargo van and a little rough around the edges, but once I removed the metal shelves and cleaned up all the scratches I ended up with a blank canvas to start my own “vanlife” project.

Things got off to a slow start but by the beginning of 2023 I began painting, building, repairing, and spending money in earnest. The build, which I assumed would only take a month or two, has been ongoing for roughly a year and a half now. As a “weekend warrior,” there were weeks (and sometimes months) when I didn’t do anything to the van. It took me a while to get started, but slowly I began converting the van. This past year I built a bed and a cabinet and installed a temporary Ikea table that’s working for the time being. I installed rotating bases for the front seats (which I have never used), a MaxxAir fan (which I use all the time), and a few other things. I bought lots of vanlife accessories, some of which I use all the time like my puck lights, extension cord, and charging batteries, and some I haven’t installed quite yet like my water system and refrigerator.

This year I also jumped into social media with both feet. I ended up with nearly 3,000 followers on Instagram, did my best to keep my Twitter and Facebook accounts updated, and created several YouTube videos. Also, I set up one of those handy Links pages that are all the rage so people can find all my social media accounts. I’ve just begun to hit my stride on YouTube and I’m hoping an audience will eventually find me there, but even if they don’t, shooting, editing, and posting videos has been a lot of fun. I also dabbled with setting up target=”_blank”>Amazon affiliate links and a few other methods of making a return on this hobby, although if I never made a cent off it, I’d be okay with that, too. Eventually I hope to get my YouTube channel monetized. If I could make enough money to cover my gas bill, I’d be happy.

I set a goal of getting a solar generator or eBike mailed to me to review, and while my YouTube hasn’t grown to quite that level yet, I did receive a CarPlay/DVR device from Sjoybring which I reviewed and have a foldable solar panel on the way from Allpowers. I am hoping that those reviews will lead to even more product partnerships in 2024.

Over the past few months I have camped in my driveway, across from a sushi restaurant, in a courthouse parking lot, where my old hometown movie theater used to be, and next to a dinosaur near Route 66. These stealth camps, and creating the videos to go with them, have come to closest to doing what I had in mind when I first bought my van. I plan on making a few more modifications to the van and going on some adventures further from home in the spring.

In one of my videos I struggled with figuring out where I fit in the overall “vanlife” movement and I’m still trying to figure that out. I’m not a full-timer (don’t want to be and never will be) and some of the things I’ve done (like using a microwave) don’t align with what a lot of other vanlifers do. The more I travel down this road (figuratively and literally) I’ll continue to figure out how I fit into all of this, if I even do. If you say I’m doing vanlife wrong I have to disagree — I think anybody can do whatever they want to do and call it vanlife — but if you say I’m doing it differently than other people, I wholeheartedly agree. I’m marching to my own drum over here and not really looking to join a band.

I’m weird. Wanting to sleep in a van when I own a wonderful home is weird. All of this is weird. I know, I get it. For those of you who made it this far, thanks for joining me on this weird journey. Here’s hoping that 2024 brings us all happiness, safety, and most of all, more weirdness. Happy holidays!

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