Vansplaining
Q&A for 150 days on the road (so far!)
This post is a peek behind the curtain of what vanlife is like for me, some soul-searching, and reflections about the life on the road. It's also pretty long, fair warning. But there are lots of pretty pictures to help move it along.
I have been on this vanlife trip for 150 days.
5 months.
This blog post has been percolating since month 3 / 100 days, and I kept failing to find time to do it. But if I don’t get it written and posted now, it could be until I get home before it’s done!
Five months… it doesn’t feel real, at least conceptually.
How have I been living in a van and driving all over the country for 5 months?
At the same time, it feels like I’ve had 5 years worth of experiences. In my life before this I might have taken one or two trips a year, for a week at a time. Go to a place, try to squeeze everything in, and come home.
So far I’ve had 20+ weeks on the road, every one of them full to the brim of new experiences.
Back at the beginning of June it felt surreal to have been traveling for one month. Now I that I have significantly more time behind me than ahead I’m reflecting on what I’ve done and where I’ve been. But before I get into all that, I’ll do a little recap.
This vanlife adventure has been in my head for 5 years. Back in the fall of 2020 during the pandemic I spent 2 months working remotely in Moab, Utah - visiting Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and exploring the natural wonders around Moab. At the time there were a lot of van dwellers and RVers in the area. I think COVID was a hot time to buy a van and get away. I saw the appeal and was contemplating how I might do something like that. Analyzing all the RVs for what I thought would suit me best.
It started out as just a daydream, but the more I rolled the idea around the more enticing it was. Finally about 2 years ago I decided that it would transition from ‘idea’ to ‘real intent.’ I was going to leave my job and do vanlife.
That manifested into reality last year when I left the corporate world behind, bought the van I’d been daydreaming about, and set out on my adventure at the beginning of May.
The trip so far by the numbers:
Travelled 18,000 miles in 150 days. That averages to 850 miles a week.
Took more than 10,000 pictures, an average of 67 photos a day. Filling up a 4 TB hard drive!
Visited 11 states*, 16 US National Parks, and 3 Canadian National Parks. Visited 20 friends along the way, had 6 friends come to visit me.
Saw 5 movies in theaters. Went to 3 concerts.
* I'm not counting the states I drove through from Ohio to Louisiana, since I didn't really visit them. Except Kentucky, where I stopped to see Mammoth Cave National Park.
Also, the only new state I visited on the trip so far is New Mexico.
Below: Some pics of the road, from the road.
Now, on to the Q&A!
Some stuff about the van itself, then into the more interesting Q&A!
Can you give an overview of how the van works and the amenities?
Sure! The van is thought of in two parts, the vehicle and the home. The vehicle is a Ford Transit 350 HD (heavy duty), with a V6 ecoboost turbo. It’s 22’ long, and gets 14 MPG on regular unleaded gas.
The living space is done by a company called Coachman and it’s built right into the cargo space of the Transit.
It has a kitchen with a sink, microwave, refrigerator, and induction cooktop.
A bathroom with a normal flush toilet, shower and sink. I have AC, heat and hot water.
In the back are two benches that can slide together to make approximately a queen size bed. I have it set up to sleep on half that, and keep the other side as a bench. The bed is super comfortable and I’m really happy with the setup.
The van has a large lithium ion battery that powers the house electronics like the fridge and the house lights. There’s a normal car battery for the starter and the vehicle stuff.
The lithium house battery is charged multiple ways: passively, the van has a heavy duty alternator that charges while I drive, and there are two 100 watt solar panels on the roof. I can also charge the battery from the built in generator that runs off there fuel from the gas tank, and I can plug the van into external power (called ‘shore power’.) In normal use, with sunny days and average driving, the van has enough power for day to day usage indefinitely - refrigerator, lights, ventilation fan, and water pump. If I want to use the stovetop or the microwave a bunch, or if I’m not driving a lot, the battery will deplete in about a week.
There’s a 30 gallon freshwater tank, and the gray water and black water tanks are 15 gal each. 30 gallons of fresh water lasts a lot longer than I expected. I’ve only run dry once. I’ve never overfilled the black tank, but have overfilled gray tank twice. It was a non issue, a little water came up in the bathroom floor drain.
The shower is usable but very cramped. Most of the time I’ll use the sprayer sparingly, clean with a washcloth and rinse off. If I’m connected to external water I can take a “real shower.” But even then the hot water heater in the van only has enough for a couple minutes.
There is an air conditioner in the house portion, but it can only run if I’m on shore power or the generator is running.
Similarly I can only use the induction stove for about 5 minutes and the microwave for 2 minutes at a time on battery power before the system angrily beeps at me. Any longer and I have to turn on the generator. Which isn’t a big deal, it’s pretty efficient. I’ve run it for two hours and it used less than half a gallon of gas.
How did you pick your route? Was it planned or off the cuff?
The intent of the trip was to have a mix of visiting friends and places all over the country. I have a strange way of meeting people and making new friends. That paid off when I started reaching out to friends all over the country to visit. In addition to that, I’ve had a number of people come out and meet up with me along the way.
There were a bunch of places I wanted to visit, like New Orleans, Seattle, and Colorado Springs. And a few events I wanted to attend, like a regional burning man in southern Colorado, a music fest near Calgary, and the Albuquerque balloon festival.
Plotting out people, places, and events, the broad strokes naturally came together. Then I filled in the gaps with as many national parks as I could manage and looked for other events and places along the way.
How much driving do you do in a day?
Before the trip started I decided that I didn’t want to drive more than about 4 or 5 hours a day. I planned out my route based on that. Four hours gives me enough time not to feel rushed, and I can stop along the way to check out places and take pictures. Another benefit is that if something comes up and I have to get somewhere faster, I can double up on driving and do 8-9 hours.
Some days have been longer by necessity and I’ve had to drive 10 hours. Other times I’ll stay in an area for several days and barely drive at all.
Would you post a map of the road travelled?
Good suggestion! I’ve visited too many places to list, or to do a detailed map, but this is the high level route.
I plotted out the route in my trip planner and posted below. Ignore the numbers.
What does a normal day look like?
Usually I’ll wake up at first light. The van gets really warm as soon as the sun hits it, y’know, being a giant black hotbox. I’ll make coffee and get set about my day. Sometimes I’ll sit and chill for a bit before heading out somewhere. Other times I’ll get right into the driver’s seat and go. Depends where I’m parked and what’s on the agenda for the day.
Most days I have something planned: Visit a park, do a hike, photograph sunrise or sunset, meet up with someone for a meal. It’s rare to have a day with no agenda, and I’ve never had a day with nothing to do. If I have a ‘free’ day I’ll usually do laundry, grocery shop, edit photos, catch up on journaling, and do route planning. Sometimes I’ll see a movie or find live music somewhere.
All day running in the back of my mind I’m figuring out where I’m going to park for the night, planning out the specifics of the next few days, and plotting the broad strokes for the next few weeks.
In the evening I’ll head to my spot for the night. Sometimes I have to kill time elsewhere before I can park. When I park for the night I try to find a spot that will be in the shade when the sun comes up, and I try to point the van due east, if I can. Then I put the sunshade in the front window. If the rear of the van or the driver’s side is facing east I start to bake as soon as the sun comes up.
Once I’m parked I’ll spend some time taking care of a few things:
transfer the day's photos from the camera to the computer, jot down thoughts for the daily ‘Good, Bad, and Unexpected’, catch up on photo editing. Rarely, if I have time, I might watch an episode of something on my iPad.
How do you make coffee in the van?
I make coffee using a moka pot on the induction stove. I’m constantly happy to have a stove and a fridge for things like this. When I bought the van the dealer told me the induction stove would only work if the generator was on because it’s a high power draw. For months I struggled with starting the generator in the morning when it was cold, just to make coffee. Then a friend told me I didn’t need to have the gen running - I tried it and it works! The coffee brews in about 4 minutes, it’s great! On days I don’t feel like making coffee, or don’t have time, I have a caffeinated sports drink powder that I’ll mix in a bottle of water. Sometimes I’ll have that in addition to a cup of coffee to ‘pre-hydrate’ for a hike or a hot day.
How hard is it to find somewhere to park overnight?
Not as difficult as I expected. I try to find spots in nature to park, usually on BLM land (bureau of land management) or off the side of rural roads. But I have fallbacks like Cracker Barrel and Bass Pro Shops in case I can’t find anything. One time I was in an area that I didn’t know and couldn’t find anything, I went into an outdoors shop and asked a guy working there, he gave me a great spot.
What do you miss from home?
Not bumping my head on everything.
The ease of washing dishes.
Looong, hot showers.
Wifi
And my friends.
What do you not miss from home?
The daily doldrums, the sameness of every day. Puttering around and then realizing most of the day is gone.
Daydreaming of places I want to go.
Counting days until vanlife, worried something will come up that would force me to cancel the whole endeavor.
Traffic on I-76.
What has been the most challenging thing about van life thus far?
This was a tough one to answer. Honestly, so few things have been challenging.
But to answer the question, time management has been more challenging than I expected.
“But Aaron, you’re on vacation, you have all the time!”
Have you ever gotten back from vacation and feel like you need another week off to catch up on things? Imagine how it feels after 5 months.
I really expected to have more down time to edit photos, write blogs, send postcards, and keep in touch with people. I thought I’d be doing stuff during the day and then catching up on other stuff in the evenings. But I’m finding myself filling every minute: photographing sunsets, driving long hours to my next destination, general life stuff: laundry, cleaning the van, meals, route planning, etc. And the blog is taking so much more time than I expected. Editing photos, writing the journals, and posting the entries takes on average 15 hours per blog.
I also thought I’d have more time to talk to people on the phone. But since I’ve started taking back roads instead of highways I haven’t had reliable cell service while driving. And in the evenings when I could have time to chat the time difference gets in the way.
What was the most amazing place you have seen on your adventure?
I tend to shy away from “favorite” “best” “most” as I’ve found so many amazing places that are so vastly different from each other! How can anyone compare the otherworldly landscape of Yellowstone’s thermal features to the lush sweeping vistas of Rocky Mountain National Park?
But for sheer ‘wow’ factor, I will tip my hat to Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier NP. At every turn, at every change of the light, I was saying “oh, wow” out loud.
At Banff NP in Canada I marveled at how such rich colors exist in nature.
One morning standing on Cannon Beach in Oregon I was overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of the place.
I was also surprised by Bombay Beach, CA, on the Salton Sea. It’s an artist community where the whole tiny town is one big, living, art installation.
Driving up the scenic highway in Arizona into Sedona I was surprised and stunned by how magnificent it was. I actually wondered ‘why don’t more people know about this / talk about this place??’
What has this taught you that you will use for the rest of your life?
Never underestimate a place. There is so much to see and experience everywhere I’ve gone.
I thought I wouldn’t be interested in Mammoth Caves and Carlsbad Caverns and I was grossly mistaken. Every little town I’ve passed through has had it’s own charm, every place has interesting restaurants, and every person has a story to tell. There’s gold everywhere. Some places like Sedona, AZ and Colorado Springs it’s plainly apparent. Other places like Salton Sea, CA or Truth-or-Consequences, NM you have to look a little more closely.
I don’t know if this trip has taught me this, but I’m continuously surprised and delighted that I’ve maintained my sense of wonder. Having seen so much, yet still being able to have my breath taken away. Turning a bend in the road and saying ‘wow’ out loud to myself. Being able to stand in a place and just take it in, recognizing and being grateful for how fortunate I am.
I also know from my cross-country bike trip that some of the bigger lessons and take-aways will take time and reflection to realize.
Random acts of kindness on the trip thus far?
I went to the movies in Santa Fe, NM and saw Mission Impossible 8. The theater was tiny, maybe 50 seats. I was all the way in the back-right corner by myself. A guy, his wife, and his mother-in-law sat down next to me. In a fashion that totally matched my own energy, the guy said hi and offered me some of the mixed chocolate bar minis they had snuck in. I was going to say ‘no thank you’ in the way people do when they think they’re being polite. But I also know if I was offering it would warm my heart if someone accepted, so I took a mini kit-kat because I do love kit-kats. After that he offered me a few more pieces and I took a heath bar (been forever since I had one of those), a snickers and another kit-kat. We struck up conversation. I make a joke about how if it’s really an “impossible” mission, how are they up to number 8? Shouldn’t it be “very difficult, but ultimately possible, mission.”
In the course of conversation it comes up “are you from around here, or visiting?” And I mention that I’m doing van-living. He’s excited about that and asks a bunch of questions.
After the movie the guy asks if I have a blog or IG, and I give him my card. He shakes my hand and slides me a $50! “Treat yourself to something nice” he says, “and safe travels.” I don’t look at the bill, just put it in my pocket and give a heartfelt thanks. Later, when I’m back at my van, I take a look, and I get a bit choked up. A random stranger thought my story, thought I, was interesting enough that he wanted to do this nice thing for me.
The very next morning I wake up on the outskirts of Santa Fe to discover that my van’s generator is broken and go through a whole saga to get it fixed. That afternoon as the very beginning of the saga unfolded, a young man at a small muffler shop put a Herculean effort into trying to fix the generator’s muffler, but couldn’t. I was going to come back the next day for him to try something else. I tipped him the $50 that the stranger had given me the night before.
It felt like kismet.
Do you have a favorite moment, place, and picture thus far from this trip?
Driving Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park the first time. It took me 3 hours to drive 24 miles to the top, I stopped so often to pull over and take pictures, to take little hikes, or just drove slowly to take in the majestic views.
Standing on the field at the Albuquerque Balloon Festival and watching the sky fill with colorful balloons. Looking around and seeing color floating in every direction, being immersed in it.
Running the kitchen on the last night of Apogaea regional burn. Helping get all the food cooked, managing the crowd, working with the other people in the kitchen. This was immensely rewarding.
Staying out all night at Mt. Rainier national park photographing the perseid meteor shower. Meeting new photographer friends and getting to see and photograph a huge fireball right over the mountain.
Sunset at White Sands National Park.
Hiking up the dunes at Great Sand Dunes National Park and meeting a woman visiting from France. Climbing together, enjoying the company, and encouraging each other on to the top.
Taking 7 hours to do the ‘one hour’ drive from San Francisco to Santa Cruz, stopping at every opportunity to enjoy the views.
Driving from Taos NM into southern Colorado and being moved to tears by the beauty of the mountains.
What did you bring that you thought was going to be important but you haven't touched once?
There’s a smattering of clothes I brought and haven’t worn at all. A couple lenses for my 35mm film camera I haven’t touched. Three backup battery packs I haven’t used. There’s a large backpack that is just taking up valuable storage space. I brought ‘nice’ dishes and bowls, but mainly only use the same single plastic plate and bowl all the time.
The RV had a tiny TV in the back, I swapped it out for my 24” computer monitor, thinking I’d use it with the computer to edit photos (like I do at home), but I haven’t connected it once. Occasionally I’ll plug the iPad in and watch a streaming show.
Along the same lines, I brought a bluetooth keyboard and trackpad, also for photo editing, that I don't use at all.
I got a high-powered flashlight at Costco that I thought was kinda cool. I haven't turned it on once, using my headlamp most of the time.
Oh, and condoms. *shrug*
And, the opposite... What did you bring that's been surprisingly more useful than expected?
Literally on my way out of the house in May it was a little chilly and I grabbed a lightweight jacket. I’ve used that a ton.
The Moka Pot. I thought maybe I’d make coffee once in a while, but I’ve used more days than not.
I didn't really think much of it when I packed my AirPods, but I use those all the time. Driving, listen to music to sleep, audiobooks and podcasts. I'd like to get the new AirPods Pro 3 that just came out, but I have more important expenses at the moment.
I grabbed a bunch of small storage bins (that I use for photos at art fairs). I didn't know what I'd use them for when I packed them, but knew they'd be handy. Those have been really useful. I keep one on the passenger seat for stuff that I don't want spilling off the seat, like charger cables, sunglasses, snacks, and maps.
Not quite specifically this question, but I pre-packed a whole bunch of things: paper towels, toilet paper, and laundry detergent. Enough for the whole trip, and it turns out I got pretty close to exactly the amount I needed.
Why not just buy that stuff on the road?
I had already purchased all of those things and decided I should use what I have rather than buy it again on the road. Plus I liked the logistical challenge of pre-planning quantities.
Is there anything you forgot or something you discovered you needed?
I bought a few more pairs of socks and underwear. A long sleeve, lightweight sun shirt.
Somehow I only brought 1 pillowcase (even though I brought 2 pillows!) I’ve been using a super soft t-shirt for a second pillowcase. I bought a mini iPhone tripod to use for the instagram videos that I was very good about recording regularly for about 3 months.
There's a thing to pour into the toilet for the RV septic that helps reduce odors, I picked up some of that along the way.
A hat I got at Rocky Mountain NP has turned into my favorite hat on the trip.
I don't have any photos related to these questions, so here are some cute animals.
How many times have you already thought, I could live here forever?
Kinda none. IDK that I want to be anywhere forever. But there are plenty of places I’ve thought “I’d really like a spend a season here, or a year.” Jackson, WY I’d love to be a photography guide for a season or two. I could spend a whole year in Yellowstone, that would be amazing. I spent a month in New Mexico and that was enough, but a month in Colorado and California barely scratched the surface.
Has there been any place you have visited so far that you thought you might like to live there?
Variation of the same question above that I’ll dive a little deeper into.
Thanks to my extensive travel and now the vanlife, I don’t feel tied to or anchored to one place, and that’s very freeing. The idea of relocating someplace doesn’t hold a lot of draw because I can go anywhere, everywhere.
When I did my cross-country bike trip 10 years ago, I was constantly on the lookout for places that fit “could I move here?”
Reflecting back on that, I think at the time it was about looking for a place to start over - somewhere I could reinvent myself, find new things and a different life.
In recent years, and culminating with this trip, I’ve managed to reinvent myself in a way that is both new and exciting, but also true to who I am and have always been.
“I pretended to be the person I wanted to be, until eventually I became him, or he became me,” A slight paraphrase of Cary Grant’s famous quote. (Although I was introduced to it in recent Star Trek, the quote was used in ST: Picard and ST: Strange New Worlds.)
Most of my hobbies and activities I can do anywhere, but the most important thing is I’ve cultivated a great group of friends and “chosen family”.
The flip side to cultivating great friends has been learning to let go of people and groups that were not properly feeding my soul. Those things together have made me very happy with the roots I’ve set down.
Also: Sedona. I could totally live in Sedona.
What’s next?
Isn’t this enough?
On this trip, I’m heading to San Diego for the southern cali regional burn (like the one I went to in Colorado in June.) After that I’m going to Las Vegas for a week long photography workshop. From there, take November to slowly make my way back to Philly. Getting back some time in early December.
After that, I’m not sure. Long term goals revolve around doing photography professionally in some capacity, but I don’t know what that looks like yet. It’ll likely continue to include travel and/or adventure.
Some things I’m considering: Setting up my own photo studio and gallery. Running ‘Adventure Travel’ workshops doing things like leading people on hikes and teaching them photography in the field. Traveling around doing art fairs, similar to what I already do in the Philly area, but more nationally.
What’s the best recipe you’ve cooked so far?
A lot of the cooking I do in the van is more on the practical side than the culinary side. I have very little space for preparation, and doing dishes is difficult with limited water and space. Still, I’ve made a couple things I was happy with; Zatarans boxed jambalaya mix with precooked chicken, sausage and some veggies to make a nice one-pot meal. I pat myself on the back for making a very good banana bread in a pot on the stovetop. I was also happy with grits and a fried egg on top. Otherwise, unfortunately I don’t cook as much as I thought I would.
I still have aspirations to make pan seared salmon with rice. I’ll have to make a point to do that soon.
Which gas station bathroom uses the best T.P. ?
I haven’t really been paying attention to that detail. A lot of the major chains have nicely clean bathrooms, like Buc-Ee’s and Love’s. Also Lowe’s and Home Depot have large and nicely clean bathrooms in the mornings. Of course this varies location to location.
What are your thoughts on the new Taylor Swift album?
Life of a Showgirl had a distinctly different vibe than The Tortured Poets Department, likely from her (re)collaboration with producers Max Martin and Shellback. This is apparent in the lighter and more pop centric tracks, and it’s not as lyrically deep as she typically has been, especially compared to TPD.
The album might have benefited from a little more time in development, not just to develop the songs more but also between the Eras tour and TPD, we’re getting a little bit of Swifty over-saturation. On the other hand, even a mediocre Swift album is still above average for the genre and it does have some catchy tunes.
PS, I wrote this myself, no AI or GPT.
What’s something you’ll never do?
Give you up.
Let you down.
Run around.
Make you cry.
Say goodbye.
Tell a lie.
and hurt you.
And Lastly
Are you lonely on the road by yourself?
I'm not by myself...
I love you all for reading this far and following my journey, thank you!
Lastly, a huge thank you to the friends back home who are helping make this possible,
and all the people along the way who have supported me and my dreams.
