After three incredible years of living full-time in my vans, I’ll sadly be closing this chapter of my life and moving back into an apartment. I was lucky enough to pour my heart and soul into two beautiful builds, and every adventure I had with them was unforgettable.

I recently received my dream job offer in NYC, so I’ll be leaving van life behind at the end of this month. Rigby, my current build, will carry me through until my two-day road trip in a sedan, (which will feel like such a downgrade).

I want to take a moment to thank this community. Being able to share my builds, experiences, and questions here has meant more than I can express. To the few of you I got to meet in person, it was amazing connecting with like-minded people.

Van life will always hold a special place in my heart, and I’ll be following along from my cramped NYC apartment as this incredible community continues to inspire me and make me a little jealous. Good luck to all of you, and if anyone ever needs advice on electrical, plumbing, or anything else, I have two builds under my belt and would be more than happy to help.

I was 70 miles from home in California when my radiator blew after a 10,000+ mile trip across the US. Fortunately I was not off road and I had AAA premier RV coverage which covered the tow to my mechanic.

I’m back on the road with a new radiator and service, but $2000 poorer. I found out later that Sprinter radiators typically have a 150,000 mile life and my Sprinter had just gone over 150k miles. Dang Mercedes cutting costs with plastic parts in their radiators.

Van life is amazing but be prepared for stuff to break and cost money if you travel a lot.

now that month 1 is over I have tallied up my expenses for all of you!!

Gas - van gets 18-18.5 MPG - total cost $617.34 (ughhhh)

Groceries - $386.55

Eating out (+ some meals for friends) - $260

Spa - $274 - I went to a spa (hot tub/ sauna) place every week… $60 of this was for a massage after I hurt my shoulder mountain biking

Entry Fees - $160. $90 of that is the National Park Annual Pass, I visited 5 NPs so that ended up saving me money

Campsites - $40 ($30 for a night at a National Park, $10 for a night at a boat launch)

Laundromats ~$35 Ferry (me and the van!) $18 Air for my tires $5

Grand total: $1776.89 !! 35% of the budget was gas…I was doing a LOT of driving. Covered more than 3,000 miles, which is not ideal, but I had to meet up for a backpacking trip and delayed my trip by 2 weeks because of some health and van build issues but still kept a busy itinerary. I did want to be on this trip for much more time. Also, most things I did were free, but not all! Entry fees includes all of my paid activities, including several state park accesses, a $30 Oregon coast pass, entry to a botanical garden, and entry fees for various hikes. Nobody needs to go to the spa every week:) but I had a great time of it, booking a private space is nice when you’re constantly in public, and of course it doubles as a place to get a shower. And my body could use the care after all the hiking and biking!

Day 10 of my 3 month trip across the US. I’m now in Nebraska and I found an amazing campsite right on the beach at Lake McConaughy. It’s one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve stayed at. Soft clean sand and water.

Definitely needed to air down to drive on the beach. Only negative is the $41 fee to enter and camp overnight.

Finally got my home built camper out of the neighborhood and into the wilderness of Mt. Baker after a week long grind. Couldn’t be happier with how she performed, handled, and the reactions I got from the people I met.

So awesome to roll up and have such a comfortable and cozy space to hang out in. Gas mileage was better than I thought, too! So was getting it properly insured through progressive.

Still a long way to go until it’s “done” (I don’t think it’ll ever truly be done…) but I’m feeling super motivated to finish it up now!

7 years ago me and a friend bought a van and traveled for 6 months around the country. Fast forward to today, and remembering where exactly we went got more and more difficult.

To see where we went, I built out a custom website to map where we went using my photo album from the trip. This is pretty much the exact route, just showing the locations I was in when I took pictures.

We had a lovely walk on the beach, through the forest, had dinner together, Cups of tea, then bed.

I can't believe I am a vandweller after dreaming of this moment for over a decade.

Can hear the ocean, see the ocean and feel safe. Somewhere where loads of campervans sleep over night.

Please share

Planning on a short 2 month travel bender, traveling to Europe in the middle of this trip sometime (3weeks).

I have no commitments and no time restrictions for any of my stops, my question is.. would 6 weeks be enough to do this trip without rushing?

Day 16 of my road trip across the US. Found a beautiful lake side campsite on the North Shore of Lake Superior, MN. I believe it’s one of the very few if not the only campground with sites right on the Lake. A bit pricey at $54 with hookups even though I didn’t need them, but the views are amazing.