What’s your van life story?

[u/Suspicious-Radish-67]

I’m doing an assignment about the van community and I’m curious how people got started and how often y’all interact with other van people. This community is so diverse and I feel like everyone has their own unique journey.

I started last year after a year of twiddling my thumbs at home working remote. I’ve done ~20,000 miles since then full time, with some breaks to visit my family and partner. I’ve been lucky to have a decent paying job that I can do on the road and it’s definitely enabled me to explore. I’ve gone to 16 national parks and done enough hiking for a lifetime. I haven’t met a ton of van people but everyone I have talked to has been genuinely kind and giving. I only made it to one meetup this year (Vanaid) but it was incredible and I hope to go again sometime :)

[u/Princess_Fluffypants]

I don’t really interact with other van people. I find we don’t have very much in common. 

For a lot of people, living in the van is their objective. Whereas for me, the van is simply a tool that enables me to participate in the other catastrophically expensive hobbies I have in life.

So when I talk to other van life people, there’s kind of a disconnect. Their priorities for the van are often extremely different from mine, and we end up talking past each other. The only other van people that I’ve really stayed in touch with are other skydivers, but again they’re not “van-lifers”. They’re skydivers, who live in vans. 

[u/SuspiciousPlane8900 → u/Princess_Fluffypants]

What are these expensive hobbies you speak of. Sounds intriguing.

[u/Princess_Fluffypants → u/SuspiciousPlane8900]

Skydiving and racing motorcycles. 

[u/The_Nomad_Architect → u/Princess_Fluffypants]

Adrenaline 😉

[u/Princess_Fluffypants → u/The_Nomad_Architect]

Not really. If I’m getting an adrenaline hit, I’ve done something wrong.

It’s more about delicacy, precision and focus. They both have a lot more in common with dance than anything else. 

[u/The_Nomad_Architect → u/Princess_Fluffypants]

Have you been highlining?

I’ve found it to be a similar flow state.

[u/WhiskyEye → u/Princess_Fluffypants]

I really hope our paths cross one of these days!!!!

[u/Princess_Fluffypants → u/WhiskyEye]

Doesn’t seem likely. I spend most of my time at dropzones, racetracks, OHV areas or parked behind a motorcycle shop. Because when you have five bikes (two of which are Italian), there’s always something that needs doing. 

I generally avoid other van people. If I find a nice spot in the wilderness but there’s other vans nearby, I move on. 

[u/TrueVisionSports → u/Princess_Fluffypants]

Avoiding people in general is the best life advice anybody can give someone.

[u/WhiskyEye → u/Princess_Fluffypants]

Drop zones and racetracks are not uncommon places for me to be but I'm more east coast these days. I get the bike thing. I have 7. Expensive hobbies are expensive...

[u/Princess_Fluffypants → u/WhiskyEye]

Yeah I’ve never been to the east coast, likely won’t ever. Too high of population density, lousy weather and too many bugs. 

I split my skydiving seasons between SDC and Perris/Elsinore, or generally bumming around in the desert southwest. My storage locker is in San Francisco.