Four Months of Van Life

We had so much fun in the van life phase of our year of travel. We left Seattle on March 1^st and returned on July 8^th. Over those four months, we drove 20,000 miles, traveled through 34 states, visited 15 national parks, and learned that we don’t need much space or stuff to enjoy ourselves.

Having the freedom to wake up and decide where to go and what to do was a feeling that I don’t think either one of us has truly had before. We had no timeline, no places we had to be and nobody other than ourselves to worry about. My personality is the type to always have a plan, so this adjustment and learning was huge for me whereas Mike’s personality was more prepared for this type of trip. It was cool to see how we both reacted and adjusted to a completely new scenario and being in new, unknown situations almost every day of our trip.

Mike was the anchor of the road trip, without a doubt. Of the four months in the van, I drove three times total, and Mike drove the rest. He would wake up early each morning, get the coffee going, clean up the van and get everything ready to set out on our travel for the day. He was the one to refill the water jugs, set up the shower when we used it, empty the toilet, reseal the ceiling fans, fill up the propane and most importantly, pump the gas.

One thing that surprised us was that we never felt like the van was too small. Early on, I think we subconsciously learned the best ways to stay out of each other’s way and realized that we had to operate as a team for the most efficiency in there. We got lucky with weather most of the time too which meant that wherever we were camping was an extension of our living area for the day. We were actually excited for the off day where it was raining and we could have a cozy van day with the Netflix we had downloaded on our laptop.

Here are some of the most common questions we’ve been asked since we’ve been home.

What was your favorite place?

Our favorite National Parks were Bryce and Zion; both in Utah. If you’ve never been, put those on your list! Our favorite city was New Orleans. It has everything: culture/history, architecture, food, music, and partying.

What was your favorite state?

We loved Maine! Great food, Acadia National Park was beautiful, and Portland was really fun. It reminded us of the Pacific Northwest.

What was your favorite meal?

This was a hard question because we pretty much ate our way across the country but some of the top meals were a crawfish boil in New Orleans, bagels in New York, tacos in Austin, and a muffuletta in Galveston.

Which place were you most surprised by?

Oklahoma City. So many cute neighborhoods, a canal through the city, fun bars, and good, inexpensive food!

What kind of food did you make in the van?

We kept it basic most of the time. Pasta, tacos, fajitas, gyros, eggs, cereal, yogurt & granola, and a whole lot of sandwiches. Plus, we always kept our car snacks stocked for driving.

We loved our time with Big Deb (the van) and hope to get another van in the future. We saw so many places we would have never seen otherwise and made countless memories. We were fortunate enough to sell the van right when we got back to Washington and now, we’re off to Europe tomorrow for the next chapter in this year of adventure.