The Start of Van Life: How I Ended up Living in a Van

Leaving my First Mobile Dwelling…

 

I didn’t know that I would be transitioning into the van life but I was excited to put the past behind me to move on to better things!

What Happened?

I got a 24-foot 1983 Class C motorhome in 2014, my first mobile dwelling. The thought of doing this came to me the year before while visiting my parents in Italy. You can read about how I ended up wanting to live in a mobile dwelling and how I got the RV here. Basically, it was a book that rekindled the fire on the idea to be mobile dweller. When I was younger I would think about how it just made sense to have all your belongings in your home on wheels.

 

Life as a Full-Time RV’er

After leaving Virginia to go work for Amazons camper force I started full-timing on the road. During the time I was working for Amazon I was still doing things to the RV and getting accustomed to the lifestyle. It was the perfect size for me as a solo traveler. It just felt like a small apartment. Then I ran into troubles mechanically with the RV. It was an older one, 1983, so it still was carbureted. I don’t know much about cars but I definitely didn’t know anything about carburetors.

One day at work we were offered a thousand dollars to move to another Amazon facility two hours away in Indiana. Of course, I jumped on the opportunity! A few days before it was time for me to move up there I tried to start the RV and it would not start! You can read about that whole story in my post here.

Then..

Well, if you read that post you already know what happened next! I ended up trading the RV for a 1997 Chevy Suburban. The trip back to Virginia took WAY longer than it should have taken and we ran into complications. This didn’t even matter much to me because I was just happy to have all of my things with me. I was ready to start building on something new and finally was able to figure my life out at that point.

Saving up!

I took the job at the school I had worked at when I first gotten the RV again. I was now working as a kindergarten teacher assistant. The kindergarten classroom was full of between 19 and 21, five and six-year-olds. The teacher was actually my best friend so that helped a lot and we worked well together. It was definitely a very interesting year but I loved it. This also gave me the opportunity to get health benefits just always good. The pay is nowhere near what it needs to be. We all know that will teacher pay so we imagine a teachers assistant.

Even though the pay is nowhere near what it needs to be! I mean we all know that teachers pay is nothing, so imagine what a teacher’s assistant gets! This did give me the opportunity to get health benefits which is always good. I was able to get my eye exam and glasses, as well as, a check up at the Dr. I was living below poverty level but with itching feet to get back on the road I made things happen! The plan was to get a pool behind and use the suburban trailer. Ultimately I think it is still one of my goals is to get it will behind but things changed once again. The Suburban transmission would not go into reverse one day after leaving a friends house. So I was left with happy choices. One I did not have the money to get a new transmission Ortega to put it on, We just talked about how his property. So I thought what’s there to lose an just posted on craigslist with my $450 Dodge Stratus I have been pulling behind RV. Two for one deal to see if there’s anything out there if anybody wanted this is the project. Or just sit and save up until I could afford any transmission. The Silver lining in this was that. So That allowed me the ability to walk to work so that I could save money. But the craigslist offer went through.

The Suburban transmission would not go into reverse one day after leaving a friends house. So I was left with happy choices. One I did not have the money to get a new transmission Ortega to put it on, We just talked about how his property. So I thought what’s there to lose an just posted on craigslist with my $450 Dodge Stratus I have been pulling behind RV. Two for one deal to see if there’s anything out there if anybody wanted this is the project. Or just sit and save up until I could afford any transmission. The Silver lining in this was that. So That allowed me the ability to walk to work so that I could save money. But the craigslist offer went through.

The Plan

The plan was to use the Suburban and get a pull behind to live in (Ultimately, I think it is still one of my goals). The way life had it, it did not go as planned! The Suburban’s transmission would not go into reverse one day after leaving a friends house. I was left with only two choices. One, I did not have the money to get a new transmission or to get it put it on, but I could have saved up for this. Two, see if someone wanted it and just trade them for something else.

So I thought, what’s was there to lose? A few days later I posted it on craigslist with my $450 Dodge Stratus I had been pulling behind my RV. It was a two for one deal and I was just trying to see if there’s anything out there. The Silver lining in this was that I lived only about 5 miles from my job so that allowed me the ability to walk to work and still be able to save money.

Then, the craigslist offer went through!

The Start of Van Life for Me!

I had seen and heard about van dwelling before, and like I said when I went to Italy the first time I was reading a book about a van dweller which gave me inspiration. The thought of me living in a van as an option did not happen until this all happen with the suburban. I was even preparing to fix the suburban if the trade didn’t go through. So, I was planning on living in a small space either way just to get back on the road asap.

When I posted the two-for-one deal I knew then it was my opportunity to get something with more headroom so I wanted a van. I was just going to try it out and see how it works because if anything I could still save up for pull behind trailer.

About three or four days later a guy hit me up about trading my Suburban and Dodge Stratus for a 1994 Chevy conversion van. I remember seeing conversion vans around town but usually, it was older guys driving them. After seeing it in person and really having no other choices I pulled the trigger and we traded our vehicles.

Hello Dora!

The guy came and picked up the Suburban and Dodge Stratus then dropped off the van. This was the start to me being a van dweller! So here I am in my converted DIY camper van that I built about 85% on my own. With no previous knowledge of building inside of a vehicle, this was a big project to take on but I enjoyed it.

If you want to check out my build videos you can go to my YouTube channel here. I have a few playlist for different van adventures, van build, and just vlogs on living this lifestyle.

Do you have a van you are converting or living in? Leave a photo below of it or just let us know what kind it is!