Living on the road; glamorous from a comfy couch while scrolling through Instagram, but what is it really like?
Well I can honestly tell you what it’s like, because I have been playing with the same idea of #vanlife compared to a stationary life in a house or apartment. Especially recently because of this whole transition from working in an office to working from home; why not take it to the road? However, that thought or idea continues on to a bigger dilemma of breaking away from the 9-5 work routine and actually pursue a life that differentiates from the status-quo society tells us to obtain instead.

So where did this all start for me, where did the idea of #vanlife first enter my brain and dreams? Well, like many people who pursue change, it was after a heart-breaking end of a relationship. In that relationship, the other person lived a life on the road, living out of their small car and not being tied down to a single place or point which gave them the sense or life of freedom. Which sounded amazing and completely different than where I currently was at the time. Growing up I moved a lot because of my father and change in that way was not foreign to me, so observing someone else actually do it was pretty attractive to me as a lifestyle. Then there was a hidden problem; that I still to this day need to solve, that is working a desk job.

I found that my center of who I am is travel, meeting people, and growing as a person. Vanlife, travel, away from the desk, perhaps making money in my own way instead of a typical job; I get it, let’s start down this path of “nomad” living.

Where am I at now with all of this? A year ago; following the aftermath of that relationship, I had to prove to myself I could live on the road; because that someone in my past did not believe I had what it took to live on the road and everything that comes with that. With that de-validation; I outfitted my Subaru with the gear needed to travel comfortably and live like a vagabond essentially for a couple weeks. August 2020, I installed DIY 1” gym foam floor maps in the back of my Crosstrek so that the sleeping space was even and comfortable. Moved my seats all the way forward when I was parked so that I could place plastic bins in the footwell in a way that I could extend the floor mat space enough so that a 6 foot man could sleep comfortably without needing to bend my knees. Purchased a car box top to store gear that wasn’t able to be stored next to me inside the car and I was pretty much off to live on the road for as long as I could handle.

*Using my bike rack and cooler as a DIY table.*

The first week I ventured to the Oregon Coast to be near water and to get away from the dry climate of southern Idaho. However, I didn’t take PTO so that I could comfortably tryout this lifestyle and instead levered information on 4G LTE tower locations to get a decent single to my phone while tethered to my laptop so that I could work remotely because guess what, COVID-19 pandemic made the remote life much easier for those of us working a desk job, especially in IT/ Cybersecurity. Unfortunately, American cell signal and bandwidth is not that good as we are led to believe, at least in the more remote areas surround by trees or dense with people.

At least I was able to make a desk with my bike rack and Canyon cooler, which mostly acted as a standing desk but hell, the view I had every day no matter where I was during this trip was far better than a desk in a cubicle. Since this trip, I have invested in a proper collapsible table and a chair that will better suite me for proper working hours. Though, outside of working this “desk” setup also worked as a cooking and eating table for one. I used a backpacking stove system to cook my meals and or made simple sandwiches that didn’t require a lot of prep space. I really liked this part because I was trying to be a low key traveler and not cause a scene in a not so “public” place or look like some negative homeless person in a nice town.

Sleeping was really enjoyable too. For one, it was easy to get to and from the driver seat into the back without needing to leave the car; this is super handy when needing to maintain the “stealth camping” technique in some location (like the beach in these photos). Second, I used a newer backpacking sleeping bad and sleeping back that made sleeping comfortable and cozy, plus I could use my own pillow vs a compact pillow I would take camping. I have not yet had a second person in the car with me since this trip but I think with proper planning, two people could sleep in this car and bring a fair amount of gear and live comfortably for a week or so without getting to closed in on each other (but nomad/ vagabond living like this is kind of really just made for one).

*Inside my outfitted Subaru Crosstrek (Gear on the left and sleeping space on the right)*

After this trip, I learned that being on the road, traveling on a plane, or putting a pack on with gear to help me live in the wilderness is a life I want to live over working a 9-5 job sitting at a desk all day. Compared to answering to a manager who teeters on the desire to micro-manage and justifying your worth everyday; when there is a much bigger and life-fulling world out there ready for me to explore and people to meet.

Work is where a lot of us find a friend because we exist there for 8-10 hours a day. One of my sisters is a flight attendant and all her work people love to travel and for the most part have a sense of social skill to communicate with others so that a connection can be made and my second sister works in national parks and her people hit the road season to season meeting new people and seeing the remote places of the US more closely than the average tourist. Working in IT does not produce a comparable social environment.

*Sitting with a beer at Timberline Lodge watching the 2020 forest fire season start.*

My father died in 2018 and I can genuinely say that life is too short to fall into the 9-5 trap and only travel when you have enough PTO or you only escape the city you live in to a nearby packed camp ground. So instead of waiting, I chose to make my current situation work for me and got my Subaru setup to live out of it for a time. Though I wish I had a van to convert, this will do me alright for now.

Living out of a vehicle, a tent or anything smaller than your house takes thought and planning. The people who you see post lovely lifestyle shots of how great of a life on the road living is are either lying to you or they have chosen, with great consideration, that lifestyle and the drastic differences between home life or road life is not a big deal to them and they know they can handle and manage it. Essentially, any choice in life comes with a cost or compromise. The #subarulife or the #vanlife is a great example of that. There is a Shia LaBeouf video clip or by now a GIF of him saying “Just Do IT” and his message is the only way you will be able to achieve this lifestyle or this short-term living away from your house.

So, my future lies in the verb of travel.
Being able to decide on when to stay or when to go is a sense of freedom many people don’t understand exists. Most people get locked down (“settled down”) in a single domicile because of a job, kids, marriage, or other thing because they never learned that in the twentieth century in the year 2020/ 2021 the traditional life is old news. Having a home base is a nice feeling, but knowing you are not locked down is such a new idea (aka #vanlife).

Since this is my first blog post, the story flow and the content will not be superb but I hope the message speaks to you. Ask questions below and I will answer them.

#SubaruLife

#VanLife