My GoFundMe – Van Fun to Get Me On the Road
I hope this link works as the one at the top of my homepage does:
I have decided to take the plunge on this GoFundMe because with an unpredictable source of income (Uber) and a high overhead due to my living situation, I haven’t been able to gain any traction on this goal of mine. So once a week I’ll be doing a blog post on my Van Life Dream as I will call it. I’ll post updates as to where I’m at on fundraising (because I will put my own money towards this, too when I can), and what I’m doing to plan for it. At some point, you might see screenshots of spreadsheets and items I want for my house-on-wheels.
Why the van and life on the road?
In 2017, I began to think about getting a secondhand RV and hitting the road and then I began to read about ‘van lifers’, people who converted vans, school buses, and other types of vehicles like ambulances (yes, I’ve really seen those along with small box-trucks) and shuttle busses, which is what I dream about because of the size though I’m willing to find anything that works for me and my budget.
The first thing about this life on the road that appealed to me was the potential for a much-lower overhead. Owning a van outright would mean no rent or mortgage and only campsite or RV park fees which are much less than renting an apartment and of course, no lease or long-term contract required there. Second, utility costs because you can power a generator with solar panels (have seen fold-out ones that can be set out on an extension cord so no need to fix-mount them to the top of a van), Water can be acquired by single-fee and some boon-dockers as they’re called (these are folks that really live off-the-grid and out in the wild as most are outdoor sports enthusiasts like mountain bikers and mountain climbers), use water filtration systems to filter collected rainwater. Now of course there’s always maintenance and repairs but my goal is to fit out my van out as simply as possible to where I can make repairs with a box of tools and parts I can carry along with me.
I’ve lived in one place pretty much all my life and though I love where I live, in the last few years I’ve discovered an intense desire to travel. I did a thousand-mile road trip a few years back and I loved it! I loved being on the road and seeing everything and being able to think, or just simply enjoy the ride. Before, I always felt fear at traveling because I didn’t have the confidence in myself to believe I could handle issues that came up. And when I first started voicing the idea of hitting the road, I had several people push back on me and basically tell me that I couldn’t handle living on the road… even though they hadn’t done what I was wanting to do to begin with.
I’m going to come out right here and say that for too long I believed I didn’t have it in me to pursue this dream so I held back. Now if anyone comes at me with that uninformed ignorance if they piss me enough I’m going to tell them to fuck all the way off. I can think, look up stuff on the internet, and ask for help if any problems come up. And at least I’ll know which ignorant assholes to avoid asking for anything with.
The van-life RV community is a very open and welcoming community who have provided a huge treasure-trove of information online for anyone wanting to hit the road and see the world. I hope to meet some of them to thank them for their awesomeness and I want to share my journey like the have to pay it forward.
But luckily, more people are supportive of this dream of mine than they were when I first voiced it out loud. Now I know our world has changed a lot in the last few years and I think more people than ever are getting sick of the grind, suburban conformity, and listening to ignorant assholes. I think more people are just wanting to throw off the chains of consumer culture and see the world and meet new people and not take up so damn much space.
This week I will work on creating a spreadsheet about van sizes and costs. Size is an issue in one unique area as I found out early on in my initial research: bed size. If you want to put a bed across the back of your van you need a van wide enough for that unless you’re willing to cut a mattress to fit. Luckily, mattresses are single-standard in size and width depending on how much mattress you want (I’m thinking a double or queen-size if I can fit it in).
If you want to donate to my dream, just click on the link here and thanks for doing so. I’ll keep everyone posted on my journey to making this dream a reality.
Cheers from the road!
Michelesayre.com 