Another Year Down

The speed at which the years seem to pass never ceases to amaze me. Here we are in 2019, almost another decade into the 21^st century. Aside from questioning my basic comprehension of time, I’m marking the occasion by reflecting on the past year and considering what the next might have in store.

While it wasn’t my first full year in the van, 2018 was the first year I felt like I was fully immersed in vanlife. There was snow, desert, mountain biking, friends, road trips to new mountains, relatives, romance, remodeling, through hiking, an amazing wedding, loss of loved ones, my first van gathering, new friends and community, climbing, surfing, Little E’s first international adventure, and the comfort of family and the holidays to cap it all off. How’s that for condensing a year into 52 words?

That’s the funny thing about these experiences – even if the year is filled with amazing adventures, they still ultimately get condensed into a handful of memories that stand out amidst the noise. A highlight reel that ends up as the unofficial record of the past twelve months. So with 2019 rolling around, I’m taking time to make sure that reel is filled with footage I want to look back on.

Little E at Descend on Bend, definitely highlight reel worthy

Much of my travel has been what I call ‘go with the flow’ style. Things come up that sound fun, so I do them. Then maybe I have a few weeks to burn before my next plans roll around. Meeting friends to mountain bike, snowboard, or climb, visiting the Bahamas on a sailboat, taking road trips to new parts of the country, weddings and holidays, you get the idea. These experiences are typically really enjoyable and can end up being amazing memories, but they often feel like things I could be doing even if I wasn’t living in a van. They aren’t really ‘big picture’ things – the type you have to work to make happen.

I tried to put more focus this year into the big picture adventures, and have a couple really memorable experiences to show for it. I spent four weeks hiking the 485 mile Colorado Trail in my first foray into through-hiking, and drove Little E down Mexico’s Baja Peninsula on a surf trip. These are both things that wouldn’t have happened without planning, preparation, and intention.

As I’ve spent more time in my van and gotten fully accustomed to the intricacies of the lifestyle, I’ve been thinking more about what else is on my big picture to-do list. Things that would be so much harder to take on if I didn’t have the freedom I have right now. I’m not planning to live in my van forever, and I’m feeling more and more like I should get those difficult adventures crossed off the list while I can.

One of my favorite Baja campsites

It’s no secret that vanlife isn’t quite what you see on social media, it has its ups and downs like anything else. There are some great upsides. You get to have amazing adventures and once in a lifetime experiences. You can sleep on top of a mountain or wake up next to the ocean. You can live in the city or in the country. You can snowboard in crisp fluffy powder one day, and ride world class mountain bike trails through the desert the next. You can be at home everywhere you go.

But at the same time, you’re not at home anywhere you go. Because home is more than just a place to sleep and store your things. It’s comfort and familiarity, it’s community, it’s routine. And you don’t really get those things when you’re traveling.

Although community can be found if you try. Bend, Oregon

Everything is harder in a van, and there are aspects of traditional life you miss. Like the ease of a day-to-day life free from the added burden of figuring out where to park, work, do laundry, shower, dump trash, grocery shop, explore, exercise, and the myriad other everyday tasks that are so much more difficult in a van. Eventually, these things start to take their toll.

It’s hard to pinpoint when, exactly, but sometime over the past few months I’ve started feeling more and more like my time in the van might be nearing an end. No, I’m not throwing in the towel, but I am slowly realizing I’ve largely gotten what I wanted from my vanlife experience.

Although I’m not sure I’ll ever get my fill of desert exploring. Utah

When I started traveling in the van, I wanted to take a step back. To relax, let loose, decompress, explore the sides of myself that didn’t involve engineering, remodeling, and responsibility. To not plan, not worry, not overanalyze, just be.

Seeing how I’m a bit of a perfectionist, I don’t feel like I’ve completely accomplished these things yet, but that’s true of most of what I take on. When I sit down and think about it, I’ve actually gotten most of what I wanted out of this lifestyle. I’ve had plenty of relaxation, I’ve explored the country (well, half of it), I’ve had ample time for personal reflection, I’ve visited old friends and made many new ones, I’ve gone weeks without thinking about work, I’ve had a relationship that gave me clarity on what I’m looking for, and overall I just feel more comfortable with who I am.

Winter is fun too. Colorado

That’s not to say there aren’t still many places I want to go and things I want to do. I’d love to take the van up to Alaska and explore the Canadian Rockies, through-hike another trail, and do some extended international traveling, for a start. And I very well may do those things and more. These snippets of wants and needs constantly bounce around my head, slowly assembling themselves into a somewhat legible plan for what’s next, and there’s at least a rough sketch for 2019.

Are you picking up on the theme here? California

I celebrated the New Year in Madison for the first time in a while. I’ve lived a few places around Wisconsin, but Madison has always been home. I caught up with familiar faces, walked the freshly snow covered streets of the same neighborhoods I’ve visited for years, joined thousands of other revelers at a theater in one of the East Side’s fancy new developments, and appreciated the comfort of a coffee shop with a menu I recognized.

It was a welcome change from the usual experience of trying to find my way around cities that I don’t know, and I was surprised at how tempting it felt to just stay. While I doubt Madison will be the place I settle down next, that comfort and familiarity was a strong reminder of how much I’m starting to miss stationary life.

So, to answer the most common vanlife question – what’s next? – as usual, I don’t entirely know. I’m headed to the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous in Arizona, then up to Colorado to get my fill of winter, and that’s about as far out as I like to plan.

But I’m making my way into the New Year well aware that my van time may be limited, and thinking more about what might be next, where I might like to park for a while, and what big picture adventures I still want to cross off the list while I’ve got the flexibility and free time. I’m going to do my best to make sure this year’s highlight reel is filled with all the things I’ll want to look back on when I’m done with this phase of my life. Because even though the show will continue, Little E won’t play a leading role forever.

Thinking about what’s next, probably. Mexico