5 Things This Louisiana Woman Wants You to Know About Van Life
Traveling alone lets me do what I want without consideration of another person. It’s works well with my writing goals.
Traveling alone lets me do what I want without consideration of another person. It’s works well with my writing goals.
About a year ago, I purchased a 2016 Ram Promaster cargo van over the internet. This was a “first” for me. The salesman used some Google app to show me everything I needed to see with a live walk around. I was impressed. He politely answered all of my questions with professionalism.
Then I Ran a Check on the Business
I found out they had a 5-star rating and was family owned. After building my trust with them, I preceded to arrange for financing and delivery of the van coming from St. Cloud, Minnesota to Shreveport, Louisiana. All the details worked out and I received my van delivered on time right to my front door.
On the following week, I found a carpenter and we began building out this Promaster cargo to a camper conversion van. I guided the carpenter’s design based on numerous You-Tube videos. The carpenter had never built a conversion van before. He told me nothing is square, but I didn’t really care. I’m pleased with the outcome, but if I were going to do this project over again — I would make a few changes. But everyone is different, and what works for you may not work for me and vice versus.
So, I’ve been traveling now for a year and learning as I go.
Here is a list of 5 things that I’ve learned from hands on experience.
I purchased an app that tells me where all the free and paid campsites are located. The app is so difficult to use that I find it easier just to type in free campsites.net and find what I’m looking for much faster. Simple does it for me. And just doing a Google search yields all the information you need to find paid sites with electrical hookups.
Try to avoid big cities and high traffic areas if at all possible. Otherwise, travel during low-traffic times. Always remember “safety first.” Make sure you’ve got plenty of gas at all times. If you get tired, pull over at a rest area, lock your doors and take a rest and maybe eat a snack too. You should keep your doors locked at all times anyway while traveling.
Don’t carry too much stuff in your van. Think it out carefully beforehand. But make sure you have plenty of drinking water, necessary tools such as jump starter cables, screwdrivers, flashlights, etc. I pack enough clothes to last me about 10 days which is plenty. And I always have a light weight jacket and a sweater, plenty of blankets, an electric heater plus a Mr. Buddy propane heater. Those items stay in the van at all times, because I want to be prepared when I need them. I carry plenty of food — enough for three months.
Every van needs a Maxx air fan, a regular box fan and air conditioning. I have a Furrion AC installed on my roof. It works great in the hot summer heat. Needless to say in the hot summer months, I only camp where I can hook up to electricity. If need be, I could use my van’s factory built AC along with the Maxx Fan to keep cool while parked someplace without electrical hookups. However, I really don’t like burning up my gasoline if I don’t have to.
I like to travel solo, because I have a single bed, two dogs and I like being able to pull over and sleep, read or write at my leisure. But I think it would be nice to travel in a caravan, which I plan to join in Yuma, Az. I may go on a four-week caravan. I hope to travel in the Fall when the desert heat is starting to cool off.
Van Life is Not for Everyone
Even though van life is not for everyone — it suits my lifestyle just fine. I like meeting friendly people at campsites, cooking and eating outdoors. You can do almost anything in a van that you can do in your sticks and bricks house. All you need is an internet connection, which I have with a Nighthawk and a Wee Boost signal extender. With both of them, I always get a signal with my ATT and Visible plan.
As for me, I like camping near my home and in East Texas. There are so many free and affordable places to camp. I use my senior discount pass and the average cost for me is $14 a night with full hookups. Some even have public showers. There are some camp sites that cost $5 a night with complete electrical hookups.
Solo van life has many advantages, if you like outdoor adventures like me.
I love the solo van life. How about you?
Thanks for reading.