I Never Meant to Live in a Van This Long
It turns out that I’m not searching for home
Living in a van was never my plan or a long held dream, it was an impulse decision after leaving a bizarre house sitting arrangement in Taos and not really knowing what to do next.
Some of the thoughts in my head when I emptied my bank account into one hefty bank check in order to purchase the only van I had actually test driven or seen in person include:
I’m not done exploring the West. I want to keep camping alone and for longer periods of time (my previous rig was a Subaru Outback and rooftop tent).
Maybe I could try living out of service for a year. That could be a book: My Year Out of Service.
Do I really have to keep wandering? Can’t I just get a lease and start living my new life now?
I will do this for a year, then move to Tucson and start my new life. I just need to see everywhere else before I really decide on Tucson.
I bought Firefly the van almost three years ago and have been living in her now for two and a half years, traveling all over the West.
What began as a loosely defined mission to find my new home, fueled by my desire for adventure and exploration, and an urgency to figure out my life, has turned into a rambling exploration of many internal and external wildernesses. Much has been learned and unearthed, yet the physical and stationary home continues to elude me and here I am, going on my third year, still roving the continent in a cargo van.
I thought by now I would have found my home.
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