During the COVID lockdowns, like many people, I took to social media to fill my time (and, as it turns out, to waste time surfing when I should have been doing other things!) For as long as I can remember I have loved travel. Sure, it has its frustrating aspects, packing, waiting in lines, buying tickets, etc. but the actual travel and exploring has always drawn my soul. Bouncing around on social media I soon learned of the “full-time” or nomad life. I dug in more.
With a solid three hours of researching (I might be a bit impulsive by nature) I had determined that THIS lifestyle, whatever it really is all about, is exactly what I wanted to do with the rest of my life! Why not? Travel full-time, visit beautiful places, meet interesting and intriguing people, who wouldn’t want that as a lifestyle? I had one problem, well, I had several but at that very moment I identified one fundamental problem. . . I drove a small hybrid car. Sure, some people do travel and live full-time in small cars, but I also travel with Polly my blue Weimaraner, who at the time was two years old and very energetic. Small hybrid living would definitely be difficult.
Back to the research! I started out by exploring all sizes of Class C motorhomes, then trailers and fifth-wheel RVs. The costs of most were astronomical and beyond my reach financially. Maybe I could buy a cargo trailer and build that into a home on wheels? Well, I have no vehicle to pull it, limited towing experience, and really, no building experience to speak of. A few minor home repairs, multiple tree houses as a kid and I took Industrial Arts when I was in the seventh grade, that is about it. What about campervans or Class B RV’s, surely, they are more affordable? No, not really. It seems packing everything in a tiny space like a van is just as expensive as a bigger RV.
Well, I will just buy a cargo van and build my own camper van RV, how hard can it really be? Tons of people are doing it according to social media! Remember, I started all this during COVID in January 2021, recall what was going on then in the automotive market? No microchips, and very few new vehicles available at dealerships! Add in the RV market was booming and many of the available van chassis were being purchased by the big RV companies. Enter problem two. More like problem thirty-two but I had overcome them all up to now. I live in Illinois, so I started my search locally, then expanded to all surrounding states. Simply no high-top, extended cargo vans available anywhere.
One day in late May I drove past a tiny dealership in a small town and there it was! Exactly, or nearly exactly what I had been hunting for weeks! I high-top, extended van. Was it for sale? It was hard to tell, and the dealership was closed. I checked online. No web presence, remember, I said tiny dealership. I called them bright and early the next morning to inquire. Yes, they had a van, but they didn’t know if it was for sale. They had pre-ordered it for a customer who did home maintenance, and due to the pandemic, the company had not proceeded with the purchase. The dealership would need to check with the company and see if the van could be sold.
Within the week I had sold my tiny hybrid car, gotten a loan secured for the van, and was driving it home. As I merged onto the interstate and began to accelerate, it was at that moment that I wondered if I might be having a mid-life crisis, had gone completely crazy, or perhaps, just made the biggest and best decision of my life to date. Three years later I can tell you, it was the latter.
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