The Beginning

Moving forward with Aurelie Esther

 

December 13th, 2020 is the date to remember. That was the day I specifically made the choice to pursue van life. No holding back. Or at least that's what I wanted the choice to be. Making the decision to transition to van life was in itself a huge step for me. It took me a little longer to fully commit.

 

But first, let's go a little further back. I have dreamt of van life for years. I have always loved traveling, and the dream began with road-trips with my bestie. We met at 10, quickly claimed each other as sisters, and soon began plotting our adult adventures together. When we finally did reach adulthood, I took a couple wonderful trips with her, but then the dream began to grow. Soon, we were talking of converting a school-bus and traveling together. (You can see my hopes for that dream on my Pinterest board here.) In the end, she had other more immediate goals that took precedence and I downsized my dream to a van as I do not feel comfortable driving anything much larger. But still, it was just a dream. I had so many obstacles in my way at the time. I wasn't confident enough, didn't have the life skills necessary, and felt way too safe and comfortable in my bubble of life to risk popping it. However, as the years progressed many of those things slipped away. I gained a lot of confidence in the last few years, and picked up several handy skills along the way. I didn't have to worry about pooping in the woods because would you look at that, there are composting toilets just perfect for building into a van! And my yearning to see new places hit me like a ton of bricks when COVID hit and my post-graduation plans of backpacking the UK had to be cancelled. And I realized rather suddenly there were very few obstacles left in my way anymore.
 

In December I received two final pushes towards van life. 1) I was rather suddenly more financially able. I can only thank God for that blessing. 2) I saw a van build that included an upright piano. (This was the original article. No. 2 El Kapitan, The Piano Van) This resolved one of my final, big obstacles. I have played piano since I was 5 years old. Now, at age 26, I still play daily. It is one of my favorite hobbies, right up there with reading. I didn't think it was possible to take a piano on the road, but here was a photo proving otherwise. I didn't know how I would do it exactly, but it was possible and that was all I needed to know. Everything else could be worked out now that my non-negotiables had been resolved.


So, on December 13th I texted my sister, "I think I wanna go for it. I'm not sure how soon exactly, but I've wanted to do this for years, I've been blessed beyond measure with the means to achieve it, and I don't want to let fear keep me from living my life any longer." That was my first big step in commitment: Telling someone else.


December brought...a lot. Really, the whole 20/21 Winter was just a lot. I had started a new job at Decorator's Warehouse, a massive Christmas store, back in October. (People come from Europe to shop at this store.) By December, working overtime as a stocker meant I was pretty exhausted. Then my brother surprised me by coming down to spend Christmas with my family...just in time for all of us to catch COVID. My Dad started showing symptoms right about the time my brother arrived. My Mom picked up symptoms next, and then my brother took a nosedive. I held out the longest, but in the end caught it as well. I was worried and sick and trying to care for my parents alone after my brother left to go home. First I had to call the ambulance for my dad, and then my mom made a couple ER trips before they admitted her. Finally, I was alone at home with nothing to do but try and take care of myself. It was stressful, and I relied heavily on the emotional support of my sister and my life mentor. It was an intense period of trying to force myself to learn to lean on God. What felt like too soon, they were sending my mom home, and then my dad who was still on oxygen. My sister came down to help care for them and to support me, and I am hugely grateful for her help. Then the time came for me to quit my job. This was the next big step of commitment. As much as I enjoyed my job and had hoped to continue in it as I began the process of converting a van, I realized that it was no longer practical. I had no idea how long the recovery process could be for my parents, and until then I didn't feel safe leaving them alone. My bosses were beyond kind through this whole time, with my manager even offering to help our family out by delivering food if we needed it. When I let them know I wouldn't be able to return, I was sad, but knew I was making the right choice. This would also enable me to focus fully on the van as soon as my parents were able to care for themselves and function stably again. And then, as my parents began their slow recovery process I began to look for a van and to pack up.


I knew what van I wanted: a Ford Transit 250 High Roof Extended. Having the highest interior height of cargo vans best for converting was the biggest draw for me. Being able to stand and possibly even stretch a little was a big factor for my future living space. I test drove one van, and it drove comfortably, for a van. But then, on Friday, January 29th I test drove a second van and I felt comfortable driving it. Period. No for a van. It didn't feel huge. I felt comfortable with the boundaries of the vehicle and before we finished the test drive I knew I wanted to buy it.

 

Signing the first papers

 

In a whirlwind I finished packing up so that I could move up to my parents' summer house in Colorado. In Colorado I would be closer to three people (Sister and Brother-in-Law and Brother) who had all offered to help me build my van. I had plans to leave on the 10th or 11th. I had plans to rent a trailer and haul my little 4Runner up to Colorado with me. I had plans. But then the winter storm hit. Hauling my 4Runner would put me over the capacity for my new van, and it would be the first time I was driving with a trailer. So, first time driving with a trailer, hauling it behind a huge van I was still getting used to, overweight, and in icy conditions in a state where no one knows how to drive in icy conditions. I suddenly did not feel ready to leave anymore. I put off leaving one more day, and in so doing avoided being part of a massive pile-up exactly where I should have been at that time if I had left when I originally intended. God. He had been with me every step so far, but nowhere was His providence more obvious than in this moment. I returned the trailer and said a temporary goodbye to my 4Runner as I now prepared to drive up with just the van. As it was, I encountered almost no ice on my drive. Although I did get to see some gorgeous views... 

 

Watercolor Clouds

By the time I made it to the house it was dark and everything was frozen. Not, oh it snowed and now everything is frozen. More like, it was blowing freezing cold water sideways and it was so cold it froze on contact with anything. Or at least, that’s what it looked like had happened.

 

The house was frozen

I hauled things from the van inside the house for quite some while, taking frequent not-used-to-the-altitude-dear-God-I-need-to-breathe breaks. And now here I am! I’ve made a couple visits to see my brother and my sister and brother-in-law, and have also spent a fair bit of time just cleaning up the house here since we didn’t expect to leave it empty so long.

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Status:   A lot of the good/common supplies are sold out everywhere from a combination of COVID shutting down production and COVID causing a massive spike in the Van Life movement. I’ve managed to find most everything I need for the first few steps and have orders in all over the place. Some things were more expensive than hoped for simply because of the high demand and lack of supply. However, once I can get into town to buy the vinyl for the floor I should be all set to start once supplies start rolling in!

The main thing holding me back now is windows. I need to find the windows I want to put in the van before I can install insulation or flooring.

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My new van with me for size reference!

 

I've gotten to see some really spectacular sunrises and sunsets since I've been here, too.