My Adventures and what I learned
3 years traveling and living in my van conversion
I finished my first conversion in late 2017 and in 2018 I decided to make the move to Austin, Texas. My plan was to spend a few months traveling down the west coast, retracing the path I traveled on my motorcycle a few years before. I had already moved into my conversion with my dog Jack for a couple months before leaving for Austin and had a chance to ease in to living in a smaller place. It wasn't a hard transition for me moving into a small camper from a traditional house, but there were a few things to get used to.
First was obviously not having as much room for things and moving into the camper started with evaluating what items were essential and what things I could live without. I have always been somewhat of a minimalist so it wasn't hard for me to part ways with a lot of the stuff I have acquired over the years. You do start to realize how much stuff you have when you start to sort through it.
Second was learning to utilize the limited resources wisely. I have a 21 gallon water tank, about 1200 watts of power and a 50 quart fridge. The first couple weeks I quickly ran out of water and had to start paying more attention to how I was using the water and what I could do to save water. At my house I would run the water continuously to wash my hands but in my camper I had to get used to just run the water to get my hands wet then it shut off soap up, scrub and then turn the water on just long enough to wash the soap off and same went with showering. You start to realize how old habits from living in a home with basically unlimited supplies of water have spoiled us to waste more than we need to.
My power usage had to to be adjusted as well, I couldn't have a computer plugged in and running all day. Which compelled me to go to coffee shops to satisfy my power needs. Plus it was good to be getting out more.
Having a smaller fridge, I had to look for other alternatives that didn't need to be kept in the fridge. For example, instead of butter which had to be refrigerated I would use Ghee (clarified butter) which is just like butter but doesn't need to be refrigerated. Coffee creamer got replaced with a dry creamer and shopping for fresh items became more frequent, which I found to be better, since less food got wasted and was fresher.
The last thing that changed my routine and what I found to be another positive change was that living in a smaller space pushed me to get out more. I spent more time working in coffee shops and going to parks. And my dog Jack definitely enjoyed that too. I was spending a lot more time with him and being outside in nature was one of the greatest benefits of my new lifestyle.
Living fulltime in a conversion and what it takes
I set off on my journey in September of 2018. My first stop was Seattle. I spent a few days exploring the city and urban camping. I found paid parking spots that allowed me to park overnight and stay there. I roughly paid about $15 a day which was a lot cheaper than any hotel. It took some getting used to sleeping in the camper in the city but after a couple of days you stop worrying about all the what ifs. Traveling down the west coast was amazing. There was plenty of free campsites along the way and paid sites. I used freecampsites.net to find my stops and if there wasn't anything in my route, I'd stay in parking lots for the night.
The trip down the coast was a great introduction to fulltime vanlife. I got used to staying the night in unconventional places and got better at picking parking spots. Something you'll notice is that you can't always level your van, especially if you're staying in a parking lot, so finding the right spot can be kind of hard sometimes. Most parking lots are sloped for drainage so it's rare to get flat parking. Another thing is that you want to sleep with your head higher than your feet, so a good compromise is parking in a way where the slope is towards your feet when you're sleeping. Also, if it's going to be a hot day, finding a shady spot is preferable. you don't want to wake up with sun cooking your van. Getting custom window covers and windshield shade makes a huge difference. Not only for keeping the sun out but also privacy. If you have good fitting shades you should be able to run your lights at night without people noticing you since not everyplace or everyone is keen on having a camper in their parking lot overnight.
After getting to Austin I rented a space from a friend where I could park overnight, hook up power and fill up water. I spent the next couple years exploring Texas and working from my mobile habitat. In early 2020 I finally took the jump and decided to start Habix.
