Turning your friends onto the idea of Vandwelling

What the? Three posts in ONE day??? haha, I have plenty to say today I suppose.

So I was chatting with a friend of mine about this May Long weekend, how it's supposed to rain all weekend, AND the area he's going camping at has a fireban. Well, that's where a van comes in great use. If the weather is crappy, and you can't have a fire, you're going to be cold, miserable, and hungry in a tent. In a van, you can cook your meal, turn on the furnace to stay warm, and sit back watching a movie under the covers with your partner. Why do that when you can do it at home you ask? Because it's NOT at home, you get up, look out your window and see wilderness. That's why.

This friend has partied with me before in my van with some other friends when we went out to the bar for karaoke. We all partied, and pre-drank in the van listening to music and socializing and saving money on booze. Afterwards, I went to bed parked outside the bar, got up in the morning, and headed off. My friends, while making the customary "down by the river" joke, love the van. Some may never actually want to live in one, but they are also stuck on the stick-built mentality.

This friend has expressed a passing interest in what I had been doing (living in the van) last summer, and while he says he'd love to do something like that, he can't because he is living with someone right now. That's totally fine. I tell him that doesn't stop him from getting a campervan, outfitting it, and using it for camping. It also becomes that emergency shelter for things such as doing something that puts him in the doghouse, or if there's a fire and now has no where to live, or worst case scenario; the dreaded break up.

Even if you don't plan on living in a van, it can be a wonderful backup plan for the "just in case" scenarios. The "I want to camp all weekend away from people and campgrounds, but still have power" scenarios, and even the, "I want to actually go to a bar, drink my face off, and not drive or cab home 9because the cab driver always takes the long way home)" scenarios.

Just because this blog is written about living in a van, doesn't mean that anyone stumbling across it can't simply do a similar setup just to have weekends away. The freedom is still there, you just plan a bit differently. I never have to pack, or think about buying food for the trip. I have it all there, but a weekend warrior will have to think of what to bring for the weather, and what to buy for food.

The van can also serve (for the more paranoid) as a "bug out" van. You know, the war is coming, and you "bug out" of town, away from people, and hopefully hostility along the way. There are a myriad of reasons to just have one of these babies parked out back. You may not use it daily, or even weekly, but it's there. It's your safety net.

So what are you waiting for fellow readers?