Camper Van's---Anyone Have Experience Living on the Road?

I full timed for 5 years straight. There are tons of great videos on YouTube on how to set a van up

My dream was to have property in the north for summer and a small plot in the south for winters. Full hook ups with water and sewer,concrete pad and overhead shelter.

Best chance and only chance to avoid taxes that supports a psychopathic, controlled jack ass Mafia known as local-state-fed Gov swine.

Check out fed lands......it's just waiting for you...until they start putting up gates to keep you off your land held in public trust.

If you do it right....you can save alot of money...actually owning your own home on wheels.

If you do it wrong.....you'll pay the same amount as an apartment or house, while downsizing in a home on wheels, that loses money fast in depreciation.

real estate goes up in value....vehicles go down in value.

inflation

Van life !

Worked out of one for several years. There are several ways to go about the business. Airstream is probably the best you will find in terms of sturdy and durable.

Check out Tom Greens Channel on youtube...

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions, keep 'em coming.

I was living in a camper last summer in northern Wisconsin. I was hopping from location to location as I felt the need or got board.

I was at a place the first night when I joined a large group around a campfire to have a few beers and a lot of laughs. It was a fun night with good people.

Later that night I was fast asleep when it happened. I was awoke by a hand on my privates (I'm a dude) and bare breasts on my chest. I had no idea who it was. Nothing had happened in the evening that gave me any clue this would happen. I couldn't even think of anyone from the fireside evening that could be a suspect in this devious crime.

By the sounds she later made, I suspect she was younger - but I to this day don't know for sure. She left quietly in the night and all I could tell was she had short hair. I stayed at that spot for another week, but never saw anyone that I felt could be the culprit - so I moved on to a new location.

I hope gas prices stay as low as they are, that would help.

That's one reason I looking at camper vans instead of an RV....MUCH better gas mileage.

I haven’t had any experience living on the road but I have watched a lot of YouTube videos about it. It was kind of a dream of mine before the pandemic. Now I just want to stay home.
Another problem for me, campers tend to be friendly outgoing talkative people, I’m not. You can find an empty area with plenty of room and hope for some privacy, but the next camper in will inevitably park right next to you.

Yeah back in 2013 I built my own camper van from a Ford E350 and travelled the country for a few years, before van life became really popular. If you have some building skills you'll save money by building out your own rig the way you want. My build had a twin size bed, fridge/freezer (large enough to hold minimum 2 weeks food), sink/water tank, microwave, 2 burner gas stove, 400w solar panels mounted on top that charged 3 125ah batteries. That would power my tv, laptop, cell, play station, fridge, microwave, fans, etc. I also setup a charger to the batteries from the alternator so when I was driving it charged the battery bank. My shower was a 2 gallon pump sprayer. Mr. Buddy heater works great for cold nights. Had a pullout toilet/with bag if needed when on the road (most times used fast food place or rest stop when traveling) and just dug a hole when camped out.

I never stayed in designated camp site... every where I went was completely off the grid. New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, where my favorite areas. East side of the country has almost no BLM land so you'll be on the West side most of the time if you're doing the off grid thing.

You'll be on BLM land for long term stays (25 days in one spot and then technically you need to move at least a mile away to start another 25 days). I never stayed that long in one spot though. When travelling between locations the best place to spend the night is just pull up into a hotel parking lot... back into a spot and crash for the night. Just have black out sheets or something to block the view in and keep the lights out.

A great website to search for locations to go to is [link to freecampsites.net (secure)] just narrow down the area you want to go to and find plenty of places with reviews from other travelers.

Here's some old pics of my van before I sold it to give you some ideas. It started out as just a stock passenger van. I wanted window views all the way around so I didn't start with a work van like most do.

[imgur] [link to imgur.com (secure)]

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[imgur] [link to imgur.com (secure)]

[imgur] [link to imgur.com (secure)]

Have any questions just ask...

papers please...

not in a planned way..but i lived in a dodge colt for 6 months in 1993..graduated college living in it..

with a hard science degree, so it was a good choice..

in retrospect kind of fun..but you got take muscle relaxants to slep in a dodge colt..

had plenty of frinds who have done it..

its always a back up plan for me..ive camped a lot, not an expert outdoorsman but not a rookie either..

theres worse things in life..

i would park sometimes and wake up with the sun at a beach or park in the woods, read books for a day ..

walk around..commune..

pretty peaceful and the noise of crazy society gets turned way down

and after those kinds of experiences when you see people shouting about masks, crying about stupid shit that doesnt matter, you laugh because man whats the fuss about you freaks..

definitely turns the noise down

and do it long enough, youll lose all the bullshit fear people carry around with them about 'oh noes, whose in office, the great pandemic, blah blah blah blah

Last Edited by Grove Street on 01/26/2021 02:00 PM

Van life is my dream.
I just got an old GMC to remodel.
I don't have much money however. So it's been slow.
I have been homeless before...and I never want to be ever again.
I have no family to help

So it's just me.

I can do this.

A truck with cap with good gas mileage and a 16' camper. The amount of personal space, cargo space, fridge, freezer, oven, sink, shower, bathroom and ability to disconnect make a camper the choice.

A huge thanks.

So, questions....any do's and/or don'ts you can share? And, again, thanks.

I'l never put anything into storage again

we did 2 years lower 48, camping mostly, out of a pickup - got a national park pass, and other park passes

it was fun, but only for the hardy

make sure you add a pee funnel

If you're looking to do it to save money... definitely have a rig that can go off road to where ever, so you can avoid paid campsites as that would get expensive. In almost 3 years I never paid for a place to stay (except when tent camping in White Sands). Even most national parks have BLM land close by... so you can park/camp for free and then just pay to go into the parks for the day if you want. There's some BLM land right outside the Grand Canyon park where the helicopter tours fly over you right above the tree line... pretty cool experience.

Then your your monthly costs are basically gas, food, and cell service if you need that. You'll want to get a good cell booster to possibly help get a signal when you get pretty far off the main roads.

Don't get cheap solar equipment/batteries... that will/should be your most expensive cost (other than the van itself). Renogy has good solar kits for vans and Vmaxtanks are great batteries.

When going off road for an extended period DO always take more water and food than you think you'll need and fill up your tank with gas at the last minute possible. Also plan out your routes on a map when heading off road and never rely on google maps or a cellphone to get you back to a main road.

Other than that... just enjoy the peace and quite.