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This here's a podcast and video blog dedicated to examining people and their relationships with residential vehicles. Whether it's full-time vanlifers, weekenders, or trailer nomads, I'm curious about the different permutations of the how and why. Plus, I also like drinking beer and talking about the conundrum of life. If you just want to listen to the audio, click and subscribe to the podcast on the Apple or Spotify links above. Or watch our conversations on my YouTube channel. But really, subscribe to all of it, and give me 5 stars and reviews in your most long-winded, florid language, ok? Kisses!
Jarrod Tocci is a vanlifer, youtuber, and comedian who's just finished his second van build. It's a 2019 Sprinter with as many bells and whistles as I've ever seen in a DIY-ish camper van. He designed the van and did a lot of the work himself, but he got professionals to help him out with many of the more technical aspects, so he calls it a DIY-Assist build. He's also a good friend, so we basically just hung out and bullshitted for an hour and a half on this episode. Here's hoping you enjoy that.
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Greg & Jess quit their corporate jobs and moved into a Dodge Promaster on their 5th wedding anniversary. Now they're working seasonally and traveling as much as they can while they navigate making van life sustainable in the long term. It's been a real treat to get to hang out with them while they're around Southern California for the winter.
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Megan is a nomad accountant living in a converted Mercedes Sprinter. We met when she was between vans in early 2019, and we've been trying to get her on the podcast ever since. We kept missing each other, but winter in SoCal is where all the vanners flock in the winter. Turns out we didn't even need to chase her. But it's been really great to spend some time with her.
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Angela owns a house in Phoenix and lives part-time in an old Ford Econoline van the rest of the time. We had a wonderful hang. We talked about the pursuit of a nomadic lifestyle, heartbreak, and trying to find a gig that fulfills. Though we had only just met, she was simply inspiringly candid and kind. If you get a chance, you should probably hang out with her too.
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Ali is a photographer, climber, and vanlifer who lives in Denver, CO in a Chevy G10 van. She is also the marketing director for the country's largest climbing gym. Her forthcoming book, Heartbreak Roadtrip, promises to be a poetic exploration of the relationships people have with artifacts from failed relationships. Though we had only just met, I was immediately enthralled with Ali's energy and candor.
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Alexa Glazer came to Encinitas for a speaking engagement promoting her book "Livin' the Dream." She's livin' full-time in a Mercedes Sprinter and rolling from place to place for speaking engagements and adventures. We were stoked to get a chance to sit down with her and talk about public speaking, ambitions, and #vanlife.
@movinalexa www.alexaglazer.com/ |
Ben Carter doesn't live in a van, but he is the Senior Litigation Attorney at the Kentucky Equal Justice Center. He deals with eleventy billion equity issues including affordable housing, which is quite relevant to the various minimal living movements like vehicular habitation and tiny houses. We visited him in his comfortable stationary house in Louisville, KY earlier this year. And we had such a spirited conversation that I asked him to come on the podcast when he came out to a conference in San Diego. This guy is fucking brilliant and equally compassionate. And I love it when a conversation changes the way I think about a topic. I'm pleased to say that happened in this podcast.
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Route del Sol is a media company currently documenting the travel of two intrepid explorers. Joel and Keegan are driving from northern Alaska to the southern tip of Argentina in an electric camper van powered almost exclusively by a massive array of solar power. This van is unlike anything I've ever seen. It was a real treat to catch up with Joel down in Chula Vista, Ca, just before he crossed the border into Mexico.
Follow the journey: Route del Sol on Instagram Route del Sol on YouTube |
Bowen is a paraglider, kite surfer, and entrepreneur who moved into his minivan camper the day after the last time he was on the podcast. He and I both have the Mercedes Metris diy camper van, and we hooked up down in San Diego county to talk about his first few months in van life and where he's headed in his van to camper conversion in the future. We talked about parking, travel around North America, and his plan to ship his van over to Europe next year. It's always fascinating to compare and contrast experiences with other folks living on the road to hear how we perceive our space in this nomadic adventure.
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Becca & Jeremy spent the last couple of years living in a tiny house on Colette's dad's compound in Fallbrook, CA. Tim had a bit lot with space for another structure, and he helped them build a stand-alone loft studio / shed in the yard. They've since moved into a larger place in Palm Springs, and they're getting married in June 2020. I wanted to have them on the podcast to talk about the similarities and differences between #vanlife and #tinyhouse life. They're delightful folks, and we had a great conversation.
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Teddy White is a career piano man who loves busking on his DIY 3-wheeled piano bike. He came on the podcast about 9 months ago to talk about his move out to California in a 90's dodge van. Since then, he's gotten a job in the bakery at one of our local overpriced grocery stores so he could make more money... and he's over it. #VanLife is a constantly evolving experience for most of us, and Teddy's in the middle of a pretty big transition. I was excited to get him back on the podcast to hear how life has changed, and what he's looking for as he departs Encinitas in the new year headed for Rubber Tramp Rendezvous.
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Kamryn moved out to California from Alabama a few years ago. After being confronted with astronomical rents, she was inspired by members of the climbing community to build out a van and move into it. Today, she’s living with some friends of mine in a house where I used to live several years ago. We had a great chat about her decision to move back into a brick and mortar residence as well as what her time living in a van taught her about herself and the world around her.
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Johnny is a 65 year-old singer/songwriter who moved into his Dodge Promaster exactly two weeks ago. He's got a broad range of stories, from dealing with mental illness, addiction, and several years previously living in a car out of necessity. Now, his music and gigs are booming. After being laid off from a job of 17 years earlier this year, he is leaning into his creativity and making a living off of his lifelong passion, music.
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We were racing back to San Diego through the Colorado Rockies. I was looking for someone to ask for advice on where to go hiking and where to crash in the van. The local paper had a write up about these guys who are building out vans close to vail, so I hit them up. Two strangers turned out to be two super sharp dudes who are approaching the van thing from a particularly community-oriented angle. I really enjoyed hanging out with Dave & Matt. Go bother them at their shop when you're passing through Gypsum, CO.
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Blair has customized her Mercedes Metris as a weekend river surfing adventure rig. We were passing through Denver and had a good chat with her about this fascinating sport we've never tried.
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September 21 marked one year of Colette, Spin, and I living in my van full-time. We sat down to talk about her life and our experience making a life in a very small living space. We discussed our desires for the next van we'd like to move into and our friends & families' reactions to our decisions to wade into this somewhat unusual lifestyle.
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This is a different one! D-Stroy is an emcee who's part of the Arsonists, a NY hip hop group that put out one of my favorite albums of all time. D-Stroy is of particular interest to me because he's a super inspiring renaissance man, of sorts, who has cultivated and translated his performance talents into a super diverse career bridging from hip hop to announcing for a variety of sports to hosting a show on satellite radio. He's energetic, hilarious, and exploding with positivity. Very inspiring. I've been a fan of this guy for 20 years, and it was an honor and privilege to get to sit down and pick his brain.
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Billie and Kaleb are a couple from North Carolina that we met at a van life meetup in San Diego last year. When we came to meet up with them in Brooklyn, they were trying to take care of an drivetrain issue with their friend Alex's van. They took a break to all come over for a chat about living on the road in our van, parked a few blocks away.
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Ellie & Sandon hit us up on instagram as we were passing through Michigan in response to our story requesting somebody introduce us to some van life folks in Detroit. They're finishing up their first van build in her father's barn in Michigan. Soon, they'll move full-time into their 170" Mercedes Sprinter. We talked about their van, their excitement, reservations, and media careers after a beer at Easter Market Brewing in Detroit. We're super excited to have them back on the podcast after they've been living in the van.
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Russ is an old college friend of mine who is a full time visual artist in Minneapolis. His work is beautiful, poignant, and filled with purpose. We were passing through the midwest and jumped on the opportunity to hang out and drink a couple beers with him at his studio. russ-white.com
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Skye Walker is an Encinitas based muralist who is wrapping up his year-long Sea to Sea Mural Tour. For the last year, he's been living in a 144" wheelbase Mercedes Sprinter, traveling from town to town painting murals for a variety of different clients. We caught up with him in his hometown of Corvallis, OR to have a conversation about art, van life, and street art.
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Larry Balma is a legend in the skateboarding world. He invented the modern skate truck which revolutionized the speed, versatility and durability of the skateboard. I had the good fortune to get to meet Larry Balma through Colette's mom, Patte. We had a fantastic conversation about life, entrepreneurship, risk-taking, surfing, and, of course, skateboarding.
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Sylvia Maguire is a sassy older British lady who's family friends with Colette's family. I met her a dinner over at Colette's mom's house and she immediately started busting my chops. She's enthralling and hilarious. Plus, you'll enjoy trying to decipher her accent.
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We met Jenny & Alex hanging out in the van at the beach. These guys are as excited about #vanlife as any folks we've met. They used to run a large furniture business in Atlanta, GA. Last year, they decided they needed a change, so they sold all their shit, built out a van, and came to California. At their first real van meetup in San Diego, they decided they would rent a shop and start building out vans for other people.
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Brooke is a Texan we met at a 4th of July BBQ. She's waiting tables around North County, San Diego after moving out from Texas and spending a year up in Venice Beach. She's got a great attitude about pretty much everything, and she was a delight to talk to.
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Bre & Lacey are doing A LOT! These ladies started The Vanlife App, a mobile application that directs vanlifers to amenities, camp spots, and each other accompanied with a forward thinking, leave no trace ethic. They also run SD Campervans, a local company that builds vans out to homes inexpensively for their clients. AND they are instrumental in most of the vanlife meetups and gatherings in Southern California. I met them almost a year ago at one of the gatherings, and we became fast friends. They're delightful, clever, powerful women who consistently bless the community with fun and insight.
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Mark Massara is a pivotal California environmental attorney who spent years doing grassroots outreach and attending Coastal Commission hearings all over California using Chevrolet vans as transportation and accommodation. This guy is an absolute hero and one of the best stewards of the California coast that the state has ever seen. It was is honor and a privilege to sit down with Mark and chat about coastal access, preservation, and of course, vans and surfing. I hope you enjoy this episode of the podcast which reads as much as a primer on the California Coastal Act as a story of epic adventure and #vanlife.
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Carl Brown and his partner, Sean Donnelly, just released a fantastic film about the Young Marines, which happened to premiere just as we came into San Francisco. I met Carl Brown in 2007, when he asked to do a short MTV piece on the environmental campaign I was helping to run. At that time, he was a one man journalism "team" operating under the name Corduroy Media. In the time since, Carl has grown his media business to a full-time staff of 10 in a very handsome office in Oakland, CA. This year, he and his lovely wife, Pilar, opened a big soundstage on the backside of the same building that Pilar will operate as a second business, available for rental by other media creators in the area. Pilar runs Mama Dog Studios, where we pulled the van to record the podcast in my little mobile studio inside of their really nice new facility.
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Bowen is a kite surfer, a paraglider, and an entrepreneur. We met through instagram when he reached out asking questions about the build inside my van. He has a Mercedes Metris too, and we connected over mounting for a couple of different pieces of furniture. On a recent trip to the Bay Area, we hit him up about getting on the podcast, and we rushed up to catch him on the eve of his entry into full-time #vanlife. We had a great conversation about all sorts of topics, from action sports, to adventure, to urban planning. He's out on a great trip for the summer, and I'm looking forward to where his experiment into full-time #vanning takes him.
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Jess and Mike met on bikes! They've been living the full-time #vanlife for 2 years, and one of their vans was smashed and totaled by nature. She's the C.O.O. of The Vanlife App, he uses his architectural background to influence the epic drawings he does on-site as they constantly travel around the country. These dudes have a lot going on.
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Kensie & Joey are a young van life couple living in a huge, 6-wheeled, Sprinter. Their build is awesome and they are too. He's a swim coach and she's starting a wellness business. It's so rad hanging around with these guys. Always positive vibes and excitement about whatever's about to happen.
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Moxi & Loon is a killer loud rock band. I've seen them play at a few events, and their setup is as rad as their sound. Jake's vocals and guitar are both amplified by his van's solar system, so they just back their vans into a V, throw down a rug for Nick's kit, and thrash. They're also really fun guys with very distinct personalities which made for a super fun conversation. Here's hoping the blow the fuck up so you can all see them play.
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Ryan is a rad native Southern Californian who lives full time in a 4WD Mercedes Sprinter van that he built out himself. He's also an entrepreneur running reformlife.com which is a company providing everyday and adventure gear specifically focused on reducing use of single use plastics. He aims to make utilitarian products that provide alternatives to diminish our impact on the waste stream.
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Macey just happened to be parked next to us one day at the hang spot. She was chilling in her bed in the back of her SUV, and was super open and inviting. After a couple minutes chatting about her adventures, I suggested she check out the podcast and maybe consider sitting down with us someday. She's like, "I'm leaving town this evening, how about we record right now." So we jumped right in and had a great conversation about the importance of getting out of your comfort zone, the education system, and this fantastic trip she's on.
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Jarrod is one of the first van lifers I met after I bought my van. My buddy, Luis, turned me onto his YouTube channel because he was obsessively watching Jarrod's videos which delve into the logistics of living in a van. When I found out that he's a comedian, I hit him up to come play a show that I sometimes host in Hollywood called That's Shoe Biz. We had a good chat about his surprise success as a #vanlife YouTuber, his plans for his new van after the sale of his first buildout, and his aspiration to travel the country in his van doing standup. And we did it all looking pretty dumb next to each other in clashing-ly similar colored green shirts. Can somebody get wardrobe in here already?!
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