Van life: Couple trades the daily grind for life on the road

Van Life: COUPLE TRADES THE DAILY GRIND FOR LIFE ON THE ROAD By Kenneth Sturtz

Savaria Crego’s 9-5 job was grinding her down, making each day feel like “Groundhog Day.” She and her husband Justin, married the year prior, grew up in Central New York, but had seen little of the country. They wanted to travel to the national parks, visit the Pacific Northwest and explore Canada.

Although they enjoyed their jobs, they just wanted more time. Justin’s job in information technology services afforded him five weeks of paid vacation a year plus sick time. Savaria’s job as a drafter and designer for a building automation company provided just 13 days of paid time off.

“There’s just so much more to explore and 13 PTO days just wasn’t enough to be able to do all that,” Savaria says. They found themselves living for the weekend. They took hikes together, explored parks and went to concerts. There were wine tastings with friends and semiannual camping trips. Savaria taught herself crafts and was getting certified in yoga. Justin belonged to a CrossFit gym.

But they decided if they were ever going to trade Central New York’s rolling hills for rugged mountains and shimmering deserts they needed to make a change.

Over several months of research and discussions they hatched a plan to buy a van, leave their jobs and spend a year exploring the country.

Savaria and Justin stumbled on the van life movement on Instagram. An amateur photographer, she was pulled in by the endless stream of breathtaking landscapes shared by “van lifers.” Nearly 10 million posts are tagged with the hashtags #vanlife and #vanlifediaries. Living and traveling in a customized van might be an attractive prospect, particularly with millennials, but it can also be expensive. Customized camper vans can cost upwards of $100,000. Savaria knew they couldn’t afford that level of expense, but after some research she realized that with a little more saving they could afford to inexpensively retrofit a van and spend a year traveling.

“That kind of made it more real for us,” she says.

The couple began browsing for a vehicle. They considered converting a short bus or buying a sprinter or high top, but all would have been too expensive or involved. They settled on looking for commercial vans. Over six months they searched Craigslist, Facebook and eBay. They finally found a 2004 four-wheel drive van on eBay that looked just right. The owner gave them two days to claim the vehicle with cash. So, they drove to Pennsylvania, looked it over for the first and last time, and started the engine. It made a slight knocking noise, but seemed alright otherwise. Satisfied they’d found something workable, the couple handed over $10,500.

Retrofitting the van was slow and tedious. Despite help from relatives, the couple were learning as they went so snags were inevitable. Though Savaria and Justin had planned to leave in June 2019, work stretched on into the summer. Finally, in August, they decided it was good enough to set off on their first trip.

“We didn’t actually finish everything we wanted, but I was like I need to go otherwise we’re never going to go,” Savaria says.

They quit their jobs, got rid of their apartment and donated many of their belongings. They sold one of their vehicles and stored the other along with a motorcycle, wedding gifts and other items.

And then they hit the road.

A good omen

They headed for Maine and then Canada. The first few days were spent in the Adirondacks getting used to van living. On the first day, they spotted a moose, which Savaria took as a good omen.

At first the hardest part was finding places to stay for free, but there turned out to be an app for that. There was no heater, which became problematic as the weather turned cooler.

An unsecured storage bin bounced around violently. And their 12-volt cooler, which they eventually replaced, had to be plugged in all the time, draining their battery.

But while they were figuring out what worked and what didn’t, they were enjoying their travels. In Nova Scotia they visited the Bay of Fundy and experienced its famous extreme tides, which range more than 40 feet between high and low tide. Part of their plan to travel for a year included not paying to do a lot of touristy things,

Savaria says, but they did take a ferry all the way to Newfoundland. It was there they visited Gros Morne National Park.

They took a boat tour of Western Brook Pond, a spectacular landlocked fjord whose steep sides were carved by glaciers. The water appeared a deep black, reflecting the landscape. Nearby, they spied three moose swimming together.

“It was really eerie, but beautiful,” she says.

After the maiden voyage, Savaria and Justin spent a few weeks back in Central New York making alterations to the van, but the weather pushed them to head south.

“So we kind of wanted to get south as quick as possible to avoid being stuck in a tin can and it snowing,” Savaria says.

When they reached Arkansas in early November, however, the whole country settled into an unexpected deep freeze. They headed for Texas, celebrating when they reached Big Bend National Park, temperature 80 degrees. They enjoyed watching the sun rise over the distant mountains and set over massive red rock formations.Now, more than a year later, they’ve visited 15 states and three Canadian provinces. There have been obvious highlights, such as the Grand Canyon. Savaria loved swimming in hot springs near the Rio Grande. At Sequoia National Park Justin marveled at the largest trees on earth. In White Sands National Park, they climbed the glistening white dunes that create the world’s largest gypsum dune field.

The couple were often willing to go off the beaten path to see something extra beautiful. They hiked to several secluded waterfalls in Yosemite. They walked three miles through deep sand to see some of Utah’s famed slot canyons. But the trek there was worth it, Savaria says, because they had the place to themselves.

A day in the van life

There’s no normal day for a van lifer, but Savaria and Justin have tried to have a routine. They typically don’t pay for camping, often staying at campsites in national forests or on Bureau of Land Management property. If they happen to be in a Walmart parking lot, they just get up and go. If they’re at a camp site, they usually take their time getting ready for the day. Morning coffee in folding camp chairs under the van’s awning offers a front row seat to a panoramic landscape. Breakfast is usually something simple like cereal, oatmeal or a Pop Tart.

If they’re driving somewhere new they leave as soon as possible. If not, they might relax a bit. At first, they didn’t

have a shower, which meant looking for a truck stop shower or taking a sponge bath, which Savaria and Justin readily admit was one of the less fun parts of the experience. They eventually installed a solar shower. Depending on the day, they might go for a hike or if they are at a new campsite, take a few hours to pick up the trash and litter that is usually left behind by previous campers. Throughout the day, they snack on cashews and raisins. For meals, however, they usually cook everything on a Coleman propane stove. Once in a while, they’ll splurge and stop for Mexican or Chinese food. When they aren’t out exploring, Savaria enjoys reading, journaling and sketching. Justin has been teaching himself to play the guitar. For exercise, Savaria sticks with yoga, while Justin uses whatever he has, such as water jugs, for workout equipment. And they download their favorite Netflix movies and television shows when possible so they can binge later on. Occasionally there’s nothing to do but tend the fire and soak in the wilderness surrounding the van and the stars blanketing the sky. Savaria uses free moments to document their adventure in photographs.

Their adventure has been full of new experiences. Savaria had never seen the dessert before. Now she’s had the opportunity to wake up to the shimmering dessert landscape as far as she could see.

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Nearly every day brings a new landscape so beautiful it could have been clipped out of a National Geographic magazine. Savaria says she and Justin have especially enjoyed having the freedom to change their plans if they want to.

“That’s been really awesome,” she says.

Often, they meet and befriend other van lifers who share stories and suggest new places to explore. For example, they made an unexpected detour to Oak Ride, the secret production site for the first atomic bomb, after a man they met suggested it Another time they were in the Southwest at Christmastime and didn’t have plans. They stopped at a small visitor’s center and a woman there invited them to a giant Christmas parade through town. They’ve stayed friends with many of the people they’ve met.

“We don’t know what’s around the next bend,” Justin says.

“People, weather and what we see guides what we do and where we go.”

A break in the action

As nice as it was to have no alarm clock, no jobs, and no schedule, the Cregos still found themselves racing against time. The couple had saved enough money to spend about a year on the road, Justin says, and they wanted to see as much as possible before time ran out.

“It was ringing in the back of our heads constantly,” he says. Instead of taking their time and enjoying themselves, Savaria says it was hard to break the mentality that they had to keep moving to see and do as much as possible. They rarely stayed in one spot for more than a day.

“We were just constantly moving,” she says. “We’d climb a mountain and then say ‘What’s next?’”

They got the chance to slow down earlier this year. News that the COVID-19 virus was spreading was slow to reach them. They were traveling in the California backcountry and lacked reliable phone or internet service. The pandemic made it increasingly difficult to find bathrooms and showers, or even to connect to the internet at a coffee shop. And the couple had only recently adopted a stray dog they’d named Zuko. After some discussion they reluctantly went into quarantine with relatives in Phoenix.

They spent three months staying with family who had a spare bedroom and bathroom. It was a bit of an adjustment, but Justin says they appreciated having a roof over their heads and hot showers, as well as more of a routine. But there was also uncertainty about whether they would be able to travel again. When they did head back on the road, they agreed to take their time and enjoy themselves a bit more.

The new challenges of traveling during the pandemic and the three months spent under a roof made the couple discuss whether it might be time to look for a house. Savaria misses gardening and having space to do work. Justin thinks Zuko would benefit from a backyard to play in.

They still want to visit Washington state, Montana and British Columbia. For now, they’re applying for jobs, preferably remote, to fund their lifestyle. Even if they settle down, Savaria says, that won’t be the end of their van life adventures.

“But having a home base would be great.” SWM