Way back in 2011, a hashtag emerged from the Instagram of Foster Huntington that began to define a way of living. #Vanlife. Although the idea is a little more glamorous than the reality, van life can be extraordinarily rewarding.
Part of what makes it that way is the inevitable hassle–just a few weeks ago, in fact, my girlfriend Stevie and I took our ’81 Dodge van to Joshua Tree. Halfway there, the radiator developed a new hole and pissed coolant all over a Taco Bell parking lot. After she calmed me down, we sorted it out thanks to a couple of jugs of that untrustworthy quick-fix Stop-Leak poison, and then got on our way a few hours later. Sure, it sucked. But we got there, and sorting it out was part of the experience. Now I’ve got to put in a fucking radiator, god damn it. Hurray for experience.
Stevie and I’ve been through a lot in that van (read about it here, here, and here), and it’s all been great, no matter how shitty it was. We’re taking it to the southern end of Baja around Christmas, and there will be issues, to say the least. But it’ll be fun, no matter what happens. It’ll be an experience, anyway. Like the guy in the video says, “there’s something about going somewhere in a vehicle you know is guaranteed to break down at some point.”
