The End of Full-Time Van Life

They say home is where you park it, and that’s true. Aside from a few small trips, the van has been parked here for over a year. But as of this past weekend, there’s been a huge change that doesn’t come through in this picture. We are no longer living in the van.

For a variety of reasons, Melissa, Lister, and I have moved into the house with her sons and daughter-in-law. We’ve taken over the back room, which, though small, is still bigger than the inside of the van. For the first time since this journey began over four years ago, when my old apartment burned, I live in a house, like normal people do. My full-time journey is at an end.

The extreme humidity over the past few weeks has been a factor. Everything inside the van has been damp despite us running the air conditioner constantly. It can only do so much when the relative humidity has been consistently in the 80 to 90 percent range. It’s not fun waking up on damp sheets and getting dressed into damp clothes. The rainy season wasn’t nearly this bad last year. Normally, it’s over by now, but it just won’t go away.

We haven’t given up on the tiny house plans, but they are on hold for now. It’s too late in the year to start the project and have it finished in time to move in before winter. Now we don’t have to stress about it, since we don’t have to spend another winter in a van that wasn’t designed for anything colder than a southern Arizona “winter.” But we have spent a little of the money we’d set aside for the house on things we can use now and will bring to the tiny house later, like a bed and a small window air conditioner.

Lister seems very happy with the situation. He was confused at first, but has adapted quickly, as he does. He wasn’t always a van cat, and now that he’s over 11 years old, maybe settling down appeals to him. We’re slowly integrating him with the dogs who already live here, but the only one being a jerk about it is Lister, not the dogs. Typical cat.

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So what does this mean for the van? Once again, it’s not the end. We’re still in the slow process of moving things out of the van and into the house. Since it’s parked right over there, we can get things anytime. I have to figure out what a hibernation mode for the van looks like. I’ve never had to do it before, because before now I’ve always intended it to be my full-time home. The roof vents are slightly open, and the Maxxair fan is on automatic mode to keep air circulating, which will hopefully prevent mold with all this humidity. Once the fridge is empty, I’ll shut that off. I’ll keep the van plugged into the house, but only to run a trickle charger for the vehicle battery, since we’re not driving it enough to keep it charged with the engine and the Ford Transit has a lot of systems that slowly drain the battery. I’ll have to disconnect the house batteries from everything before it gets too cold this winter, but they can stay hooked up for now to run the fans and lights.

The next step is a deep cleaning, inside and out. It needs it after two years of living in this particular van, and it’ll be much easier to tackle once we can take things out and not worry about having to sleep in there that night. Once we’ve moved out enough that stuff won’t fall everywhere, I’ll drive it to a tall car wash and thoroughly scrub the outside, including the roof if I can bring a tall, safe ladder. Sweeping, vacuuming, and scrubbing will happen inside, especially under the bed where Lister’s litter box used to be.

Just like settling down in Arkansas last year, this isn’t the end, but it is a new chapter and a different way of using the van. Time and work won’t let us take any long trips anytime soon, but part-time travel is our eventual goal. I’d like to show Melissa around New England where I lived most of my life someday, since she’s never been to that part of the country. It would also be nice to take a month and escape the coldest winter nights back in the Arizona desert. Now is a good time to consider whether to make any changes to the interior layout, since I don’t have to worry about putting everything back together just to have a place to sleep tonight.