🚐 May 3, 2025 · Bought her: a 2012 Sprinter with 140k miles, one dent, and a name that arrived instantly — Wanda. The plan: one year on the road, working remote.
One year in the van
🔨 May 2025 · Demo weekend. Ripped out the old shelving, found a 2014 granola bar in the wall. The floor plan exists only in my head and on a napkin.
🪚 Jun 2025 · Built the bed frame over three weekends and four YouTube tutorials. Slept in it in the driveway. Neighbors officially concerned.
☀️ Jun 2025 · Solar install day: 400W on the roof, batteries under the bench. Flipped the switch, the lights came on, and I yelled alone in a parking lot.
🍳 Jul 2025 · Kitchenette done — two-burner stove, 12V fridge, a sink that drains into a jug. It's 80cm of counter and it's everything.
💼 Jul 2025 · Told my boss the plan. Fully remote approved, with one condition: 'never miss the Monday standup.' Deal.
📦 Aug 12, 2025 · Moved out of the apartment. Everything I own now fits in 6 square meters. Handed over the keys, took one photo, didn't look back.
🛣️ Aug 15, 2025 · DAY ONE. Drove north with no reservation anywhere. First night: a quiet forest road, dinner on the tailgate, zero regrets.
🌲 Sep 2025 · Pacific Northwest month. Working mornings from trailhead parking lots, hiking at lunch. Wifi from a hotspot, standup from a mossy forest. Nobody noticed.
🌧️ Sep 2025 · First hard rain revealed a roof leak, directly over the bed, at 2am. Emergency sealant in the dark. Vanlife lesson #1: water always wins the first round.
🍂 Oct 2025 · Utah. Red rocks, empty roads, the kind of silence you can hear. Worked with a canyon view that made screenshots look fake.
🔧 Oct 19, 2025 · Alternator died 40km outside Moab. Towed by a guy named Dale who shared his jerky and life philosophy. $480 and a great story.
🥶 Nov 2025 · First cold snap: woke up to 2°C inside. Bought a diesel heater the same day. It's the best money I've spent this decade.
🦃 Nov 2025 · Thanksgiving at a campground potluck with five strangers who felt like family by dessert. Vanlife people share everything except campsite coordinates.
🌵 Dec 2025 · Arizona for the winter, like a proper snowbird. Learned the desert gets COLD at night and unreasonably beautiful at 6:47am.
🎄 Dec 25, 2025 · Christmas alone by choice: cinnamon rolls on the camp stove, a call home, a walk among saguaros. Strangely one of the best Christmases ever.
📶 Jan 2026 · The remote work rhythm is dialed now: library Tuesdays, hotspot mornings, coffee shop deploys. Have not missed a single Monday standup. Streak: 22.
🇲🇽 Feb 2026 · Crossed into Baja. Fish tacos: $1.50. Beach camping: free. Spanish: improving at the speed of hunger.
🐋 Feb 2026 · Gray whales in the lagoon at Guerrero Negro. A mother pushed her calf toward the boat. I forgot to take a photo and I'm glad.
🌮 Mar 2026 · A month of Baja mornings: swim, work, tacos, repeat. Productivity somehow at an all-time high. Correlation? Causation? Tacos.
😰 Mar 2026 · Got properly stuck in sand 200m from a perfect beach spot. Dug for two hours. A fisherman pulled me out in 40 seconds. Bought traction boards the next day.
🔙 Apr 2026 · Slow road north. California coast, Highway 1, elephant seals honking at sunset. Wanda hit 160k miles somewhere near Big Sur.
🛠️ Apr 2026 · One-year service: oil, brakes, a new house battery. Total damage for the year, repairs included: still less than my old rent.
🌸 May 2026 · Full circle — parked at the same forest road from night one. Same tailgate, same dinner, completely different person eating it.
📊 May 15, 2026 · One year in numbers: 41,000 km, 14 states, 2 countries, 1 breakdown, 0 missed standups, and 312 sunsets I actually watched.
🤔 May 2026 · The question everyone asks: 'was it lonely?' Sometimes. But I've had more real conversations this year than in the previous five.
🏠 Jun 2026 · The bigger question: 'ready to come back?' I looked at apartments online. Closed the laptop. Renewed the insurance on Wanda instead.
🌙 Year two begins · North this time — Canada, maybe Alaska before the snow. The napkin with the original floor plan is framed above the bed. Home is where you park it.