Greetings to anyone who reads my blog. I hope it will be interesting and will shed light on how I live, both as a vandweller and as a person. I will likely be both the most loyal reader and biggest critic of this blog. Please be patient as I learn how to do this and hopefully get better with time.
An introduction is in order for those who don’t know me. I grew up on a farm near Salem, Oregon and continue to call that area my home base. I’ve lived in Minnesota, Alaska, California, and travelled to most states along with a few countries (Canada, Mexico, Thailand, Wales, and England). Being a carpenter and landscaper, I usually took winters off, in order to travel and to escape the rain in Oregon. I tended to travel on the cheap, so the time off didn’t impact me that much on my finances. Before the economy melted down seven years ago, I had a new house, new pickup, retirement savings, my own construction company, and good income. Due to the economy, real estate losses, theft by a brother, a couple bad romances, major depression, and the failure of my company; I ended up living in a homeless shelter a couple years back. Not an easy transition! I still had my old work van and realized that with a bit of work, that I could get back to traveling again. The van has now been my fulltime home for over a year. I work sporadically, mostly in construction work, and then travel off of my savings. If I’m careful, I can live on $500 per month for my basic expenses. In real life though, something usually comes along to bump that amount (parking ticket, date, tire blowout, dentist bill, etc.). But I am the happiest that I’ve been in years and really enjoying my new life.
For the last four months, I’ve been travelling in Nevada, Arizona, and California. I’ve had a lot of adventures along the way which I may recap or refer to in future posts. Right now, I’m in the San Diego area and as it gets warmer, I’ll start heading up the coast toward Oregon. I’m in no hurry though!
iggyvandweller 