What are some of the struggles i face with my new found lifestyle? I'm glad you asked.
* Transitioning.
I know i know, the more i use any word starting with "Tran" the biggest and most obvious, i guess you could say "trend" comes to mind. But, no I am not a transvestite, nor has the thought occurred. Although being male and having not only the freedom but the equipment to piss wherever you may please is already a very very acceptable argument. But no, i am referring to "living without a permanent residence." And boy are there many struggles i face.
I would say the biggest is letting go of old habits. When you are forced into this lifestyle with no direction, no sense of whats next to come, and with absolutely no idea of what or how to build your life back to what you thought was "normal"( which by the way is totally overrated), its quite hard to sort of start a new. We know what we need; a bigger vehicle, an income that is manageable with our lifestyle, and a new sense of responsibility.
* The trivial stuff
buying the right food, food that will last a few days or more in a vehicle that provides no refrigeration whatsoever(until you can afford a ton of batteries or solar power). Having a manageable amount of clothing, i don't care how big the vehicle, you cannot have a walk in closet or bottomless drawers filled with unending outfits. Say goodbye to all thing material, goodbye shower with attached bathtub, goodbye giant flat screen TV with matching entertainment center, goodbye deluxe kitchen with granite counters and an island, and goodbye fireplace (although I've seen some Europeans with a mini fireplace in there van, so you may hold onto that).
* Security
Living in a van can bring you to some of the most b-e-a-utiful places America has to offer; the Rockies, the deserts, old forgotten town, and many many others. But with that comes the sense of knowing where and when to park. Of course you must stay vigilant to the wildlife you are around. Waking up with a 5 or 10 ft long snake in your vehicle is not fun. going outside to pee in a desert with the sounds of howling coyotes or stinging scorpions again not fun. And of course, perhaps the most dangerous animal this amazing world has to offer, humans. Having your vehicle broken into, gun shots in the distance, junkies here and there, and just plain old bored humans looking for something to steal, is enough to steer you away from the transient lifestyle and back to normalcy.
*hygiene
Its not hard to find a source of water and give yourself a good ol' fashioned "Ho bath", but when your living in a small town in an even smaller vehicle,such as i am, and your only source of water is a public restroom it could get weird when someone walks in and finds you brushing your teeth or washing your face or even shaving. Awkward. But what else are you going to do until you have the van of your dreams with all these necessities? Please look up van conversion videos on youtube, they will open your mind to life on the road.
*Privacy
Sure with curtains and some window blocking materials you could have all the privacy you want from the outside world (outside of your van that is). But when you're married or have an S/O, living in the van can get... impersonal. Make no mistake I love my husband and having him here provides me with more security than being by myself. But there are some moments girls like to have alone, by their selves, with no one there. Dim lights, closed curtains, locked doors, maybe a scented candle or too. Ill be frank I'm talking about masturbating people, flicking the bean, paddling the pink canoe, dialing the rotary phone, and many other euphemisms you could find by googling "phrases for women masturbating."
And its not like my husband has no idea what hes doing down there, god gifted him with quite a set of hands, fingers to be more precises. But it seems the phrase "when the van is a rockin' don't come a knockin.'" hasn't yet set in the police. So when we happen to be in a heavily populated area and my lady parts spidy senses starts tingling i cant really jump on top of my husband and get to work, mostly because I'd bump my head on the roof, but also because people tend to know what is going on in the back of a blocked out van that happens to be rocking side to side.
That's about it for this post. I do hope you enjoyed it for the most part. Couldn't quite help the intimate details there at the end. But that's what i want this blog to be about everything and all thing my lifestyle has to offer; the good, the bad, and the awkward.
