Our 6 month Van-iversary: A Life Update

On March 29th of 2026 we officially hit our 6 month Van-iversary (yes I am extremely pleased with this pun). We’d officially been living 100% on the road out of our van for half a year. I thought that maybe a recap of what it’s like to make a huge life change like this broken down into monthly chunks including highlights, things we learned and a photo gallery could be a fun read. It is also a great way to reflect and appreciate this immense gift we have given ourselves during this chapter of our lives.

October (and the last few days of September)

Since we departed from Michigan on 9/29/2025, we technically had a few days in September contained within our first week of van life. Life comes at you fast when you sell everything you own that won’t fit in a van and go all in on a completely new lifestyle. We navigated a medical blip, a van issue and a major weather lesson in our first month all while trying to take it all in and learn how to live life on the road. If you know us at all though, you know we don’t do anything halfway, so I think this first month was exactly the chaos that you can expect from your favorite nomads, we combined the very good with some scary bad and made it through our first month with no permanent damage, and lots of knowledge gained.

Places We Visited in October:

Cuyahoga National Park • Panama Rocks • Niagara Falls • Letchworth State Park • The Adirondacks • Robert Frost’s grave • Ben and Jerry’s Factory • Stephen Kings house-Bangor • Pat’s pizza • Fort Knox (not the treasury) • Penobscot bridge/observatory • Acadia National Park • Dorr Museum of Natural History • Portland • Scranton • Hersheys factory • The Roast of Poe with our dear friend in Baltimore • The outer banks NC • Elizabethan Gardens in Manteo • NC Aquarium on Roanoke Island • Pisgah National Forest

October Highlight

Although we had a few big stressful things happen in our first month we also experienced a plethora of good. We were gifted a freezer full of black bear from an extremely generous host in Vermont, Eric had one of the best bike rides of his life in the same state, and we visited two places that are basically our “motherland destinations” Ben & Jerry’s and Stephen Kings house.
We seriously keep this monster fridge and freezer in the van because we HAVE to have our ice cream, and our bookshelves are full of King. There were countless other good things too, Niagara Falls, a totally random and super cool visit to Panama Rocks, bridges, museums, a comedy show and visit with an old friend, Hershey’s factory, way too many stops (or maybe not enough) at Pat’s Pizza, gardens, aquariums, bike rides and hikes. We started out strong and did ALL the things, with gusto. We would later learn that slowing down was really nice, but the weather and the excitement of hitting the road had us moving quick in our first month.

What We Learned in October:

Kidney stones are not pleasant, 0/10
Amazon Lockers are very helpful now that we have no permanent address
Black bear is delicious, even more so when it’s already processed and packed and gifted to you from a very kind host
The battery terminal nut can and will come loose when bumping down a crazy dirt road in the Adirondacks in your van and it is expensive and stressful to diagnose
Pat’s pizza is insanely delicious and we may never stop thinking about it (Pizzeria in Maine)
Getting “the knock”, a van life top ten fear, isn’t that bad, got that out of the way while in the midst of the van crisis
Do NOT mess around with weather anywhere near the coast or on any sort of island
Harvest hosts/ Boondockers Welcome is a life saver on the east coast where there is no BLM and the hosts are SO kind

November

Hoping all major malfunctions were behind us, we headed into November excited for our concerts (we had purchased tickets to two shows before leaving MI) and ready to see what else was to come. We enjoyed some hikes on the Appalachian Trail, caught a Cirque De Italia show, visited more National Parks like the Great Smokey Mountains, Shenandoah and Congaree, visited with another old friend and ate some delicious treats.

Places We Visited in November:

Linville gorge wilderness • Mcaffee knob (AT) • Natural bridge-VA • Charlottesville for Dawes concert • Shenandoah National Park • Tinker Cliffs (AT) • Dragons tooth (AT) • Smokey Mountain National Park • Maryville TN for a visit with an old friend • Opryland • Cafe Loveless (famous biscuits) • Natchez Trace Parkway • Ryman auditorium for Lone Bellow show • Historic Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary • Paranormal Cirque De Italia • Congaree National Park • Savannah, GA • St. Augustine, FL

Highlights in November

Both concerts we attended were fantastic and we really enjoyed seeing two of our favorite bands. At the Lone Bellow show in Ryman Auditorium (Nashville) we were actually seated behind one of the band members family and enjoyed hearing all about their daughter from a proud parent’s perspective.
We beelined south after the concerts, finally not tied to the colder northern climate and had the best peach cobbler of our lives in Savannah, GA. I might even go so far as to say best dessert…but that may be too bold. If you find yourself in Savannah, do yourself a favor and go to the Crystal Beer Parlor and get ya some.
November sort of became our month of shows since we added on a visit to the Paranormal Cirque De Italia. Eric happened to see that the traveling act would be in a town on our route and so we felt we had to check it out. We have both always been fascinated with all things circus. We still would love to see Cirque De Soleil some day, but this particular show was absolutely incredible and mixed classic circus acts like whip tricks and the “wheel of death” with more modern takes like aerial silks and trampoline stunts.
We also stayed in our first Cracker Barrel parking lot that night after the show and it was not so bad, except we accidentally parked right where the 6am delivery truck would pull up and idle for an hour…you live and learn! The manager said we could park anywhere we liked, I guess they just didn’t think we would park around back.

*Side note, it is proper etiquette to call or stop in to the Cracker Barrel and confirm they allow overnight parking, never assume you can stay since there are some places who can’t allow it due to city ordinance etc*

What We Learned in November:

Saw our first black bear in the wild (Virginia) and it ran away-that is a good thing
We like hiking, maybe want to do a through hike some day
The furnace was becoming the bane of our existence, but, Velit has great customer service
Don’t ignore strange vehicle noises, oil-change places can make mistakes (our air filter cover was hanging on by a hope and a prayer)
Best peach cobbler possibly in the world is in Savannah, GA
FL welcome center has taken the award for “most welcoming” due to free fresh squeezed juice upon arrival, orange or grapefruit
The Paranormal Cirque De Italia is so talented and we will be on the lookout for more Cirque opportunities
Do not park by the back delivery door of the Cracker Barrel unless you want to be woken up at 6 am, but otherwise, solid alternative place to stay with a great breakfast option

December

With our first Christmas away from family looming on the horizon, we started out what would become an entire month in Florida. Before we left Michigan we had considered skipping Florida all together because we just didn’t know what we would do there. The weather was so agreeable though after all the trials and tribulations we had gone through the last two months, we just took the long way round and slowed down.
Literally drove the entire perimeter of the state, down the east coast, to the keys then back up the gulf side and on towards Texas. Eric got some longer sunny bike rides in, I soaked up the sun on the beach painting and we enjoyed snorkeling in Biscayne National Park and “trash/treasure walks” along the coast. Our first major stop in the state though would gain us a story I am sure we will be telling for years to come.

Places We Visited in December

Okeechobee • Fort Pierce • Port St. Lucie-visit with high school bestie • Loggerhead Marine Life Center • Coco Beach • Boynton Beach • Biscayne National Park • Wynwood-Miami Art District • Everglades National Park • The Florida Keys • Bonita Springs • Iguana Land • Punta Gorda • Peace River Botanical Garden • Venice • Casey Key where Stephen King has a summer home • Ringling Brothers Museum • Sunken Gardens • St. Petersburg • Dali Museum • Withlacoochee state trail • Crystal River • Goodwood Museum • Gulf Islands National Seashore • The Shed BBQ and blues joint, MS • Austin Texas

December Highlight

Although we started out on the coast, we ventured inland to explore Okeechobee the largest inland lake in the state. This would soon prove to be a mistake. We found a Boondockers Welcome host that offered up to 5 nights stay and we wanted to do some biking, check out Lake Okeechobee and the Kissimmee Prairie preserve in the area so we booked it for 5 nights.
After we arrived in what can only be explained as a massive amount of ranch land divided up into plots for development, we immediately started getting the hairy eyeball from every car that passed on the dirt road. We even got yelled at by one person who didn’t seem to like us because we were from the north if you get my drift.
After a couple of days of these strange encounters, we received a visit from the sheriff! He was very kind and let us know that apparently the corner the property was on was actually a bus stop for the local kids and several people had called in about a white van with tinted windows and out of state plates posted up at the bus stop, holy crap!
The sheriff didn’t say we had to leave, we were totally fine to stay but we didn’t feel comfortable. We high tailed it out of there in an attempt to not get into a kerfuffle with anyone who misunderstood what the situation was or hadn’t talked to the sheriff already. We went back to the coast to meet up with an old friend near Port St. Lucie and it was such a relief to see some friendly faces after that ordeal, I tell you what.

The holiday season generally seems to bring the best out in people though (Okeechobee aside) and we had exceptional Boondocker Welcome hosts in Florida. One couple we stayed with in Punta Gorda invited us in for pie one night and we stayed up past all our bedtimes talking about places we had traveled to and things we had seen. They also took us on a neighborhood Christmas light tour complete with narration, many oohs-ahhs and exclamations of which display was our favorite. Our bellies hurt from laughing so much because it was such a fun adventure and visit with our hosts.
Another Boondockers host asked us along for a walk down to a neighbors house who had an impressive model train set up in his garage. It took up the whole single stall and he greeted all who arrived with a smile in his conductors hat. He even had a scavenger hunt made up, sort of an I-spy of the scene – can you find King Kong, a frog, a red balloon?
It was so nice to feel the love and magic of the Christmas holiday even though we were far from the home we had known for so long. We munched Christmas cookies and walked with our host and their dog back to our “home for the night” in their driveway. These interactions with people we meet along the way are shining stars in a world and time in our history that seems to be getting scarier by the day. I will certainly never forget our first holiday season on the road and I’ll always cherish these memories with the exceptional humans who offer their space and kindness to travelers.

What We Learned in December

Parking in a white van with blacked out windows near a bus stop (apparently) will get you some weird looks…
You will see gators in the everglades
Key lime pie is a must while in FL, especially in the keys
Eric’s favorite dessert may be Night Owl Cookies – Dubai chocolate cookie
If you are offered a Christmas light tour or to see a model train set up in a strangers garage, do it
The NARM association and botanical garden pass is the perfect gift for travelers, the pass holder gets into participating museums and gardens across the country free
Jo LOVES flamingos, confirmed in Sunken Gardens, the oldest operational roadside attraction
Florida is flat which became very apparent on bike rides
We can indeed make Christmas cinnamon rolls in the collapsible stove that sits on the camp stove (thanks Dad!)
The first Christmas on the road was both so hard, and not so hard at the same time
There is still good in the world, you just have to look for it

January

With the new year came new challenges and many wonderful experiences, along with some eye opening ones. January included a visit to an old family friend’s abode and a meet up with some fellow travelers in Austin, it was the perfect way to ring in the New Year. We finally made it to BLM (Bureau of Land Management) country where we didn’t need to rely as heavily on Boondockers Welcome locations and we crossed off more National Parks from the list. The opportunity for bike riding increased and we finally made it back to the desert, but not in the state we had expected.

Places We Visited in January

Austin, TX to visit framily for the new year • Padre island • Big Bend National Park • Steak dinner, TX • Carlsbad Caverns NP • Guadalupe Mountains National Park-highest point in TX • Painted Rock Petroglyphs, AZ • Yuma AZ/CA • Tumco mining town • Bombay Beach-Salton sea • Slab City • Joshua Tree National Park

Highlights in January

After seeing a documentary about Big Bend National Park we had been very eager to check it out. We spent a lovely few days on Padre island and then headed to the remote park. Big Bend is said to be one of the least visited National Parks in the US but is the #1 most RE-visited. We definitely can see why, this park is amazing. We spent a week there since it’s a feat to get to it in the first place and had one of the most amazing overnight backpacking trips of our life. As we entered the park though, we did not expect the emotional response that ensued.
We made the decision to do this crazy thing (van life) because of what the desert did to us when we went on a two week trip to Arizona/Utah two years ago. We spent every moment after that trip to the day we pulled away from the only home state I’ve ever known, trying to get back to the desert.
There is just something about it, it grabbed us and wouldn’t let go. Eric said frequently in the time between our trip and our life shift launch, “I think about the desert every day” and I had to agree, I did too.
It is “heartbreakingly beautiful” as Edward Abbey so accurately said, but it is “heartbreaking beauty where there are no hearts to break”. I love that quote because it is so true, the desert doesn’t need your love, it is indifferent in its harshness and ruggedness, it doesn’t exist for you, but that indifference, perhaps, is what makes us love it all the more.
The remoteness and quiet contemplation that descends upon you when faced with the strange and magnificent beauty of this place is simply unmatched. From the purple prickly pear, varied rock formations, carved canyon walls, and mind blowing sunsets, to the clear views of every star in the Milky Way, it will absolutely change your life…if you let it.

What We Learned in January

Riding your bike on the beach is rough on it but worth it for the experience
Didn’t expect to find the desert in TX but we did and holy cow it brought on the feels
Overnight backpacking trip in Big Bend was incredible, the milky way and views from the rim will live in our memories forever
Its always something, the furnace wasn’t working again, but in a different way than last time
Finally stayed at our first BLM site with some growing pains figuring out how to use Gaia and i-overlander to find spots (this meant emergency stay at a Walmart when maps failed us)
Near Yuma AZ and the Mexico border, water is found at little pump stations in parking lots of liquor stores etc for 50 cents per however many gallons
Identified a new color in an AZ sunset, sunsets do not mess around here
Nomadic or lawless “towns” like slab city have been highly romanticized and sometimes things that you have heard about are not all they have cracked up to be
The Salton Sea and Bombay Beach are fascinating near ghost towns turned artist communities

February

Heading into month five we really enjoyed the prevalence of BLM land almost everywhere we were. We used our garden/museum pass to visit some lovely attractions and took in a comedy show in Phoenix. This month also brought us our first individual events, I volunteered with the desert weed-whackers group and Eric joined a group ride in Green Valley. We battled through an unusual heat wave for February in Arizona but managed just fine in the van sans AC with strategic planning, it is a dry heat after all…

Places Visited in February

Lake Havasu AZ • Wikieup • Marana • Tucson • Tohono Chul Gardens • Pima Air & Space Museum • Las Cienegas national conservation area • Saguaro National Park • Phoenix Botanical Gardens • Live comedy show, Nick Offerman-Phoenix • Ironwood National Monument • Desert Weed Whackers event • Tubac Museum • Green Valley-group ride

February Highlights

We spent quite a while in the Marana area which is right outside of Tucson. It is close to Ironwood National Monument and Saguaro National Park East. A part of this journey is the search for somewhere we may want to call home in the future. I will say, this area is the first that has come up as a possibility. It is still far too early to tell and the mere notion of a mortgage and less freedom again sounds like a nightmare currently, but it’s worth noting, we have an asterisk by this area.
It was really fun to have an event to look forward to this month, one for each of us. I signed up to volunteer to pull invasive buffle grass with a group called the Desert Weed Whackers who I found through the Sonoran Desert Museum Facebook page. I absolutely love saguaro cactus and we learned more about them at the Tohono Chul gardens.
The native Tohono O’odham people believed that saguaros were not just plants but people, an embodiment of their ancestors. They are sacred and are said to stand tall to watch over their people. Perhaps that is why I am so drawn to them, they do feel sacred to me and so I wanted to do what little I could to help protect them.
The invasive buffle grass, introduced for livestock grazing, is a problem because it not only depletes precious water, it is a fire hazard.
When lightning strikes start fires, the grass acts as tinder and spreads rapidly through the saguaro forests. Saguaros can live to 200 years old but they are slow growing and do not sprout arms until 50-70 years old. There are several volunteer groups that have monthly meet ups to remove the grasses by hand which is the only way to preserve native plants and eliminate the invasive ones effectively.

*Sorry for the plant nerd science lesson but you couldn’t think you would escape this post without one!*

Eric also had a fun event to look forward to, a group ride that he also found through Facebook (a necessary evil sometimes I suppose) in Green Valley, AZ. I have been having some issues getting back into bike shape due to a slower than expected recovery from a surgery last year and he was itching to ride with other people. We had to keep joking as we passed through time zones, sometimes up to three in one day it seemed, that we could never figure out what wormhole we went through or what time it was.

The morning of his group ride, he decided to ride to the starting point only to find a parking lot full of cars with bike racks and no cyclists! The event start time showed up in a different timezone on his FB profile and so he pedaled like the wind to catch up.
He was an hour behind them but managed to catch the pack and chat with them. He talked to a person on this ride that asked if he would be doing the Ride Across Arizona or RAAZ. He hadn’t been planning on it, but decided that might not be a bad idea. This would become the first of two BIG bike packing rides of the year for him which we didn’t know at the time but I can tell you is happening as this post is being written!

What We Learned in February

Jo struggling with big bike climbs, breathing and heart rate issues, something to keep an eye on
Met a new friend, Cory who was just beginning his nomad journey and we could actually offer some advice from what we had learned on the road so far
Major mess up, accidentally threw away our two year license tabs and had to backtrack an hour where luckily, an amazing gas station manager had fished them out of the trash for us!
Falling off your bike at closer to 40 than 4 smarts a bit
Events for our separate interests are super fun and help to preserve our individuality
Eric got the itch to maybe add another big ride onto his agenda for the year (spoiler, he does it)
Tucson/Marana are high on the “maybe we could live there someday” list
We finally took the heater apart (on a 90°F day) and fingers crossed, really fixed it this time
Although we are careful what we put down the drain, our sink/grey tank is smelling kinda funky, that’s not good and is next on the stuff we have to fix list
All our garden visits are paying off as we could identify most plants in Saguaro NP
We are getting better at finding BLM spots to camp

March

We made it to 6 months. That’s half a year of no permanent address, 182.5 days with a bathroom in the middle of our kitchen/dining room/living room/bedroom, 4,380 hours of time spent within a few feet of each other (save those couple hours of our individual events) and we didn’t even kill each other! That’s not to say we haven’t had our struggles as we both grappled with our preconceived notions of what van life would be being totally wrong. We did lots of hiking, biking and battled our first illness in the van (Eric had a nasty 2 week cold) without losing our minds. The good always outweighs the bad if you keep a positive attitude and make gratitude a priority like we do.

Places We Visited in March

Death Valley National Park • Valley of Fire State Park NV • St. George UT • Hurricane UT • Red Canyon • Bryce Canyon National Park • Grosvenor Arch • Escalante • Zebra and Tunnel slot canyons • Big Horn Gulch

March Highlights

As we rolled into March we celebrated Eric’s birthday in St. George UT after visiting Death Valley. We spent a lot of time exploring southern Utah and it felt good to be back in the area that was the spark for our current journey. We started out on a reverse loop of our previous journey beginning with Bryce Canyon and adding in some other stops we didn’t have the time for two years ago like Valley of Fire State Park, and a deep dive into Escalante hiking/biking. Eric was able to go on his first solo bike packing trip in Escalante and I really started digging into some realistic water color tutorials. We enjoyed lots of slot canyon hikes together and really hit our stride with resupply stops and the mad dash to put the groceries away.

At this time in our journey, gas prices were beginning to spike and so we tried to stretch our time and enjoy places for as long as felt right. We had a little misstep when we moved on to Escalante only to realize the bike shop we had planned to go to was not actually open until June and there is nothing for at least two hours in any direction. There really was no other option than to back track to get the chain Eric needed to be able to ride his bike.
So, we made the most of it and planned in a resupply at an actual big grocery store and we were rewarded by finding a magic gas pump to ease the pain of the back track.
What is a magic gas pump? I will try my best to explain. We had stopped at a sort of defunct looking gas station on our way to Red Canyon and the sign said $3.05 or something like that only to find that at the actual pump it was $2.59 still. We filled up to the absolute tippy top and went on our way happy to have still not paid over $3 for gas yet.
Well, it just so happens we had to come right back by the magic gas pump on our way to resupply. There were two pumps with a nozzle on each side so four total. One out of the four was still dispensing gas at $2.59 even though the sign now read $3.69 and nobody was working in the actual storefront. It was a card only situation and only one of the pumps actually would work with said card! All said and done we ended up using the magic gas pump at least three different times and we always found at least one person looking at the pumps perplexed on whether they would work or not. We were sure to share the secret of the magic pump with them so they could get one last fill up at the lower price too!

What We Learned in March

Superblooms only happen every ten years or so
Walking in sandy washes is annoying-shoe gaiters are awesome
Jo having breathing/heart rate issues still, got an inhaler through a virtual doctor visit
Eric loves bike packing, even when the terrain is less than ideal, the challenge is a part of the appeal apparently
Had best pizza of my life at Escalante Outfitters, pickle, red onion, garlic oil/roasted garlic, pastrami, cheese.
Hurricane/St.George area are high on the maybe could live there someday list, another asterisk location
Utah is windy, up to 60 mph gusts, our canopy was destroyed here
Southern Utah is sparse-get groceries, bike chains and anything you don’t want to pay double for or can’t find at all when you can
You can make pasta in an insta pot and it uses WAY less water and makes WAY less dishes which is a double score for those living on the road
Jo is really digging in to realistic watercolor tutorials
The biking is even harder in Utah than in AZ, Eric explored a lot of mountain bike routes
We navigated our first illness on the road, Eric battled a cold for a good two weeks after his overnight bike pack trip

The Wrap Up

The first six months of van life were so fun. We faced challenges, saw SO many incredible things, made a mountain of memories and we were grateful for every minute of it the good and bad. I think the biggest thing we learned in the first six months is that no matter how much you plan, it never seems to go exactly how you think it will. The ability to quickly adapt to any situation you get into is the #1 requirement for successful van life.
To quote our favorite band, Dawes, “things happen, that’s all they ever do” and to realize that and proceed with grace and gratitude is key. We are loving this life and can’t wait to see what the next six months bring as we continue to explore, learn and grow in the pursuit of our best lives. Thank you to all who made it this far along with us, we appreciate every single one of you.

-Jo (& Eric)

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