Grown Men Who Live in Vans: Lonesome or Loathsome?

Haha the title was a bit of a misnomer amirite guys?  We all know the #vanlife phenomenon is really something special and we're fortunate to live in the era where it's really come into itself, or into its own, or however you say it, if you know what I mean.

I ran across this article from last year about a true visionary of real balance:

Living the drem

How amazing is this?  To have it all figured out at such a young age, living and working and multi-adventure-sporting, all out of a rolling rectangular box, and all sweetly alone without the hassle of property appreciation or interpersonal relationships.  

Wired.

Wait. Same Tim Lutz as on this site?

Yeah, back in 2013 I was seeing this newly divorced lady who was enjoying her newfound freedom to befriend anyone she randomly met on the street now that her husband was no longer giving her the stink eye about that. And so randomly she did befriend this guy she met at a frozen pond who was living in his van . The guy was in his mid-40s I suppose. It was hard to tell. He was soft spoken and kind of looked like a surfer. He didn't have a really tricked out van. It was just a standard van with perhaps a cot, and a cage for a large rabbit. Oh, and there was a large dog in there, too. He was parked at a friend's house in Woodland Park and no doubt used the indoor restroom for going number 2, but perhaps used a bottle for urinating in.

This guy's lifestyle really struck a chord with me. I feared ever going that far down the rungs. I had owned a house back in 2005 and rented rooms in houses for a time, but was at least in a one bedroom apartment after my divorce. I tried to imagine that cramped van with the huge dog and the rabbit thrashing about in its cage late at night. This guy was not all that settled in the van, so he ventured into the woods near his friend's house and found some discarded lumber. There in a patch of trees he built his own hobo shanty like you might find in some refuge camp in Gaza. The girl I was dating recounted a story of how her friend had wanted to cook her a meal, such a chef was he, and so he led her to the shanty and cooked a feast on a one burner Coleman stove. The image of this dinner gathering was nightmare fuel to me.

One day we were driving to Elevenmile to climb and the van guy texted her. Oh, maybe we could all meet up later that day? I tried ever so politely to voice my own preference not to do that. It was if I had suggested we find a small child to boil for lunch. Mortified, I said nothing further on the subject.

Tim Lutz is a lot skinnier than his one time avatar, I might add.

#vanlife
#blessed
#MAGA

It's like the new version of a "hermit", except that tended to be older dudes, now it's millennials trying to escape real-life.

all depends on how nice your van is. I love it but also like to have a home base after the roadtrip. might get a little weird if it went too long. then again as the late Dr Gonzo said. "when the going gets weird the weird turn pro..." typical morning @ shadow Mountain

Shitbox with no windows can certainly give off a weird vibe.  If you have put some real effort into making it nice and workable the chicks absolutely dig it!  Dog might be good chick bait but is also a PINTA for living on the road.... especially if it rains and you want to climb in the park....

https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/08/27/white-van-with-free-candy-painted-in-red-makes-natomas-parents-nervous/

The coolest thing about living in a van is not feeling you need to tell people that you live in a van.

Also I don't care how much you make.

People with lesser means are essentially being forced to live in their cars. This is not a good thing. I'm on the, "loath" end of this if all this dude wants to do is brag about his van life. It's temporary - he could go back to a more conventional life whenever he wants. I'm happy he'll have those memories of when he was "totally homeless" and, "bumming around".

Get over it.

One of my 2 closest friends lives in his van and the other lives in his jeep wrangler (well half the time). Another friend is currently living in his van but he jumps around places all the time, we get text from him and one day he is in CA and a week later he will be in NY no longer doing van shit. The other one lives part time out of a subaru and does some guiding. Alot of my other friends have strange living arrangements but I do have one that is sorta normal... i mean I guess being in military SF and married he at least has a home and kid when he isn't deployed on the other side of the globe killing people you never hear about. One of these days I really need to get a vehicle setup to live out of, I mean I only show up at my company for 2-3 hours a day 3 days a week. I normally just work from home since I am on the east coast and the HQ for my company is on the west coast and I am the only dev left after they bought us out. I think a good van with stable internet would work great and I could do it without them ever even knowing probably (or just get permission to do it).

You know thinking about all of this... all you people going to an office living 9-5 jobs are the weird ones.

Is it really just me? Am I the only one who thinks that there is something sub-surficial, weird, and as yet unexplicated going on here when #vanlife gets subjected to so much scrutiny, but there is a paucity of threads mocking the normative but equally pathetic #crampedcondolife or #suburbantracthouselife?

I'm not even interested in how lonesome these people may or may not be; that's their business. I'm also not interested in the criteria for authentic dirtbagging and whether or not they meet them; that's your business, forum oracles.

But what I think is genuinely sad about the #vanlife thing is what it says about the current nature and status of work and who does it and how. These nomadic but connected outdoor recreationists are a very privileged class. You're underprivileged if you're, say, a welder or a machinist. You've got to have, and pay for, a shop, and you've got to be in it every day. No #vanlife for you. Meanwhile, the woods are crawling with displaced cubicle rats who wouldn't know a wire electrode from a tapeworm, parked in front of screens doing mysterious things that we as a culture have just as mysteriously designated and valued as "work."

Maybe what's going on is that all you who are critiquing the perennial roadtrippers are coping with the suspicion rising in your gorges that, as ViperScale suggested above, you've been had. Trapped by the public/private conspiracy between the banks, the developers, the realtors, the contractors, the building materials industry, the assesors, the code enforcers, and the FHA to keep us docile and indebted and over-invested in more real estate than we really need. There's a reason why, if all you want on your property is a tepee and a garden, or a van, you can't have that. And that reason certainly isn't your own welfare.

Tradiban wrote: It's like the new version of a "hermit", except that tended to be older dudes, now it's millennials trying to escape real-life.

And what, pray tell, do you consider "real-life"?  Fully assimilating into the mores and strictures of American capitalist-plutocracy?  Sounds like you jelly...

I really don't have a problem with a guy making six figures living out of a tricked out van while he pursues an expensive outdoor hobby. He made it work. Cool.

I kinda find it poor taste to read an article about him bragging about it. That's lame.

I don't live in a van 'cause I don't want to live in a van. Some people don't wanna live in a house, 'cause they don't wanna live in a house. Lots of people don't get a choice in the matter. This guy, it seems, does. Power to the disadvantaged.

Well, the author may make six figures, but a friend of mine who lives in his truck doesn't. He travels and climbs, works jobs for a few months and moves on.

I've also met the more common version, people who are retired from work, or work minimally, by choice, and young people with enough bucks to take some time and go on an extended trip. One I got to climb with when he came through Boise, was on a bicycle. For a couple years, or more. Last I heard? Thinking of heading to Patagonia. The original, not the knockoff, lol!

All of us understand this is a choice that these people have made. I think it's just as legit as any other choice. Do not, however, call yourself "homeless" simply because you choose this. That's true, if you do not have a permanent domicile, but pretty insensitive to those who have zero choice in the matter. Very sadly, they are also the most invisible and vulnerable segment of the homeless population: very often, women with kids, who are sleeping in their car. It's a much larger group than most people realize. Ask an elementary school teacher.

Or someone who works in a public library.

Best, OLH

I read the article.  It doesn't sound to me like bragging, just describing what he's doing and how he did it and how happy it makes him.
Good for him that he has it worked out for now.  He may decide on a different lifestyle at some point in the future if and when he decides something is missing.
I think it's great that he's "living the dream" while also earning a living and probably saving a bunch of money for the future.
Is he lonely?  We have no idea.
Is he loathsome?  Usually I reserve a word this strong for serial killers and child molesters, so I vote no.

ThAts funny, I don’t really have an opinion either way, this was just a clever way to bust our own Tim Lutz’s balls...and it’s not even him

Mark Paulson wrote:

And what, pray tell, do you consider "real-life"?  Fully assimilating into the mores and strictures of American capitalist-plutocracy?  Sounds like you jelly...

In real life people have relationships with other real live people. Dude just seems lonely to me. Sad.

But the real problem is the "Look at me, I got it all figured out" bullshit. #vanlife is pure selfishness and not contributing to a productive society.

Tradiban wrote:

#vanlife is pure selfishness and not contributing to a productive society.

What is your definition of contributing to productive society? 

caesar.salad wrote:

What is your definition of contributing to productive society? 

Contributing nothing to MP

caesar.salad wrote:

What is your definition of contributing to productive society? 

Anything besides jerkin' it in a van all day.

At age 25, soloing 5.12, getting sponsored... probably just lonesome (or not that lonely even!)

At age 40, still plateaued at 5.10, eating ramen...; definitely loathesome