Trending - Living in a van down by the river

[purplesky]

Have you seen the High-top vans being sold today? They are not crazy priced, and could easily be set up as a teeny tiny house on wheels....

I'm considering buying one next time to outfit as a very temporary RV from which to camp for two days and go fishing...You could put a rug on the floor, a cot, a cooler and a porta potty, and a 50 gallon plastic water container and you'd be set....Plenty of room. Thye make so much neat camping stuff today...for one person, it'd be fine.

The Nissan NV, or Ford or Dodge all look like great choices. I could see it.

On the day that I Took delivery of my jeep wrangler from the Jeep dealer there was a guy buying one of those tall Dodge vans.

He told me that he was going to convert the van into a camping van and live in it for extended periods of time while traveling with his wife.

Having a newer vehicle definitely would be nice for better reliability and fuel economy.

 

[Totoro]

It's also known as homelessness.

Houselessness?

Reminded of this bit:

 

[tmm99]

Living in a van and take a shower at a local gym and cook frozen burger on the side walk? Isn't that what homeless people (who still have vehicles) do? It would be mega depressing for me to live like that.


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[Big_Hitter]

Living in a van and take a shower at a local gym and cook frozen burger on the side walk? Isn't that what homeless people (who still have vehicles) do? It would be mega depressing for me to live like that.


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sounds like a permanent tailgate party to me

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

How about renting a van as a AirBNB rental for $50 to $80 per night?

 

[FUEGO]

Living in a van and take a shower at a local gym and cook frozen burger on the side walk? Isn't that what homeless people (who still have vehicles) do? It would be mega depressing for me to live like that.

That's some fancy homeless living! The homeless people near where I live sleep in camps in the woods, cook whatever they can scavenge (though eat plenty of fast food too), and don't shower other than sink bathing in the grocery store/restaurant bathroom.

Parked in front of the homeless shelter (it's next to the children's museum lol), you'll see some with cars (never seen one with a van oddly enough) and all their possessions crammed in the back seat or trunk. They sleep in the homeless shelter bunks, but must be out by 8 am and can't re-enter till 5 pm.

A decked out sweet van, access to gym/work shower facilities, and ample $$ to eat out whenever or cook simple stuff in your van?? That doesn't describe the homeless I know about. It's also one thing when you're 25. Most of the homeless I've seen at the shelter and around home are much older.

 

[tmm99]

That's some fancy homeless living! The homeless people near where I live sleep in camps in the woods, cook whatever they can scavenge (though eat plenty of fast food too), and don't shower other than sink bathing in the grocery store/restaurant bathroom.



Parked in front of the homeless shelter (it's next to the children's museum lol), you'll see some with cars (never seen one with a van oddly enough) and all their possessions crammed in the back seat or trunk. They sleep in the homeless shelter bunks, but must be out by 8 am and can't re-enter till 5 pm.



A decked out sweet van, access to gym/work shower facilities, and ample $$ to eat out whenever or cook simple stuff in your van?? That doesn't describe the homeless I know about. It's also one thing when you're 25. Most of the homeless I've seen at the shelter and around home are much older.

OK maybe upper crust homeless folks? I watched people like that (a whole family living in a van and another in a school bus, I think) on either 20/20 or Dateline. Mega depressing nonetheless..


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[grasshopper]

I was kicked out of my apartment my last semester of school. I had a 1963 VW split window bus tricked out for travel, well slow travel. I lived on the PCH just south of the San Francisco city limits, or for a change of scenery Half Moon Bay close to where I had a night job. Did that for almost 2 months taking showers at my GF's or school. To be 22 again.

 

[FUEGO]

OK maybe upper crust homeless folks? I watched people like that (a whole family living in a van and another in a school bus, I think) on either 20/20 or Dateline. Mega depressing nonetheless..

Except it's just single people for the most part. Sometimes couples (like Travis and Amanda at FreedomwithBruno though they ended up in campgrounds as often as not and it was really a microRV instead of a permanent living arrangement).

I'll agree with you on the family thing. If you have 5-6 people living in a ordinary passenger/cargo van, that seems pretty cramped. Some might call them hippies instead of homeless though.

 

[purplesky]

One of the big hassles of the van life is finding places to park and just be able to relax.
It would get old real fast having to worry about the police harassing .

And dealing with Walmart managers would get old also.

And the shower and bathroom thing? Sounds like fun.

"Living in a van down by the river" would pretty much suck.

I played in a band through my entire 20s and I have lived in a van. Van life is overrated!

 

[kitesurfer2]

i've been know to sleep in a van...

 

[FUEGO]

i've been know to sleep in a van...

OMG Ur homeless lol.

 

[kitesurfer2]

living in a van full time is totally different than what the wife and i do. we have been know to sleep in as tent for 30 days straight. out of 10 years we may have slept in a hotel a dozen times. we prefer stars, fires, meeting people...none of that in a hotel room. sorry for the thread jack.

 

[Fermion]

Living in our RV down by the river is tough. I mean it is a grueling 60 foot walk to our sailboat and the park only has 550 acres for walking around. It gets expensive too at $9 a night which only includes water, electricity, sewer, internet, lawn maintenance, security. I also feel a bit bad I am not able to support the local government with property tax.

 

[poorcarver]

I worked as a contract engineer about half of my working years. If I was away from home as opposed to local, I lived in a van, had a gym membership where I stopped in the morning on the way to work, worked out, showered and so forth and went to work. After work I mostly stayed in Walmart parking lots. As a rule I got breakfast in a diner, like a lot of folks and got dinner out like most of the other contractors. I saved on the cost of hotel/motel. I was clean, properly dressed and groomed, and ahead $300-$500 on the week. If I were going to go back to employment, which is not going to ever happen again, I would do the same thing.

 

[retirementguy1]

Living in our RV down by the river is tough. I mean it is a grueling 60 foot walk to our sailboat and the park only has 550 acres for walking around. It gets expensive too at $9 a night which only includes water, electricity, sewer, internet, lawn maintenance, security. I also feel a bit bad I am not able to support the local government with property tax.

touche lol

 

[Teacher Terry]

Where is it only 9/night to stay? Our last 2 trips we paid anywhere from 35-75night at a RV park. Ugh!

 

[REWahoo]

Our last 2 trips we paid anywhere from 35-75night at a RV park. Ugh!

Ouch.

Our recent trip to NM and CO saw nightly charges between $27 and $46 for commercial parks. The $46 was the most we've paid per night in our 15+ years of RVing and we probably won't be going back to that park again. $75/night is outrageous.

 

[Teacher Terry]

The 75 was in the Grand Tetons park. Yellowstone was 55 in the park. We also paid 55 in Denver. Small towns in Utah were 35/night. Between the gas and RV spots we spent 6k for a month trip. I did all the cooking. We decided that we can take a 2 week cruise for the same amount and be pampered so now only taking RV to local spots.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Also we wanted to go to Apple Hill (Placerville CA) in Oct. It is popular but not exactly Napa. There are 4 RV parks and the prices range from 60/night to drumroll please---117.00/night. Some even charge for each pet you have. We are staying at the cheapest one and they don't charge for pets which is good because we have 4 dogs. We bought the RV 8 years ago because we have 4 old dogs. Many parks have a 2 dog limit. As soon as we bought it gas prices went up a lot.

 

[Dawg52]

No thanks to van living. I could probably endure this kind of lifestyle.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Living in a RV gets old fast. WE have a 27ft motorhome and after a month I am done. DH wants to travel for a year but no way. I would probably kill him or some of the dogs long before a year passed)

 

[Fermion]

The 75 was in the Grand Tetons park. Yellowstone was 55 in the park. We also paid 55 in Denver. Small towns in Utah were 35/night. Between the gas and RV spots we spent 6k for a month trip. I did all the cooking. We decided that we can take a 2 week cruise for the same amount and be pampered so now only taking RV to local spots.

You need to go back to remedial RV school. We have had at least electricity and water at parks in Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and now Georgia. The most we have paid per night is $28 and that included a boat slip for our sailboat. $18 or free is standard at Army Corp of Engineers campgrounds and if you are over 60, it is half that, or $9. So we actually paid $18 a night at the above campground but I figured everyone on here could get it for $9

I would actually be doing more free camping like we did in Idaho and Montana except the extreme heat is causing us to want to run the A/C all night long (so we need at least electrical hookups or a lot of generator time). Winter will be much better.

 

[Cap_Scarlet]

I have to say I actually fantasize about living in a van.

The sense of freedom, go where you please, sh1t in a bucket. I'm not sure what it is but for me it would have to be accompanied by a long road trip and I definitely would not want to spend evenings in a supermarket car park!

 

[Walt34]

I have to say I actually fantasize about living in a van.

Vans are way too small for me. When I was trying to talk DW into a travel trailer and I was looking at them, if it didn't have a bathroom with a shower that was an immediate deal-killer. Not only for me but I knew it would be for her as well.

That said, when you're in your 20's the standards can be a bit more relaxed. When I was 26 I had an airplane and flew to the Oskosh Air Show. For that week it is the world's busiest airport. I slept in a tent under the wing of the airplane, the showers were in tents and the nozzles were the kitchen spray type, the food gave me the runs and all the toilets were porta-potties. I had a ball.

No way could I do that now.