How Van-Lifers Are Adapting During the Coronavirus Pandemic

ByMyProperty Life

When home is the open road, it’s tricky to navigate where and how to shelter in place.

Alexa left Ohio eight years ago and never planned on returning. Her book, Living The Dream, was inspired by a life outlook her late father shared with her—one she plans on continuing to pay forward at events and functions around the country as a professional speaker.

When city life paused full stop in March, many headed outdoors. Bishop, California, a climbing mecca, attracted droves from Los Angeles and the Bay Area. National parks encouraged visitors, as long as they practiced social distancing. But as crowds gathered, officials decided to padlock facilities and cease operations altogether. The van-lifers who live for destinations like Bishop are now struggling with knowing where to be. 

“All of my money is in this van,” says Katie Larsen, who fled the Lake Tahoe area with her boyfriend to shelter with a small caravan in the California-Nevada desert. “I have no other house or apartment. I could go to my parents’ place, but their house is filled with my adult siblings. Being back in a family environment would put my pregnant sister-in-law and baby in danger.” 

Katie Larsen runs a van lifestyle website from the road. She was bouncing around Lake Tahoe with her boyfriend when he lost his service industry job and shelter in place began. The two made plans to head to a remote part of the California-Nevada desert to batten the hatches with three other vans. The nearest town is 30 minutes away, and they take turns shopping for the group to avoid too many outings. Free water is just a mile-and-a-half drive away. The group agreed to stop talking about shelter in place for sanity’s sake.
Read another article:Design Trends for Creating a Vacation Vibe at Home

Katie Larsen runs a van lifestyle website from the road. She was bouncing around Lake Tahoe with her boyfriend when he lost his service industry job and shelter in place began. The two made plans to head to a remote part of the California-Nevada desert to batten the hatches with three other vans. The nearest town is 30 minutes away, and they take turns shopping for the group to avoid too many outings. Free water is just a mile-and-a-half drive away. The group agreed to stop talking about shelter in place for sanity’s sake. “The unknown is nerve-racking,” says Katie.

Courtesy of Katie Larsen

To go home to Oregon, she’d have to fill up at multiple gas stations and use public facilities, exposing herself to potential infection along the way. Sheltering on remote public land, even amidst a small pack of van-life peers, seemed more responsible in spite of dissent from onlookers. “There’s a large community of van-lifers on social media and Instagram, and it’s an easy place to write comments or send DMs when you don’t agree,” says Katie, who’s been told outright to go home.

Read another article:Hot Trends: 20 Best Farmhouse Style Kitchens in White and Wood

Some are lucky to have company, but Megan Cable, an accounting professional who works full time from the road, has been sheltering in place alone in Southern Utah for seven weeks now. “I’d love to be with a few other people, but I wanted to stay put until I learn more about what’s going to happen,” she says. Megan, too, feared risking her family’s and others’ health by crossing the country or changing locales.

Aside from staying put, her routine hasn’t changed much. She’s thankful that she still has work, and she can hop on mountain bike trails paces from her van, FaceTime with friends and family, and cook meals or take photos. She minimizes trips to town by stocking up on supplies and groceries. Occasionally, from afar, she greets locals or other van-lifers finding reprieve on Utah’s open lands. 

Megan Cable was in the St. George area of Utah when the pandemic became more serious. Faced with deciding whether to follow orders for nomads to head home or stay put, she decided on the latter to minimize contact with others and her family.

Megan Cable was in the St. George area of Utah when the pandemic became more serious. Faced with deciding whether to follow orders for nomads to head home or stay put, she decided on the latter to minimize contact with others and her family. “Going home isn’t an option for everyone,” she says. “And it also isn’t the smartest thing to cross the country.” She’s going on seven weeks in isolation, but she is able to stay busy with work, cycling, FaceTime calls, and cooking.

Read another article:Revamped Small Barcelona Apartment Combines Multiple Styles and Finishes

Photo by Megan Cable

“The day-to-day is pretty similar for me,” says Megan. “I’m used to being on my own, working remotely.” Before the pandemic, she would rendezvous with friends every two to three weeks, which she misses.

Photo by Megan Cable

See the full story on Dwell.com: How Van-Lifers Are Adapting During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Related stories:

  • This New Frank Lloyd Wright–Inspired Furniture Is Surprisingly Affordable
  • We Asked 13 Designers to Share Their Work-From-Home Setups and Tips
  • How Design Brands Around the World Are Pivoting to Tackle the Coronavirus Pandemic

Similar Posts

  • Bayside Residence: Timber Battens and New Floor Plan Revamp Art Deco Home

    If there is one thing that we have leant in the last few months of working from home, then it is that we need a home where we can keep an eye on our kids even as we get things done and get to work from home. Accommodating just that and along with revamping the […]

    You’re reading Bayside Residence: Timber Battens and New Floor Plan Revamp Art Deco Home, originally posted on Decoist. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Decoist on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

  • Elephant’s Hill House

    The privileged view of nature was the core starting point for this project on the mountainous region of Nova Lima, State of Minas Gerais/Brazil. An adventurer couple chose us to create this special project in such an exclusive area. At first, the site’s high declivity seemed to be a big challenge, but it was also what inspired us to come up with the implantation’s solution. Exploring its natural landscape and the Elephant’s Hill view, it was possible to set the social floor at the height limit, above the trees. The street facade turned out to be the side elevation and the main facade now faces towards the side boundary. Due to the high declivity of the area, we were able to create a 3 level house. On the ground floor: garage, laundry, and storage. On the first floor, the office was fully integrated with the living room and a guests’ ensuite. Finally, on the second floor, there’s the hosts’ ensuite, with the most privileged view of the landscape. A slight angulation to the east gave us the opportunity to have both the ensuite and the barbecue area to take advantage of the morning sun and the region’s predominant ventilation. At the same time, it helped to protect the ground floor from the sunset light using a concrete wall that blocks the sunlight inside the house. With the major orientation E-W, the house opens to the northern landscape. Extensive eaves on the north view’s perimeter protect the openings of the summer sun, at the same time as the glasses receive the necessary natural heat to naturally warm the inside during the winter.
    We requested that two trees were precisely placed by the topographer in the middle of the elevated deck that connects the house to the suspended heated pool. These also work as a natural filter to the sun’s radiation, minimizing the sun’s entry in the living room and the kitchen. The 25m pool, a client wish, is a fundamental part of the volumetric composition of the house. Sustained by two concrete columns, they elevate the pool 6m above the natural floor level, providing to whom’s inside the pool a view of the treetops and the imponent Elephant’s Hill. With the capacity to generate about 1400kW of energy per month through photovoltaic panels, the house is self-sufficiency on energy, warming the pool water and neutralizing the energy consumption from equipment and artificial lightning.
    Columns and ribbed slab represent the constructive system. The use of apparent concrete in the house’s wall, swimming pool, and slabs bring the timelessness wanted to the project.