Alright, so I showed you guys a few samples of shirts that I wanted to do for LivingTheVanLife. Well I was finally able to turn them into a reality and they are now available for sale on my VERY SIMPLE website! http://www.livingthevanlife.com
I have been working on whipping up a few t-shirt designs. Here are a couple to check out! I really want to follow through with this idea in making these t-shirts available for sale here on the internet.
FEEDBACK PLEASE!! When someone gets the idea of changing their lifestyle and taking on the adventure of living in a van, there is a lot of thought and decisions that go into it. It’s a lifestyle that you really need to be mentally prepared for. This lifestyle really seems to be judged by so many people in American society. So many Americans jump to conclusions that a van dweller is someone who is one step away from being a homeless person on the street corner begging for food and money. It really has been a refreshing surprise to see all the positive feedback toward a van dwelling lifestyle that my youtube channel has received. It has been so great to see that there really are a lot of other people out there who are beginning to think along the same lines that I began to think nearly two years ago. It’s really brought me to the point of not really caring about what the rest of society thinks about people like us. Us being the people who CHOOSE to live this lifestyle because it is a simpler and free’r way of living. This whole concept has been turning the gears inside my head and I have been scheming more ideas of how to wear this way of living on my chest. I thought it would be really cool to come up with a t-shirt concept that, with a play of words and an image, would basically say “Yeah! I live in a van!! DON’T JUDGE ME!” I thought I would throw this idea out to my blog followers and see what people thought. Leave your comments and your thoughts! Once I got this process rolling, I want to make the t-shirts available for the rest of the van dwelling community to purchase! After all… we all need clothes on our back….. why not wear something that supports your lifestyle rather than wearing branded shirts that advertise for multi million dollar corporations?
When living in my 1991 Volkswagen Westfalia I have made it a point to keep my living space clean and clutter free as much as possible with living out of a van. Luckily the westfalias have an amazing layout of storage and cabinets inside the van. However while living in a van there is a need for the extra storage as well. I invested in a roof top yakima rack system with a large “rocket” box. In this video I show you some details of how I have made this work for my situation.
An important part of cold weather survival while living in a vehicle is maintaining traction while traveling in severe snow and ice. I was fortunate to be able to purchase a decent set of all terrain tires this summer. They help tremendously on the snow and ice over a standard street tire. For extreme conditions I carry a good set of tire chains that I purchased from Les Schwab tire company. These bad boys provide unbeatable traction for the Volkswagen Westfalia. I have been in 8-10 inches of fresh snow with the chains on and no problem of getting around in the mountains to go snowboarding.
With the cold weather months upon us here in the Pacific Northwest, I pulled my Mr. Heater brand Big Buddy portable propane heater out of storage and hooked it up to the quick connect propane line that I installed in the van last winter. If you are going to live in a vehicle through the winter, a heat source is a must. I have slept in my van through nights that have been below 22 degrees F and stayed perfectly warm with the top popped while my Big Buddy heater burns on low through the night. The nice thing about having the Big Buddy model, is the capability to have it plumbed into the existing Westfalia propane system via a quick connect propane line that is plugged in to the non pressure regulated port on the heater. This allows you to use the higher capacity onboard propane tank without using up the expensive 1 lb disposable bottles. Also the Big Buddy has the capability for hooking up two 1 lb disposable bottles in the case where you must run off the bottles. While running on 2 disposable bottles, the heater will burn on low all through the night. I have found that running off 1 disposable bottle on the smaller Mr. Heaters will not get you through the night. Here is a quick video review of the heater. This heater is a MUST HAVE in my VW Vanagon Westfalia. Enjoy the video.
