It’s been three days since I got back from a trip I took up to Northern California. I went there for some training on a new car key programming machine I had purchased a little while back. I initially planned to fly up and stay at a hotel, but it dawned on me that this would be a perfect opportunity to try out living in a converted van into a mobile home.
RV Living
It’s been my goal for the past couple of years to get a van and convert it into a mobile home with a work station. I wanted to work from my van (an online business) while traveling throughout the United States looking for investable real estate.
I figured the trip to Northern California would be the perfect time to give it a shot before I make a huge investment in something like a Sportsmobile Van Conversion. So I took the plunge and rented a van from RVshare.com. It wasn’t the prettiest vans out there but it was close enough to what I was expecting to get based on interior design and spacing.
Living on The Road
I took off on Wednesday and drove straight to 24-hour Fitness in Sacramento, close to the training location. It was a little weird not driving to a hotel to unpack and get ready for the night. instead, I would shower at 24-hour Fitness and find a suitable place to park my RV.
Quick chicken nuggets stop. 
Fueling up the gas guzzler. 
All sorts of warning lights as I’m driving. 
A little hoops before calling it a night
The drive was pretty straight forward except for warning lights on the car that kept going off. The car was obviously not the most mechanically sound van out there. Aside from the warning lights, the suspension on the van was suspect. It probably needed new shocks at the least.
When I finally got to 24-Hour Fitness, I shot some hoops just to get some blood flow. However, I ended up going to another 24-Hour Fitness closer to the training location. I showered (disgusting how dirty it is) and looked for a place to call it a night since it was close to 1 am by the time I arrived.
I found a nice little spot that seemed safe enough to stay the night without being too noticeable. Aside from the obnoxious vinyl decals on the car, it would be easy to park in any neighborhood without looking too suspicious.
Mobile Fort
The hardest thing about staying in a converted Van is the limited amount of space you have. I thought I’d be okay with it, but seeing as how you have to pack and convert the bed and office set up, it’s quite the hassle. Once the bed was set up though, it was pretty cool. It felt adventurous. It was like having a fort when you were a little kid made out of blankets and pillows that you were able to take anywhere.
Training Day
The purpose of the training was to get familiar with a programming tool I purchased. We were brought to a repo lot and we programmed lots of keys for cars that were going to be auctioned off. It was pretty fun.
Night Out
We finished up around 3 pm. I was exhausted from the night before because I slept close to 2 am and got up around 6:00 am. So after training, I took a long nap until dinner time. The other trainee, Art, and I decided to check out downtown Sacramento. We ended up checking out a pretty cool bar called Dive Bar. They have a huge fish tank above the bar and they have a woman dressed as a mermaid swimming in it. Talk about over-the-top but it was pretty awesome.
Training Day 2
The second day of training was pretty much the same as the day before, but this time we got to learn how to pick car door locks and how to originate them through key cut code. Once you understand the mechanics behind things, it’s really interesting to see how things work under-the-hood.
We saw some pretty crazy stuff at the repo yard. There was a car with blood all over the interior driver’s side. It was most likely a person getting shot since we saw a small hole through the passenger side door. We also saw a car that looked like it got hit by a massive semi-truck.
Second Day of Exploration
Art, who was from Vegas and originally from Moldova, didn’t have a car and it seemed like he really wanted to explore the town. I wanted to just work on Unwage. But since I felt bad and he was a cool dude, I figured, why not? Let’s just enjoy the city and explore a bit more.
Crocker Museum
Apparently Art is into art museums (no irony there) and since I’ve been exploring museums in LA, it seemed appropriate. To be honest, I’m not really into art. The museums I went to were a little boring. I can’t fully appreciate it BUT the Crocker Museum has been my favorite so far. We only had an hour before the museum closed, so we sped through the place and practically saw everything.
Downtown Sacramento
After the museum, we hunted down some coffee and went to grab some drinks. We checked out this place called Punch Bown Social, which was a pretty interesting scene.
Heading to San Francisco
The next day, Saturday, I started my trip over to San Francisco. The plan was to visit San Francisco and then take the PCH 1 highway back to Los Angeles, visiting places along the way. I ended up staying in Vacaville on Saturday because I didn’t feel like it would be safe or practical being in SF overnight, especially since the 49ers were playing in the Super Bowl the next day.
The Trip Back
The next morning, I went to find a coffee place and some food. While I was surfing Yelp, I came across this inconspicuous little Filipino bakery that had raving reviews. As much as I don’t want to eat bread, it looked way too good to pass up.
Sure enough, when I got there, the little store was busy! The wait just to get my bakery items were at least 20 minutes. I’d say it was worth the wait. The little bread morsels were light and airy, with a sweet condensed milk-like flavor. They were piping hot when I got them too.
Sausalito
Afterward, I grabbed breakfast and some coffee before heading further south. I wanted to go back to Sausalito. It’s a quaint city that has a fun local vibe too it with a view that’s reminiscent of Seattle and Vancouver.
Santa Cruz
I originally wanted to visit San Francisco but because I had to take a toll road (complicated with the RV company), I decided to skirt around SF and head over to Santa Cruz. I didn’t explore much of SC because I had limited time. From what I did see though, it was nice but nothing out of the ordinary.
Monterey
The next stop was Monterey. I’m not sure if it was downtown Monterey that I ended up exploring but all I saw were charming lights decorating the trees down the streets and I was sold. The streets were quiet when I got there. I think it was because everyone was indoors watching the Superbowl. I’m not a big fan of football so it didn’t matter much to me.
I spotted another Travelers Autobarn renter!
I’ve been craving ramen for a long time so I found a spot. It was pretty good. Nothing like the ramen I had in Seattle but it satisfied.
After dinner, I was planning to head back home since it was getting late but I happened to pass by a foot massage place. I looked on Yelp and they had great reviews. It’s hard for me to pass up a good foot reflexology place.
The place looked shabby but the massage was on point!
Home Sweet Home
I finally made it back home around 1 am and dropped off the van the next morning.
Van Life Thoughts
I’m extremely glad that I decided to try out the van life. I’ve been dreaming about being able to travel in an RV and work from anywhere I could drive to in the United States. I’ve thought about all the features, look, type of van, amenities, etc that I wanted. It was a goal of mine for a very long time.
BUT it wasn’t what I expected. It was uncomfortable working in such a small space. Having to convert things around every time I wanted to switch from my bed to office was atrocious. Also, the storage compartments were underneath the bench which made it absolutely cumbersome to try to get access to anything. The space was small and it felt like I was climbing over my own belongings all the time.
I didn’t have a bathroom in the van and trying to go pee at night was a headache. Also, showering at 24-hour Fitness was downright gross. I could not do that for a very long time. I felt gross.
There were other things that made it a less than enjoyable experience and imagining having to do this for 6+ months didn’t seem so appealing anymore.
Learning Lesson
After experiencing the #vanlife, I’d say I’m safely over it. It’s no longer a dream or goal of mine. Maybe I’ll have a cool van rig as a short term mobile office, but living in one for a long period of time is out of the question.
I learned it’s important to try things out before you fully commit. Want to buy a nice car? Rent one first. Want to move into a neighborhood, stay in an Airbnb in the area for a while. Sometimes, not committing to a big decision before you fully take the leap and make major changes is a smart move.
Ready to Settle Down
I can finally say I’m ready to settle down. I want rhythm and cadence in my life. I want permanence. I want to be part of a community. I’ve felt like a nomad for so long and now that I’ve tried most of everything I’ve wanted to try, I’m so ready to settle down.
That means I want a place of my own. I want a city that I can call home for many years. I want to begin the process of finding a future wife (well soon enough – Still need to get finances a bit more in check).
What’s Next?
Overall, I’m extremely glad I tested the van life. Without trying it, it could have been a terrible financial choice.
I’ve had a lot on my mind and I’m going to write another post about it soon. It’s a reflection on the past month and my disgruntlement with life recently.
I’ll also have another update about Yellowstone, Unwage, Bitcoin, and potentially new development…Stay tuned.