You will grow as a person by traveling, and in my case, so does your vehicle.

I stepped out of my comfort zone 3 years ago and into something that has mentally and physically amounted to nothing less than continual personal growth for me. this van.

$600 1992 Ford Econoline. Nov 2012 - Sep 2013

I have lived and understand the feeling of accomplishment you get when you can get you own place, and work to afford your food, bills, etc. being self-sufficient. Would you believe me if i told you that this same thing and feeling could be accomplished on a smaller scale, without rent, utilities, and other things you don't need to have. :) You might not either, which is why i share my stories. because right now i would be doing just that if it wasn't for the insight that this "roadtrip" i've been on for 3 years has given me.When i come back to places like Sacramento, where my journey started and where i happen to be right now,it all hits me how much of an impact and how educational this has been to me. I feel as if i can tell you exactly where i would be and what i would be doing with my life if i never left, and how comfortable and content i would feel doing it. Instead, this life i have been living has molded me into the person that can hopefully bring some much needed attention to learning and living through traveling. hopefully you can even learns some through my experiences i share here. There's important things to be taught that you can't get learn in school that i have learned on the road through encounters and experiences. The biggest difference between me back when i was living a ''normal life", is that i feel as if i am a more rounded, aware and an overall more involved person.I never really have lived the "vanlife" in the conventional way other than that first little Ford van we had. Maybe the thing is is that were traveling together, but were brothers, and we need more room than the average vanning duo, which is usually a couple. I've seen VW vans, conversion vans, and even a truck camper work for two people, and a dog too!, most van set ups includes 1 bed, and the rest is living space and kitchen. which is the reason we've built the inside of our past three adventure-mobiles ourselves, complete with 2 beds and plenty of living space. So here is our past three homes, and our current one, how we got them, where we found them, and what we did with them.We actually traded our first van (and 5 weeks of labor) for our first bus that we spent 6 months converting and fixing on the Oregon Coast, 

custom duct tape mirror.

26 ft. 1992 Ford E-350 diesel shuttle bus 

We outfitted it with two beds,    ( L shaped bunk beds), and all the bells and whistles in order to live in it, and we loved it, and so did others.  We even painted the outside of it with chalkboard paint and had everybody who wanted to sign it, or put a quote on the outside. The only thing was that this bus had a replaced engine, and more problems than what we can keep up with. As we took the whole west coast, we broke down 3 times along the way and bad mechanic experiences were included with that. When that poor bus finally made it back up to Oregon we fixed her up once again and traded it bus straight across for a 2002 Sprinter van. A trade that made possible through Craigslist. thanks Craig. After building out the sprinter, we soon realized that even this very large sprinter is small. it was tall and long and thats for sure, but very narrow which made it difficult to sleep sideways. 'We then traded our bus straight across for this van, and spent a couple of weeks in Eugene Oregon installing overhead storage, futon, flooring beds and cabinets.

sprinter set-up

2002 Freightliner Sprinter

We then sold that Sprinter to Cyrus Sutton after meeting him in the desert. So we rented a uhaul and headed to Phoenix to pick up our new home.

our current home. 23 ft. 2008 ford E-350 turbo diesel.

When we first saw this bus on the guys property we we're working for, we knew that we had to get it, he wasn't doing anything with it and we saw potential.We ended up selling the sprinter van to Cyrus Sutton, (a well known professional surfer with a talent for making films). After meeting him in the desert at a natural hot springs we told him we wannted this bus and we were selling this. with the amount we sold it for, the man we worked for in Phoenix said he would take it. so we rented a Uhaul in Vegas and drove to Phoenix with everything we own full of excitement to see our new home. we than spent just a week converting it at a wood shop in Portland Oregon and have since took it across the country twice and put over 12,000 miles on it. 

-----------------------------Anyway that you want to live can be lived------------------------, but you have to persue it. You might not ever know the life you we're meant to live if your not optimistic about new things or opportunities that come your way, you CAN miss them. so take things as they come and never get ahead of yourself. or behind! --Matt Monthei questions? comments?