It’s officially been 1 month since I started living on the road. I decided I should write about my experience, before and after I entered this lifestyle. Here we go:
1) Minimizing my life
Before: This was one of the hardest things for me. I knew I had a lot of stuff but I never realized how much of this stuff I really didn’t need. I had to downsize from living in a studio to living out of 2 plastic totes and a couple of bags. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to do it.
Now: I started the trip with 2 plastic totes filled with clothes and “necessities”, a backpack with more necessities and my scuba gear. I now have 1 plastic tote of clothes, a backpack with my necessities and a duffle bag with my scuba gear. And I’m slowly getting rid of more things as we move along.
2) Camping every night
Before: I had never camped before this year. I had never camped consistently for more than 1 night before I started the trip. Whenever I traveled, I always stayed at friend’s/family’s places or hotels/hostels. If I was cold, I could always go back to wherever I was staying to be warm.
Now: In the one month since we started the trip, we’ve stayed one night at a friends place in LA, one night at a hotel in Flagstaff (it was really cold that night, I really wanted to be somewhere warm, I only paid $3 because I had points #win) and 3 nights with Enoch’s family in Mesa, AZ. The rest of the nights were in the rooftop tent. If I’m cold I have to bundle up and go straight into the sleeping bag (the only warm place we have besides the car during our drives). This goes along with sleeping and waking up to different types of weather. We’ve experienced high winds, rain, snow and below freezing temperatures. I’m actually surprised at how well the tent has held up in all of these conditions. Condensation buildup inside the tent at below freezing temperatures is the only negative. Other than that our sleeping conditions are pretty good.
3) Access to bathrooms
Before: I always had access to a bathroom/shower at home, a hotel/hostel or friends/families. Because I was always in a building with facilities, I never had to worry about holding anything in or if the facilities are clean. I could take a hot shower anytime I wanted.
Now: In an effort to save money, we look for free camping wherever we decide to spend the night. Most of these camp sites are in remote areas. If I need to use the bathroom, usually before I go to sleep or when I wake up, I have to bundle up, climb out of the tent and pop a squat. Things get a bit more TMI during my time of the month (#femaleproblems). I’ve gotten used to either holding everything in until we can drive to an actual bathroom or just going wherever we are or in a pit toilet (no running water/no flushing but still better than just popping a squat).
Showers are a rare thing now. We’ve stayed in some RV sites/camp grounds to use their shower facilities (my first time doing both). If you require a shower everyday, this is not the lifestyle for you. We shower about every 3 days on the road. We generally don’t have an odor unless we’ve done some hikes prior. It’s not a pretty lifestyle but so far I’ve been handling it well.
4) Cleaning/ I can’t be lazy
Before: If anyone knows me, they know that I like to be lazy and I don’t like to clean. I never made my bed, my clothes were usually scattered all over my couch/bed and after cooking I usually left the dishes in the sink or used a dishwasher to clean them.
Now: Because our tent is on the roof of the car. We have to set up the tent every night and pack up the tent every morning. No longer can I just collapse into bed at the end of a long day or leave my bed unmade in the morning. Every night when we get to the campsite, I help Enoch unpack the tent to the best of my abilities (the tent is on the roof of the car, I’m short, enough said). I grab everything we would need at night because once you settle into the sleeping bag, you do not want to have to climb back out to the car “because you forgot something” as it gets pretty chilly at night. And it’s usually pitch black outside and you can’t see anything without a headlamp ( I purchased one on this trip and it’s one of my best purchases thus far).
Every morning, we wake up, I usually have to pee so I bundle up, climb out of the tent, do my business and go back into the tent to start packing up the sleeping bag and blankets so Enoch can close up the tent.
Whenever we make any food, we have to clean our dishes right after we finish eating so that we can put everything away and go to sleep. Can’t leave any remnants of food out as we don’t know what kind of animals may be around. So now, I really have no way of being lazy and I’ve become pretty efficient with the tent and our kitchen area. #liveandlearn
5) Learning how to make/cook on a fire
Before: I’ve never had to make a fire since I had never camped before. I’ve hung around fire pits but was never the one to start the fire. Generally most of the fires I’ve cooked on were started with charcoal and lighter fluid.
Now: I’ve learned how to build a fire ring with large rocks I find lying around. I’ve learned how to gather different types of wood/sticks to burn. I’ve also learned that after the wood finishes burning is the best time to start cooking on top of the glowing embers. You can call me a woman of nature now.
What do I cook? A lot of ramen which is a norm for me and I’ve also been dabbling with some Taco Bell items. Made some delicious vegetarian Crunchwrap Supremes. #tacobellsponsorme
6) Time to myself
Before: I lived in a studio by myself. If I didn’t feel like being social I just stayed home. I always had my own space to go and relax and do whatever I wanted.
Now: Enoch and I live out of a Nissan Xterra with a roof top tent. We spend 24/7 together. There’s nowhere for me to go if I want to really be by myself. The closest thing we have to separate rooms is: when we have the tent set up, that is the upstairs area and the car is the downstairs area. We can be in separate areas to chill but at the end of the day we both fall asleep together, wake up together and travel in a car together. So far we haven’t gotten sick of each other yet, it’s only been one month so we’ll see. JK? Lol
7) Beautiful sunsets
Before: I’ve always loved seeing sunsets. Anytime I had the chance to photograph one I would try to capture it. Because I regularly worked a day job, I rarely got to sit outside and watch a sunset from start to finish. I would see glimpses of a sunset on my commute home and by the time I got home, I just wanted to lay in bed or it was already dark.
Now: I’ve seen every sunset every day since we started the trip. It’s beautiful how the sky changes colors and depending on where we are, the backdrops to the sunsets add more to its beauty. I get excited to the see the sunset everyday as it’s always different and once the sun sets, I can start stargazing (something I was never able to do in the city). I really get to experience nature’s beauty from start to finish everyday.
8) Learning to overland
Before: I had no idea what the word overland meant. I didn’t even know it was a word. I didn’t know roof top tents existed. I knew about #vanlife and thought that was the only way you could live on the road, in a converted van.
Now: I’ve learned that Overlanding is a lifestyle all about the journey to a destination and not just the destination itself. We’re Overlanding all of the national parks meaning we’re taking all of the roads less traveled to see as much of each park as we can. We camp on BLM land and in National Forests because they are primitive campsites that provide us with an undisturbed connection to nature.
9) Meeting like minded people
Before: When I first mentioned this trip to friends/family everyone was very supportive. Everyone spoke about how they wish they had the courage to do a trip like this. But at the end of the day there is always something that prevents us from taking the risky leap or we say “one day”. I decided to change this thought process for myself. “If not now, then when?” is the motto I started living after moving from New York to California. Enoch gave me the chance to live out my “one day” dream.
Now: It’s been one month since we embarked on the trip. We’ve met a few people along the way that are living a similar lifestyle. Each person had a different mode of transportation (a converted van, bus and trailer), but every one of them were living their life on the road and loving it. We’ve also interacted with other overlanders and Xterra owners on Instagram. We share our trips, ideas, rigs and support for one another. It’s amazing to find such a large community for this lifestyle that I had just recently learned about. I’m so happy I decided to take this trip and am excited for the next few months.
10) Endless adventures
Before: Any time I traveled or took a trip, it was planned. I picked a location, the dates of travel, my accommodations, excursions etc. All of the trips had a beginning and an end.
Now: Since starting this trip, we’ve only preplanned 2 days because we had to book a boat ride to the Channel Islands and attend a Friendsgiving. Other than those days, we’ve been living each day as it comes. Without an end date, we don’t have to pack multiple activities into a select number of days. We can casually chose what we want to do and just do it. If we don’t have time to do something we can just do it the next day. There’s no rush to complete things which allows us to just live life.
We’ve visited 8 National Parks so far: Yosemite, Pinnacles, Channel Islands, Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, and Saguaro (my blog posts are delayed :x). We’ve also explored hikes and gone off roading across 3 different states so far: California, Nevada, Arizona. Who knows when I would’ve been able to visit all of these places had I not started this trip, and it’s only been 1 month!
To conclude this post, it’s been a hell of a ride, a huge life change and learning process but there are no regrets. I will continue to post about our journey, ie. try to catch up with our current location. Until then, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and thanks for reading!
MoLeisureXventures 