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Van Life by the Miles & Nights

My 40th Birthday Celebration Was Four Months in a Van

In 2018, I spent 95 days living in a van over the course 112 days on the calendar. The trip spanned March 22nd to July 12 with two flights in the middle (12 days at home in NYC and 5 days to see family in San Francisco).

The map of the trip indicates a theoretical distance of 5,742 miles, but I actually drove 8,909 miles. That’s 55% more driving for backtracking, day trips, and other adventures.

I used the Google My Maps feature to plot all of my overnight destinations. Here’s my map. The overnights broke down as:

• 10 Boondocks: that’s when you’re camping off the grid in the wilderness. Four of these spots were on lakes, two of those lakes were beautiful, one was creepy, and the last was bug infested.
• 8 RV parks: this is where I dumped tanks, did laundry, refilled water.
• 5 Friends. This is the real reason my trip took me through the Midwest. Sometimes I’d sleep in their driveway, sometimes in their guest bedroom.
• 4 Walmarts. These are famously friendly for overnight RVs and they are so convenient if you’re just passing through.
• 4 Truck Stops. These are as convenient as a Walmart, just much noisier.