Couple Quit their Jobs to VAN LIFE from Alaska To Patagonia
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Dylan and Tess started their life on the road with a very simple setup. Dylan had a pickup truck with a camper shell that they decided to put a bed frame in to act as a barebones camper for short trips around Alaska during the summer months. It was during these trips that they fell in love with the lifestyle and decided to make it sustainable long term. While the truck functioned well for them as a simple bedroom on wheels, it lacked amenities like a stove for cooking, which made going on longer adventures difficult.
It was around this time that a friend told them about a caravan of different people who wanted to drive all the way down to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup. It was the idea of taking this epic road trip that inspired them to bite the bullet and get a purpose made van with more room that would accommodate the long trip down, a trip that would eventually become a full time lifestyle.
Like many folks, Dylan and Tess fell in love with the idea of travelling around in a classic Volkswagen bus, but getting their hands on one was a difficult process. They ended up landing their 1975 for $500, as it seemed to be the only one available where they lived in Alaska. Ready for a project, they towed it home with the intention of having it ready to be on the road in two months. However, shortly into the process of tripping out the old interior, they realized there was a lot more work to be done than they initially realized.
The was entirely rusted out. As Tess puts it, they could’ve ‘Flintstone’d’ through the non-existent floor. This meant that they had to weld in new panels and basically rebuild the lower half of the vehicle. They opted to replace the old engine with a Subaru replacement, a popular modification among Volkswagen enthusiasts as it makes the vehicle run a lot more reliably than stock while still maintaining the vintage charm of it’s iconic design. They were then able to build out the interior. Finally, a year later and ten months later than anticipated, they both quit their jobs and hit the road in 2015.
Although the restoration involved a lot more work than they realised, the final product really speaks for itself. The clean teal finish of the restored vehicle is almost completely unrecognizable. And even though the interior isn’t huge, they’ve been able to fit a lot of the amenities that you’d normally find in a full sized house.
Right behind the fronts seats they’ve built a wrap around galley that goes all the way from the sliding entrance to along the drivers side of the vehicle. They have an Engel MR040 top-loading DC fridge that they are even able to use as a freezer if they choose.
For heating the interior they decided to install a Suburban Propane Furnace. A permanent installation of a vented heater like this one has the benefit of isolating the combustion from the interior living space. This keeps the interior humidity down, and limits contact to harmful CO2 or carbon monoxide that can be generated by the heater while in use, all while generating more heat than something like a Mr. Buddy Heater. To keep the hot air coming out of the furnace from melting their fridge, they installed a metal plate to act as a buffer.
For cooking, they installed a Suburban 2937AST 2-Burner Stainless Cooktop directly into their counter, which runs off the same propane bottle as the furnace which is mounted on the underside of the vehicle. For water, they decided to keep things simple. They use a 5 gallon water jug with a Manual Hand Pump. For electricity, they have an auxiliary battery which is charged by two 100w Renogy Solar Panels.
They’ve opted to install one of their panels on a hinge with an adjustable stand to make angling towards the sunlight possible, which is particularly important in winter when daylight hours are shorter. Underneath this articulating panel they store the second with a thirty foot extension cable. This allows them to treat it as a satellite panel that can always be in the sun, even if the vehicle itself is parked in the shade to keep cool. For AC electricity they use a Schumacher 400w Inverter. While it isn’t big enough to run conventional electric appliances and kettles, it is the perfect size for charging small electronics like cameras, phones and laptops.
For sleeping, they have two options. They have a back bench that pulls out into a double bed, as well as a bed in the vehicle’s pop top. They prefer to sleep up top as it gives them better ventilation and access to the views of whichever camp spot they’re staying at.
Since the vehicle has a Subaru engine, they’ve been able to turn an android tablet into a control center that views the vitals of the engine's varying sensors. This ensures that if there’s ever any mechanical issues, they don’t come as a surprise and that they can be addressed before anything exacerbates into a major problem.
They’re grateful that they’ve had the opportunity to take on this adventure, even if it isn’t meant to last forever. Tess eventually wants to go back to teaching like she did before they moved into the bus, but taking the chance to do something different has opened their eyes to more of life’s opportunities. No matter what sort of life we live, we all end up in the ground some day. It’s up to us to decide whether we want to look back and remember the years we spent doing the same thing, or take risks and embark on new experiences. It’s this decision that got Tess and Dylan on the road, and they couldn’t be happier.
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