Vanlife as a Deaf Woman in a Biodiesel Westfalia
Monika is a deaf woman as well as a full time vandweller. While some might feel vulnerable choosing a life on the road, Monika has decided to embrace the risk and live every day of her life as an adventure. “If you feel a spark of fire when you do new things, meet different people. Go for it. Just try it. What is life without trying? You don't have anything to lose… The bottom line is we all experience fear. You have choices. You can either succumb to fear, or you can minimize it and try to do something new”
She started off in van life at a very young age, long before it took off on social media as the trend that it is today. Her father was a huge traveller, and so growing up she went on many road trips with him and his camper van. When she graduated highschool, she moved to Washington D.C. to attend Gallaudet University, the only deaf university in the world. She worked all sorts of jobs that she didn’t like in order to make ends meet, which she realized that she wasn’t very passionate about.
At the time she had a 1970’s Volkswagen Beetle that she used as a daily driver. It had already been converted to biodiesel, so she decided to turn it into her own micro camper. She took out the passenger seat to make room for a bed platform. She hit the road, and ever since she’s decided to make the road her home, in vehicles of all sorts of sizes.
‘Balugie,’ her latest mobile home, is a 1982 Westfalia that has been converted to run on ‘biodiesel’, or veggie oil, just like her Beetle. There’s special gauges that have been installed in the dash that allow her to monitor the systems required and controls that allow her to switch between diesel and biodiesel.
Since biodiesel has a different consistency than traditional diesel, it is imperative that it is heated up before being used to prevent damage to the engine. With her gauges, she’s able to tell when the temperature hits 170, the sweet spot for biodiesel, before switching over from the main diesel tank. Before getting to her destination, she makes sure to hit ‘purge,’ which gets rid of any residual oil before turning the engine off.
The biodiesel tank is stored underneath the back tank. In this tank Monika can either use waste oil from restaurants’ friers, or go to a grocery store for cheap veggie oil if she’s low between spots. This provides her a very convenient alternative to conventional fossil fuels.
The interior of the camper in the back is mostly stock, but Monika has made it her own with the decorations inside. For sleeping, she primarily uses the bench in the back which can pull out into a comfortable bed. During the day all of her bedding easily rolls up and sits in the back.
The van has a pop top for additional standing room and ventilation. As Monika says: “You pop when it’s hot.” With all the windows in the pop top, it provides excellent airflow for the space when parked. The top even has an extra bed that can sleep an additional two people. Between that and the bed below, Monika’s been able to sleep up to five people inside this rig. With the built in galley, she has everything she needs to prepare great meals while travelling. It has a stove that runs off propane to cook, and a sink to clean.
One of Monika’s favourite features of her van is that the front seats turn around. This allows her to maximize the living space inside an otherwise tiny dwelling. It might not be a lot of space, especially when compared to bigger rigs like sprinter conversions or skoolies, but for Monika, it’s plenty.
For Monika, life is for living, and her goal is to live hers as intentionally as possible. “I consider myself renting my time… I don't want to be stuck in one place. Your vibe attracts your tribe. It's important to grow into a network and to be passionate about the life that you live and set an example for people. Which would you rather do? Live in your dreams or live your dreams?”
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