Vanlife as a Queer Woman
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Christine was living in Mount Shasta when she saw a note posted on a bulletin board in a local grocery store listing a 1972 Chevy G20 van for $2000. She called the number to meet up with the seller, and when the beautiful Aquamarine-colored van complete with high top rolled into the lot not long after, she was sold.
She ended up travelling much of California in her new set of wheels, eventually coming across Joshua Tree. The beauty of the desert moved her, so much so that she decided she wanted to live out there. She ended up buying a 20 acre plot of land, right in the midst of a turbulent chapter of her life.
Around this time, her wife ended up running off with her best friend’s husband. Other friends were moving away. In her words, “things were shifting and moving a lot.” It was a scary time for her, not to mention her plans of moving out to the desert, but Christine’s philosophy on fear is that often the scariest moments of life are the ones that push you closer to your most authentic self.
She signed the escrow to purchase the land, sold all of the furniture, put all of her stuff in the van and just drove straight into the desert where she started living out of her van on the plot. She hasn’t looked back since.
When buying vacant plots of land, a lot of people find RV’s to be a great first dwelling. It’s an affordable, easily transportable and self contained living unit that has everything needed to live offgrid. “Rosalie”, as Christine affectionately calls her van, is a perfect example of this. The high top is one of her favourite features as it allows her to comfortably stand up and use the space more effectively. Her pantry is a cabinet that has been built into the hightop over the cab of the vehicle. It provides her with plenty of storage for spices, canned food and other groceries.
Perishable food items are kept in her cooler at the back of the vehicle. Since she’s vegan, a lot of the food she eats keeps better than meat and cheese. The limited space for perishable items means food still has to be eaten fairly quickly, but with easy access to grocery stores this isn’t too much of a concern.
For her kitchenette, she went to Home Depot a $50 bathroom vanity. She ended up pulling out the sink, painted it white while distressing the finish. It provides her an elegant solution to storing all the kitchen essentials she needs to cook with. For her countertop, she decided to use Butcher Block that is attached with Velcro. It allows her to easily detach it from the vanity when she wants to use her stovetop while also providing flexibility in where she wants to use her cutting surface. For her stove, she decided to use two Coleman PowerPack Propane Stoves. This makes moving individual burners easier should she decide to cook outside.
In a small space like a campervan, space always comes at a premium. To maximize on space, items are often used for multiple functions. To increase the functional use of her spare tire, she uses additional pillows to use it as an additional seat for guests, while still keeping it super accessible in the case of emergency.
She has multiple Wooden Wine Crates arranged throughout the van in various configurations to act as other pieces of furniture. A couple of these stacked acts as a coffee table, while others located along the walls make for good bookshelves. This no-built approach to furniture makes for a very modular space that can easily be rearranged with minimal effort.
For her bed in the back of the van, she uses a futon mattress on top of an adjustable bed platform. In couch mode, the front half of the platform slides into the back, allowing the mattress to flow onto the floor into a low profile couch setup. At night, she folds the mattress up to access the sliding front portion of the bed platform and pulls it out into the living space.
Her electricity setup in the van is very minimal. She opted to use a Goal Zero Yeti 400 Portable Power Station in conjunction with a Goal Zero Boulder 30 Solar Panel. She liked this option as it was very easy to set up and required no prior electrical experience. While she likes the setup, she plans to eventually upgrade her solar panel to a 100w Renogy Solar Panel to increase power output while costing less. That value is her primary concern with her current setup, and would second guess the decision if she were to do it again. “It costs a lot for what you get.”
As it is with many folks to decide to live on the road, Christine’s van is a work in progress. There’s always incremental changes and upgrades that take place when you’re living in a small space, but for where she’s currently at, “Rosalie” has been a fantastically reliable home on wheels for her
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