It’s been a month and a half since we purchased Alevander the Great. It’s been about two weeks since we started hard-core working on it. This means every day from 9am – 6pm (except for one day, Jon’s birthday).

Yet, it’s been exactly zero nights that we have slept in the van. We’re still taking long, warm, high-pressure showers, pooping in flushing toilets and eating mom’s home cooking every night. (And afternoons, since she also packs our lunch). But we spend every day, all day, consumed by the project that is our van conversion.

So . . . can we call ourselves #vanlifers yet? Is there a transitional hashtag, like #vanconverters? Maybe even one more specific (and legit) like #diyvanconvert?

The Smell of Fraud

I want to call myself a vanlifer now because that’s all I think about and work on all day. But, I do recognize giving myself the identity of ‘vanlifer’ smells slightly fraudulent, considering we are technically not living in the van yet. We don’t even know what that life is like! There’s a (strong?) possibility that we won’t even like it! We haven’t lived in that small of a space in a very long time.

So, that’s why I hesitate to embrace that identity, at least right now. I feel like I need to earn it. And that’s accomplished only by truly understanding what it’s like to live in a van for quite some time. Longer than a typical vacation would usually allow. How long would that take? Three weeks? A month?

We’re close though! Moving toward it slowly, but surely. Even though it feels like its been ages since we first began our van build, these last six weeks have provided us more progress, personal growth and satisfaction than we usually see in six months! In the past years, how many times have I thought, “Woah, where has the time gone? What have I done so far this year?” In the daily grind of a full-time corporate job, time just passes. 

But this year, I feel so much has happened already! We have two vent fans, insulation, a subfloor frame, subfloor and even some electrical wiring done. Even though I hesitate to say I’m a vanlifer just yet, I feel like we’re getting very close to deserving the title.

Really, no one cares anyway.

We’ve doing our van conversion at at MakerPlace, San Diego’s premiere do-it-yourself workspace. At Makerplace, everyone we interact with just appreciates that we’re doing it ourselves. We’re in an awesome adult playground bubble, where you can’t buy the intangibly good vibes that come from making something with your own hands. Everyone has their own in-progress project there. It feels like home.

It’s a temporary home at least, until we finish our new home 🙂