It was the kind blue eyes behind their wire frames that first drew me in — that, and the shock of long white hair and a beard and the words he spoke about freedom and life. His tone was soft, but his commitment to a Nomadic Life was not. I was hooked:

I watched every video he had.

His name is Bob Wells and he is the founder of CheapRVLiving, arguably the authority on Van and RV Life on YouTube. Why? I think it’s because he gives a glimpse into something many of us didn’t think was possible: a life of travel and choice available to all, regardless of budget.

 

After following Bob for several years, I finally got the chance to attend his annual desert gathering, the RTR (Rubber Tramp Rendezvous). I had heard that the RTR was like the Burning Man of the Nomadic World, bringing in thousands of people from all walks of life, both full-time Nomads, and those that hoped to someday be one themselves.

As I left the paved roads of Quartzsite, Arizona and turned onto the bumpy dirt road that led up hill towards Public Land, I thought my eyes needed to adjust. There were vehicles of every type, from Prius’ to Vans and RVs and campers made from every conceivable type of conveyance. And roaming around it all were thousands of people. There was a soft buzz of excitement bouncing through their voices; the RTR started tomorrow.

I understood why this “get together for nomads” had blossomed from 40 people eight years ago to almost 5,000 in 2018. People were hungry for a different type of life, and Bob Wells was the man who brought them all together for two weeks of classes and community.

Of course, I was hoping to meet the man himself, but every time I glimpsed his mane of hair in the distance, it was clear he was being pulled in ten directions, two of which were usually from his faithful volunteers and the other eight from fans, eager to thank him or share their thoughts or stories.

 

It wasn’t until I found myself walking down a dirt road at dusk that I stumbled upon him with only his dog Cody at his side. I had lost a hubcap somewhere on that bumpy road, and I was hoping to find it’s reflection in the setting sun. A white van rolled up from town and I waved down the driver in hopes he might have seen my hubcap along the way. I recognized him instantly: it was Bob.

I felt immediately that the kindness I had seen through his videos was real. No, he hadn’t seen my hubcap, but he wished me well and went off to find a campsite for himself. Later, when he asked for volunteers to be videotaped for CheapRVLiving, I put myself on the list. A week after that, to my amazement, Bob was sitting in the living room of my 25’ B+ van. We had just taped a tour of my RV and I asked him if he would sit down for an interview for my blog; two hours later, we were still sitting and chatting like old friends.

During that interview I learned things about Bob that surprised me but also solidified my confidence in him as my full-time RV mentor.

Bob’s nomadic life started and stalled twice. It turns out he did not come out of the womb as a fully-formed van dweller; it was a process, like it is for all of us. The difference was, once he realized the life was for him, there was no turning back.

His first taste of a nomadic life began after his first marriage ended. Bob was working at a grocery store in Anchorage and the sticky finances created by his divorce drove him to live in a box van.

As a young man, Bob delivered pianos from a similar van, and he and his coworkers would joke about what a great camper it would make. “The build out was easy,” he said. “A box van is just that, a big box, with all the right angles.”

Building the camper might have been easy, but it turns out living in it was not. Even though he grew up in Alaska hiking and camping, “living in nature,” he said, “wasn’t second nature.” Sometimes the box van was cold inside, and sometimes it was “extremely cold.” He ran a small propane heater 24/7, because if he didn’t he would freeze. When it got extremely cold he ran a second one. Many nights were below 30 degrees Fahrenheit outside.

“The cold is a living thing that comes to get you,” he said. “I was never too cold, but I wasn’t sometimes as warm as I’d like to be.”

I asked him how he felt about living in his box van when he first did it. “I was devastated,” he said. “Crying was a routine part of my life. I moved into a van, and I thought I have hit absolute rock bottom. I’m a homeless bum living in a van. It was horrifying.”

But Bob lived in that box van for six years, stealth camping in industrial areas. And along the way, something changed his horror into happiness.

“After every payday I had money in my pocket,” he said. “I was free. Before I could barely survive, now I had all this money and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the freedom of it. And the connection to nature. Even living in a van in the city, I could go to the parks and get out and walk around. When the wind blew, the van shook, when it was cold you could feel the cool air coming in. Even though I was still inside of four walls, I was much closer to nature than I ever had been in my whole life.

“Soon I discovered I didn’t hate it, then I kind of liked it, and then I adored it.

“Every problem had

a solution. I went to the gym every day, I showered there and I cut down to 32 hours a week at work because I had money in my pocket. I fell absolutely, totally in love with it.”

 

He lived in that box van for six years until he remarried and tried moving back into a house. The plan was for he and his new wife to travel, but that didn’t work out. “I despised every minute of it,” he said. “I realized I couldn’t live in a house, but she still wanted to. She liked to travel, but she always wanted to go back to a house.”

Again, he was back to working more hours to pay for a home and the never-ending repairs. He hated shoveling snow and mowing lawns and loathed the confinement and waste he found living there.

It was during that time that Bob started a website called www.CheapRVLiving.com. You see, he was still longing for the Nomadic Life, and wanted to teach and inspire people to do what he had done for those six years he lived in the box van.

Then, in 2008 when the U.S. economy tanked, his website exploded.

“When (people) would search ‘how do I live cheap’ or ‘how do I live in a car’ my site came up. Shortly after that he began his YouTube channel and history was made.

So, Bob rebooted his nomadic life. He had gotten rid of his box van, but had a 4-wheel drive truck at home, so he first lived in the back of that truck for two years. Then, he started working as a Campground Host so he could afford solar; there he bought a cargo trailer to camp in while he used the truck to go to and from the four campgrounds he managed. But after all of these attempts at the perfect vehicle for him, he bought a van in 2011 and has lived in one ever since.

“Nothing beats a van,” he said. “You work everything out. You work out comfort versus mobility. Comfort versus gas mileage.  All these things are opposites. Nothing beats a van.”

Bob has criss-crossed the country in his van, so I couldn’t help but ask him about his favorite places to camp. “I don’t travel to all fifty States,” he says, “because not all are beautiful.”

HERE ARE HIS TOP THREE STATES AND TOP THREE AREAS TO CAMP:

• Colorado
• Arizona
• Utah

And

• Leadville, Colorado (highway 50 from Durango to Ouray)
• Moab, Utah
• Jackson, Wyoming

Recently, in a live stream on YouTube, a viewer asked what Bob would do when he was too old to drive or travel anymore. “I’ll buy an RV and live in a park,” he answered. To me that says it all.

Last month, Bob Wells celebrated 10 years of boondocking on Public Lands in his van. That combined with the six years he spent stealth camping in Alaska gives him the authority and trust he deserves in the RV and Van-Life World.

He currently has 140,000 subscribers on YouTube and that following continues to grow. He has hundreds of videos that he realizes have changed lives, but even still, this is what he wants people to know: “All that I do, is a gift to me,” he says. “It’s a gift to me.”

If you want to know more about Bob Wells, you can subscribe to his YouTube Channel here, or buy his E-book here:

Thank you, Bob, for taking the time to sit with me and for your continued encouragement for me and my RV Life – I’m sure I speak for thousands of others, as well.
Thank you for reading! And, let’s help other people discover everything the RV life offers by Sharing, Liking and Subscribing.

AND WATCH A FUN BLOOPER REEL BOB AND I ARE IN HERE!

Be Happy. Create More. Set Yourself Free .

Robin

CreativityRV

Creativity RV is on YouTube! Click here to visit the channel. PLEASE SUBSCRIBE!

Check out my must-have RV gear recommendations here!