In August of 2016, Jill left her apartment to live as a full-time, Digital Nomad. “It was a long time coming,” she said, sitting in a camp chair just outside the steely-green door of her high-top van. “One day I said to myself, I’m going to do this, because with wheels under me I can go wherever I want to go.”
But Jill’s story starts way before that. In 2002 she divorced after 19 years of marriage. “I was so happy,” she said, “because I could finally travel and do things. And I love experiencing new places, so I moved almost every year for 10 years and it got really expensive,” she said. “Because I just rented. You pay the deposit and all that BS and then you pay a U-Haul to move–because I wouldn’t move short distances–I would move from like Phoenix to Denver–from Kansas city to San Diego, you know, I was just going all over. I had gone up to Montana to help my sister and her husband refurbish a 1900s apartment building and not really liking where I was living, so my friends in Georgia said come to Georgia!”
So, Jill moved to Georgia, but she couldn’t stay put; she just kept jumping around from friend to friend, from Virginia to Wisconsin, each time “packing up her crap” to move until she realized: as a self-employed Marketing Consultant she could go anywhere–she didn’t have to choose!
“I was looking at the cost of rent and just got really disgusted, “she said, “and I got really upset one night. I can’t find a place to live where I want to live, so what do I do? I went to bed and I woke up the next day and said, I’m living in my car,” which at that point, was a standard Dodge Caravan. I told my friend and my she cried. “You can’t do that,” she said. “You’ll be homeless,” and I said, “no, I won’t be homeless. I’ll be fine.”
Jill packed up all her stuff and threw it all in the back of her Dodge then went out to the forest in Wisconsin for two weeks to pick through all her possessions; she asked herself: what do I need–what don’t I need? And with each decision, she pared down an apartment full of stuff to just those few things she absolutely needed to live in her van.
On that first trip, she said, “I kept to myself and didn’t talk to anyone. I just worked and went through my stuff, and then one day this lady came over. She saw me get out of my car, and she just walked over and said, ‘are you okay?’
And I said, ‘yeah, why?’
‘well,’ she said, ‘you’re just out here by yourself…’
and I said, ‘Uh-Huh.’
‘Well, we’re all worried about you,” the lady said, ‘because you’re by yourself.”
“I thought that was hilarious!” Jill explained, “I mean, are you okay?!? It’s not like I was out there writing my manifesto,” she laughed, “I was just really busy.”
Jill had never even heard of the Nomadic or Van-Life movement. She just had the intuitive sense that the nomadic life was the life for her.
“Once I made the decision to go in my van I said, okay, I need to figure this out: how do I got to the bathroom, how am I going to get electricity, because I work, you know? And then I got online and found Bob Wells of Cheap RV living.”
Over time, Jill designed a life in her van that worked for her. She switched from her Caravan to a high-top, which is laid out with shelving, a permanent desk, comfy sleeping area and room for her cat.
Q & A with Jill:
Q: YOU DON’T USUALLY TELL YOUR CLIENTS THAT YOU WORK AND LIVE FROM A VAN. WHY?
A: I don’t tell clients, especially new clients, because there is such a stigma about being homeless when you live in a vehicle. Once they get to know me, who I am and how I roll, I might tell them. But in the beginning, you don’t want to scare them off.
Q: WHEN YOU HIT YOUR SLOW SEASON FOR MARKETING, YOU SUPPLEMENT YOUR INCOME BY WORK CAMPING?
A: Work camping is awesome because you meet all kinds of people! All kinds of people come and go and you may find your next client. And you get paid to work out, instead of the opposite! (Work Camping) I move wood piles, rake-up leaves, all kinds of different stuff.
Q: WHERE HAVE YOU GONE SO FAR?
A: Oh, I’ve been all over. Wisconsin, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.
Q: WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO THAT YOU HAVEN’T BEEN YET?
A: I want to spend time around Taos and north of Santa Fe and just really see that area. And then the other place is, I have to go to this sound healing center in California called Integraton, it’s really fascinating. I’d (also) like to go up to like Oregon and Washington.
Q: AFTER A YEAR AND A HALF HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE VAN, IS IT TOO SMALL? DO YOU EVER THINK OF MOVING UP TO AN RV?
A: It will be two years this August. The Caravan was too small. It was fine in the beginning, then I realized what my needs are. With the new van, the conversion van, it’s great. I could only change being able to cook and clean stuff. I could actually reconfigure my van to deal with that, I just haven’t.”
WHAT’S THE BIGGEST HASSLE ABOUT LIVING IN A VAN?
A: Showers are the biggest thing, but I always find a place.
Jill usually finds showers in truck stops or in county parks, or showers while camping with her ZODI Shower Canister, which she called her “best investment ever” because she can use it to both shower and wash dishes. “It’s metal,” she explains, “so I heat it on my camp stove then shower (outside) in my shower tent.”
Q: DO YOU THINK YOU’LL GO BACK TO A REGULAR HOUSE?
A: Really, at this point, I don’t see myself doing that, but I’m not going to take that off the list. If the right opportunity came, I’d consider it. But I don’t like being tied to something. It would have to be something I could come and go from, but honestly, I don’t think I will. I’m enjoying where I’m at now.
Q: IF YOU COULD ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY IN YOUR NOMADIC JOURNEY, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
A: If I could do anything different? I would have started with a solar system (like she has now) instead of getting a Goal Zero, which I spent $400 on. It had to be constantly charged. If I had to do it all over again, I would have spent more time learning about solar. Once you’ve done it you see how easy it is, but it seemed so intimidating up-front that I spent money I didn’t have to. I would have gotten solar from the get-go; it’s not hard once you see it.
Q: IF THERE IS ANOTHER JILL OUT THERE, WHO’S THINKING OF THIS LIFE AND WONDERING IF IT’S RIGHT FOR HER, OR WEIRD OR SCARY OR AMAZING, WHAT WOULD YOU TELL HER?
A: I would tell her my motto is jump and the net will appear, but not everybody shares that motto. Take baby steps, at least try it. Don’t let it scare you, like, I meet a lot of women who ask, OMG you camp by yourself? Hell, yes I do!
And If you’re not comfortable being with yourself then stay where you are. If you need the security of a city or a town, stay where you’re at, not everybody needs to do this, and that’s okay. See if you like it first, some people don’t.
Learning to be with yourself and being comfortable is the most valuable thing in the world. You can’t rely on other people to make you happy, but some people are social animals and need the stimulus of being around other people and that’s okay. But I’m all about peace, and serenity and quiet so being by myself in the van is heaven, it’s total heaven to me. To be by myself and do want I want is so liberating.
Q: WHAT’S THE BEST PART ABOUT VAN LIFE?
A: The freedom to go anywhere you want! When you get the urge to get up and go you can. You just turn on your engine and drive.
Thank you, Jill! Safe travels and see you on the road.
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Be Happy. Create More. Set Yourself Free .
Robin
CreativityRV