My name is Matt Foley and I am a motivational speaker. Now let’s get started by letting me give you a little bit of a scenario of what my life is all about. First off, I am 35 years old, I am divorced, and I live in a van down by the river.
Matt Foley, motivational speaker, played by Chris Farley, on Saturday Night Live
- I’m a good bit older than 35
- I’m single
- I don’t live in my van
So what the heck is Van Life all about?
I’d answer that it’s different things to different people.
In the 70’s it was all about having a place to get high and hopefully have sex. Later when I turned 16 years old and the 70’s gave way to the 80’s, most guys wanted a muscle car to drive and customized vans were on the way out, but there were some still around, some had been passed down from older to younger brothers that were my age, and we certainly used them from time to time. I think “Just Say No”, the AIDS crisis, and rising gas prices helped erode the “coolness” that they once had. I never owned a van when I was young.
I noticed the growing number of folks who are becoming “van dwellers” either out of financial necessity or the simple desire to lead a more mobile lifestyle than more traditional living arrangements allow. The availability of connected jobs that allow for workers to work from anywhere certainly has added to the ability to do this in recent years.
My version of Van Life is going to be centered around two primary kinds of activities.
The first is for day tripping and some overnight car camping type trips to the beach and parks located in my home state. These trip reports and the things I do to the van to prepare it for these will be material for posts on this lifestyle and travel blog here at edweird.com
The second is as a support vehicle for my amateur radio operating activities which will occur while doing the things I described in first kind of use. Things specific to ham radio and my operations using the van will be posted onto my Technology focused blog at edwired.com
Understanding my two objectives will help explain my choice of a smaller panel cargo van that gets pretty good gas mileage and still fits inside garages. I chose a 2015 Ford Transit Connect XL LWB cargo van. I’d have gotten something larger for full time living, or even short term camping with more people and pets inside.
My van life begins NOW!