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Old 04-24-2017, 07:39 AM   #21
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When I read "vanlife" stories about people living in their Westy Vanagons, and see their constant vehicle breakdowns, it makes me very happy that I sold my 1988 Westy and got a good old reliable Ford SMB. Definitely not as cool as the Vanagon, but it's nice to drive thousands of miles with very few problems.

Plus, an EB Ford has a lot more room than a Vanagon Westy!

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Old 04-24-2017, 08:01 AM   #22
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This thread : so great

To supplement / feel everybody's pain, lol:
>> Has everyone else here enjoyed the swift transition over these past two years of public opinion.....going from enduring constant "free candy" jokes about your van from friends....to now hearing those same friends enthusiastically talk knowledgeably/authoritatively about how long they've been huge fans of "the incredible coolness of #vanlife ."

It's all kinda great isn't it. The mass-delusion and hipster gentrification of "the van down by the river" that's going on right now, lol....

Blemish-free Yoga-Bikini-Models doing their best Teen-Wolf-styled van-rooftop gymnastics, paid YouTube van-hobo actors, news articles full of poorly-grasped/used buzzwords, (could the vanlife be for you?)....all the signs of a proper mania reaching its fever-pitch....we might need to call this soon....

we might just be at.... #peakvanlife
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Old 04-24-2017, 09:47 AM   #23
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^^^I dealt with this for years after I bought my van in 2009. Sadly I am no closer to selling most of my possessions and moving into it
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Old 04-24-2017, 10:41 AM   #24
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Originally Posted by luked View Post
^^^I dealt with this for years after I bought my van in 2009. Sadly I am no closer to selling most of my possessions and moving into it
...and that probably a really good thing.
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Old 04-24-2017, 10:47 AM   #25
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They mention 'live in a van down by the river' like it's a bad thing!

Red herring but I have a friend in southern Oregon who is *trying* to date and complains half the men there live in RV's down by the river... Like they're not good enough for her dating gene pool

Believe me when I say "They're not." Most of these guys don't have $.02 to their names and would love nothing more than to find a nice woman who works all week to support them in their "van lifestyle". Or worse, they live in a beat up old RV that's permanently stuck in the trailer park. But they don't care because it's right across from where they fish. Tell your friend I said to run for the hills.
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Old 04-30-2017, 05:38 PM   #26
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I'm shocked to hear so many of you guys talking down about the van life you do realize I'm full-time for the past three years and two months right? Sure it's not easy it cost more money that most people realize but it is a great way to meet people see things do things without many restrictions. And by the way I got a few pictures of women that I actually can't put on the website without getting banned...
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Old 04-30-2017, 07:33 PM   #27
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I'm shocked to hear so many of you guys talking down about the van life....
Hey I can't speak for anyone other than myself....but I sure wasn't "talking down the van life." I seriously love it. And I admire what you're doing, actually going full-time is awesome!!!

What IS a bummer (for me anyway) is seeing something really special (van life) become a "cool with the trend-seekers" kind of movement or "thing"....and mostly only because suddenly vans got more expensive....and they suddenly started to get stolen more too. It was really enjoyable to "travel invisibly" before everyone was suddenly hip to the livable van thing (and started noticing them.....)

I'd really (again, personally) rather that it remained a more under-the-radar kind of thing....that only a humbly-intentioned group of dedicated and passionate van-life-peeps were out there chasing their "live by their own definitions" kind of dreams....but not trying to **capitalize on those dreams**.....craft themselves into social media celebrities.....start van-life reality shows....

But hey, let me check myself. Am I (or are we?) being elitist here? No different from the guys who stop liking a musical group "once they become popular"? And who am I to poop on trends and capitalism?

The answer is probably somewhere in the middle. We simultaneously ENVY those gorgeous van-life celebrities., for rapidly leveraging their genetics/good looks and savvy marketing chops to quickly surpass the van-life experiences most of us have been able to have.

....AND....we also curse them.....for luring not-insignificant numbers of fame/cred-seekers into the van-life fray.....possibly turning our passion into just yet another tool of the savvy hipsters to be leveraged for personal gain. But damn, that sounds like grumpy old man talk. And I'm too young for that yet, haha....

On the positive side:
As a result of all this new van-life hipness....at least people don't joke these days any more about my van looking "rapey."
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Old 04-30-2017, 07:36 PM   #28
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Personally I have nothing at all against anyone living in a van. What I find kinda annoying is the pretentious, overly commercialized #hashtagging exploitation of it.
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Old 04-30-2017, 07:51 PM   #29
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Hey I can't speak for anyone other than myself....
Well said Mike. I second this emotion. All of it. I agree with you too Brian.

I would absolutely love to lose the stone around my neck (the house I despise keeping up) and attempt to live in a van, but I probably wouldn't make it. At the end of the day I'm kind of a homeboy. I'd have to tow about a 100' trailer full of tools behind my van to maintain sanity.

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Old 04-30-2017, 08:28 PM   #30
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Personally I have nothing at all against anyone living in a van. What I find kinda annoying is the pretentious, overly commercialized #hashtagging exploitation of it.
Agreed.
From what I see and IMO..... These "trendy" people are mostly living off what has been given to them. True Dirtbags don't need daddy's money to live a free lifestyle. But who am I to say. If my parents wanted to foot the bill for me to travel the world and be cool, I'd take it. LOL
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