Interstate Adventures

When I arrived at the Adventure Van Expo check-in, I told the people at the gate, “I think I’m going to have van envy.”

We talked to a few custom van businesses and poked around inside the vans. We found one that we were interested in and asked the young sales representative about the rig. He knew his product. He was engaging and we hit it off. Bruce became distracted by a baseball game and I asked him if it was the Red Sox. He said, “I wish it was.” Then the sales representative asked if we were Red Sox fans. Bruce said, “We are from Massachusetts.” Then I could see by his face that we were getting closer to home. He asked where. We told him North Andover. His eyes widened and he said, “North Andover Knights. I graduated from high school there.” He said he ran cross country. We said, “So did our daughter. Do you know Mikaela?” Then he exclaimed, “Mikaela’s mom used to give us nutrition talks.” I said, “Hey, hey, that’s me! I’m Mikaela’s mom!” We laughed. I took a picture with him and sent it to my kids.

After, we took a walk around the adjacent field where we were camping with 30 other vans. We hoped to strike up some conversation. We saw an Airstream camper van built in 1999. It was recently purchased by a couple close to retirement. This would be their second night in the van. But we did not see anyone else with a 2024 Airstream Interstate 19x. We also did not see anyone from as far away as us. At this point people were busy making dinner and not very social. 

So, we sat off the back of the van with red wine and Tillamook cheese and crackers and watched the people from our dinner perch. Then, throughout the evening, the conversations were delivered to us like the courses in a meal. 

A kind gentleman came over to introduce himself. He was building out his van. He had a bed for himself and his wife with a curtain and bunks that folded against the wall for his three boys. The boys’ energy flowed throughout the grassy area between our vans as they did tricks on their bikes and put their remote control jeep in “super mode.” The youngest boy was falling asleep in his dad’s arms. Before he left to put him to bed, he said this night was special for the boys because they get to sleep in the van and they are on “dad time” so nobody naps. 

Austin came by and enthusiastically greeted us. He was a climber and mountaineer and recently bought his van so he could shower and have a warm meal after climbing Mount Rainier. He brightened with even more enthusiasm when we talked about working remotely with satellite internet. He marveled at how you can be in the most remote parts of the country and have this flat antenna sitting on the ground or on the van that connects with something up in space.

As the sun set, a hippie across the way burned incense in his van. People danced around inside to music blasting. There was a vibrant woman whose laughter traveled across the entire field, camping at an adventure van expo in her car. She exclaimed that she had all she needed. We were invited by a retired couple to caravan to Alaska next year. We met a man from Oregon who stopped by with his dog. He talked about van expos and how he found a community in this life. He explained that just because you live in a van does not mean you are homeless. He said he had found a lot of people in the nomad community who had something broken they were trying to heal. He told us he was recovering from his own adversity and he had found his answers living on the road.

We did not find our next van. What we actually found, was our people. And they were nothing like us.