A Pup, A Van, A Pandemic
It’s hard to avoid the Instagram photos of toned and tanned millennials stretching outside of their Sprinter vans parked beside a Pacific Coast beach or on a Colorado mountain top. #Van Life is omnipresent on social media, even traditional media. Who hasn’t seen “Nomadland?” Yet beyond the 20-somethings seeking freedom from 9-5 office work or laborers migrating from job to job, are others eager to minimize and explore the world from a rolling home. Even if it is only 140-square-feet.
To satisfy our wanderlust in a pandemic, my husband Bill and I will test this phenomenon, renting a Thor Sequence — a Dodge van with a mini kitchen, mini bath, and two couches that fold into a bed — to travel the west and visit our sons and some friends along the way. And because #van life implies a lifestyle, a domestic routine, we’ll include the heartbeat of our household: 2-year-old Maisie.
Will Maisie, a yellow lab that hasn’t met a human she wouldn’t befriend, be our connection to the locals? To other van lifers? Or will her preference for belly rubs over walks inhibit our hikes? Will we resent sticking to state forests when we’re so very close to Zion and the other pet-unfriendly national parks? How will she react to bears? Rattlesnakes? Other campers? More important, how will Maisie and two adults fare dodging each other in such cramped quarters? Will our #van life posts mirror the sunny smiles on every Tik Tok video?
Or will we have our own story to tell?
The journey begins Tuesday, April 13 in our driveway, as we pack our Toyota RAV4 for the trek to Denver, where we visit son #1 and pick up the van.
About Me
A wanderer, a writer, a teacher, and micro-manager of a small family on the North Shore of Massachusetts, Sue Hertz is on the road this spring to craft travel stories thanks to a sabbatical from her post as an associate professor of nonfiction writing at the University of New Hampshire. For more on her work, which includes two books and numerous essays in stories in national and regional publications, please visit her website at http://www.suehertz.net.
Latest Posts
- #DrivingMissMaisie hits the Big Time — sort ofMany thanks to the Boston Globe Travel section for running this story on Sunday, July 18 on If We Knew then What We Know Now about #vanlife camping in the wild. Hope you enjoy: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/07/14/lifestyle/sleep-anywhere-van-think-again/ TRAVEL Sleep anywhere in a van? Think again We learned the hard way that you can’t just wing it whenContinue reading “#DrivingMissMaisie hits the Big Time — sort of”
- A Farewell to Abbey RoadShe rolled down her car window as I stood in the parking space next door, guiding Bill and Abbey Road between the lines. “Hey,” the woman said, resting her forearm on the sill. “Good luck with your marriage.” I turned, my arms still outstretched. “My parents almost divorced after a week in one of those,”Continue reading “A Farewell to Abbey Road”
- Life is Good if You’re a LabOur vet said once that in her next life she wants to come back as a lab. Motivated by food and fetch, they wake happy, joyful at the prospect of another day of kibble, Kongs, belly rubs, and head scratches. Most would include walks on the list. Not Maisie. Let me clarify: leashed walks. AtContinue reading “Life is Good if You’re a Lab”
- When Maisie Met FrankieLove at first bite. Oh, there had been others. Sunny in Oregon. The border collie in Utah. Ruby at Huntington Beach. But only to Frankie did Maisie attach like a barnacle. A 4-year-old black lab, Frankie wooed her with pool leaps and hors d’oeuvres snatching. Unnecessary; he had her at the first tussle, as theyContinue reading “When Maisie Met Frankie”
- Equipment Superior to OperatorGoogle Maps. Apple Maps. Punch in the address one more time. If, as the sign says, we are in the Sequoia National Forest, where pray tell are the giant trees? Beside us roars the Kern River and we just passed Isabella Lake, wild with white caps in this wind. In front are layers of brown,Continue reading “Equipment Superior to Operator”
Driving Miss Maisie 