Jordan found me through photos of my 1987 Toyota Van. She and her boyfriend Devon own a 1988 Toyota Van Wagon and are part of a 1984-89 Toyota Van Facebook group where users share tips, tricks and photos of their beloved vehicles.

When Jordan posted that she and Devon were going to travel around the US in their camper van, I was ecstatic for them. Now they call themselves “Experience Bound.”

For those of you looking to convert your van into a tiny house or who need some tips to organize your small space, Jordan gives us an insider look at van life.

“Some girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice. Others are made of adventures and wine and traveling on a dime.”

Finding our camper

Remember the "Saturday Night Live" skit where Chris Farley portrayed living in a van down by the river as the epitome of failure? Although that skit is hilarious, we would have to respectfully disagree.

Buying a van to live on the road is a way to experience freedom and happiness. We equate feeling truly free and happy to being very successful. So we bought a van, converted it into a camper, told our friends and family about our trip and set out to redefine society's idea of success.

After months of researching vehicles and going back and forth between the idea of a newer van or older van, we chose a 1988 Toyota Van Wagon. We liked the unique character of this van, its reputation for reliably and the great gas mileage.

We bought our van in Tampa, Florida, from an older hippie guy, and once we got it home we realized we had a lot of work to do. In fact, it was an overwhelming amount of work to do.

Why we WAnted to travel in our van

Love of traveling: The two of us have done our fair share of traveling in the past and weekend getaways were never enough.

“It is also very important for us to work towards our dreams no matter how big, small or outlandish they may be.”

Escaping routines: Another reason we wanted to try out van life was to get out of the habit of waking up, working, eating, sleeping and doing it over with only a little playtime. We wanted to try a lifestyle that would bring a new day each day instead and the same ol’ day over and over again. We needed to try doing something we love first before taking on a lifestyle that was just safe. The fear of becoming an older person with regrets of never trying probably scared us the most into trying out van life.

“We want to do what we love while we can and live an authentic life. There is just no guarantee that any of us will be here tomorrow.”

How Others reacted

When we would tell people what we were about to embark on, we heard the same responses over and over again: “Man if I could do that I would!” “That’s sounds amazing! I wish I would have done that before having children or started a career.” and etc. For the most part, the people who said this to us were people who could make the change too. We think we’re just crazy enough to actually do it. Our family and friends might have poked fun at us while they could, but for the most part they were extremely supportive of our decision. We feel very fortunate to have the love and support from the people we care about.

“We fully recognize that not everyone has that in their life, and it was another motivation for us because we know that not everyone is blessed enough to be able to do something like this.”

Converting a Van into a Tiny House

“ If this was going to be our home on wheels, then it had to be strong and healthy.”

The first thing we did was give our van a much needed tune-up. We put in new fluids, filters, belts, alternator, battery, etc.

After that, we spent several weeks junkyard hunting to find new parts. The first thing we fixed were the windows, as the previous owner put in home louver-style windows to keep it cool in the hot Florida summers. While it looked cool, the windows actually leaked when it rained and seeped in air when it was cold outside. They had to go. We replaced them with windows from a Chevy Mark III and installed a roof rack we found on a GMC Jimmy (Chevy Blazer). We were also lucky enough to find a hitch from a Dodge Neon. With the help from our welder friend, it fit on the front of our van perfectly.

Now the fun part: building out the interior. When we bought our van, it was completely bare metal on the inside, so we had a clean slate to work with. We insulated the floor, added hardwood floors that we bought used off Craigslist, insulated the walls and ceiling and built wall panels out of plywood. We covered the wall panels with indoor and outdoor carpet from Home Depot and added some striped fabric to the ceiling.

Above the driver and passenger seats, we added corkboard so we could stick pictures of family and friends and memorabilia that we found on the road. We hooked up our 100-watt solar panel that we purchased off of Amazon. The solar panel charges our two inline six-volt leisure batteries, which runs our 2000-watt inverter, USB ports and cigarette lighters.

Small Space Storage

Then it was time to build our bed and add extra storage. Since the inside of our van is pretty small, we had to get creative. We wanted as much of a full-size bed as possible but didn’t want it to take up the entire van. We found a design online that consisted of a two-part bed, and from the original design, we modified it to fit ours. It is an L-shaped bed design that can be a couch during the day and pull out into a bed at night. We bought a king-sized three-inch memory foam mattress from Craigslist and cut it to fit our design.

Under both sections of the L-shaped design is storage for our clothes, cooking equipment and food. For extra storage, we bought a rooftop cargo carrier that we call "the adventure pack" because it holds our two folding bikes, inflatable kayak and overnight hiking packs that have all of our camping gear.

We just needed to add the final touches. We purchased a hitch rack and filled up a storage box we had at home with our winter clothes and Devon’s work equipment. On the inside of the van, we built a small fold-down table behind the driver seat, attached our fishing pole to the ceiling and went shopping at Ikea for more storage ideas.

We were able to find small shelves to hold our spices, a towel rack that we use to hang small buckets and storage pockets that have Velcro on the back that stick to our carpet walls perfectly. We have S hooks that hold our pots and pans, a paper towel holder made from wire and bungie cords attached to the ceiling that hold our towels yoga mats and window screens.

What's next for us

So far we are just a few weeks into our trip, and it has been a lot of driving. There are many things we want to work on for ourselves during this time. We’d like to break away from being a consumer and focus on discovering our passions and talents. We want to try several kinds of jobs to search for a career that we enjoy so we can say, “We do what we love and never work a day in our lives." We hope to travel to many places and find an area that we love. Essentially we are in search of doing what we love and in a place we want to do it. Whether its work or pleasure, we are hoping to expand our comfort zone. We want to spend more time in nature and enjoy the beauty and peace that it provides. Our plan is to travel, learn from people and places we visit and truly live a life worth living.

“When people ask us how long we plan on being on the road, our answer is, ‘however long it takes.’”

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Edited by Kate MacDougall.
All photos credit to Experience Bound.

When people ask me how long I've been living in a camper trailer, I always pause.

“Even though I know it’s been a year, it feels like much longer.”

But why does it feel that way? Why doesn't time feel the same as it did when I lived in the city?

When I was younger, I wanted to accelerate time. Most of us have stories that involve a family road trip where we asked our parents, "Are we there yet?" It's because, as children, our brains are constantly processing new information. Road trips—just like most things when we're younger—are new experiences that activate all of our senses. Suddenly we're questioning what we're seeing, thinking, feeling, hearing and smelling every second.

However, as we get older, we somehow feel this need to establish routines and create a sense of comfort in our lives. We are less in contact with new experiences, and because of that, our brains aren't processing new information as often. We equate stress and challenges with new experiences, and so we resist them and instead, opt for things that we are familiar with.

A year ago, living in a camper was a novel experience for me. And because of it being unfamiliar and outside the norm, I resisted it. I used living small as an excuse every time something didn't go my way.

“I wanted it to fail so that I could justify why other people don’t live in 140 square feet.”

When Greg and I went backpacking a few months back, I started to think about this concept of time slowing down. Each day, our only task was to walk, but at the same time, my brain was overwhelmed with new sensations.

“I noticed how my feet felt on different terrains, and I wanted to reach out and touch everything in my path.”

I became more aware of my surroundings. I stopped and pointed out when a new flower or different plant showed up in the horizon.

In our daily lives, we're distracted by text messages, emails and the latest Facebook statuses. But the wilderness doesn't care about any of that. And when you become a part of the wilderness, you realize how all those distractions are speeding up your life.

“We don’t know what it’s like to stop and think anymore. We forget how to slow down time.”

Living in a camper trailer is a similar experience to living in the wilderness. It feels like camping each day, and no two days are the same. You have to problem solve on the daily. Cooking takes a lot of focus because there's less counter space to prepare ingredients. When people come over, the camper trailer becomes a puzzle of how to best create more space.

You have to learn to be more spontaneous, and open your mind to new scenarios that will allow you to live more freely inside your space.

You start to value things that most people take for granted. When you have easy access to running water, electricity and Wi-Fi, you over consume.

“In the city, I never cared about my water and electricity use. In a camper, it’s unavoidable to notice how much little you use.”

I decided that instead of viewing this living experience as a difficult one that I was going to force myself to live through, I was going to make the best out of living in a camper trailer.

So if you're like me and feel that time is slowing down, don't equate that to mean you must be bored or lacking in experiences. I've learned that it means the exact opposite.

What's Next?

Everyone always wants to know what's next. I couldn't possibly want to live in a camper forever, right?

But the truth is, I want to continue to challenge myself to new living situations.

“I know for sure that I want to keep questioning the things that no one else does.”

If I buy a house with some land, I don't always want to live in it. I want to rent it out to people who need the space more than I do.

I know I can adapt to living in a camper, van or tent. And sometimes that's what I prefer to be my home.

“We don’t really know what’s next, and that’s okay.”

Kathleen is the founder of Tiny House, Tiny Footprint, the America Contributor for Vanlife and a writer for The Outbound.

Guest Post: Van Life