She Lives in the Most Beautiful Minivan Camper I’ve Seen!

hey I'm Maddie and I'm from the channel beer and beautiful places today I want to tell you about my 2011 Toyota Sienna fully converted for full-time solo travel I've been to 48 states in this thing and I love it let me tell you all about it I've always liked to explore the world and see as much as I can live life to the fullest but for this van I was wanting something I would live in full time and just by myself I think this is the best build for solo travel long term so a little about me I've been on the road for a little over a year and a half I'm from Louisville Kentucky where we are right now and when I was growing up I was just so curious about the world after I graduated college I did some seasonal jobs out west and then I lived in Australia for a year I backpacked Europe in 2020 I was just looking for a new way to travel I've been thinking about living in a van for years and with a minivan I get a lower cost and it's easier to drive let me show you what's inside [Music] I think something in common with a lot of people that live in bands is we all love the outdoors and that's very true for me I grew up hiking and camping and now I've gone on an outdoor adventure in every state in the lower 48. if you're interested in learning more about that I made a documentary about the whole experience the highs and lows and what I learned from it it's a great introduction to my journey my goals for this build first it was mostly just me and friends and family but without any experience of building this was kind of like seeing stuff online and trying to put the pieces together in a way that was manageable for our budget and our skill sets so what I wanted was to be living in it full time I don't need it to convert back to a regular van or anything I wanted to have plenty of space and to feel like home and I think I did really the best job anyone could have done with those goals and with my budget and time frame my favorite part of the van and is the floor it's just two pieces of stained plywood it's really dirty right now but it's really solid and it really was the first thing that made it feel like a space I was living in instead of a van you know made it feel more like a home we've got a nice little step in here this rug just for decoration done it really helps keeping it a little clean too I have a basket for shoes because with living in a space this small junk and just not having things in its place really feels like you're living in a mess you know so having this place where things can go right as soon as I walk in really helps make it feel a little neater and more organized using this for my rain jacket sunscreen and bear spray just gotta make sure not to get those too confused and I have a blackout curtain that I put up right here like this at night and it blocks out any light and gives me some privacy whether I'm sleeping in a parking lot or out in nature my bed is just stained plywood just a simple platform this is a four inch zionus foam mattress I think it's really more like six inches but online it said four I put some burlap down here just to make it look a little nicer and all my clothes are under the bed I keep my window covers right here it's nice to have a minivan too because in the mornings I can just press this button and have the breeze on my face first thing in the morning now this kitchen slash storage space is simply one of these six cubby hole things and we put stained plywood very thin plywood on top of it to make it look nice plus we had these little strips and we just put that so things don't fall out and really I was nervous about it I was thinking I might have to move it up or make it wider but really unless I'm on a really uneven Road it keeps my stuff in just fine I also sewed these curtains myself so that I would have a bit of a different look and wouldn't have to look at my pots and pans all day every day and it definitely makes it look a lot neater even though as soon as you open it Junk's going everywhere I also have a solar panel on the roof I got that part done by professionals just because uh with electricity I tried to do it my self didn't work so I was like okay let's get it done right this time so that solar panel connects through these wires this is my signal booster but these are my electrical system this is just my signal booster it helps me get better cell service but this is the electrical setup an AGM battery and this charge controller [Music] what I really love about my electrical system is that they installed this I don't know what to call it but it's it can take energy from the card battery while it's running or if I'm just sitting somewhere for a while it takes energy from the solar panel and that is like a switch back and forth but it would never take too much energy to the point of damaging my car's battery so I think that's a very smart way they set that up that electrical system fuels my fridge and freezer which I think is the best part when I made it people told me you don't need a freezer you're making things too complicated but I think having access to frozen vegetables or even like ice cream sometimes is just so nice to have it's not the most stocked right now it's perfect because this way I can have access to fresh fruits and you know living in a van if I didn't have this I would just be eating mostly pasta so I help to keep it insulated of course it does that on its own but I also put a beach towel down here because then I don't have to store my beach towel anywhere else and it helps the fridge and freezer out and this rug just for looks so building this it was mostly me looking at pictures online and thinking how can I do this my dad helped me out with the floor my friend Marshall from the channel mellow nomadic Adventures helped me with having some under the floor storage my brother built my bed my Dad's friend and my uncle and my dad helped with the storage space right here it was really a group effort up until I got the solar panel installed it was an all non-professional build and I think that you know it's not perfect but with the amount of research and the planning everything came together the best it could so Maddie it seems like your entire family has been very supportive of your travels and Adventures have you had any kind of naysayers or anybody that's like oh you should be doing something else with your life not really I think my parents and my whole family understands that I feel the need to travel you know I'm not just on a whim I'm purposely doing this because this is the way I want to live my life definitely everyone's a little nervous for me you know traveling so much by myself always being in an unfamiliar place but I'm really really lucky that they understand this is something I need to do my favorite part about my van is that in the Toyota Sienna at least in 2011 the third row seats used to fall down flat so there would be a flat space in the trunk but if they were sitting upright there would be a cavity since we removed all the back seats there is still that big cavity and we found a way to use it as storage so what I do is I move my fridge gotta use proper lifting form because it's like 40 pounds this board just lifts up can completely and this is where I keep stuff like stuff to keep warm this little backpack just things I need to grab but because this I can access while the fridge is still there but if I take the fridge off I can open this whole thing up and this is my bear canister where I keep my food when I go camping in Bear Country all kinds of camping gear and hiking gear this is awesome I don't know how I would live without this because I have a solar panel on my roof it's not like I can put one of those roof storage things on so this is so handy to have you might be wondering what I do living in such a small space I don't have any Plumbing so for a sink I use my little jug of water and just pour it into a basin at first I thought that would be kind of tedious and annoying but I don't think it's really that bad I'm kind of glad I didn't build a sink into it because that way I can move around that Basin and have all the space I need I usually just try to find a bathroom to go to but when I am out in nature and a bathroom isn't around of course I use l t principles dig a cat hole in everything lnt principles just stands for leave no Trace basically it's a set of seven outdoor ethics and it's what I mean by that lnt way to go to the bathroom is just you have to dig a hole with a shovel has to be at least six inches deep and then you cover it up pack out the toilet paper Maddie do you get cold sleeping in your van at night in the winter yeah a little bit I have a really good sleeping bag that keeps me warm but the coldest part is when I'm sitting up before bed I'm either on my phone I'm reading or whatever that's and my sleeping bag is only covering my lap that's the worst part but it's not too bad once I lay down I have my sleeping bag I have hat and gloves on I even have a a battery powered glove two battery powered gloves I should say not just one but that's what keeps me warm on your trip over the last two years is there anything that you didn't do that you wish you did do I do wish that when I was going to different states I ate out a little more because I was really trying to save money and so I didn't go to a lot of restaurants but there's so much like seafood in New England and like Regional Specialties that I wish I had tried a little more of while I was there what was your favorite experience on the road oh I have so many favorite experiences I I guess if I would have to choose it would be the sunrise in South Carolina I was sleeping in a parking lot near the beach and I couldn't sleep um when it was like four or five in the morning so I thought might as well go watch the sunrise while I'm here and it was just so beautiful to watch the sun rise over the water there were so many different colors the birds were all chirping and flying around and it was just the most peaceful cool moment do do you ever get lonely while doing these epic solo travel Adventures yeah I only get lonely reach out to my parents I'm very lucky that I have friends all over the country that sometimes I can go visit and having people interact with me on YouTube is almost like talking to people in person you know I love doing live streams I love responding to comments so the YouTube Community even though it's not in person with people it still feels like a community that would be in real life have you ever been afraid while camping in the wild camping in my tent or camping in my van I feel personally pretty safe in my van so I'm assuming you feel that way as well is that true most of the time yeah I've had two experiences that were kind of a little nervous made me a little nervous but really it was fun um when I was in Pennsylvania this was like north of Pittsburgh or something I was at a truck stop for the night and I went inside to not a truck stop but a a rest area like they have on highways and I went inside to use the bathroom for the night it was pretty late like 11 or so and someone that came out of a truck was walking in at the same time at me as me and like slowed down to look at me I took a really long time like brushing my teeth and everything so I was like okay when I come out he'll be long gone but when I came out that person was coming out of their truck to go throw away trash and they like changed course to walk next to me to go to a different trash can just to be near me that being said like he didn't say anything to me he didn't really do anything that was intimidating it was just he was looking at me a lot so I was like okay this is weird enough I'm just gonna move and so I moved on found a different spot to sleep and everything was fine when I was in South Carolina I think it was I was sleeping at a boat ramp and I was dead asleep and like one in the morning people came blaring music and it was so loud the first thing I thought was they're coming to get me but then I realized they're just playing music like and I just happened to be here so I'm fine it's just things you think of when you wake up out of a dead sleep beer in beautiful places is the underlying theme and name of your channel what is the best beer you found during your journey Ah that's so hard they're all so good I think if I had to choose it would be the sour I had in Connecticut it was by a brewery called skygazer and it was really sweet and tart and kind of that smoothie texture beers are starting to have some time but that was really good that being said though my favorite style of beer is always a sour so they kind of had an advantage with the contest for being my favorite what drives you to pursue all of these Outdoor Adventures it just seems like the world is so huge and there's so much to see and do sometimes I think I can't fit it all into one lifetime so I gotta just start doing as much as I can while I'm able to so Maddie your videos have some stunning views what kind of camera do you use I just film with my iPhone it's a iPhone 13 Pro so it has the three lenses it's so cool to use because I could use it to make I don't know just having the different lenses makes a world of difference for me and I like it because it's so light it's easy to carry with me plus I do all my editing on my phone too so it's you don't have to transfer anything and it's just easier for me so someday I think I'll upgrade but not yet as much as I love living in my van now that I've been to all the states in the lower 48. I'm thinking maybe it's time for a new goal I still want to do an adventure where I'm outside a lot and living minimally but maybe not van life and that's why this coming year I'll be hiking the Appalachian Trail all the way from Georgia to Maine I hope you follow along I'll be doing plenty of videos on YouTube Instagram and Tick Tock all under beer in beautiful places but because I love my van so much and I really do think it's the perfect solo travel vehicle there's so much I love about it and I'm really hoping I can share it with someone while I'm on the trail while the at has been a big dream of mine for years and years I'm really not just jumping into it I've already done several shorter through hikes I've done the Tahoe rim trail in Nevada and California then the superior hiking trail in Minnesota and the John Muir Trail or the new mupoyo in California people in my comments say they usually like my videos because of my honesty things are bad sometimes I'll tell you the real experience instead of just a video that looks good [Music] hey guys thank you so much for watching this van tour with Maddie from beer beautiful places click on this link to see your documentary video about her tour around the 48 continuous United States [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Off Grid Adventure

Views: 258,147

Keywords: Beer in beautiful places, Minivan camper, Sienna camper van, Vanlife, minivan camper conversion, minivan camper tour, minivan life, sienna camper van, solo van life, toyota sienna camper, toyota sienna camper conversion, van life, van life build, van life tour, van tour, van tour van life, vanlife tour

Id: 4LusImaiBpM

Length: 18min 16sec (1096 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 29 2022