Tour of Solo Woman Living in a Car

hi everyone welcome back to my next video today we're gonna have a real treat we're talking to a new friend of mine elisa hi alisa hi bob and uh elisa tell us how long you've been in the road i've been on the road about five or six weeks now so pretty new yeah and you're in a car yes 2002 toyota avalon so that's uh how's that going so my first thought is it's hard to live in a car how's that going um it's going [Laughter] um the first night i was kind of in denial like wow this is really happening you kind of get used to it i really wish i had you know a lot more head space i took out my passenger seat and so i have a bed so at least i have somewhere to sleep but the bed is only about five foot seven inches long and i'm five nine so yeah it's interesting there's a lot of curling there yeah how did you end up in your car you know i've been wanting to do this lifestyle for as long as i can remember i've been talking like decades way before van life was a hashtag on instagram and i kept waiting making excuses one of the excuses was well i need to wait until i have a big fancy classy or you know class b and i just got really tired of waiting and so i'm like i'm just gonna go and this is what i have right now so that's what i'm in for now is this kind of a trial and and you're gonna move up to something nicer and bigger or that's that's the hope yeah i would like to get a class b there's pros and cons some of the pros are you know i can drive not past the speed limit but i can drive faster you know on the freeway when i'm passing all these huge rigs that are going very slow right um gas mileage you know that kind of thing and if you ever need to be in town you can be in town parking yeah yeah parking driving around driving a big rig around town is no fun and this would be easily easily done right so yeah they're always pros and cons are the pros outweighing the cons so far for me yes um just just being out here makes it all worth it just that alone and then after joining the caravan like i just just the community and the social aspect and i feel safer and so yeah it's been good yeah the meeting people and building communities is so important and it solves that problem of where you're going to camp next yeah yeah we will have a spot for you piked out yeah yeah we'll have multiple spots and you can go and choose the one that appeals to you right right and we always plan the roads around every vehicle so the biggest and the smallest rig can get in so as you're still young you need to have some an income and how are you supporting yourself now i have money saved as of now and i have a i make crystal jewelry i have a little store on instagram um but i will be look i'm also practicing developing medium so i'm not making money from that now but eventually that will be my my line of income but as of for now i'll be looking for work after my money runs out uh i'm really curious about how you're living in a sedan okay i've seen people in the suvs even the little tiny cars that are long enough and you aren't long enough so i'd really be curious can we take a look inside yeah my dashboard goes in so technically i my feet can go in if i want them on a dashboard and it is five nine but if i want on just the actual bed the thing is i'm a side sleeper and i curl up so it's not usually a problem yeah yeah all right we'll take a look okay all right so the first thing i did with the car is i went and got um blackout tinted windows for privacy and i got the ceramic tint which keeps a lot of the heat out and then i got these rain guards so that i can keep my windows cracked for ventilation then i had um somebody take the passenger seat out and then i had somebody build me a custom bed frame with like plywood and then i cut out foam slabs to make to make a bed so yeah the so underneath is totes like this with clothes and books and shoes my shower bag and yeah and just a bottle of coolant that's essentially what's under the bed and then in the corner i left open in the back seat so that i could sit back there and kick my legs up on the bed so i have somewhere to sit other than the front seat and other than the bed so you kind of uh lounge sideways yes or yes or sitting like indian style um the back seats they don't look like it but they are spacious yeah i can definitely sit back i put that pillow behind my back it's a foam pillow and kick my legs up and that's where i sit and do my zoom meetings or whatever and then i leave the front seat open as well so it looks like you've made it just about as good as it can be yeah the only thing i would really like is to have some racks installed in a cargo container but it's about a thousand bucks so can't happen just yet but that is on the list um so i went and got a canyon cooler um because they can hold um block ice up to a week um this is just all my jewelry i just don't have nowhere to put it um i hold 10 gallons of water i just fill my water up in the machines that are in every town and back here i've got i play native american flu and i've got my yoga mat back there and yeah it goes pretty deep luckily it's a pretty big trunk it is yeah that's these things are always enormous yeah really holds a lot yeah so this is the bathroom tent and the outdoor toilet the lid comes off and you put a bag that hangs and do what you need to do and i have the sheepy thing for girls and for showering i use planet fitness you're using a jackery for solar it looks like yes this is just the jackery 240. for now i might get a bigger one later and then i just have their their compact um solar panel you know that has the so it just rests on the ground like that and it's enough for to charge my phone and to charge like a mini cooler um like a little mini ac um so yeah so far so far it's been plenty so you've covered the bases you've got power you've got a place to sleep uh cooking how are you cooking them just an outside stove yes i cook on a propane stove i actually had never assembled one in my life until the first day i was out here so you had never been a camper um uh yes i've camped them only like you know two or three times a year and um i was just never the one to set up the stove right i was never the one to sit up the tent i kind of just went for the fun so now i'm doing everything and building muscle what has surprised you so you've been out about five weeks and what's surprised you with how hard it was the hardest thing for me was stressing about finding the next place where we're going to camp that was probably the most difficult um worrying about where i was going to go next and now for now that's solved with caravans and that hopefully you'll learn enough and that won't be a problem again yeah and if i um get a actual rig with clearance then i'll have much more opportunities because i won't have to be so concerned about roads that are rutted and washboarded and muddy because i'll be able to take them and kind of just go more places right and what has surprised you that you've loved about it the last five weeks um how much i do not miss the city i do not miss living in a house um and just how happy it makes me to be outside at all times and also how awesome all the people i've met on the road are everybody is so friendly and so helpful i've had people help me fix my car my camp neighbors over here gave me a new shower tent because my brand new one just got destroyed in the wind in the desert wind so um everyone i've come across is so nice very very good yeah now that's i think i think that kind of you speak for all of us that the reconnection to nature and and all that means and and the people are just they make it all worthwhile have they made it worthwhile absolutely absolutely it makes me like think like wow i spent um a lot of a lot of years in four walls you know just dreaming and saying i'll do it next year i'll do it next year and i'm just really glad that i finally took the plunge very good yeah that's that's the story that uh a lot of us have to say and so people out there are going to watch this and they're going to be thinking oh i that's hard i don't think i could do that do you have a message for them i used to think like there's no way i could live in a van or especially a car um and once you get used to it um the thing is that you're not really in the car much you know mostly just to sleep um you're living out of your car not in your car i'm outside i'm hiking doing yoga you know playing my flute hanging out with with people so you won't be inside nearly as much as you think and you can't be unhappy being outside in in beautiful places one after another you just can't be unhappy like that right yeah i agree it's healing nature is the great healer it's so is 100 all we have to do is cooperate not fight with it yeah so after five weeks it hasn't always been peaches and cream and fun uh are you glad you did it and are you planning on keeping going yes um i think going through hardships grows you as a person so i don't think it's a bad thing even though it feels like it in the moment and the pros definitely outweigh the cons and just like i thought i i love it and i definitely want to keep going i'd like to travel the country i'd like to move up to a bigger rig i'd like to become you know a digital nomad and just make it make it work as best as possible and so definitely plan on continuing very very good thank you thank you so much elisa for sharing your life oh where are can people buy your jewelry um i have a store on instagram it's stars over trees creations that's name star if i type in stars over trees stars over trees creations is the name of the my store on instagram and my main page is she's in the redwoods very good very good so go check out her jewelry and help support her by buying something beautiful thank you bob so folks i i believe you've got something good and wonderful out of this interview and tour and so uh if you did like us on youtube subscribe to the channel hit that thumbs up button and we'll talk to you later [Music] you

Channel: CheapRVliving

Views: 66,386

Keywords: car, van, RV, Full-time, nomad, camper, camp, boondock, travel, caravan, tiny, house, RTR, Bob Wells, Nomadland, CheapRVLiving, Cheap RV Living, vanlife, van life, how to live in a van, van dwelling, van tour, van conversion, living in a van, camper van, van build, diy van build, sprinter van, van living, #vanlife, van dweller, campervan, vandwelling, diy camper van, RV Life, Living in an RV, Class B, Class C, Truck Living, Living in a car, boondocking, Living in a RV

Id: qAuBFgvq-Mo

Length: 12min 0sec (720 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 01 2022