VAN LIFE: Adventurous 72 yr old solo female Becomes Nomad. Is that Too Late?

[Music] i get emails and comments from viewers all the time expressing regret that they didn't venture out and travel and explore or even do some form of van life when they were younger many of these remarks come from individuals who are seniors in their late 60s 70s and beyond sometimes health concerns are the reason they can't do van life now sometimes finances or sometimes simply the fear of the unknown in this video i introduce you to cheryl a 72 year old woman who despite significant health challenges bought a chevy van and built it out and is starting to plan future adventures during our conversation cheryl said to me if you don't live your life now when are you going to do it that statement really resonated with me and got me to thinking about the limits we often unnecessarily put on ourselves maybe it'll prompt you to start thinking about the same thing [Music] well hello cheryl hello how's it going in your new home on wheels going pretty good has been one week today is your one week mark yes one week oh my goodness i have to thank natasha was a natasha over at the gutted because when i came up to the um the booth i was taking care of some business over there she came running up to me and she said oh there's someone you've got to me you've got to meet her you guys are going to be such good friends you've got to meet her and she was so right i so thank you natasha for introducing me to cheryl yeah well natasha was wonderful anyway she didn't i had not even registered and she let me come in and stay because i had helped somebody else that had gotten stuck uh how so was that i guess it was meant to be i guess we were supposed to meet we were we were and we're already talking about taking a trip together yes oh my goodness but you've been in your van one week now this is this the first time you've lived in a van yes it is and how old are you cheryl i am 72 years old a lot of people say well 72 you can't live in a van start living in a van at 72 what would you say to that i say yes you can i say that you can do anything if you really want to do it but i think originally when i uh started the interest in a van living of course i was healthier at that point and had been doing a little research on van life and since that time i've had four strokes and an aneurysm and so i'm really determined now that i can do whatever it is i want to do you just got to do it so cheryl if you had to identify the one primary reason that brought you to decide to live in a van at 72 what would you say the number one reason was now i think it's finance okay um and i also want to add that [Music] living in an apartment can be lonely too i lived in a senior citizen building i was lonely i think that this not only with the finances but also getting out just like i met you i think that as i'm doing more and traveling more i'll meet people and i think that finances and and your experiences and are so important at this age if you don't live your life now when are you going to live it that's very true very true and you know i've thought the same thing myself i'm not going to get very many other chances to go out and explore i'm not afraid to try it and i went out bought the van a year ago in september and decided to build it out myself i'm not a handy person as far as building but it was a cheaper way i got someone to help me build the bed the rest of it i've done myself um i i just think that economically is good um i feel safe those are things that are important my family was not on board originally but as i told you when we were at gutted that my son finally accepted the idea of me traveling around in a van and you were telling me you know i saw because when you were telling me initially that your son wasn't really on board you were really kind of down about that yes and then when you shared it with me you were so really overjoyed even though you said i don't need his permission but just having his support meant so much to you oh absolutely well you know our family family is still family you know no matter where you live whether it's in a house sticks and bricks you know in your vehicle wherever it is you want your family to support you yeah i thought what was so touching to me was you said he had told you mom we really just ultimately want you to be happy and that's the bottom line when he told me that he just wanted me to be happy that's all i needed to hear yeah the you know and and this comes from his heart he um has ms so he struggles and he knows what it's like to have to struggle and he he's concerned about me he wants me to be safe speaking of safe i saw something that you did over here and it's similar to something i'm going to show in another video but your door hooks over here you have these door hooks that you put on and they just actually latch on to a hook over here you got this at home depot and you put those on your back door also yes okay that is so cool and i'm was touching them and they're very sturdy yeah they are and it just took a drill i didn't do it but i got some i hired somebody to do it and he drilled it in and it's sturdy enough that i think that if someone uh yanks the door open they're not going to be able to open it right away so it gives me time right to make an adjustment to either get into the driver's seat and drive off or all my other ways of protecting myself okay we won't go into those but you've got other ways yeah just say that so let's see some of your build now your bed you said that you did that yourself with just a little bit of help from a another female friend yes i had help and then as far as your bed what is it made of it's plywood and i guess she had some of the wood pieces at her house okay she's more of the handy person i'm just i'm the one that's looking and doing what she told me to do okay okay because i am not she knew what to do i didn't all right and then you said now is this memory foam or what kind of a mattress it's a futon uh with memory foam on top of it okay which is very comfortable and then you just use your comforters and blankets yes and a lot of things i already had them at home so i didn't have to go out and buy new things all right and then you said you don't really need a lot of light in here and i see you have little fairy lights back there yes and then another one by battery okay and i love your lantern thank you where did you get your lantern from i got that in big lots for 10 oh my goodness and it just requires batteries all right and then over here you have i see a tablet that you watch tv on you were telling me yes i watch hulu okay and the only thing i really need to watch is the view every day now what about your window covers did you make those yes i did and they're made of the um uh insulation uh and then i took old shower curtains and cut them and covered them oh my goodness another example of using what you have so that's right so you cut that so that's an example of what you did you cut it down to shape yes and then you just covered it and put it you know shaped according to the window and then i took the shower curtains and i cut them according to this and i did put black felt on the outside so that you don't have the reflectix from outside the window although my windows are limo tenant yeah because reflectix is one of the quickest ways to say someone's living in your van at night to see reflectors correct that's what i've heard yes so let's go look and see now you know of course everyone's going to ask about the bathroom so let's look at your bathroom this is my toilet everybody wants to know how you go to the bathroom and so this is it and it looks like your toilet at home i think that's probably why i like this one because i tried many others and so this one you open it up okay and it has a little bucket it has a little bucket okay oh okay and then you just use the bag system yes i use the bag system oh right it makes it very easy to clean and i you know keep everything that i need normally would have the bags covering it but it's easy to use and easy to jump that way all right and the nice part is when you're 72 you can't get on the floor no no okay or you can get on the floor you just can't get up and that happened to me so that's why i got this one okay then i'm looking at your dresser system now these are just a standard dresser is that that yeah i got them from um a local store uh for a hundred bucks okay uh they put it in the van for me and then this is separate from the dresser okay um now as far as storage you also have i see what are these down here i have an ottoman okay and then i see you have over here a second ottoman a second ottoman and you and i i keep kitchen items uh behind the driver's seat now you shared how you use the bathroom how do you keep cleaning here well first of all i have a planet fitness membership and it's close by the areas that i stay but other than that i have a sink okay oh you have one of these collapsible stuff i have a collapsible sink okay and i have my water let's look at your water where's your here's my water um and here's my collapsible sink and i fill it up with water and of course i have what every other van lifer has which is um your oh baby wipes infamous baby wipes one last thing people are always wondering about power so how do you um power for instance your usb faucet i saw looked like you had is that a jackery over there yes it is and what size jackery is that uh this is a 300 and is that is that ample for you right now no no no i i i do realize that i need to um upgrade or at least buy an additional probably a middle uh i think it's 500 a 500 watt do you have solar panels at this point no not yet so you're just charging it off your car battery yes okay are you planning on getting solar what is your plan yes i do plan to get solar um i'm not quite sure what to get okay but i'm sure with all my new uh van life friend that someone will kind of guide me in the right direction that's the great thing again about this community is people step up with assistance guidance um suggestions just like lady um bug out did with the faucet for you yes yes so what are your plans well is it too new to have plans or what do you think your plans are going to be over the next month well over the next month i have a few things that i need to close out in my hometown area okay in the meantime i'm adjusting to being and having this newfound freedom if you will um so you're in the honeymoon period right now the honeymoon and of course i'd go to san diego uh quite a bit because my children live there okay and they like that idea because then i can stay in my van and still be there and not you know um impose upon their space right um but i think in the next month or two i want to make a trip up the coast highway one okay that that's the one thing i really want to do well you're going to be hitting your bucket list and you know what we're going to check back because we're going to take a trip together and will it be all right if we interview you or if i interview you there and get an update sure absolutely you'll probably get a lot more information because i have a lot of life to live between now and january that sounds good thank you so much cheryl and we will look forward to finding out if you have any regrets any suggestions and what you know what your experience has been as a very new nomad for the first time see you later down the road okay see you down the road bye-bye

Channel: Glorious Life On Wheels

Views: 131,652

Keywords: Van life, van tour, solo female van life. Cheap rv living, glorious life on wheels, black van life, Black nomads, budget travel

Id: IzJQTPCgHY8

Length: 16min 21sec (981 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 21 2021