Lance’s Vanlife Lessons: Downsizing, Traveling, and Building The VanFest Community

The Spark That Lit the Fire

Hey, I’m Lance. My wife and I have been living on the road full-time for just over three years now, and if you count the trial phase, it’s been about three and a half years total. 

Our vanlife journey started way back in 2016 when my wife stumbled upon some of the OGs in the vanlife world — namely Eamon and Bek, Mariajose and Chase. While we both found it intriguing, it was more of a  “Maybe we’ll talk about it one day.” But she kept following them, watching videos, and the seed was planted.

Then we went to a United Tiny Home festival in our hometown in Massachusetts. At the time, we were house-poor — like, scraping-to-pay-the-bills kind of house-poor. The entry fee was $20 per person, and we actually debated whether we could afford to drop forty bucks. Finally, I just said, “Screw it, let’s do it.” 

That day changed everything. Getting inside converted vans and buses, talking to people actually living the lifestyle — it was the push we needed. Not long after, we sold the house (to get out of debt), moved into an apartment, and made a plan.

When the pandemic hit in early 2020, I was losing my mind being stuck inside. So in April, I said, “Screw it, I’m buying a van.” Found one five minutes down the street, bought it, and picked up a table saw and some other tools. And that was it — we were doing this.

Building a Home on Wheels — Pandemic Style

Buying a vehicle during COVID was the easiest car-buying experience ever. I didn’t even meet the salesman — he just threw me the keys from 20 feet away, and that was it.

Lumber prices were at rock bottom, which was great, but the build itself? It was a lot of trial and error, a lot of YouTube rewinds, and a lot of, “Wait, wait, what did they just do?” I channeled every ounce of my high school woodshop skills and figured it out as I went.

Electrical work? That was the easy part. I’ve been taking things apart since I was a kid — vacuum cleaners, batteries, motors, computers — you name it. I only shocked myself once or twice, and that was just 110 volts, so no big deal. 

The trickiest part was working with lithium batteries — just seeing the thickness of those cables makes you respect the power they hold. But I built our system completely off-grid: started with 400 watts of solar (upgraded to 800w), four 100-amp-hour Battleborn batteries (which I later swapped for 800 amp-hours of EG4 server rack batteries), and all Victron components. I work in IT, so setting it up was a breeze — though understanding how lithium batteries report voltage was a bit of a learning curve.

Over time, we made upgrades — a better shower and a bigger water tank, more efficient systems. And for the next build, I’ve got my eyes on a van cab and chassis with a fiberglass Unicell body because, let me tell you, building curved walls in a van? Absolute nightmare.

Vanlife: The Reality

For the past three years, we’ve been fully off-grid. We can probably count on one hand the number of times we’ve booked a campground. Instead, we park where it makes sense — sometimes beautiful BLM land, sometimes a random parking lot when we just need to crash for the night.

Life on the road changes your perspective on a lot of things. First, you realize how much stuff you accumulate when you live in a house. Downsizing to a van makes you rethink every single thing you own. And relationships? You learn how to communicate real fast when you live in 70 square feet together. There’s no storming off to the other room. The closest you get is “I’m going inside the Wawa gas station.” But honestly, it’s made our relationship stronger. We’ve learned to enjoy each other’s company in ways we never did before.

From Vanlife to VanFest

At some point, living on the road led us to VanFest. I didn’t start it — I actually took it over from a dude named Ashton who put on the first event in 2021. He was going to do a second but ran into permitting issues, and life pulled him in another direction. That’s when I stepped in.

Since then, we’ve grown it significantly. This past event, we had around 350 rigs — up from 210 the year before — and nearly 1,400 people came through to tour vans, take workshops, and connect with the community.

And that’s what VanFest is really about: community. About 80% of a Vanfest event is all about festival vibes – bringing people together, reuniting old friends and forging new connections. The rest is more like a boutique expo to inspire the next generation of nomads, just like that tiny home festival inspired us.

Now, we’re expanding — Cape Cod in the summer, Arizona for Halloween weekend (Van-O-Ween). But Florida will probably always be the biggest. We snowbird in Florida — sounds fancy, but really, we just don’t like snow. While we love the desert, after a few weeks we just need to be near the water again.

Looking Ahead

We don’t plan on living in a van forever, but we also don’t plan on going back to a “normal” life. We’re eyeing a home base back in Massachusetts, something small, maybe with a rental unit attached. But we’ll always travel. The next rig is already on my mind. And winter? You won’t find me anywhere cold.

For anyone considering vanlife, my advice is simple: rent a van first. Take a road trip. See if it’s for you. Communicate with your partner. And don’t overthink it — just start.

And if you want to get a taste of the lifestyle without fully committing, come to VanFest! Whether you’re already living on the road, planning your build, or just curious, it’s an incredible way to connect with this community. Plus, we throw one hell of a dance party!

See you out there!

Follow Lance and VanFest:

• VanFest website: https://vanfestusa.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vanfestusa/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vanfestusa/