The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
How to stay safe living van life inwinter
As more offices extend remote-work mandates in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, people who have taken to the road as digital nomads are about to face their first winter in transit.
With many offices closed, American so fall ages and geographic backgrounds have moved into campervans and started driving – clocking in wherever WiFi is available and still making a respectable income. As this story neared publication, the# van life hash tag had over 8.1 million posts on Ins tag ram.
It's a mind-set, a movement, a community, an aesthetic and a journey. Van life rs are especially in touch with the outdoors – whether they are surfers, hikers, mountain bike rs or winter sports fanatics. Living right on the mountain or the beach offers more opportunities to enjoy their favorite pursuits any day of the week.
Now, as new van lifers prepare to encounter cold weather for the first time, they are considering how to get through the winter – pricing snowtires and studying insulation techniques to keep their plumbing systems from freezing.
Van life rs Frankie McCullough and Alex Napoli are experts at living in the snow, and they first left the hustle and bustle of New York City behind to hit the road for the long haul in December 2019. Their goal: to break the record for snowboarding the most mountains in a single season. After they had conquered 70 mountains (which they say is an unofficial record), COVID-19 hit, andthe rest of the mountains they planned to visit shut down – but they don't plan to return to the city anytime soon. “We love this lifestyle and are excited for another winter in the van,” says Napoli, who's from Canada.
The couple drives a self converted 2003 Dodge Sprinter 2500 while traveling full-time and running their own YouTube channel to create videos full of van life advice. This venture, combined with the money they saved before hitting the road, provides enough income to cover monthly expenses.
Napoli points out that staying warm in the winter is less costly than staying cool in the summer – extra blankets and a space heater will do the job, while air conditioning gobbles up gas.
One challenge of living the winter van life is shorter days with less daylight. Napoli recommends outfitting the van with powerful lights to ensure high visibility on unlit rural roads. Braking time in an RV takes significantly longer than in a normal car, and an animal on the road could mean disaster.
Proper tires are also an important detail of safely driving on snow and ice. “We have basically truck tires – they're 80 psi [pounds per square inch], and we have to go to truck stops to fill them because regular gas stations' air pumps don't go high enough,” Napoli says. These stronger tires better handle icy conditions, and they distribute the van's heavy load in a safe way.
Van living at a high altitude also means it is easier to get snowed in. “You definitely want to get out every once in awhile and shovel around your van so that you don't allow any carbon dioxide to rise inside if the snow gets too high,” says Mc Cullough, who's from Brooklyn. “You probably won't have that kind of problem if you're inside city limits, but in the rural mountains, you get feet of snow compared to just inches in the city.”
Finding a place to spend the night can become more complicated in the winter when traditional campgrounds close and conditions become more challenging to navigate, but National Forestry land and Bureau of Land Management land is open year-round. Napoli recommends using amobile a pp call edi Overland er, which offers van life rs many options for cost-free docking spaces across the country. In the snow season, the couple found that many ski resorts will allowthem to park overnight if they check in with the resort's security.
Another must when traveling in cold weather is to properly insulate indoor living spaces. Pipes and plumbing should be near sources of indoor heat to avoid freeze ups. An insulating area rug and window coverings also keep heat inside. “Having an inside heater reallyworks but it's great to have an alternate heat source, just in case,” Na po li says .“For example, we have our stovetop for boiling water and heating the space at the same time.”
Van lifers should always try to have an alternate power source on hand as opposed to relying solely on solar power. Nap olia nd McCullough rigged the alternator of their vehicle to power its battery bank so it charges the batteries
as they're driving. This way they have power even on a cloudy day.
Veteran van lifer Sydney Ferbrache has lived on the road for almost three years. She's experienced every type of weather across the United States, from extreme heat to extreme cold. She travels with her two dogs, Ella and Pearl, who offer her companionship and keep her warm in the colder months.
Ferbrache, who is from Indiana, earns her income through integrating advertisements into her podcast “My Solo Road,” in which she talks about van life and interviews other van lifers. She also makes money building businesses' websites on a freelance basis and negotiating brand partnerships on Instagram.
Though Fer bra che recommends sleeping in a hat when the temperature drops at night, she says she doesn't worry asmuch about freezing in the coldweather as she does about crashing her van in icy conditions or becoming stranded in the snow without proper tires.
“Invest in things that will keep you safe – like AAA. I think having roadsideassistance will make you more prepared ,” she says. This year, Ferbrache says, she plans to avoid the freezing weather altogether by migrating south – a popular choice among van lifers.