7 years of van life update!
Time has really flown by!
You might have wondered what happened to us if you’ve only been following this blog of ours. After all, for 5 years it was our #1 outlet where we shared weekly posts of our travels to help guide and inspire others to take action and go on adventures of their own! THIS is what our original (Wordpress) website looked like:
Returning from Europe at the end of summer of 2018 from our, “2.5 year honeymoon on wheels,” opened our eyes to the world of vlogging (video logs) on YouTube. So we decided to shift away from the blog, and focus our time and efforts on learning what a number of other van lifers were already doing - sharing our lives and adventures through video!
The key to learning how to “YouTube” for us, has been consistency. So upon returning to the US after gifting our (very rusty) beloved UK camper van to a newlywed couple we had met in while Europe (who has since renamed The Howlin’ Yoweller, “Pheonix”), we decided the next best thing for us to do was begin the journey of our very 1st custom van build! And that’s when Our LEGENDARY van build series was born on YouTube:
Sharing the weekly progress of our build on “Adventure Thursdays,” not only held us accountable for converting our van in a relatively timely and well-done manner, but what it really did was catapult us into a crash course of learning HOW ON EARTH to explain things and connect with a camera?!? Took some time, a few (hundred) awkward “what am I even saying moments??” (which we sometimes still encounter), but eventually, we learned to connect with the camera, seeing it as a portal that allows us to connect with our audience, and ultimately the world!
In June of 2019, after 6 months of hard labor, we finished our build out of “Spirit” the van (short for “Spirit of the Howeller”) . It cost us a total of $33,000, including the purchase of the van itself, and we had just enough funds at the time to cover this. See our previous post about using reclaimed wood to build it.
Fast forward to The Present Day:
We have always felt guided along our travels, and living in a van (for 7 years now!?) has allowed us to go wherever Spirit guides, and it is this endlessly inspiring and intriguing lifestyle that has become the focus of our videos. We never built MMA for money or popularity, that was never what we chased. We built MMA for the joy of sharing, the joy of creating and the joy of living a life where you are free to chase your own adventures.
We have never been absolute naturals at making videos (although Brittany is one seriously talented editor - editing all our videos), but have each always loved a good challenge. Having a camera around consistently teaches us more and more ways we can improve our communication skills - with ourselves, each other(!) and others - as well as learning how to be confident in the things we do and say (whether or not we are truly feeling it at the time). Honestly, I, Drew, found building the van easier than trying to make a YouTube episode! But, as they say, practice makes perfect, or at least better, and there is something about the continual bettering of ourselves that has showing up for our amazing audience every “Adventure Thursday,” and sometimes more.
If you want something badly enough, you have to work for it and be disciplined. Having defined roles in our business and brand have helped us grow. Brittany is our Master Video Editor and I am the mechanic, engineer, chauffeur, security dude, brand/sponsorship coordinator, comment and email responder, logistic planner and dishwasher. Brittany spends countless hours rough cutting, refining, choosing the right music for every beat, along with recording all our voiceovers and sorting through footage and photos for that perfect thumbnail image (our greatest point of contention with YouTube). She is ultimately is the producer of our videos too, planning the shots and storylines, envisioning a message or golden thread of something good to pull out of each adventure for our audience. This combination has made MMA what it is today, a mind-expanding, soul-awakening, endlessly-challenging and incredibly-rewarding lifestyle gig that now rewards us for our efforts and pays more than $50k annually.
Many say we are living the dream, which tells us that the joy and love we pour into every-single-one of our videos is being felt through the screen. A job well done. But truth be told, being a YouTuber in this day and age is HARD WORK. The vulnerability and lack of direction from the YouTube algorithm gods especially takes a toll on our minds and hearts, but we remind ourselves everyday just how lucky we are to have each other to share the burden/platform/dream with.
NOW WHAT??
After returning from Panama and surviving 2020 living in our van, exploring and sharing the glory of the US National Parks with our resilient community who was stuck inside during The Great Lockdown, we have since returned to the lands of afar once again… where somehow we feel most at home. And well, I guess for the next 3 months (limited by our US Visa’s - for now), that’s what we’ll be searching for… guided by Spirit everywhere we go.
