Written: January 4th 2026 (it took me a week to get my Blog set up!)
- I want to travel
- I want to explore
- I want to be more creative
- I want to learn new skills
- I want to discover what holds me back from all of this!
The weekend of December 13th, I was in my car, riding back to our air bnb with my brother. I made a comment about why I didn’t drive “the van.” My brother responded with something to the effect of, “Did it occur to you when you bought “the van” that you don’t like to drive?” OUCH! That hurt and cut me deep to the core.
In 2014, I started a journey toward minimalism and somewhere along the way between then and now I started dreaming of van life. So when we sold our house and went different ways, I decided to purchase “the van” instead of a house. I had come across the van on FB Marketplace and knowing that our house would be sold soon and I would be completely out of debt, I thought this was perfect timing.
I have owned the van for 6 months now and my travel has been limited to camping in my parents’ and my brother’s driveways. My 22 yr old and I took a weekend trip to Big Meadows on Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. I grew up in Virginia, have lived here my entire life, and grew up camping in Shenandoah, so lots of memories here. They wanted to “relive nostalgia” which I thought was a great idea. Overall, it was a win, but I went through a lot of frustrations at the time.
Fast forward 4 months. This past weekend, I took my dog, George, on a solo trip to Stone Mountain State Park in Roaring Gap, NC. And again, the trip was a win, but also many frustrations. I am keenly aware that I am not “good” at traveling right now, but that the desire is strong… Wanderlust! I will write about my trip to Stone Mountain, which involved a lot of driving (in my mind anyway!) And this almost kept me from going a couple of times. This trip will be a separate post, most likely my second writing.
This post is an introduction to my blog and why I want to write. Hopefully my posts will be all about the 5 Wants that I named at the top and how I begin to satisfy them. I will tell you more about me as I become more comfortable sharing my experiences. You will likely never find me on youtube or tiktok as I am not fond of sharing selfies or the sound of my voice … but who knows, that could change along the way as well!
Thank you for reading my first post and hopefully sharing in my adventures!
~ vbkaren
“the van”
Comments
4 responses
This is a good start. I look forward to hearing about your trip to Stone Mountain State Park, both the good feelings and the frustrations. Go For it!!
Thank you!
I love reading this so much. It (unsurprisingly) feels exactly like listening to a story from you. I think the combination of feeling motivated to “write things down” and wanting to travel more go so beautifully hand in hand. The Stone Mountain trip sounds like a great way to put both of those into practice- can’t wait to read about it! Stay hydrated, fueled, and curious. Love you so much!
Thank you for reading and the kind words. Looking forward to my cross country trip!!