This is where I live.
(group joking indistinctly)
(group laughing)
(upbeat music)
I'm Amber,
and in 2017, I sold my house
and everything I own to live out my dream life
as a full-time digital nomad.
I started in a 26 foot RV
and within a year downsized into a 20 foot van.
I've been traveling in an RV
for the last three and a half years
around the United States, around New Mexico and Canada.
But I think we can all agree
that this last year has brought about many challenges.
2020 has been filled with some major ups and downs
and definitely challenged me
with traveling between states and countries.
I'm just grateful that I can still travel.
Just recently,
we were able to get my Canadian boyfriend legally
across the border with his van,
but with the new travel advisories
we had to cancel our winter trip to sunny Baja, Mexico.
Instead we're spending some of that winter
in the Southwest United States
and crossing off a few bucket list places.
But first I wanna show you how I live in my van
and what it's like on a daily basis
from morning until evening.
(calm music)
This is where I live.
I wake up most mornings to the sunrise.
The circadian rhythm of my body has become accustomed
to waking with the sun rising
and getting sleepy with a sunset.
This natural rhythm only happened
after I started this nomad life,
and I got rid of that alarm clock.
My mind and body enjoy
and thrive under this natural rhythm of waking.
It feels refreshing and gentle.
Instead of that jolt that you get
from being woken up with a loud buzzer ringing next to you,
annoyingly waking you up
from a rather sound and joyous sleep state.
Lily seems to be in tune with her circadian rhythm as well
and wakes with the sun,
though sometimes she'll sleep in
and I have to wake her for breakfast.
On these winter days in the desert,
it can be quite cold at night.
I typically sleep with the furnace off and instead opt
for a very warm goose down comforter
to keep us warm at night.
Our propane tank is so small
that keeping the furnace going all night
would then require me to fill up
with propane every four to five days.
So, first thing I do when I get up is to turn the van on
to get those cold lithium batteries charged up a bit
and to get the heat flowing through the van quickly
from the dashboard heater.
With the dashboard heater on
I then turn on the furnace to help heat the floors
and provide a constant source of warmth.
(fan blowing)
Opening the blinds
will also help to bring in warm,
direct sunlight into the van
and also help to wake us up in the morning.
(blinds opening)
(calm music)
I'll wash up a bit, throw on some clothes
and start the coffee on my induction cooktop.
I have a propane stove top,
but again, because our propane tank is so small,
I'd rather use an induction cook top
that uses electricity generated from the solar panels
or the second alternator on my van.
I also love that the induction cooktop cooks foods
much quicker and much more evenly.
(calm music)
Breakfast is usually oatmeal or eggs
or even a smoothie.
Today we'll have oatmeal with some raisins.
My fave is the Bob's Red Mill, organic thick cut rolled oats
with some nuts and seeds and a dollop of honey.
(calm music)
This week,
Scott and I are in Quartzsite, Arizona with our friend Dave
and his dog Kirby who joined us during the holidays.
I think we may even travel together
a bit around Arizona soon too.
One of my favorite pass times growing up
is to sit outside and drink my coffee,
eat my breakfast and enjoy family and friends.
It's no different for me now.
It feels so good to sit here
and enjoy my hot coffee and the conversations we have
as a nomadic community of friends.
It's somehow peaceful
and allows us to connect and build relationships.
Even our dogs partake of the morning chats
as we watch the sun continue to rise
and fill our campsite with warmth on this chilly morning.
When picking a campsite, I have several requirements.
One, the weather must be above freezing
and preferably warm during the days.
The second, it must have a cell signal
so I can operate my online business.
The third, a space with plenty
of room between us and other campers.
The fourth, a place where I can sit outside
and enjoy the beauty
and throw out my yoga mat for some exercise.
And lastly, a place that is peaceful
and quiet most of the time.
If it has some trees to secure the hammock,
well, that's a bonus.
This one is a little bit harder to come by
in the desert with a lack of trees though.
Most days I work on the business, but I also play a lot.
Sometimes we'll have friends over
who drop by for several days and camp with us.
It's one of the things that I love about this life.
The nomad community of friends with similar interests
and the dream to travel and be free from the norm.
Our dogs are a constant source of entertainment.
They love to play catch with a ball.
Except Lily who'd rather sit on a lap
or a dog bed and just bask in the sun.
(group laughing)
(dog howling)
Good boy.
We go for walks and enjoy the landscape around us.
Yes, even the desert.
We sometimes even have to pick up the campsite
when the wind comes barreling through
and knocks over the chairs and whips around the mats.
We listen to podcasts, the radio and music.
Things that speak to us and enrich our brains and soul.
We even break out a hobby to sooth our creative juices.
I used to knit a lot
but it's somehow seems useless in this life right now.
So I have a new hobby I'm taking up
that you will soon see.
I'm so excited for this new adventure
and the ability to create
and use my hands for making beautiful art.
It's one of the other things I love about this life.
The simplicity of having time to create, to enjoy,
to explore, to read it, to build relationships.
In my life before it was a constant churn of busy-ness
and chaos with work and the house.
I had a little room
in my life to create or even date somebody.
It feels so good now to share this life
with others and with Scott.
My weight seems to be a constant battle.
One that ebbs and flows.
I do well with losing weight,
and then I don't.
And I'm in the don't phase right now
and working to correct that again.
One thing I constantly must do is to
keep my body stretched and flexible.
As I've aged I can feel the inflexibility creeping in.
So I love to do yoga and a simple five minute
back decompression that seems to reset my back each day
and keep it moving like it should.
Feeling the warmth of the sun on my body
and doing a short meditation as I decompress,
grounds me and balances my energy and mind.
In combination with meditation,
I journal to manifest my desires, my dreams,
and express gratitude for every moment.
While I love the tactile feeling of paper and pen,
and I might go back to it,
right now I'm journaling with my iPad and pencil
to reduce the amount of items in my van
and to keep it simple and minimalist in here.
Our current camping group has E-bikes.
So it's great to get out on a long ride
and explore it a little bit.
Quartzsite has some great gravel trails for biking
and our fat tire E-bikes glide over the rocks
and terrain with ease.
Bicycling, no matter what weight I was at,
has always been a favorite form of movement for me,
all of these years.
It's a feeling of freedom for me.
The wind, the sun, the ability to stretch my legs
with each turn of the pedals.
It's another form of exploration for me.
To wander and to see our lands.
I love the peacefulness of a ride
and how it invigorates me
and lights up every cell in my body with happiness.
(upbeat music)
(Amber laughing)
(gravel crunching)
(upbeat music)
I try to group errands together all in one day,
so we don't have to prepare the van for traveling too much.
We have to go into town to throw away our trash
at designated transfer stations
or sometimes the gas stations.
(Amber laughing)
Yeah, I think you're gonna have to do it.
Hold on.
(Amber laughing)
Since the gyms are more restrictive now
with COVID guidelines, we've canceled our memberships
and use public showers in the local area.
It can be a cheaper option.
We found the shower at the local laundry mat
for $8 per person that supplied piping hot water
and great pressure.
Showers are one of the luxuries
I miss about the sticks and bricks life.
But I'll take what I've created
in this nomad life, sacrifice a daily shower,
live with the dirt and keep traveling.
This is why I started story chasing, to create more moments
more stories that fill my life with happiness
and to live more simply.
In most towns you'll find a local mail center
that will accept incoming packages for you for a small fee.
Under errand day, we pick up all of our mail
and packages at the local mail center, remove all
of the contents and then burn the cardboard at our campfire,
if we can't find a place to recycle it.
On this day we also found a great pizza restaurant in town
and splurged on eating out.
Picked up the pizza
and took it back to our campsite to devour.
Most of the time we cook our meals, which we both prefer,
but it's nice to have a meal cooked for you
and also support the local businesses.
So we're here.
We're trying to figure out
if the laundry mat has Scott's blue hoodie.
His favorite hoodie that he left in his laundry basket.
So he's just on the phone right now.
AMBER: Did you find the blue hoodie?
They're looking.
AMBER: The saga of the blue hoodie.
Yeah, the blue hoodie was nice.
The brown one is nice too, but it blends into the desert.
Gotta find the blue hoodie.
It's there?
Great, thank you.
Okay, great, thanks.
Bye.
(beeping)
Hi, I was wondering if you had a blue hoodie there.
I left it there yesterday doing laundry.
AMBER: Wait, start over again.
(Scott laughing)
I laughed when you said it.
(Scott mumbling)
(Amber laughing)
Let it go on the blooper reel.
You have the triumphant music swelling up.
Yes, we've got it.
AMBER: Do that dance again.
No.
(Scott laughing)
AMBER: He's like, "I got the blue hoodie back".
I got the blue hoodie back.
(Amber laughing)
AMBER: Recently I added this small toaster oven
to my cooking appliances.
I've longed for an oven for a while now
and really miss what it has to offer.
Like the simplest thing of making toast for breakfast
or for a sandwich at lunchtime.
Another favorite is my small propane grill
that plugs in directly to my onboard propane tank.
Scott and I both love to cook on the grill.
It's fast, easy, and wow,
does it taste so flavorful.
Sometimes I'll cook a whole package of chicken thighs
or breasts to prep for the week
and add the salads, omelet
or have as a main protein and add some veggies to the plate.
(grill sizzling)
(calm music)
It's funny how this little table created so much happiness
for me by simply allowing us to gather.
To gather around it for meals, a conversation and community.
It's the simple things that really make me smile these days.
There's Scott.
We're waiting for our lunch dinner.
We got the mustard and ketchup ready.
We just call him Uber eats right now.
Then he dusts us as he goes by.
(calm music)
Solo stove sent me this campfire stove and pot
to try out some cooking outdoors with a wood-fire.
Dave was my Guinea pig
and decided to cook some vegan burgers and sausages,
which turned out so well.
I love the Solo stove and what it has to offer,
but I think for now,
I'm gonna stick to my propane grill
and induction cooktop.
It's just easier for me.
And doesn't require me to chop all the wood
and get a fire started.
But it's definitely great
for those times when you go backpack camping
and need to cook or heat up your water for coffee.
So thank you Solo stove
for sending that my way.
DAVE: That's pretty much my burger.
(calm music)
AMBER: At night, we start the wind down
from our daily playing and working
to enjoy the sunset,
especially in this Arizona desert
where the colors of orange, purple, yellow
and pink light up the sky.
I honestly have never seen more colorful sunsets
than here in Arizona.
Sometimes we'll put on a movie
or a new episodic TV show, chat and enjoy a relaxed evening.
Campfires however, are our favorite time together
with those camping near us.
We'll bundle up in warm jackets and hats,
bring out the chairs and our favorite beverage
which is typically a chai tea latte for me.
And sit around the campfire,
listening to the crackle of wood.
I'm always mesmerized by the breathing in and out
of the glowing wood that helps to provide us with warmth
and a stunning show of flickering flames
under our dark night sky, lit up with brilliant stars.
Freedom.
That word keeps coming up for me.
Getting rid of the junk is freedom for me.
Living this nomadic life is freeing for me.
Bicycling is freedom.
Drinking my coffee at sunrise
and grounding my feet to the earth is freedom.
This is where I live.
(calm music)