planning vs. improvisation

Brooke asks: Did you have a plan for the van layout?

Doug says: I made a very early layout sketch…

Doug continues: … and changed it around. I never went with concrete plans for the van because ever since the beginning, it was just like a puzzle. If had a concrete plan, when stuff didn’t jive with it, it would have been frustrating. Instead, I got to express myself artistically with the van. It’s like, how can we work with the constraints of the materials at hand?  

So rather than strictly adhering to a plan, he built around what he knew was necessary: bikes.

Doug says: Right from the jump, the bed needed to be high because it allows us to have the bikes inside.

Plans courtesy of the always amazing Far Out Ride.

Doug again: From there it was like, how do I build the bed? And then that REI piece fell into place.

He’s referring, of course, to an old display from REI that they were just going to throw away — until Doug’s boss joked that he could use it in the van. Doug figured he could at least use it as a workbench in his garage.

Doug says: But one night I was laying in bed, and I was thinking, what it I turned it on its side?”

Sure enough, it ended up being the exact right height, and now it’s home to our water system and a ton of storage.

Doug says: It was just a really nice coincidence that it happened to be the right dimensions I needed.

That’s the great thing about keeping things flexible with your build plan. Sure, it’s easy to work on stuff when you have raw materials and can shape them however you want. But it’s also more expensive and time-consuming, and you might miss out on the tremendous potential of trash-picked treasures or stuff that’s gathering dust in the attic. Why let good wood go to the landfill? And finding something that fits so perfectly in your home that it seems almost like it was meant to be… I mean, when you’re chasing a dream as crazy as van life, it’s nice to feel like the universe is on your side.