YOUR DAY WITH BAI

You’ve seen the posts, creators, visionaries, and nomads seeking out a simpler life while having the comfort of their home at any corner of the earth they can place it. This notion to chase wanderlust was created long before many of us could imagine. Most people now think vanlifers from Instagram or hippies from the seventies, but what came before this? Dr. William Stables was the first man to truly craft his dreams of traveling in his home into reality. In the mid 1800’s, he cultivated the initial traveling caravan solely from horsepower (and I don’t mean the measure in how much power is produced by the car’s engine). Shorter than a century later, the first caravan with a running engine was produced. This was a smashing success which the dealer could barely keep in stock. Fast-forward to WWI when countries had other issues in mind than creating in-home travel. While production and new ideas decreased, the hope for this lifestyle didn’t die. Captain Dunn built a dependable travel van, the motorhome, and the race for this new design was born. What we most recently know is that Volkswagen houses travelers from all over, but so do RV’s, school buses, sprinter vans, and lastly shuttle buses. Now what’s the point of me explaining all of this? I guess to give you an insight on how long it took for this farfetched idea to become reality, as well as showing just how many people in this world have a deep passion for travel and saw how liberating the simple “vanlife” can be. Though never being outside of the south most of my life, I could always feel a burning desire inside to travel. To see the world, to see my country, was a dream itself. Twenty-two years on this planet have done nothing if not show me how beautiful of a domain we have. My dream was to build a home just as stunning as the places I envisioned taking it. After telling my parents, friends, and coworkers that I planned on buying anything possible to make my dream my reality, the search began. On Facebook market, craigslist, and auction sites ten times a day for four straight months, I finally found the one. There in my bedroom of Pensacola, Florida, I followed a lead on a shuttle bus. This was nothing too exciting as I had messaged well over a hundred people with high hopes only to be let down with every, “the engine doesn’t run”, “the roof has three leaks in it”, and “the asking price is twenty thousand.” However, this one was different. I had only looked at school buses because it is more common to find, but this shuttle offered everything I hoped for. Where others saw a vehicle used for public transit or church events, I saw high ceilings, a floor plan, and picturesque earthy tones. In the most nontraditional way, I saw my future home. My dad and I immediately drove an hour to meet a stranger, drive the bus, and discuss the price. I put almost every dollar I saved for this hope into that handshake, took the keys, and headed home to start planning. With what we saw as one of the biggest projects we could imagine, we took it one day at a time. After creating floor plans, ripping out walls, scrubbing each sticker off the side, building the foundation, putting down flooring, cutting granite, tiling the kitchen, setting the toilet, and painting. So. Much. Painting. The bus from Facebook became my sanctuary and gained a name, Guinevere. She’s lodged many nights drinking a six pack with my dad after a hard day of work, parked out on the beach playing card games with friends, and all my self-love book club hosted and attended by only me. The comfort that all our efforts took into fashioning this beauty gave me a space I felt most at home. There are still big dreams I have with Guinevere. Taking her up to Oregon, maybe running a coffee shop oceanside out of her, and lastly turning her into an Airbnb so that you too can experience the pure bliss of the simple life. I guess the reason for this post is that you can see even from the 1800’s, people like me have contained a want for more from this life while living with less. And if you have a similar dream, or any dream at all, know that you are not alone in it. Know that you too can create any passion of yours into your sole existence if you have the determination.