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Life before Bryce
Life before Bryce
I'm not going to take you all the way back — but here are the highlights, with a little detail on the ones that mattered most.
I had my daughter, got married, then had my first son. Somewhere in there I finished an associate's degree and landed a job. My second son came along not long after. Eventually the marriage ended, and I raised my kids as a single father with full custody — while working my way through a string of promotions.
Then, in January 2013, doctors found and removed a brain tumor. Five weeks of radiation followed. I went back to work just 30 days after surgery, still mid-treatment — which, in hindsight, was way too soon. It would take years before I fully understood that.
Life kept moving. Another promotion came. Then in 2017, I took a two-week vacation to Bryce Canyon. One morning I woke up, ran the canyon trails, and headed back for lunch — and started wondering how I could possibly do that every single day. Not long after, I ran my first ultramarathon.
In June 2018, I left the job and company I'd been with, in one form or another, for 19 years, and started a remote job that let me work from anywhere. I traveled a lot those first six months — on the road at least every other week — and somewhere in there, "travel a lot" turned into "why not travel full-time?" I started looking into how to make that work.
Meeting Bryce
Meeting Bryce
I'd wanted an Aussie for a few years, but the timing never felt right. Then my travel for work started slowing down, and right around the same time, I came across a post for a litter of six-week-old Aussie puppies. I met Bryce the next day and knew right away he was the dog for me. Two weeks later, I brought him home.
Bryce Growing up
Bryce Growing up
As he got a little older, I signed him up for a training course — two weeks apart, which felt like a long time. When I picked him up and walked through all his new commands, he was a great off-leash dog. After that, we spent countless days together at the park, on trails, and just walking around Home Depot. The more time we spent out together, the more I started thinking about how we could travel together. He already loved the car, so that part was never a worry — the real question was how we could have the space to live and travel at the same time.
Deciding on Vanlife
Deciding on Vanlife
Once I knew traveling together was possible, the next question was what to actually travel in. After hours of YouTube rabbit holes — would a van work? Maybe a bus? A cargo van? — I finally decided on a van. I was relieved the hard decision was over... and then immediately hit the next one: Sprinter, Promaster, or Transit? And what wheelbase? I landed on a Promaster, and I knew right away I didn't want the shorter wheelbase, so the 159 it was.
I started searching in January 2021 and found one I liked almost right away — scheduled a test drive for the next day. When I got there, that exact van had sold the night before. But they had another one on the lot, so I took it for a drive instead and loved it. I started the buying process that same night, traded in my car, and picked up the van the very next day.
Starting Vanlife
Starting Vanlife
From there, the build began — during a cold Michigan winter, no less, all while I was also making updates to the house to get it ready to sell. We ended up selling the house in April 2022 and hit the road in early May 2022. For more details of the build see the Van Build page.
2024 - 2026 Updates
2024 - 2026 Updates
Since then, things have kept evolving. We bought a new van in 2024 and a house in 2025 — but life on the road doesn't stay still, and the van was built for a version of that life that's since changed, so it's going through a remodel in 2026. The house was always meant to be a short-term situation, and we're planning to sell it sometime in 2027, or 2028 at the latest. Getting back out traveling in 2026 only reinforced what we already knew: this is what we should be doing right now.
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