My lifestyle experiment

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soup
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My lifestyle experiment

Post by soup »

Hey y'all.
Been awhile since I posted anything but I still lurk quite a bit and I've been around since the old GG days. Thought you might want a strange (and unsolicited) update on my life.

Anyway, a few years ago my wife and I decided to try living a little differently. We just turned 40, had no kids and were basically bored with city life. So I ordered an empty cargo 4x4 Sprinter van from the dealership and planned a complete DIY conversion.

It took a year for the van to actually come in from Germany and then another year for me to finish the damn thing(my hair is now almost entirely grey from this project).

We then sold everything(harder than it sounds), rented out our house in Buffalo and hit the road.
That was over a year ago.

TLDR: Here's a video about our weird nomadic life and a look inside the van I made into our home:
https://thebigscout.com/scout/

(van nerds will find a longer video right underneath that goes into more details)

Image
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TheMix
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by TheMix »

Wow. :shock:

That van looks really cool. Amazing job on it!

And the photos are fantastic.

Black Lives Matter

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msduncan
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by msduncan »

Holy crap soup!

I'm having early 2000's flashbacks. Going off to watch your video now.....
It's 109 first team All-Americans.
It's a college football record 61 bowl appearances.
It's 34 bowl victories.
It's 24 Southeastern Conference Championships.
It's 15 National Championships.

At some places they play football. At Alabama we live it.
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msduncan
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by msduncan »

My initial impressions:

1. Quality of videos and photos: amazing
2. Van: Badass. Kind of like selling everything and sailing around the world on a boat -- only on land.
3. It appears you have lived more in the last couple years that I have my entire life. What an adventure!
It's 109 first team All-Americans.
It's a college football record 61 bowl appearances.
It's 34 bowl victories.
It's 24 Southeastern Conference Championships.
It's 15 National Championships.

At some places they play football. At Alabama we live it.
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geezer
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by geezer »

Pretty damn impressive, and the video is crazy good. Did you have any issues flying the drone close to the drilling platform, or was that a contracted commercial shoot?
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by Lassr »

Wow, Awesome! How exciting, I'm a bit jealous.
The only reason people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory.

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soup
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by soup »

geezer wrote: Mon Jan 29, 2018 9:39 pm Pretty damn impressive, and the video is crazy good. Did you have any issues flying the drone close to the drilling platform, or was that a contracted commercial shoot?
Thanks!
Yep, the oil platform was a client and we had full permission to fly there. The window to actually get the footage was very short(4-5 mins) and I had to take off and land the drone from a rolling boat. With about 20 people watching...
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hepcat
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by hepcat »

Fantastic! Loved the video!
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McNutt
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by McNutt »

Yeah, my videos look like that too.

Wow. That is really impressive.
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Holman
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by Holman »

Amazing! What an adventure!
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Kraken
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by Kraken »

Really cool. Wife and I would mutually annihilate if we shared quarters that close all the time.
Jeff V
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by Jeff V »

A year or so ago I pulled into a rest stop and parked with all doors open was a VW bus. I always thought that'd be an awesome way to travel, although 2 people are probably the spacial limit.
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McNutt
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by McNutt »

I've never enjoyed anyone's company that much that I could stand being in such close quarters for that kind of time. I'm not knocking it, I just wasn't built that way.
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Kurth
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by Kurth »

Great video, and what an incredibly cool project! So different from my life, but, man, I can see the attraction to just shedding encumbrances and heading out to do what you love. Good for you! :clap:
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Xmann
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by Xmann »

you are living millions of people's dream soup.

something along those lines is what we'd eventually like to do as well. my wife and I could definitely do that.

awesome!!

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Chrisoc13
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by Chrisoc13 »

So awesome. Thanks for sharing!
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Paingod
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by Paingod »

That is a most impressive mobile home.

It reminds me of some of the boats I saw when I worked at a yacht manufacturer. Not an inch is wasted. Everything is tight, functional, and perfectly designed. I love your garage. Nicely done!
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Archinerd
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by Archinerd »

The photos are great and that van is awesome. Doesn't look like there is much in the way of board game storage though.
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Z-Corn
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by Z-Corn »

Nice! Keep us posted, I've always enjoyed seeing your work.
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LordMortis
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by LordMortis »

Xmann wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2018 1:55 am you are living millions of people's dream soup.

something along those lines is what we'd eventually like to do as well. my wife and I could definitely do that.

awesome!!

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
Millions and one. I have the serious Soup envy right now. Only I'm a bit of a pessimist and I'd fear breakdown in the middle of nowhere.

We did month long road trip in my very early 20s and it was some of the best time in my life. Being able to make that a hiatus on "normal" life is just, well I'm having serious Soup envy right now.
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Carpet_pissr
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by Carpet_pissr »

Fantastic! Thanks for sharing. Particularly loved the van pillows!
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Ralph-Wiggum
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by Ralph-Wiggum »

That's amazing. I'm tempted to get Instagram just to follow you now!
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hentzau
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by hentzau »

Forwarded this to a friend...her question was where do you put your clothes?
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McNutt
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by McNutt »

"Clothes? Where we're going we don't need clothes."
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soup
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by soup »

It’s been a wild ride so far. Easy to show only the positives on social media but there are definite down moments or days. Honestly tho, it’s easy enough to stop and think your way out of any negative bullsht in your brain.

Wife and I have been together for almost 20 years and have cohabited some pretty tight quarters before so we were ready for this. That’s another thing; you can’t stay mad at each other for long. There’s no space to go sulk in another room and not talk out whatever started the fight. We actually remark that our relationship has gotten better since the van.

Clothes: above the bed there are full length cabinets. Those are our closets. I’m fine with this cuz I’m a scumbag that will just keep wearing clothes. Sarah wishes there was more space.

Thanks for all the replies.
We are in Sedona for just a few more days and then heading north up into the Rockies to do a bunch of skiing/snowboarding.
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TheMix
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by TheMix »

Feel free to stop by the CO crowd and say hello. I'll even offer up a shower and guest room.

Black Lives Matter

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Xmann
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by Xmann »

TheMix wrote:Feel free to stop by the CO crowd and say hello. I'll even offer up a shower and guest room.
OMG yes! I'd love to meet up and see your setup.

I showed your wife your website last night and she's ready to do what you guys are doing now!

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

gf.me/u/zhnmhs
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El Guapo
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by El Guapo »

Xmann wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2018 2:12 pm
TheMix wrote:Feel free to stop by the CO crowd and say hello. I'll even offer up a shower and guest room.
OMG yes! I'd love to meet up and see your setup.

I showed your wife your website last night and she's ready to do what you guys are doing now!

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
Soup, I don't want to alarm you, but it appears that xmann is meeting up with your wife at night. Or maybe TheMix's wife, not totally sure.
Black Lives Matter.
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Archinerd
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by Archinerd »

I just assumed that was part of the life style experiment.
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Xmann
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by Xmann »

El Guapo wrote:
Xmann wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2018 2:12 pm
TheMix wrote:Feel free to stop by the CO crowd and say hello. I'll even offer up a shower and guest room.
OMG yes! I'd love to meet up and see your setup.

I showed your wife your website last night and she's ready to do what you guys are doing now!

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
Soup, I don't want to alarm you, but it appears that xmann is meeting up with your wife at night. Or maybe TheMix's wife, not totally sure.
Image

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

gf.me/u/zhnmhs
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Scuzz
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by Scuzz »

As someone who has spent 14 days in a trailer with two kids I think the one thing that makes living in a small space work is that when you stop, and set up "camp" you usually end up sitting outside and enjoying the day or evening. That outside space really relaxes you.
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Smoove_B
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by Smoove_B »

Whoa...pretty cool. I'm not sure I could mentally survive the close quarters with someone else (even my wife), but I can acknowledge it certainly opens up some impressive opportunities.
Maybe next year, maybe no go
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Rumpy
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by Rumpy »

That's totally awesome! So much persistence and dedication! The most I've ever done so far are month-long travels by car in 2013 and this past summer for the Eclipse in Oregon. We actually met a husband and wife while camping out in the badlands in 2013 that come over from England and rented an RV for a few years of travelling.
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WYBaugh
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by WYBaugh »

Extremely talented!

Do you have heat and/or a/c?
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Moat_Man
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by Moat_Man »

WYBaugh wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2018 9:13 pm Extremely talented!

Do you have heat and/or a/c?
Which leads to the next question, what are your gas and vehicle maintenance costs on a monthly basis? You must be putting on a lot of mileage unless you park for weeks at time, but with your setup it looks like you are mostly mobile.

Feel free to tell me to buzz off if you don't want to answer. It feels borderline nosey but I'm interested.
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Kurth
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by Kurth »

Soup, just curious if you looked into getting trademark protection on your logo/name/combination? Not sure if you're providing services or selling product using the BIG SCOUT name and logo, but if you are (or you're thinking about doing it in the future), you might want to spend a few dollars up front to get some protection from imitators. You've got a super cool thing going, and it would suck to see someone else try to leach of your name/logo.

Just a thought.
Just 'cause you feel it, doesn't mean it's there -- Radiohead
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El Guapo
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by El Guapo »

That video is awesome.

I don't think my wife and I (to say nothing of our kids) are rugged enough for that kind of adventure, but it's pretty amazing.
Black Lives Matter.
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Ralph-Wiggum
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by Ralph-Wiggum »

Smoove_B wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2018 4:40 pm Whoa...pretty cool. I'm not sure I could mentally survive the close quarters with someone else (even my wife), but I can acknowledge it certainly opens up some impressive opportunities.
The main opportunity being that the RV probably has a faster internet connection than your house.
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Daehawk
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by Daehawk »

Making fun of his wet string again?
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Smoove_B
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Re: My lifestyle experiment

Post by Smoove_B »

At the risk of derailing this thread, I had a friend that was struggling to understand why it takes me 5 days to download games on STEAM, mainly because he was focused on the fact that (he thought) both of our STEAM clients were reporting a 5 MB pipe. I had to correct him that no, I am downloading at a 5 Mb (small) trickle. His only response was "How is that possible??"

I would be surprised if Soup didn't have better internet speeds in his vehicle. Then again, if I were operating drones, living in nature and wandering the Earth like Caine, I probably wouldn't be worried about gaming on STEAM. Hmm...
Maybe next year, maybe no go
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