VanLife

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Nolan and Becca LaVoie with sons Will and Clark.

During the pandemic, there was a rise in a subculture of people who felt the need to reset.  This group of people found themselves needing a respite from the day-to-day grind and ever-present push of modernity.  Some have dubbed this phenomenon “the Great Resignation.”  Nolan and Becca LaVoie, new members of the MSA family, were part of this reset.  More specifically, the LaVoie family dove deep into the #vanlife movement.  When the pandemic started, they bought a Ram Promaster Van and started building.  The build was a family affair spending the extended periods at home watching #vanlife YouTube videos, laying out floor plans, and building their dream home…an 80-square-foot van complete with sleeping quarters, kitchen, dining room, bike storage, and office with their two sons Clark (class of 26) and Will (class of 28).  During their sabbatical, Nolan and Becca drove over 10k miles, visited numerous states, and spent seven months in the van.  This odyssey, filled with ups and downs, inspired Nolan to renovate an old MSA bus into a tiny home with his Applied Engineering class. I sat down with Nolan to chat about the experience and why he thinks retrofitting a bus with students is worthwhile.  

What was the most joyful aspect of living in the van?  

Honestly, just being together as a family.  The pandemic was hard, and we found that the day-to-day grind of our lives got way out of balance.  Our family was at times like two ships passing in the night.  Being together in such a small space with limited access to WiFi and no real schedule gave us time to reconnect.  We often spent hours at night playing board games, reading, or talking about life.  Additionally, Becca and I were homeschooling the boys, and I was working on my MBA, so we spent a lot of time at public libraries teaching and learning together.  

What lessons did you learn building the van and then living in what you built?  

Patience!  We had no idea how to build a van.  My father and grandfather were both carpenters, so I knew the basics of woodworking, but that was about it.  A van is a whole different beast.  The space doesn't have a 90-degree angle, so everything has to be custom-built.  Also, with four of us and the dog, we needed to optimize everything to be functional.  We must have re-packed the van six times before getting our possessions down to a place where we could fit it all in there. 

Your course celebrates MSA’s mission of educating minds, hands, and hearts of students.  What do you hope students will take away from this experience?  

I want students to learn how to figure things out on their own.  With YouTube, Google, Great Courses, etc., students have the entirety of human knowledge at their fingertips. A motivated person can learn anything they want to with an internet connection or a library card.  There is no limit to what a student can teach themselves with a bit of guidance.  I don't see myself as a teacher in the classroom but more of a facilitator.  Oftentimes I don't know the answer or the correct path forward, and so we have to figure it out as a class, or they have to teach me what they want to do.  The course has failure and iteration built in.  

VanLife has taken on a romantic and idyllic reputation in culture.  Is it as great in real life as it appears in social media and magazines?  

No.  VanLife is complicated.  With the National and State parks and forests going to online reservation systems, getting a campsite is hard and frustrating.  You have to have solid WiFi and plan a good bit ahead to make sure you have a place to camp for the night.  Otherwise, you are sleeping in a Wal-Mart or Cracker Barrel parking lot which can be stressful.  We had anticipated a year of serendipity and going whichever way inspiration led us and instead found ourselves limited by where to stay, rising gas prices, and expensive campgrounds.

Additionally, the van does not fit through drive-throughs, and at the time, a lot of restaurants had their dining area closed so we did a lot of cooking in parking lots and rest-stops.  That being said, we were able to visit some of the most idyllic spots in the United States.  We spent extended periods of time hiking, biking, and relaxing in Bentonville, AR, Angel Fire, NM, Colorado Springs, Co, Park City, UT, Cascades, ID, Lake Tahoe, CA, Lincoln City, OR, and others.  I think the polarity of the experience resonates with me the most.  Like real life, there were both highs and lows, and once we figured out how to ride that wave, we got into a really good flow.  

You mentioned wanting students to gain independence through this bus-build experience.  Can you go back a bit and elaborate more on this? 

Sure. The students in the class have had to watch videos, draw blueprints, submit lumber and hardware orders, take measurements, work within a budget, demo the inside of the bus, clean the bus and fabricate everything from scratch.  This hands-on experience exemplifies what it means to develop their minds, hands, and hearts.  The students are constantly failing forward and having to figure out solutions to problems that don't have an obvious answer.  Additionally, the risks and rewards of the project are real.  They are running power tools and can feel the seriousness and power of the tools they are using.  The bus is parked outside of Old Main, and they feel the pressure of the community wondering if a bunch of high schoolers can actually do the project.  It's a real-world project that has a real deadline, and the students feel a strong sense of purpose around the project.  

What is the plan for the van once you are done? 
I'd like to see it parked somewhere on campus and used for alumni, families, and friends of the school to stay in when they visit.