Van life Is Still Great

   Hello! A little Authors note here. This is part 2 of my story of “Van Life is best.” So I suggest that you read that first if you so desire. I don’t think you really need to understand this story since the two are different but it would help to get to know Danni a bit better, Anyways happy reading! 

Its been since two years since Victoria and I have run away together and joined the Vanlife Movement. It hasn’t been all bad, hasn’t been all good, but as Victoria put it has been an amazing adventure. 

   You know I never thought I would end up here, you know living in a van, on the road traveling with the love of my life, while also running from my assassin mother. 

   This “adventure” has to lead us to travel all across America. Victoria wants to go to Canada and see the sights there, but I said to wait a few more years to get our passports. So far we have been to almost every state in America. Whether in passing or in we stayed there for a few weeks and or days. Victoria’s little passion project is to keep track of every place we’ve been to so far. She makes us pull over and take photos at each States welcome sign. She has every single photo printed and put on the wall of our van. She even has a little wooden map of the States and has the states where we’ve been labeled and she has hung it up in the middle of the photos. It has fallen down a few times but she always hangs it back up.

Her plants sit in the sun of the deck that is from the Windshield. Together we put together a few shelves below the windows for her herbs. She has a green thumb and we started this life I made sure she still had a way to keep up her hobby. We stopped in a random Walmart parking lot and pulled out her back seats and put a mattress in the back. 

As for the bare necessities, we kept our clothes in the boxes that we’ve had since we ran away. They sit in the little area between the last remaining back seat and the front seats. We have a box of dry food, for snacks while driving in between the seats for easy access. We shower at gyms and truck stops and take a pee at gas stations. For fancy dinners, we get some meat and grill on those random park grills. Most of the time we stop at a grocery store and some food. 

The lurk of my mother keeps popping up in my mind but she hasn’t seemed to come looking for me, which I appreciate. So in the end I guess I was worried about nothing.

That night when Victoria and I ran away together was the best thing I have ever done in my life. I remember that night. Victoria and I rushing around her house wondering what to pack, the adrenaline that kicked when we dropped off the letter to my mom and then headed out of town. The smile of reassurance Victoria gave me when I turned to the exit on the highway. That night we ended up in a Cracker Barrel parking lot eating some mashed potatoes. 

I asked her “Where do we go from here?”

“Wherever you like,” She replied while stuffing potato in her mouth.

“How far do we even go?”

“Who said we were stopping?”

I looked at her, “What do you mean?”

“It’s not an adventure if we just stop somewhere and stay there. Let’s go and explore multiple places! Let’s go to random towns, random parks, random everything, and do anything. Let’s go and dance in the rain in New York City! Let’s dance in a Mcdondals. Try new foods, do anything we dam please because we don’t owe the world anything!” She proclaimed.

“Let’s do it, in the morning,” I said

“In the morning.” She said. She scrunched her nose and continued to eat her mashed potatoes. I looked at this woman and that night I swore I fell in love with her even more. Something about her recklessness was Interesting, having not a care in the world was something to look forward to. 

That morning we drove to god knows where. That night was a night I would never forget or that day as a matter of fact. 

Now you may be wondering how in the hell do we actually have money? Well, a few months into our journey, Victoria said we should start an Instagram account. 

“An Instagram account?” I tell her.

“Yes.” 

“What we would even post on this account?”

“Vanlife! Of course. People love to follow people who live in vans for some reason.”

“Our Van isn’t one of those fancy vans with a bathroom or proper storage, what is there to talk about?’ I asked.

“People don’t follow people because they have a fancy van with lots of organized cabinets, they follow to follow the adventure of the person in their van.” 

“So you want to start an Instagram because?”

“Because why not?” she said.

“You know what have at it, buckaroo.” 

So it turns out people do indeed follow because they like to watch people travel. So we didn’t get a huge crazy following but we did get 100,00 followers. People started to give us suggestions to have a van organized and places to go. Victoria started a youtube channel and we also have a small following on that. Eventually, we started making videos and got money from them. A lot of people followed us as well because there isn’t a lot of lesbians making this kind of content.

Victoria runs almost all of it and I’m pretty sure she is the only reason why we have a following since it seems people follow her mostly. I’m not mad at it, I’m not really a natural for the camera and she is. 

So in this present time. I’m going to surprise Victoria. We are currently in New York and heading to central park, and I want to fulfill her wish of dancing in the rain and what do you know rain is currently in the forecast. 

We pull in, park our car, and began our walk around the park. The rain starts off slow and soon begins to poor, everyone begins to leave, but before Victoria has the chance to suggest the thought of leaving, I pull her in. 

“Ooh,” Victoria says in surprise.

“Let’s dance,” I say.

“I thought you’d never ask,” Victoria says. She smiles and looks at me, the look of a person who is so in love with you. We sway side to side and I swirl her around and we continue to sway. I lean in for a kiss and she kisses me back.

“I love you Victoria” 

“And I, love you, Danni.” She puts her head on my shoulder and we continue to dance in the rain and I knew this would be a night I would never forget.