January 07, 2014

Lot Lizards at Mt. Bachelor

January 07, 2014/ A Restless Transplant

The forced air furnace kicked on with a whir, blasting hot air into my camper. It was still dark. Another hour or two until sunrise. Laying back down I grabbed a pillow and covered my eyes. Predawn light lit the camper and I pulled my upper body out of my mummy bag. The high pitched chug of two stroke engines bounced off a distant hillside as a crew of snowmobilers headed out into the backcountry. Rolling over, I opened the Velcro window and peered out. It was clear, and probably in the low 20's. Turning up the thermostat, I slid into a sitting position on my bed and reached for my rubber boots.

Cracking the side door, I poked my head out and looked around. Swinging the door the rest of the way open, I stepped down on to the hard packed combination of snow and ice. A line of campers in various forms parked north to south against the snowbank. Walking around the back of my camper, I noticed a layer of ice underneath the curtain. "Must have been cold.. I haven't seen ice there before," I thought to myself. In a few hours, the Mt. Bachelor parking lot would be full of its fair share of Subarus and Volvos, but for now, it was empty.

Looking over at the back of Tim Eddy's camper, a Ford ranger wearing a Four Wheel Camper parked next to mine, I noticed the same ice on his windows. Tim is a professional snowboarder that lives in a 200 square foot cabin he made with his girlfriend in Truckee, California and often snowboards with crazy fleece hats. Here's a photo of him in action. Pulling my ungloved hand from my pocket, I rapped on the gold glass window.

"Tim, you awake man?"

"Carpe CARVE Brother! Carpe CARVE," Tim bellowed with his signature exuberance.

I broke in to laughs. "I'm going to get some hot water going in a few. Want some coffee?

"I'm already working on my matte. Thanks though, I'll come over in a few."

Suited and booted.

Bryan Box and Austin Smith chewing the fat. Check out their Drink Water project here.

Scotty warming up in the front seat.

Whitney built this camper out her self and has spent the better part of three years living in it. It has a marine stove, bed for one and a 4x4 conversion.

The way to Mt. Bachelor.

For mote photos, checkout Start of Winter on Adobe Revel.

Defrosting.

Shred sleds.

Kyle Shwartz and his Toyota Tundra with a Four Wheel Camper.

Alex Yoder and his Toyota Tundra with a Hallmark Camper.

Tim Eddy and his Ford Ranger with a Four Wheel Camper.

Scotty Wittlake and his Toyota Tacoma camper with an ARE top.

Whitney Bell and her converted Ford Camper Van.

The propane stove hissed on and with a flick of the lighter, the small blue flame illuminating the still dark camper. Reaching for faucet, I filled the kettle and placed it on the burner. The heat from the stove warmed the air. Looking down at my watch to check the time, I noticed the date, December 14th. Today was my 750th morning on the road since August of 2011. Time Flies. I thought to myself as I sifted through the a cabinet looking for my Aeropress.

"Rap rap rap," The side door of my camper vibrated.

"You in there Foster?" Scotty asked.

"Yah man. Come in and grab some coffee."

Here are some more links,

Start of Winter (Adobe Revel).

December 19, 2013

Coastal Lurking

December 19, 2013/ A Restless Transplant

I pulled off the 101 south shortly after midnight into the small community of Arch Cape.

"I bet if we park in front of an empty house and pop the top, no one will fuck with us. It's a Tuesday night and if any one sees us they will just assume we are staying at the house. Either that or we park on one of the logging roads, but those are mostly gated and the logging trucks get on it early."

Dozing in and out, Bryan didn't respond at first.

"You dead mon?"

"Yess...lets do Jedi mind trick style. Those logging roads are tough"

"Sounds good to me..."

I rolled down the street in first gear checking the driveways. Only a few SUV's populated the driveways of the dozen or so ranch style beach houses. Picking one on the ocean side of the street, I pulled into the vacant driveway and turned off the lights but left the engine running. The motion lights turned on a floodlight that illuminated the driveway but nothing stirred in the house. The occasional snore emanated from the passenger street.

"Le's crash, I think we are Kosher here." Opening the driver's door, I unlatched the pop top and opened the back. Two minutes later and Bryan and I were in my camper setting up our sleeping bags. A light northeast wind tugged at the camper's canvas pop top as I settled into my sleeping bag.

"I'm setting an alarm for 6:35."

"Sounds good to me, we'll get on it early," Bryan said switching off the LED ceiling light.

We both were asleep before pillow talk could start.

Caley watching peelers.

Guard dog.

North at sunrise.

Dog walking time.

Trevor's homemade camper.

Bryan watching the sunrise.

Duly noted.

Lurking

Cold and glassy.

Vanlife parking on the Oregon Coast.

Waiting of the tide to drop.

"The tide needs to drop a lot."

Making coffee first thing in the morning.

The thick wetsuit shuffle.

Low tide.

Scotty making breakfast.

Check out more photos from this series on Adobe Revel here.

Calling it a day.

Afraid of raising suspicion with construction workers working on houses on the street, I woke before the alarm went off and laid in the comfort of my sleeping bag. I dozed. The propane heater kicked in and the electric fan whirred. Looking down at the my iPhone, it was 6:30.

"Bryan, you ready to rumble?"

"Yah." Bryan was awake and looking at his phone as well.

"When's low tide?"

"Ehh let me check....8:41"

"Perfect. lets get the fuck out of my dodge.."

Jumping out of the camper like Spicoli in Fast Times, I quickly latched the pop top down before hopping in the driver's seat. "We're home free," I grinned to myself as we backed up and pulled out of the driveway. The first suggestion of the sunrise dotted the coastal range to the east as we headed south on the 101.

Here are some more links,

Costal Lurking (Adobe Revel),

Bryan Fox (Tumblr).

October 29, 2013

Farewell to Summer

October 29, 2013/ A Restless Transplant

It always passes quickly. Waking up with the sun at six transitions into seven and then seven thirty. The days shorten on the other end too. Living in your car makes you aware of when the sun rises and sets. Temperatures retreat below the acceptable level to sleep with just a wool blanket and I grab a down sleeping bag. Condensation covers the single-pain window of my camper in the mornings. Parks, that just a few weeks earlier buzzed with tourists in rental Mustangs, empty out. The first fall storms are on the way. Here are some shots from this summer.

Beach daze in Malibu.

Camping with Jay in the Sierra.

Monsoon season in Arizona.

Options.

Maddie and Trevor in the Los Padres.

Shoe quiver.

Wild flowers.

Shades on shades.

Mexican peelers.

Morning in the Mission.

Stoked Grove in Meiners Oak.

Driftwood Fire.

Bryan, Trevor and Cal having dinner.

Ryan Lovelace working on his 1948 Bus.

Marissa stretching in the morning.

Mount Piños.

Lazy mornings.

Mobile changing room.

Ian Durkin on the West Coast.

Standing tough.

Club Med, Lake Tahoe addition with Tahoe Messi and Ian Durkin.

Collection of roadkill skulls at Lloyd Khan's house in Bolinas.

Bryan making dinner.

I'm ready for winter.

Here are some more links,

Out of Reception (Tumblr).

September 23, 2013

Home Is Where You Park It: Kickstarter Project

September 23, 2013/ A Restless Transplant

I started taking photos of vans and other campers that I came across in my travels in the fall of 2011. After rationalizing my interest in these campers, I wrote a post and put together some photos on my blog for a post called Vanlife. Here's how it read:

"Not until experiencing something for myself can I really appreciate it. Call me thick headed, but it’s been true about autumn in New England, sex, and most recently, camper vehicles, or as I call it, van life. I purchased my Syncro with no prior knowledge of van life. Operating on the assumption that I liked the freedom and exploration offered by living out of a van, I committed to trying it out. A handful of interesting people’s stories of the road reassured me that it was the right thing to do. Ships of the open road are hard to understand when you’re not sailing them. Now that I am sailing my own, I have grown to appreciate the breed of adventurers they attract and the vehicles they drive."

Two years later, I am just as excited to see a camper parked for the night or hanging out on the side of the highway. The vanlife hash tag has around 50k tags and I've photographed hundreds of campers. Some of the most inspiring and happiest people I've ever met live in there vehicles by choice. To document their campers and celebrate the notion that living in your car is fun, I'm launching a Kickstarter today to publish a photo book and some other vanlife related swag. To help with the design of the book, t-shirt and bumper stickers, I enlisted the help of some friends from Doubleday & Cartwright, a creative studio in New York that makes tshirts, The Victory Journal and works on special projects for brands like Nike, Puma and Samsung.

The book is going to be an 11x11 inch square and will have around 125 pages. We are still finalizing layout and I have to dial in the intro. It will have an extended intro about my moving into a van, photos of my favorite campers and then a handful of anecdotes of my encounters with fellow travelers. The book is $65 shipped in the US and will be signed by yours truly.

A sample spread with @specialopz's Vanagon in Mexico and Ford Econoline Camper near Ventura, California.

A full bleed or two never hurt anyone.

Another sample spread with Nick Dirk's Van and a VW T2 in Portland Oregon.

Inspired by the 70s art of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers Comics and R Crumb, we made a limited edition pocket T-shirt. It's available in sizes Extra Small to Extra Large and comes in heather grey or white. Shirts are $35 shipped in the US.

How do you dress up a t-shirt? Put a Pocket and a Vanlife/Home Is Where You Park it Logo On It.

Riffing on the similar inspiration as the T-shirt, we also made a handful of bumper stickers celebrating vehicular dwellers. Use with discretion though, the square community might object to these. $10 for your choice of one large and one small. Sizes ranging from 13" to 3".