Solo Female Vanlife Traveler: Susan’s Healing Journey

By Sunny Lane | The Drift – Tales from the Street

When solo feminine vanlife traveler Susan Lebold misplaced her husband to mind most cancers in 2018, the life she knew fell away. In just some brief years, she had additionally mentioned goodbye to her father and mom, and her son had grown and moved on into his personal unbiased life. With the individuals she beloved most now gone, Susan discovered herself standing at a crossroads—not simply of grief, however of id.

For some time, the trail ahead remained unclear. However then one thing sudden cracked open. A detailed buddy purchased a classic VW camper van, and over time, their conversations was one thing greater than nostalgia. They grew to become a imaginative and prescient. The thought of getting a camper van of her personal gave Susan one thing she hadn’t felt in years: a motive to look forward.

She started researching choices, finally deciding she needed one thing new and dependable—a contemporary customized campervan that would assist a future on the transfer. That search led her to Drifter Vans. “I’ve by no means regarded again,” she says. “I’ve put over 40,000 miles on it already.”

These miles have stretched far and broad. Although she retains a house base in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Susan is sort of at all times getting ready for the following stretch of open street. As a solo feminine vanlife traveler, she’s explored the backroads of New England into New Brunswick, adopted the Atlantic Coast to Florida, crossed the southern states, and gone all the best way to the Pacific. This yr, her route will observe the Lewis and Clark Path west, then return via Canada and the Canadian Rockies.

Her travels aren’t simply sightseeing—they’re a residing tribute to reminiscence, legacy, and therapeutic. Considered one of her most significant journeys up to now was a two-month journey to California, retracing a cross-country street journey her grandparents had taken in 1938. Armed together with her grandfather’s scrapbook, she visited the identical locations and wove his tales into her personal, documenting all of it on her weblog, Family Breadcrumbs.

Susan’s strategy to vanlife is grounded in presence. She avoids highways when attainable, selecting as a substitute the scenic roads that cross via small cities and forgotten corners. Each place, she believes, holds a narrative value discovering.

Her recommendation for anybody contemplating vanlife—particularly ladies touring solo—is straightforward and smart:

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