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Vanlife is a lifestyle that takes you places you never expected and offers you experiences that you never quite imagined!

Sometimes this means visiting incredible places that have been seemingly undisturbed for millennia. Other times… Well, other times it does not…

This week is one of those other times.

We left the scenic byways of middle America for the big city and are currently nestled in Rockwall, Texas – a bustling suburb of Dallas.

Long gone are the views of towering trees and pristine rivers. In their place are shipping containers and the constant hum of vehicles racing by on the interstate.

For our first go at urban camping though, we have hit the jackpot!

We came here to help some really good friends as they finish converting their second bus and are staying with them on-site at a shop, that they have called home for the last six months while working on their build.

We met these incredible people last year in Montana and they quickly became a part of our tribe (you can read more about that experience here)!

To be fair, when we say “helping” we really mean “supervising.”

Our friends are currently finishing up very technical aspects of their build, which are far outside of our areas expertise.

Even still, we are grateful to be here!

Day to Day Life in the Big City

Our days are much different here than what is typical for us.

Urban camping offers a completely different set of distractions than camping in natural settings.

For starters, Coddy is up every morning at around 6:00am for work meetings. He then goes to Starbucks where he works until mid-afternoon.

Bryon spends his mornings and afternoons hanging around the shop offering help whenever he can. Aside from this, he has been watching the dogs and learning new skills (like how to drive a forklift).

The evenings are dedicated to finishing up projects before we all gather for family style dinners courtesy of Doordash. This is where we stay until the wee hours of the morning, filling the shop with laughter as we share stories.

Then, we all go to bed, wake up, and do it all over again.

The dogs are also adjusting. They are used to having free rein- but that is no longer on the table. Instead they spend their days sleeping in the van with intermittent breaks where we take them for strolls through the menagerie of antique cars that line the shop’s yard.

Still though, they manage to get themselves into trouble… For example, Ellie had her first encounter with a skunk that did not go well…

On the bright side, we learned that apple cider vinegar is a great tool to get rid of the smell in the event that a dog gets skunked!

Gearing up to Leave

With this routine in place, the days are passing quickly. Nearly a week has gone since we first arrived.

Our time here is coming to an end, and we are sad to go. but excited for the next adventure.

We are beyond grateful for our incredible hosts. They have seriously gone out of their way to make a home for us here in Texas! If you are interested in following others like us, check them out! They are, in a lot of ways, the glue that has held our little community of vagabonds and vagrants together and we love them dearly!

Seriously, these folks are some of the best people we have ever met. The entire time we have known them they have been a refuge, not only for us, but for all of our friends. Their positivity and love for nature and others radiates from them, and as a result, they are like magnets, drawing in others and building community wherever they go.

These two are people we strive to be like.

Check them and their builds out here or on Instagram @Wheelie_nelson

Next Steps

We will be take our leave and head south towards San Antonio before making our way back North and hopefully to the Grand Canyon.

We do not know exactly where we are going or how long it will take to get there- but we will keep you in the loop!

Thanks for following along,

Coddy and Bryon