When I left Boston in August of 2016 the van build-out was just barely finished. The cabinetry was installed literally the day before I left home and the fridge had only been turned on once. Although the interior space was livable, it was far from complete. Some things I simply didn’t have time to finish, but there were plenty of projects that were good ideas, but hadn’t fully congealed in my head. I wanted to wait until I’d lived in the van for a while before installing anything permanent that might not work out in the long run. So this post is all about van updates that I’ve made based on my experiences thus far.

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After leaving Yosemite I made a beeline straight to Los Angeles to hang out with my good friend Adam Libert. Adam left Boston to work for Elon Musk at SpaceX, a crazy amazing place with a vision of putting humans on Mars. Adam was kind enough to give me a personal tour of the SpaceX facility, which was pretty fantastic. The tech they’ve developed is super impressive and I can’t wait to see how their vision evolves.

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Once again I find myself back in the Valley. A place with big walls that tower like giants and free climbs that inspire the imagination of generations. But Yosemite is also the scene of horrific crowds, mind numbing traffic, and substandard camping. As big as the park is, sometimes the Valley can seem downright claustrophobic. And then of course there’s the plague. That’s right, there’s an actual plague in Yosemite. Hantavirus is carried by rodents in the Valley and has killed a number of Yosemite visitors. Beyond that, the bathrooms are often disgusting and the campgrounds overrun. This week it seemed that everyone in Camp 4 had some kind of flu. With lines at 5am to get a site, people sleeping on the ground curled around camp fire embers, and everyone sick, it’s hard not to think of this place as some sort of refugee camp. And in a way, I guess it is. People from all over the world flee the comforts of modern civilization in order to share in the majesty of this place for a short while, regardless of the downers.

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It’s funny sometimes how chance occurrences can change your life. If it hadn’t rained in Squamish I wouldn’t have been diverted to Smith Rock. If I hadn’t gone to Smith, I wouldn’t have driven to Hood River to buy a new kiteboard from a guy on Craigslist. If I hadn’t gone to Hood River, then I wouldn’t have had two of the most amazing weeks of my life.

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Although I spent two months working on the van, a week driving across the country, and numerous stops along the way, Squamish has always been the goal. But as I finally found myself headed to the Canadian border, the weather in B.C. suddenly turned sour. A week of rain was ahead of me. I pulled over in a truck stop near Eugene, OR for the night and to reassess my priorities. On the one hand I really wanted to get to Squamish, it’s been my driving force for months. On the other hand, hanging out at the base of the cliffs in the rain and not being able to climb would be heartbreaking. Well, if I didn’t go to Squamish, what else could I do? By complete coincidence I happened to be only two hours from Smith Rocks where Grant and Emily were spending the week. I didn’t know much about Smith, but I’d heard it’s pretty old school. Scary sport climbing, right?

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