American Nomads, Episode 1

- Welcome back folks, here we are again.

Cassie, better to start with a minivan or just get a van?

Ah, you know what, it's a hard question, the minivans are cheap, $3,000 minivans are a dime a dozen.

I have a 2015 GMC Savannah and it has 40,000 miles on it now.

If you can live with a small space, get a minivan.

Okay.

(mellow music) My name is Bob Welles and I live in a van.

I've spent for the last 10 years connected to nature.

I can hear it, I can feel it, I'm connected to it even when I'm sitting inside the van.

And I am out of the van a lot, because this is a small, tiny space.

(mellow music) I grew up in Alaska, hiking and backpacking and I had this real profound sense of the importance of nature.

But then I grew up, you know.

And I got married and I got a job and I had kids and we bought a house.

And, all of that was gone.

I loved my kids, I loved my wife but that wasn't what life was all about.

There was more to it.

Then the divorce happened.

And I literally did not know how I was going to pay for rent.

There was no money left.

Every day I drove by a place that had a big box van.

And one day I drove by and I thought, I could live in that van.

So the next day, on the way to work, I stopped and said, "How much do you want for this van?"

He said it was $1,500.

And I gave him $1,500 and drove away.

Society told me this was the worst possible thing that could happen to me.

Was to live in a van, to be homeless, be a bum, live in a van.

I found this life that I loved.

And so I wanted to start telling people, there's a different way to live.

And so I started a website to tell people about it, to inspire them to do it and to teach them how.

(mellow music) In 2016 I started the YouTube channel.

Hi everyone and welcome back to my next video.

So, a lot of what I do is just the nuts and bolts.

This is how you go to bathroom, this is how you stay clean, this is how you stay cool.

How often would you see an air conditioner this small?

It has to be this small to be all practical.

You know, if you want to take it in your car, your van or even your tent.

This actually produces cold air with a compressor and it squeezes the heat out and produces cold.

When I tell someone, you know, you don't have to pay $1,500 a month out of the $2,000 a month that you make to pay for an apartment, you can live in a car or a van or a vehicle.

So, people would tell me their story, you know that how they lost their job, that they couldn't pay their ren they'll stay in their house for as long as they could and they lost their house.

They didn't know where they were going to live tomorrow, they didn't know what they were going to live on.

Okay, we'll be right back.

Okay.

- I'm just glad you got all those videos out there.

It's just great that you are willing to teach people how to live with the bare necessities.

There is a way to live that way.

Come on Jemma, get back over here.

- There's stuff in there and it's pretty obvious.

We don't have anything in there you don't absolutely need.

- But do have a few things, I have things that make me happy, I have little things that I like.

I think that's pretty minimalistic, just having a van I mean.

This is minimalism if you came from a two bedroom or a three bedroom house, this is like nothing.

Less is more.

(mellow music) - We are like ants in a farm.

The question is, how does nature intend for you to be happy and to live.

And it's like a nomad.

Directly connected to nature on the move.

One of the reasons I love living in a van is because I'm free.

And I get to choose where I'll be, when I'll be there and why I'll be there.

My life is constantly changing and evolving to what I want it to be.

I think it's a lot of why nomads are so much happier, because if you're discontent with your life, you move to where you're contented with your life.

When I'm on the road, I'm going home.

I may not even know where I am going.

I mean to go there.

And it'll be home again.

(mellow music)