Megan & Matt - @meganandmatt

We are Meghan and Matt and we travel full time throughout the US in our self-converted Ram Promaster. We don’t take life too seriously, and we’re constantly in search of a new adventure, whether it be a new place to explore, a new cuisine to try, or a new business venture. We want to experience all that life has to offer as we build our future. We’ve been together for about three and a half years and are engaged. We have no idea when we’re going to actually get married because we’re too busy living life, but we’re sure it will happen eventually. We’ve been on the road for three months, and couldn’t imagine living any other way.

We chose to live in a van for a few different reasons. Meghan’s lived a sustainable/minimalist lifestyle for several years, and I (Matt) always wanted to travel. On our first date Meghan brought up the thought of living full time on the road and at that moment the seed was planted. Before we took the dive, I convinced Meghan to pay off all of our debt before taking the plunge, and we’re glad we did. We hustled for 2 years and paid off a combined $99k (USD) in debt between student loans, cars, and some credit cards. Being debt free was incredibly important to us before we started this journey because we didn’t want to have any looming financial responsibilities holding us back once we hit the road.

Once we got the van, I quit my job to build out the van. It took six months from the day it arrived in our driveway to build. Although we went through alot of physical, mental, and emotional stress during the build, we absolutely love our tiny house on wheels and there is nothing about our van’s layout that we would change. It works perfectly for us on a daily basis. Building our home and learning all the steps along the way really gives us an appreciation for it. We’ve named our van, Ruthie.

Now that we’ve been on the road we’ve really put a focus on building up our personal brand and connecting with like minded people. It’s truly amazing how supportive the vanlife community is, and how quickly we bond with new friends on the road. We feel connected to these fellow travelers as if we’ve known each other for years. Meeting people on the road you just skip the small talk and get right into talking about pooping and the havoc that life on the road can do to your butthole. It’s hilarious. 

We believe that all people have their intrinsic sense of freedom, and that freedom holds a different meaning to everyone. For us, we want to experience everything life has to offer. For us, we want to be free from a “normal” 9-5 desk job with the “picket fence” kind of lifestyle. We want the freedom to travel - the world is so big and to be confined to a stationary home, only able to take a couple weeks of vacation a year made us realize we need to follow our dreams before life passes us by. We’re taking a very early retirement. 

After being on the road for a few months we’ve already realized that we are made to move. The daily challenges that we face keep us on our toes, and seemingly regular things such as taking a shower or finding water become an adventure. Once we got out West it was amazing to see how big mountains can be, and how flat land can be. It was a huge contrast from our New England towns we grew up in. We’ve learned so much about ourselves and each other living in such a small space, and it’s for sure put our communication skills and relationship to the test. 

If there’s anything that we feel that needs to be shared, it is that this life is challenging yet so rewarding. We’ve come so far in such a short time and we’re excited to see where the road will take us in the future. If you ever see us out there, feel free to say hey! 

Follow along with Megan and Matt’s adventures.

Produced and published by Jared Melrose Campbell @youandiandthesky & @vanlifediaries