Taos Vanlife Gathering
In Patnership with Renogy
Renogy is a renewable energy company that prides itself on supplying the best solar products on the market today. Through innovation, Renogy hopes to empower the solar community and give them the freedom to pursue their passions.
poster designed and painted by Colin Kellogg of Itinerant Aircooled
Join us
for a summertime van gathering
in beautiful Taos, New Mexico.
You’re Already In? Great! Skip right to it and order your tickets now.
Want to know more? Keep on scrolling. :)
Join us for
a weekend of fun.
About the Gathering
Join us for a weekend-long campout in the high desert mesa of Hotel Luna Mystica, a private venue with plenty of stars and space. Under the open sky, we’ll enjoy workshops and music, community and natural beauty.
This weekend is a welcoming, friendly space where vanlifers can gather to share, learn, and deepen our community. Today, much of our interaction happens online, but this weekend in Taos, we’ll circle our modern-day covered wagons to share our skills and stories face-to-face, while doing what we love in the outdoors—and checking out each other’s rigs, of course!
There will be live music and a potluck, van-related workshops and time for informal chatting. Between the natural beauty of Hotel Luna Mystica and all of the qualified, passionate presenters we have lined up, we’re all in for a weekend to remember.
At the beautiful
Hotel Luna Mystica
The Venue: Hotel Luna Mystica
Somehow everything seems closer at the Mystica. 12-plus acres of mesa, 10 vintage trailers, 60 campsites, one planet, one moon, a gazillion stars. Head out of Taos and aim for the Rio Grande, turn right at the friendly lights over the Taos Mesa Brewery. The adventure awaits. Disconnect, and reconnect with your natural self. Restore your balance. This is a place of opportunity and tranquility. Community and solitude. Outer space and inner peace. Test yourself. Rest yourself. Reclaim yourself. Experience nature without the hassle.
With Kit Whistler & J.R. Switch
of Idle Theory Bus
Your Hosts
Kit Whistler and JR Switchgrass of have been traveling the backroads of America full time for 7 years in their VW bus named Sunshine. They have loved watching the Vanlife community grow from a tiny, separate group of individuals to a robust community of radicals out to change the world. Kit is a writer, JR a photographer and videographer, and together they create art about what they find out there down the nowhere roads they love so well. You can follow their work on Idle Theory Bus and check out the book they published. They cannot wait to meet you all in Taos this August!
Your Ticket Gives Back
Giving Back to Our Public Lands...and Learning in the Process
10% of proceeds from the event will be donated to the Conservation Lands Association—but that’s not all. We are thrilled to announce that the Conservation Lands team will be presenting workshops at our gathering. We hope to cover a variety of pertinent topics, including tips on how to navigate the complex world of Public Land designations as well as tactical advice for how we, as lovers and users of these wild places, can become involved in protecting them for future generations. Conservation Lands Foundation is grassroots-run, and they believe that our vanlife community can truly make a difference in the world of public lands.
All Are Welcome
This is an all-inclusive event and we invite everyone to attend. Vans, buses, trucks, cars, motorbikes, swags, RVs, and bikes are welcome! Bring what ya got, and be prepared for three days of fun! The only requirement is that you pack a wide-open mind, a burning passion for alternative ways of living, and a desire to meet a whole lot of interesting people.
The Vanlife Community
We are part of a growing community that is passionate about van travel in wild places. Some “Vanlifers,” as we’re called, live in their vans full time. Some of us weekend warriors who venture out to climb or snowboard on weekends. Others take a seasonal approach, taking an extended road trip or vacation centered around vehicle travel, instead of flying to some far-off destination seeking adventure.
At the heart of our vanlife community is a commitment to simplicity and a love of nature, a commitment to camping and a welcoming environment.
Our hope is that, throughout the weekend, we can take our online conversations into a physical space. Each of us has unique talents to offer, and we’ll gather together to share them freely, along with conversation, art, laughter, and stories. There’ll be campfires for warming our fingers and early mornings for visiting and learning about each other’s rigs. Here’s to friends, both new and old.
Weekend Happenings
Live Music by Ira Wolf
Meet Ira: Singer, Songwriter, Vanlifer
Hailing from the mountains of Montana, and making a home in Nashville, TN, Ira Wolf's music and writing is vulnerable and honest. With three studio albums to share, Ira has performed on stages across the US, the UK, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia since she began touring in 2014. She draws from personal experience, and connects on an intimate level with her audience through her honest lyrics and melancholy vocals. With roots in folk, Americana and bluegrass genres, Ira has found a unique sound that resonates with an eclectic listening crowd.
Although Ira continues to make Nashville her home-base, she maintains a life on the road when she's not recording and has been a part of the growing 'vanlife' community since 2016. She released her highly anticipated third album 'The Closest Thing To Home' in 2017 and spent the majority of 2018 touring the U.S. Ira has no plans to slow down anytime soon and continues writing and performing both inside the states and overseas. She recently partnered with GoWesty for the second time and continues traveling in her beloved 1988 VW Westfalia (Ruby) full-time.
Workshops, Seminars and Panels
We are proud to partner with gifted teachers and specialists to offer a wide variety of talks, seminars, and discussions throughout the weekend. We hope that they enhance deep, thoughtful mindfulness within our community, as well as new fodder to take home. All of us benefit from each other’s specialties, and we are beyond excited to welcome the following presenters to our schedule:
Whew . . . that was a lot of info. We’re stoked. Hope you’re stoked.
Order a ticket today and we’ll see you in Taos.
Love, Kit, J.R. + The Vanlife Diaries Crew
Love you guys. See you out on the Mesa!