What Does It Take to #VanLife as a Family?
Two couples with young children—van veterans and complete newbies—share how they make close quarters on the open road work for them.
Two couples with young children—van veterans and complete newbies—share how they make close quarters on the open road work for them.
Welcome to Roommates Week, an exploration of the highs and lows of cohabitation.
Having roommates can be challenging—especially when your roommates are your family, and you’re living in a van. But Leila Wilhelm Carlson and Cory Hanen decided to take a stab at the lifestyle anyway and purchased a school bus turned living quarters so they could hit the road with daughters Ryker and Hazel.
Tiffany and Kyle Willis, on the other hand, are clocking miles in tight quarters. The #vanlife veterans have been on the road with their daughters Tinley and Taytum since before the pandemic. They know what works and what doesn’t from personal experience, but also because they’ve made the lifestyle a profession of sorts, having custom-outfitted nine different Mercedes Sprinters.
Bernadette, a converted 2012 Mercedes Sprinter van, was the first one Kyle and Tiffany Willis built out for themselves. They’ve since done eight others between their own and their clients’.
Tiffany and Kyle Willis
Surprisingly, despite Kyle and Tiffany’s having young children along for the ride, living nomadically in a compact space hasn’t turned everyone against each other. In fact, the opposite seems to be true.
"What’s really come out of this is we understand how great it is to spend time with one another," says Kyle. "And we can’t go back. A lot of people would want to run from each other after that much time together. But we just love it."
The #vanlife phenomenon was well underway before the pandemic, with smartphones, solar panels, and battery systems making it easy to stay connected and comfortable in far-flung locales. During Covid, things got a little weird, but the conditions normalized videoconferencing and remote working, allowing many who were tethered to offices to embark. More companies offering van rentals and conversion kits started cropping up.
Cory, Leila, and their daughters, Ryker and Hazel, just purchased The Butter Bus in early April and are now on the road.
Cory Hanen and Leila Wilhelm Carlson
While many are headed out, things can come to a halt pretty quickly for traveling families. Leila and Cory are now the third owners of The Butter Bus, a 1999 Thomas Saf-T-Liner originally converted to a partially solar-powered bus in 2020 by Lauren and Van Jones. Lauren and Van traveled the highways with their young daughters, and the following year, sold to another couple, Kyle and Kristin Reid, who covered the American West with their 10-month old daughter and dog. With another baby on the way, they decided to sit still, if only for now.
The subsequent sale to Cory and Leila was announced on Instagram this April. The couple had almost purchased The Butter Bus last year, but hesitated. After selling their house in Sarasota, Florida, however, they sprung at the opportunity when it became available again.
"We were like, ‘This is the bus. It just is,’" Cory recalls. The family flew from Sarasota, Florida, to Mesa, Arizona, eagerly climbed aboard, and started their brand new life on the open road.
The bus’s open plan provides room for the family to move through the cabin.
Cory Hanen and Leila Wilhelm Carlson
See the full story on Dwell.com: What Does It Take to #VanLife as a Family?
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