Everyone, meet Allison Boyle. Allison is an engineer turned blogger and outdoor enthusiast who spends her life creating programs to support others who want to add a bit of adventure to their life. Allison drives a Wayfarer Van, as do I, and we first met when my wife and I attended a Wayfarer weekend back in 2019. My wife and I were “pre-van” at the time. Within an hour of landing at the event I was trying to determine the quickest way to sell my truck and purchase a van. We met Allison and her husband Michael who you might remember as the creative voice behind the Wayfarer film about me. They are a power duo. They are. And Allison probably knows math too. You know, engineering, math. They kinda go hand-in-hand.
Luckily for us, Wayfarer did a film about Allison, and it’s a good one.
The talking to the cow scene is the best, and reminded me how many times I’ve spoken to livestock, subliminally wondering “Is this the time I will get a response?” There are many takeaways here. Embracing change being the first. Her feeling like she needed to move in a new direction which led to move to California. Her becoming a “Yes woman,” by saying “yes” to adventure instead of falling back into the safety of “no.” Realizing that life on the road was an alluring idea. Beginning to think a van might be the way to go. A test trip to New Zealand.
And then going all in on full-time van life. When we met Allison she was on the road full-time, and I remember wondering “Can we do that?” Is this possible or have I convinced myself it’s not? She not only goes full-time in the van but decides to build a business at the same time. I am fascinated by this entrepreneurial spirit. I never really had that even though I ran my own business for several decades. I never really felt I fit this independent spirit. (Blurb’s founder is another incredible entrepreneurial spirit who I owe the last thirteen years of my life to.)
While no longer vanlifing full time, she and Michael are still utilizing the van on a regular basis. As am I. And what she says about the van being a small home away from home is spot on, and the more you get to use the van the more you want to use the van. I literally just moved my Sunday planning calls around so I could go out again tomorrow and not be stuck inside making calls. (Today is Saturday.) I had one overnight in the van this week, at 9100 feet in the Carson National Forest, but it’s just not enough.
Allison mentions failure, the White Elephant in the modern online room. Failure is rarely spoken about but I’ve not yet met a fellow human who hasn’t experienced failure. Did I mention getting kicked out of my middle school computer class for disruptive behavior and writing “questionable” code? Yep, just another failure in a long line of failures. She speaks to what failure meant and what it led to that allowed her to continue to grow.
Vans are expensive now. Life in a post-COVID world has shifted the financial playing field, but remember the point about a home away from home. When you can easily pay $75,000 to $90,000 for a pickup truck, paying a higher price for a van becomes more realistic because you are getting so much more. The van has allowed me to completely change my work life. I can now move about anywhere at anytime, and this practice is not only widely accepted by the CEO and marketing director, but they are keenly interested in where I’m going and what I’m doing. The van allows me to create a range of work and story I would never be capable of doing were I still be at home. Kudos to Allison for doing what she does while inspiring others to do the same.