 So next up we are gonna head over and check out Jamie's rig Jamie also known as enigmatic nomadix on YouTube and this is his pimped out Astro van all-wheel drive by the way He's got some mud tires on there got the all-wheel drive symbol. This is kind of like Musso's hooptie ride But he's got this totally decked out. He's got a nice little trailer here Towing all the stuff is gear Yo, what's up, dude It's a kid you give me a tour of your rig real quick. Absolutely. You just clean it up. Well, I'm getting ready to move And so everything's all strewn everywhere And so I'm just kind of striking a balance between getting an organized and doing a stash and dash I do we are gonna be in town For like a day or two and it behooves me to have more room on the inside of the van So I'm probably gonna put more stuff in the trailer than I would on a straight-up stash and dash where I'm just moving to another 14-day location I just pile everything in but So this is where we're at so far. We'll take a quick look and right away. You notice That it's all about organization morning Evening morning evening Sometimes they even use this but you got a small space You kind of have to resign to the fact that it's gonna be cluttered I try to put stuff in the trailer, but there's gonna be clutter and I kind of have to make peace with it and So anyway, I don't know really where to start. I bought an astro van off of craigslist for two grand It was all-wheel drive. I was gonna buy was failure until I researched and found that the astro safari platform with the all-wheel drive was Really cheap and parts were ubiquitous and so I Decided on that and it's just been an ongoing Project from the day I bought it to lifting the van. I did the lift myself and Outfitting it. I put the cabinetry in it before I went out and started living in it And so I've got a pantry I've got a place for live food. I've got a cabinet here storage stores behind me There's my bed my bed is on a hinge this board's on a hinge and another board comes out To make a bed that's kind of triangular and I can watch stuff on the laptop for entertainment as I'm winding down Pretty much this van speaks for itself, you know, you just take a look at what all's going on with it And it and it lends to why it was done. There's a swivel on the chair. It's a DOT swivel I paid 120 bucks for If we started getting into everything that I did and where I got it and stuff I'd get in the weeds pretty quick, you know, I just figured it out as I went but I do have 280 watts of solar through us Blue Sky 3000 I solar controller, which I highly recommend its MPPT if you don't know what that means it means Motion PowerPoint tracking I believe and it's there are some people prefer them over the PWM ones I'm one of the people that prefer them over the PWM ones. I've got a ton of deep cycle solar, you know, coach batteries that the The panel's Charge right here is one of my volt meters. I have a volt meter on the Controller it shows that I'm at 15.2, which is the maximum setting for the UB 40s I'm powering. I think that's a 36 quart Dometic with the Danfoss compressor So I can have perishables and a little bit higher quality of life out here. It's all really about quality of life Thetford Port-a-Potty I highly recommend I bought a cheap Coleman brand one first at Walmart and it gave out on me the Thetford has been in the industry for years and if you're starting from scratch I for one like to have a Port-a-Potty and For secondly like the Thetford as the Port-a-Potty. It's just real nice being able to slide out of bed and Have access to you know that relief right there without having to exit the vehicle and all of the things it would be Associated with exiting the vehicle at whatever hour or if you get sick and why did why did you want to live in a van? And what first motivated you to do that? Well when I was in high school they posted our our Classes SAT scores and I knew I wasn't college material so I knew eventually I would be living on a van down by the river I'm kidding. I Wanted to be a nomad and I figured you could do it in this age I read Timothy Ferris four-hour work week and I thought you know I could probably do that I could probably pull that off and So you know it was just from there the pieces kind of fell in place. I didn't know if I was gonna pull a fifth wheel I didn't know if I was gonna have a class a I Got the Astro van is just a way to get in the game and be out here And now it's a little bit too small and I'd like to get something bigger I really like your schoolie But thanks, man. Yeah, I really like the size of it just a lot of things about it But I'm out here now and this is really just a sleep I can be outside and work out and go mountain biking and dirt bike ride and stuff I've been I've been saying that an apartment is Really just a place to sleep and a poop and a whole lot of stuff. Would you what are your thoughts on that? you're paying a lot of money for a place to sleep and keep your stuff and It it goes against the normal dogmas that we were raised in up in to think that we can actually Have a home, but it be mobile and there's so many derogatory Inclinations associated with that that are I think I think that they're just kind of Born from reinforcement of the people that don't do it and they're trying to reconfirm why they have a job And why they're paying a mortgage and if you're watching this and you have a job and you have a mortgage and you're happy and fulfilled Then I think that's what you should be doing, but if you feel like you're just this Rat on a wheel just working. I mean, hey, man Why don't you just give me my couple hundred dollar cut and send the rest of the guys that are gonna get it eventually anyway like the power company and the mortgage and the mortgage insurance and You know all the stuff that goes with that and I better get some Stainless steel appliances in my kitchen because I'm gonna have friends over, you know They had me over now I got to have them over and they've got to see how hip I am and you know, I'm not projecting that on you That's what I was going through and it's just a For me, it's just a losing game. We know we're not gonna live forever. And so we might as well trade you know lifestyle over luxury and I really like the traveling lifestyle and the novelty associated with it. Absolutely. I do too Yeah, yeah, you feel more. Do you feel more free in this kind of lifestyle? Oh my gosh I have dreams at night that I have a job and I wake up and I I Realize I'm in this van and this is my life and I just breathe a sigh of relief It almost feels like it's too good to be true What would you say to somebody who is thinking about the van life who sees all these cool Instagram posts all these glamorized? Edited pictures that makes it look so cool. What would you say some to somebody who sees those things? But doesn't really understand the reality of living in a vehicle. This is the absolute reality of this lifestyle you've got to have a way to Make at least five or six hundred bucks a month you know ongoing to be able to afford this and You've got to be able to Work on your own vehicle when mechanical problems arise as surely they will and if you can and don't be intimidated because you can go on YouTube and find out how to do break jobs. You can find all this stuff out in forums You don't have to know it in advance. You can get the Bisco Bisco DVD series on your vehicle very comprehensive But if you can do your own maintenance on your vehicle and you can find a way to pull down five six hundred bucks a month minimum Then I say all of the romantic Fantasies are true because when I wake up in the morning and I go for walks with the dogs or I go for a dirt bike ride I feel like I am just on top of the world. I feel like I'm You know a success Do you feel like the van life as a good combination for a self-employed person or an artistic person or maybe someone in the gig economy? Yes, we live in the digital age and if and because we live in the digital age. It's very possible even with the desire to do menial tasks online such as translate audio to text for a fee you can go on Fiverr Elants different websites that are just I mean you can type in jobs for nomads nomadic lifestyle jobs and things will come up You can build websites. There's all you might say there's other people doing it But there's always new people coming up that need it and there's always gonna be a demand for it And if you hone your skills, you'll be you know in demand yourself You just type in enigmatic nomadic senior briser browser go to the YouTube channel Shoot me questions on enigmatic nomadic Facebook and come on out here. It's real. It's a real thing and we're doing it He's a by the way. He's a great dude We just met up a few days ago invited me out here, and I feel like I made a new family out here So thank you a lot for the hospitality. We will be meeting again in the future and For everybody who is interested go check out his channel. I'll link it below You