After fourteen years as a manager at a tech company, I made a radical decision. Climbing behind the wheel of my Volkswagen van – affectionately called Jimmy Choo – I embarked on a transformative journey across the U.S. and Canada. My year-long odyssey resulted in “NO Overnight Parking – Vanlife Stories from a Year on the Road,” a captivating compilation of short stories chronicling my 32,000-mile adventure.

As a vanlife greenhorn initially relying on duct tape for quick fixes, I gradually came into my own as a vandweller without a day planner running my life. I traversed celebrated routes like the Hi-Line, Going to the Sun Road, the Cabot Trail, the Navigator’s Route, the Loneliest Road in America, and the Overseas Highway. My only passengers were Rand McNally, a persistent check-engine light, and tireless curiosity. Nights were spent at Walmarts and truck stops, amid leafy neighborhoods, and next to roadside curiosities like a lighthouse and an eighty-foot dinosaur. I pondered the enormity of natural and man-made wonders, America’s philanthropic traditions, the erosion of social connections and consider the loneliness and solitude of traveling solo. When my mother suddenly took ill, I faced a difficult choice about my long-planned sabbatical and encountered new roadblocks due to stay-at-home orders issued after the Covid-19 outbreak.

“NO Overnight Parking – Vanlife Stories from a Year on the Road” is more than a travelogue; it’s a captivating adventure that will reignite your passion for the open road and the endless possibilities it holds.