Creating Your Own Story: The Glamorous"Van Life"
By: Bevin Baskin
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(March 2024) - When you are a child, the world is your playground and the earth is your canvas. There are uncountable blades of grass and endless miles to roam. Flowers are crushed under your feet as you wander and the sweet aroma of fresh air travels up your nose. You may wonder "How did that butterfly get its coloring?" or "What makes the grass so green?" Childlike wonder is what ignites our passion and guides us to our purpose.
Life is a blank software for you to write your specific coding. Some choose to live life under default settings- to play the "video game of life" as presented- obey their parents, go to school, and work to provide for their family one day. For others, trashing the entire game is the way to go. Kaylee Hendrix, an 18-year-old senior at Bentonville High School, has decided to rewrite the game and generate her future.
Hendrix’s school district, her friends, and everyone around her have been anxiously waiting for May 18, a high schooler’s life-defining moment, graduation. While most of her friends plan to head off to college, work a job, or get a license or certification, Hendrix has a different idea. As she puts it, “Why start working when you can start living?"
“Ever since I was young, I knew that I never wanted to work some kind of 9-5 corporate job like most of the population. I’ve always wanted to do something more in life,” Hendrix says.
She decided to spend her senior year saving up and is ready to pursue her purpose. Hendrix and her boyfriend, Caden Biscup, have purchased an Airstream recreational vehicle, or R.V., to take across the country starting in the summer of 2024.
Hendrix knows she wants to spend her future doing something with animals or nature and believes living among them will solidify her decisions for how she wants to spend her life. “I remember running through fields catching grasshoppers and watching butterflies fly around me. There was this one specific tree I would climb every day and watch the world below me for hours,” she recalls.
Hendrix has always felt at home in nature. She claims that being outdoors “truly makes me feel alive. It makes me feel like I can do anything I put my mind to.” As the Mental Health Foundation reports, “Nature not only has positive cognitive and physical effects, but makes life feel much more worthwhile.” With the National Library of Medicine stating that it decreases anxiety and overthinking- two leading factors in mental illness.
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Making the Decision
Hendrix and Biscup have been thinking of ways to move out for the past year but couldn’t find anything in budget. They say the “idea of leaving our phones behind and exploring” has stuck with them for a while. After plenty of research, the couple decided this was best for them.
Biscup explained that the “low cost of living, freedom to explore, and experiencing it all together,” were the main reasons for choosing this path. “We felt the adventure lifestyle was for us.”
Hendrix and Biscup have enjoyed spending as much time in nature as possible since the start of their relationship last year. The two love to travel and enjoy finding peace outside of the city life. They recently purchased a new cat which they are taking on their hikes and bringing on drives, training it to travel with them!
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Hendrix (left) and Biscup (right) on a
Hike together in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
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“If you asked me a year ago if I thought I was ever going to be able to escape the corporate world my answer would be no. But having someone support your ambitions such as my boyfriend supports mine, is like a dream," Hendrix says. "I can actually achieve the things I would never be able to achieve."
As I write this article, Biscup is in Arizona. He has been on a two-month trip celebrating his graduation with a geology degree from Northwest Arkansas Community College. He has had little to no signal for the last two months but has still agreed to speak with me about the couple’s future.
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The Physical and Metaphorical Speed Bumps
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The couple may have worries like anyone making a life-altering decision would, but the two are at peace with this decision.
“Almost all of my friends or people my age are going to be attending some sort of college,” Hendrix says. While she doesn’t plan on going the traditional four-year route, she is still planning on obtaining an online degree. She believes that experiencing more of the world outside of her will help her discover what the world inside of her truly desires.
Although Biscup just graduated with an associate's degree, Hendrix plans to use social media as a stream of income during their upcoming journey. Although nothing is in fruition yet, she plans on having a social media account with videos of their life. “I’m hoping to make money but there is no way of telling. It’s very possible that we make great income from social media,” Hendrix says.
She is also an artist with many abilities to create streams of income. Hendrix paints, draws, sculpts, and does photography. The line of chasing dreams vs. chasing money can go hand-in-hand if done properly.
“Digital nomads” is a term that has been coined for people who choose the “van life”. Doing remote work, creating digital content, or starting up a travel-efficient business while on the road has been trending since 2019. The amount of people relying on a digital nomadic income has shot from 7.3 million in 2019 to 17.3 million in 2023. As reported by MBO Partners, an over 100% increase in digital nomads proves this to be a huge, growing industry in which one can succeed.
“Yeah, there’s a lot that could go wrong,” Hendrix says. “But there’s also a lot that could go right! I mean this is literally a dream for me, and being able to do it with such a loving and wonderful person by my side is bliss.”
While she has been finishing high school and working, Biscup has been catching up on travels after graduating. You could say he is a little bit excited about Hendrix being able to finally join him. “What I’m looking forward to most is showing Kaylee all the places I’ve been and finding new ones to explore together,” he says.
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Biscup (left) and Hendrix (right) stopping for a photo
on a Colorado hike in 2023.
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Support or Oppose
Many parents would be against the idea of their children traveling the country alone, but there are plenty that would support it. Hendrix says her “stepmother and father are absolutely against this lifestyle I am wanting to pursue.” Hendrix has only pitched the idea to her parents. “I haven’t even told them yet. I am planning on telling them I’m pursuing a life on the road once me and my partner have everything ready to go.”
Hendrix does feel guilt and admits it is “wrong to do it this way,” but insists it’s the only way to make it work. “My parents believe in working your butt off in an office as a 9-5 life. But that’s definitely not the life I want.”
On the other hand, Biscup says “My family fully supports us, my mom was actually the one who suggested it!” His family helped pitch in for the Airstream and can’t wait to watch the two embark on their journey.
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One of Hendrix’s managers at her job, Bailey Brumbaugh, says she “100% can see Kaylee doing this. The idea of jumping right into college after high school is outdated. Have fun and be free while you can because there are not a lot of opportunities for people to be able to do this.”
While her parents may not be on board, Hendrix has support from her coworkers, friends, and her partner's family.
Many young adults do not pursue their dreams because they feel certain pressures and expectations from their families. While it may be a controversial decision the couple has made, it is certainly a decision many young adults wish they had the opportunity to make themselves.
