I know a lot of you have been following my van journey, and I was really excited to make it work. I even planned to swap the motor and transmission myself, but life threw me a curveball, and the costs just didn’t make sense with my new timeline. Just the motor and transmission alone would have been $12–14k installed—not to mention solar, battery backup, bodywork, and building out the living space.

So, after a lot of thought, I decided to pivot and picked up a 2022 Toyota Corolla Cross compact SUV instead. It’s a big change, and much smaller, but it’s the right move for me now: reliable, efficient, and still gives me the freedom to travel, live out of my vehicle while I search for the perfect land home base, and tow a teardrop camper. Plus, I’d have been lucky to get 8 mpg in the van—whereas the Cross gets me about 33 mpg—so it just makes more sense for me all around.

I’m excited to trick it out for the road—to make it my own—and nostr:nprofile1qqsz9nr55u53zdecvenu7zj5z3hfu2ua5skjfft9t3lstqgrcy3n5uspzemhxue69uhkummnw3ex2mrfw3jhxtn0wfnj7g8xz56 approves. It’s much quieter than the van, so she’s a big fan.

Thanks for all the support and encouragement along the way. I’m looking forward to sharing this new chapter with you all!