In this interview series, “5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Living on the Road”, I had the pleasure of speaking with the incredibly talented Nyna and Trevor of Fort Vine, an Indie Folk Duo.
By Bekah Whitney
Thank you for having us, Bekah! Gypsee Bungalow is our first and only rig. We renovated her ourselves in the summer of 2018, after doing a lot of research (watching hours and hours of YouTube tutorials). We were living in NYC when we bought our van. She’s a 2007 Mercedes Sprinter, 170” wheelbase. We bought her sight-unseen from an airport shuttle company in Orlando, FL in May 2017. We wanted to start touring with our music full-time (Fort Vine is the name of our duo), and vanlife was the golden ticket. It checks all the boxes for us. We don’t have to pay NYC rent anymore (hallelujah!), we don’t have to pay for hotels when we travel, and we get to go wherever we want, whenever we want to. It’s wonderful. We absolutely love our van.
I (Nyna) was the one who was looking for a way out of NYC when I came across the concept of vanlife on Instagram and Pinterest. I was hooked from the start, spending hours researching and pinning ideas and different design layouts. When I brought the idea to Trevor, he was pretty excited, too, because it meant we could quit our restaurant job and start focusing on music full-time.
There have been countless amazing things that have happened to us since we hit the road, and only one horror story. I’ll start with the horror story- We were parked on the street in Seattle, WA next to our friend’s house- in a pretty nice neighborhood. We had gotten into bed without locking the doors that night. I remember asking Trev, “did you lock the doors?”… “I don’t think so, but it’s okay.” Well, it wasn’t okay. When we woke up the next morning, both front doors were slightly ajar. Apparently, two punk teenagers took it upon themselves to steal my backpack from the front seat (with my journal inside it) and Trevor’s coat (with his key to the van and his cell phone in the pockets). Bold of them to do that while we were in the van, no? They used Trevor’s phone to transfer money to themselves and take an uber home… That’s how we found out who did it. It was rough, but we learned our lesson. Always lock the doors to the van, and it’s worth it to password-protect your phone’s lock screen, too.
One of the first wonderful things to have happened to us was when we had just left on our maiden voyage and I was nervous, wondering if we had made the right decision or not, because we weren’t making very much money at our shows, but we were having fun. We got all the way down to New Orleans in the first two weeks of touring. We had a couple friends of ours on this leg of the tour and they had booked a gig for us to play at a coffee shop. When we arrived, the barista had no idea there was supposed to be music that day. She told us we could play outside on the sidewalk… basically just busking for tips. Gut punch. At this point, we were feeling pretty low and thought, “Oh, no, how are we going to make enough gas money to get to the next tour stop?” But, we swallowed our pride and set up outside. At first, we were performing for no one except our two friends, but eventually someone stopped and sat on the bench next to us. He listened with his eyes closed. We could tell he was moved by our music. Afterwards, the man told us he really appreciated us and that our music touched his heart deeply. He asked if he could buy a CD and give us a tip. He gave us $100! Holy moly! He told us to keep going because the world needs to hear our music. That’s when we realized we should never judge a situation as “bad”, or get down on ourselves when things don’t go as planned. Sometimes things end up better than we could have imagined, so patience is key. We developed a much deeper sense of purpose for being musicians that day. It was amazing.
Joshua Tree is one of the most interesting places we’ve been to, the Olympic National Forest in Washington State is one of the most beautiful (we went in August and it was so perfect), and Mount Shasta is one of the most mystical spots (Sand Flats is a free place to camp!).
We wish we had installed a diesel heater right away. We lived in our van for four and a half years before installing one. What were we thinking all those years without heat at night!? Hahaha Now that we have one, it is such a game-changer!
If we had known how awesome vanlife is, and how amazing the nomadic community is, we probably would have started vanlife a lot earlier than we did.
We did a lot of research before buying our van, so we kind of knew what we were getting into with that purchase, but we wish someone would’ve warned us that it’s nice to have lots of extra money saved up for mechanical issues, which are bound to arise sooner or later. We had to delay our departure from the city so we could save up some extra money, because there were some unforeseen expenses that held us back. But, it all worked out in the end. 🙂
We also wish we would’ve installed a composting toilet instead of a cassette toilet from the very beginning. It’s not too late for us to upgrade, though. Maybe that’s the next project for us. It’s time. Hahaha!
We wish we would’ve known that touring for three months with a third band mate wasn’t such a good idea. Three people in a van is one too many, especially for that amount of time.
We have become a lot more relaxed, compared to when we lived in NYC. We’ve grown in many ways. For example, now we make business decisions based upon how it aligns with our purpose, compared to when we lived in the city and made many work decisions based upon how much money we would make. Since living on the road, we are more mindful of our health and what we eat, we prioritize creative time for songwriting, and we value the present moment.
Website: www.fortvine.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/fortvine
Instagram: www.instagram.com/fortvine
YouTube: www.youtube.com/fortvine
Hi! I’m Bekah, but you can call me Beks, all my friends do! I travel full-time in a tiny home on wheels that my partner, Sawyer, and I built from a cargo trailer shell in 2019. We started out in beautiful Colorado and have been all over the United States over the years. This space is designed to inspire and guide the nature obsessed nomad, weekend warrior, and future roadlifer. I’m so excited you’re here!
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We wanted a watercraft for a long time, but didn’t quite know what to pull the trigger on. We wanted something that was durable and folded up nice and small. After watching videos of a jeep driving over the kayak and hit it with a hammer, we knew it was the one for us!
If you don’t already have a hammock, you really need to get on it! The Eno is a lightweight, packable, and durable hammock perfect for anyone living on the road. We have a single nest because neither of us seem to want to be in the hammock at the same time, but they do make a Double Nest if you are looking to cuddle up with your significant other in it.
Listen, everyone with photos of their van door wide open has flies. Adding a screen door was an absolute game-changer for us, plus it is attached through velcro so that you can easily remove it when you are ready to take those idyllic photos. If you haven’t hit the road yet, just get one. If you already have, this is the answer to your fly problem, you’re welcome.
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