VAN LIFE WITH CATS & EXPERIENCING BURNOUT | FT. QUIN GABLE
My Solo Road S2 Ep 4 | Van Life with Cats & Experiencing Burnout | ft. Quin Gable
Are you looking to travel solo on the road? Today my good friend Quin Gable is with us to talk all about being a solo female traveler, dealing with burnout, having cats on the road, and more!
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INTRODUCTION
Are you interested in solo female van life but aren’t sure that you could do it on your own? In this week’s episode, I’m joined by my good friend and solo female traveler, Quin Gable! We discuss her life before she moved into her van, advice + safety tips for single women on the road, her new van build, and training your cats for the road! We also dive deep into mental health, including social media’s impact on it, her mental health journey in the van, and how to deal with burnout on the road!
HOW SHE STARTED VAN LIFE
- She’s been on the road for over 14 months (at the time of the recording)She has a Ford Transit, 148 high roof, all wheel drive (which is now for sale here!)
- With the 4 wheel drive she gets stuck a lot less than a 2 wheel drive van. She got stuck at Descend on Bend and in Chicago in the snow during her first week in the van.
- Two garbage men taught her how to get unstuck > put it into manual so your tires will not stop moving. If you don’t do this, your tires will sense that they need to stop and won’t work.
- MaxTrax have saved my life since they are a guarantee that you will get out. I’ve used them many times!
WHAT SHE DID BEFORE VAN LIFE
- For 8 years she was a Marketing Director and an Event Producer for behindthechair.com. She was scouting locations all across the USA, Canada and the UK. At 23 she was running sold out shows and she loved it.
- When the pandemic hit, she kept her job but switched to social media.
- Since she was traveling as an event producer alone all of the time, she decided to download TikTok to start making videos about solo female travel.
- When the pandemic happened, she started to spiral a little bit. Her mental health started to take a huge toll. All of the feelings get brought up when you start to slow down.
THE MOMENT SHE KNEW SHE WANTED TO GO ON THE ROAD
She was at a gas station close to her dad’s house in Colorado and she saw an old sprinter. It had 2 paddleboards, a kayak and a cute couple getting gas. She sat there and decided that she wanted to do it.
Her friend passed away and within 2 weeks of that she bought a van, listened to this podcast, and bought every van life book off of amazon.
Once she got on the road, she realized it takes you a while to relax. You have to practice existing. And you have to be okay and not feel guilty about staying in your van when you get somewhere really nice and you don’t feel like doing anything. Listen to your body and make sure to take breaks!
And a reminder: when one door closes, you don’t know the next door or doors that are going to open for you, go for it and you have no idea what will happen next.
DEALING WITH BURNOUT ON THE ROAD
- As a solo person on the road it’s very difficult. You have to find a place to sleep, fill up your water tank, clean the van, and get groceries. Which ends up being half your day. It was getting to a point where she was moving around so fast in the city that she wanted to rent an Airbnb for 2 weeks for consistency.
- You have to be intentional! One week you’re a tourist and the next week you’re going to chill and listen to your body. You’ll get to know the area without doing different stuff everyday.
- Moving too quickly will set you up for failure and you can’t escape your problems by traveling!
ADVICE + SAFETY TIPS FOR SOLO WOMEN ON THE ROAD
- She had one scary situation where she was filling her water tank. A man came up and said you’re using that wrong and then just continued to ask questions.
- Sometimes in van life, you have to lie to protect yourself. Sometimes people are harmless but you have to be stern when they cross the line.
- She has never felt safer than she has living in her van. When you live in an apartment, you often have the same routine every day and in the van, if you sense anything then you can leave. You can park at a Walmart, Cracker Barrel, or Casinos. Park somewhere public so you can feel more safe with people around you.
- Having a Garmin is helpful if you don’t have service or don’t have your phone with you. You can use the SOS and someone will help you.
- She has a Simplisafe security system in her van and it’s hit or miss. It might go to your home address but they will call you beforehand. And you can have shortcuts on your phone (like if you tap it 5 times it will call the police.)
- Safety tip: if you’re checking into a hotel you never want to say your last name out loud. Make sure to give them your license and if they say the room number out loud tell them you want another room.
- Instead of bear spray or pepper spray that gets everywhere immediately, you can use wasp spray and it will spray 20 feet. BUT if you tell a police officer that you used wasp spray then you would go to jail. You have to physically state that if you’re using wasp spray it was the only thing that was within reach to use. Same with bear spray or a baseball bat.
- You can also use these tips: pretend to be married, put a second chair at your campsite, put “I like my gun” stickers on your van etc.
- For me, when I lived in Chicago I felt a lot more unsafe than I do in the van. I would get followed home from work in the city and haven’t had too many bad experiences in the van.
- When you first start out in van life, go places that you know because it makes you more comfortable!
- Tip: if you need AAA, make sure you say you are in a passenger van then they will help you!
HER NEW VAN
- She bought a new van ford transit 2022 all wheel drive high roof 148.
- When she bought her first van she thought van life would be temporary so that’s how she built it. It’s perfect for a weekend trip but it doesn’t inspire her to live in the van and work in a van. You don’t know what you like until you live there!
- Her new van was built out by Dame Van Co (a women led company with women builders!) She has been a builder for the past 2 years and has lived in a van before! Working with someone that lived in a van helps them to know the little details that make a great build!
- A lot of things haven broken in her first van and she had to fix all of it. So make sure to have a contract with your builder. Have it state a period of time that if something breaks then that company is responsible for fixing it.
- She really likes light and wanted to make sure that everything faces out. She has more space for her gear, and the litter box and the toilet are in one bench. There’s a fan that goes outside for the nature’s head toilet.
- A reminder: shit does break in your van! If something happens to you and you feel frustrated, just remember that it happens to everyone.
- When you go to gatherings, people will have a toolkit and they will help you if you ask!
HOW TO NAVIGATE HAVING CATS ON THE ROAD
- She has 2 cats, Otto and Atlas. They were apartment cats and it wasn’t until she moved to her dad’s house that they started to go outside.
- She believes that any cat can learn how to go outside. She has met so many cat people and all cats of different ages. Big Chungus is an 11 year old cat that was rescued at 8 years old and they moved into a van!
- The first thing is that you have to understand your cat. Atlas who is more of a lazy cat and Otto who is an adventure cat.
- If you have a cat like Atlas, monitor them and let them do what they want to do. If you have a cat like Otto you want to introduce the harness and leash when you’re in the van and for the first 3 months don’t let them out of your sight.
- They have scheduled meal times so if they are outside roaming they will come back for dinner.
- As far as cat tags, air tags don’t work when you don’t have service, are on BLM land, or when no one is around you.
- Tile trackers are a C+. They still dont work when you need them to work
- We use Whistle devices but we don’t have dogs that would run away. Whistle is more for health and activity level and we use it for the fosters.
HER VAN LIFE MENTAL HEALTH JOURNEY
My dogs help my mental health tremendously and I don’t know how anyone lives in a van without pets.
Her cats give her a purpose everyday. When she has her depressive episodes, she has to go outside. Your pets also know you and they will help you when you’re upset.
She’s been seeing the same therapist for 4 years and when she moved into a van she moved to online sessions.
Her therapist reminds her: Don’t make a permanent decision on a temporary emotion.
There is a lot of steering wheel crying and time with yourself in the van. You’re forced to deal with your mental health.
When she gets into a dissociated state she feels dead inside. It also becomes very scary and she is scared of herself during a “call of the void” state.
Some tips that help her: write a gratitude journal, slow down, bring yourself back to reality, walk with your shoes off, anything to bring you back into this reality. Reminding your brain that you are real. Find out what triggers it + what helps and works for you!
SOCIAL MEDIA’S IMPACT ON MENTAL HEALTH
- Social media has both hurt and helped her mental health. When it was pictures, it was a lot more stressful but now that it’s more focused on video content she feels like she can showcase her personality (and cats!) better.
- Social media has given her a creative outlet to help inspire others to live her lifestyle too!
- But there is the side effect of performing for others, constantly having to create, and comparison.
- Two accounts that have inspired her are Court and Nate + Leave the Map
- Social media has personally helped my confidence and self-worth. You have to remember that not everything you do needs to be made into content!
SUMMARY
Van life is just as safe (if not MORE safe) than living in an apartment. If you are on the fence about traveling as a solo female in a van and safety is what’s holding you back, do it! Use these tips, trust your gut, and leave a place if you’re getting a bad feeling. And you aren’t alone in your mental health struggles. Moving into a van alone forces you to spend time with yourself and sometimes you need support. Find what works to help you and reach out to a therapist, friend, or someone that can help if you’re struggling.
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