Who is EcoTraveling Foodie?
I’m Davina van Buren, a freelance food and travel writer who’s lived as a digital nomad since the early 2000s.
For years, people said I should start a blog. But I’ve been so busy with client work and building my writing business the past eight years that the last thing I wanted to do on my days off was more writing. I don’t do anything half-heartedly, so it just wasn’t the right time.
Then 2020 happened….
Like many of you, I had some dreams dashed this year. Health issues, canceled travel plans and personal difficulties made it one of the most challenging yet. I’m just thankful I’m self-employed and don’t have to homeschool young children—shout out to the single parents out there because I honestly don’t know how you are doing it.
I’ve been following the tiny home movement since 2007 and in the years subsequent, consistently downsized with every move, especially during my six years in Colorado. I’ve also been learning about sustainability and environmental issues for about 15 years now, since I reported my first story on recycling as a cub reporter at UNC-Chapel Hill. With the exception of three years in High Point, where I had a huge garden and a 3-bedroom house filled with cool things, everything I own can typically fit in a 10×10 storage building.
Camper/van life has always intrigued me, but looking at social and other media coverage, I never saw myself—a middle-aged, biracial Black woman—represented in that culture. I thought that to live the van life I needed a big (expensive) Sprinter van and tons of do-it-yourself skills, because of course you need hardwood floors/ceilings and marble tile in your Instagram-worthy, conversion, right? Well, I do not build ANYTHING or use tools, so that was a no for me. And paying a company to do it was not in my budget.
Those “#vanlife” images of beautiful couples who somehow know how to build houses by watching YouTube videos are marketed to us for a variety of reasons I’ll get into in later posts. For now, I’ll just say that not everyone has the option—OR THE INCLINATION!—to spend months learning how to build shit.
I have no interest whatsoever in learning how to use power tools. Not to mention I don’t have boatloads of money to spend on gas and campground fees. Campers are not cheap to keep up—there’s always something going wrong with them, the roofs leak, and I can’t even imagine changing a tire on an RV. The minivan is perfect for me because I can stealth camp anywhere, get into spaces where bigger, heavier rigs can’t, plus I can put my seats back in at any time and have a regular minivan again if and when I decide to stop doing this and do something else.
I was going to buy a house this year. However, with all the uncertainty that 2020’s brought so far (it’s not over yet) it’s a seller’s market and I am not feeling as confident about it now. I decided that if I am not going to buy a home right now, I wasn’t going to continue paying rent at a place I didn’t love. So I started looking into campers and mobile living—and what I discovered was life-changing.
There’s a Robust Community of American Nomads
Once I decided that I was definitely going to live on the road, I did what I always do when I have a plan in progress: I researched the hell out of it every chance I got. Every night for the six weeks before I set out, I stayed up way too late watching YouTube videos and learning about every aspect of living in a van—how to cook food, shower, stay warm, get power, stay safe, where to camp, etc.—and what I discovered was life-changing.
I found: a whole community of adventurous, self-reliant people who inspired me.
I’ll dig more into this in another post, but people come to the van (car/boat/RV) life in many ways. Some, like me, are in for the change of pace and the adventure. They want to be out in nature and do their own thing and can work remotely. For others, it is not always a choice. The reality is, with the wealth gap growing, technological advancements that threaten jobs in many industries, and general disillusionment with the so-called American dream, you’re going to see a lot more people doing this. People are getting tired of living to work and pay bills. I left the 9–5 lifestyle many years ago and it was the best decision I ever made.
I decided to start EcoTraveling Foodie to document my time living and working on the road and share the journey with others who may want to do it, too. Along with food and travel, sustainability is very important to me, so that is the focus of my travels.
I’m Different From Other Bloggers
For starters:
- I’m middle aged
- I’m a biracial Black woman
- I’m from the Dirty South
- I use profanity and rarely wear makeup (don’t expect slick, uber-produced videos from me)
- My focus is not just van life. I’m a seasoned journalist whose main goal is to tell stories that center around local people, travel, food, and sustainability.
Most food and travel “influencers,” do not look like me or have a story like mine. (More on that later.) My aim is to provide travel inspiration and useful knowledge for real people of all ages and races—and you definitely don’t need to know how to use a drill to follow me 🙂
The Plan
Officially, I started van life on October 31, 2020. But I didn’t sleep in my rig for almost two weeks. The first place I went was my best friend’s house near Asheville, henceforth known as Camp David.
Camp David is fantastic. It’s country living at its best: bucolic farm scenes, beautiful gardens, dogs and a lovely two-level home with a fireplace and multiple patios. David and his partner Killer (and David’s mom, Sylvia) are the closest thing I have to family, and they spoil me rotten when I visit!!
For two weeks we hung out while I caught up on work and ordered things for my journey. I then headed to Church Hill, Tenn., Floyd, Va., Falls Lake, N.C. and back to Camp David for Thanksgiving. Originally, the plan was to head southwest in mid-December, but that has already changed as I may have to have surgery next month.
Now I plan to continue doing the van thing until February; then I will need about three months to heal. That works out well, because the weather should be nice by then. I’ve been making it happen in the cold and am really proud of myself for that, but I must admit summer camping will be so much easier as far as carrying more stuff around (the propane heater, 20-gallon propane tank, thick clothing, coats, etc. take up a lot of space).
Until then, and when I start up again, I’ll be mixing it up with campgrounds, dispersed camping on BLM/National Forest land, home stays with friends and family, and self-guided press trips along the way. Eventually I’ll make my way to California to drive the Pacific Coast Highway and up to Seattle. Then I will probably explore the northern U.S. next summer. It depends on some personal things I have going on.
I’m a journalist first and foremost, so storytelling is the focus. I’ll be following the weather (and harvests), and interviewing chefs, farmers, artisans, adventurers, companies doing cool stuff with sustainability, etc. along the way. I’ll write about it on here on the blog and there will also be a monthly newsletter and YouTube channel. You can also find me on Facebook and Instagram. I hope to see and interact with as many friends (old and new!) as possible along the way.
#VanLife and Beyond
For now I am really enjoying living in the van and traveling around the U.S., but I can’t wait to be able to travel internationally again. The EcoTraveling Foodie theme allows for global travel. I’m very excited about that, but for now there has never been a better time for road tripping! One day I would like to organize some groups trips around the food and sustainability theme.
Thanks for reading about my new venture! I hope you’ll follow me on social media and sign up for the newsletter and YouTube channel. If you like food, travel and sustainability, I think you’ll enjoy it.