Tag Archives: The RV Artsy Life of Sue Soaring Sun

Jun12

10 Blogs by Vandwellers, Nomads, Vagabonds, RVers, Travelers, and Drifters

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Thanks for reading my blog! I appreciate your support! Maybe you’re wondering what other blogs you can read that are written by vandwellers, nomads, vagabonds, RVers, travelers, and drifters. Today I’ll share with you what I know about blogs written by folks who live on the road at least part of time.

White van in the distance at sunset.
Photo provided by Devan

Xsyntrik Nomad is written by my sweet and positive friend Devan Winters, a vandweller. She writes about choosing and building a van, earning a living on the road, and sharing her vanlife with a cat. She’s a very talented writer and her posts are quirky and engaging.

Yvette Angela Assata writes Rated Rosa, and says of herself,


I am a radical Black feminist, birth worker, activist, anti-racist, a lesbian, and I do a whole lot of community organizing…


…I decided I would convert a school bus to live in, and while I was at it, travel North America. The choice to move onto a vehicle was an easy decision for me because it fits my lifestyle. Besides living in the Pacific Northwest for the past near-13 years, seeing the increases in rent and gentrified neighborhoods, watch people not able to find housing (myself included) and literally pushed out of cities and into the margins, I’m anti-establishment and a wanderer to my core.

Brenton MacAloney has been writing Brent’s Travels since 2013. He’s traveled in a camper van, a Toyota Prius, and a pickup truck with a camper that slides into the van. He says,


I like travel, meeting people, and writing about my experiences.

Meeting people is a goal of mine. In fact I will try to meet someone new everyday. I want to write about them. Who [they] are and what makes them unique.

 

Undercover Hippy Bus is about a family living in “big white ex-courier van.” The adults were tired of all the time their jobs stole away from being with their kids, so they sold off most of their stuff and now live simply and happily. They write about parenting, food, and travels.


Make Like an Apeman is about Duwan and Greg, nomads since 2011. They say,

…we sold everything, quit our jobs, rented our house (and eventually sold it), bought a sailboat, and set sail on a traveling adventure and a story that has been writing itself as we go along.

Their Instagram account (@makelikeanapeman) says they now live in a van three seasons a year and house sit in the summers.

Burly Nomads is the blog of

Miah and George, a gay couple [who recently started their] adventure into full-time RV living. We are tired of being tied down to a house that we do not like, nor want to be in. Tired of not being able to travel to places we want to see, visit with friends and family we want to visit, so we are choosing to have a life of ‘Freedom over Stability’

A cat walks on a narrow ledge below the large back window of an RV.
Sonja Begonia in Brownie’s big back window. Photo used with Sue’s permission.

The RV Artsy Life of Sue Soaring Sun is written by my friend and Sun sister. She writes about the art she creates and the places she visits with her cat Sonja Begonia while living in Brownie, her 20-ft 1984 Lazy Daze mini-motor home. Sue doesn’t update her blog often, but when she does, I really enjoy her stories from the road.

Gnomad Home is the place to go to read about the adventures of John and Jayme and their two dogs. It’s also an outstanding place to get tons of tips to make your van life easier and more enjoyable. There is an excellent section called Build Your Van with so much helpful information

all about helping you…choose your van, plan your design, install creature comforts like electricity and plumbing, and actually build out the interior of your DIY campervan conversion. [Y]ou’ll find awesome infographics, detailed information, step-by-step guides, links to helpful resources, and more.

Kaya Lindsay’s blog can be found at One Chick Travels. Kaya says of herself,

I am a writer, I am a photographer, I am a filmmaker, I am a climber, I play the ukulele and I drive long distances as a form of self-care…

I have been living in my 2006 Dodge Sprinter Van and creating content for about 2 years. I drive around, rock climb, play the ukulele 🎶 and interview badass lady travelers who are also living in vans.

Interstellar Orchard is the blog of Becky Schade who started living on the road full-time in 2012, at the age of 28. Becky says,


Here at Interstellar Orchard (IO), you’ll find:
Informational articles on how to go RVing full-time
Travelogues of my adventures to inspire future nomads and armchair travelers alike
Philosophical posts on how to live a happier, more fulfilling life

Aug15

Creative Nomad (An Interview with Sue Soaring Sun)

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I met Sue Soaring Sun in December of 2014. She’d seen me repeatedly at the coffeeshop in the small Southwest town where we were both wintering and intoduced herself. An hour later when we ran into each other again in the thrift store, she told me about Bob Wells’ Cheap RV Living website. I soon learned about the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous and decided to attend. I guess you could call Sue my rubber tramp fairy godmother because she introduced me to vandwelling as a way of life and not just something I had to do because I had few options.

Sue is also my Sun sisiter, a fellow artist and blogger, a writer of fabulous letters, and a dear friend. She is the proprieter of Sun Gallery at 407-1/2 N Broadway in Truth or Consequences, NM. Sun Gallery is a folk art and antiques gallery which features Sue’s paintings, collages, and mosaic work.

We were in different states when I started this interview series, so I sent her questions via email. Today you’re in for a treat because you get to read her answers.

You’re not a vandweller, but you do live nomadically. How long have you been on the road?
I’ve been living and traveling in an RV more often than not since February 14, 2011.

What sort of rig do you live and travel in?
I have had Brownie, a 1984 20-foot Lazy Daze mini-motorhome, for about 14 months.

I know you’ve had other rigs.  What were they and why did you decide against them?
I’ve had a couple of Toyota Dolphin 22-foot mini-motorhomes, and they were great for when I travel solo, which is most of the time. Sometimes, though, I travel with my boyfriend, and I wanted something that would work for two. We tried a Class A for a while, but found it was way too much for either of us to want to drive, so we parked it and used it as a part-time urban home base. Last year I found the Lazy Daze which has a lot more power and is about a foot taller and wider than the Dolphin coach. Even though it’s shorter, it’s a bit more spacious. Now I’m selling the Class A. I no longer want to use it as a home base. I have an art gallery that serves that function. So I’m staying in the Lazy Daze all the time, except for if I happen to housesit or stay in a vacation rental.

What are your three favorite things about your current rig?  What would you change about it if you could?

This is how Sue has been decorating the inside of her rig to make Brownie less brown. She gave me permission to use this photo of hers.


*I love the big back windows, and my floorplan has the dinette right there. I can back up to a beautiful lake or river or other view and watch birds and other wildlife from the comfort of my table, drinking coffee and wearing my cozy slippers.

*It has more power and feels more solid than my past mini-mohos. I can pass other vehicles if necessary.

*It is very cool looking. Shagalicious, baby.

What I’d change…it is very brown inside, hence the name Brownie. I am slowly replacing brownness with color and creativity. Also, Brownie takes a lot of gas. I have to budget more carefully than I used to.

I took this photo of the RTArt Camp banner that Sue and I painted together.

How does living nomadically enhance your life as an artist?
Whoo-boy! Living nomadically goes hand-in-hand with my creativity. I’m sure when I’m old and can no longer travel, I will still make art. But so much of what I do now is inspired by what I see and the experiences I have along the road. Traveling has brought me in touch with so many other artists, and now, since the first RTArt Camp at this year’s Rubber Tramp Rendezvous (RTR), we have even started an intentional community for nomadic artists. Imagine that! I could not have predicted all that would come out of a simple idea of wanting to do art with other people while at the RTR. When I spend time camping with other artists, I am inspired. After our recent Rubber Tramp Art Community gathering, I stopped at a beautiful free boondocking site and spent five days doing nothing but paint, eat and sleep.

Does living nomadically make your life more challenging in any ways?
Yes. I have struggled in my new rig to deal with temperature extremes. This summer, I found myself unexpectedly staying in Truth or Consequences, NM, and I could not find any good way to keep my cat and myself cool in the RV. Fortunately, a friend who goes away for the summer let me stay at her house. Next summer, I will probably seek a higher elevation, as I had wanted to this year. I gradually solved my problems with cold last winter, but it took a while.

Also, it can be very inconvenient and expensive when I have to go stay somewhere else if my rig is in the shop.

Do you mostly boondock on free public land?
Yes.  I also stay behind my art gallery, in a parking lot. I can hook up to electricity there.

I took this photo of this free riverfront boondocking area where Sue and I camped together.

Under what circumstances do you pay for a campsite?
I sometimes pay for a campsite or an RV park site when I have a lot of things I’d like to get done…shower, laundry, dumping the tanks, etc.  I’ve also stayed at campgrounds when my boyfriend and I are traveling together in parts of the country where you usually need reservations, such as our recent trip to Florida. And occasionally I have friends who want to go stay at a campground, and I tag along for the fun.

Do you do much stealth parking in cities?
My Lazy Daze is built on a Chevy G30 van chassis, but it doesn’t look like a van! It’s built out into a motorhome. So no, I can’t get away with it.

Do you travel with everything you own?
No.  I rent commercial space that I use as an art gallery and studio. I keep most of my art supplies there, as well as off-season clothing and things that I only use occasionally.

Sonja Begonia in Brownie’s big back window. Photo used with Sue’s permission.

You share your rig with a cat companion. Has she been on the road with you her whole life?  If not, how did you help her transition to life on the road?
Sonja Begonia was about a year old when I got her in 2008, and I went on the road in 2011. She also has some attitude, so I could not get her leash-trained before starting to travel, as I’d hoped, nor since. At first, for her own safety, I had to keep her in a kennel while traveling because otherwise she would try to get out of the RV when we stopped, and many stops are not a safe place for a pet to get out. Now I just start the engine and she gets in her co-pilot seat.

What’s the best part of living nomadically?
I love driving six miles from my art gallery and boondocking on the bank of the Rio Grande. Or, when I’m on the road, finding an unexpected fantastic view. It’s being free to change my scenery, and to be immersed in it. I keep my gallery open very part-timey and give myself lots of time to travel and create.

Do you miss anything about living in a sticks-n-bricks?
Gardening. I like centering myself by digging in dirt. So, at my gallery, for one or two months out of the year, I create fairy gardens for sale. I am also going to get myself a dashboard/cab plant once the 100+ degree weather has passed this summer.

I don’t miss any other thing, not one. I get to experience sticks-n-bricks living occasionally, and it always confirms for me that I prefer to live nomadically.

Feb7

Artwork at La Paloma

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In a previous post about the bathhouses in Truth or Consequences, NM (http://www.rubbertrampartist.com/2016/02/06/truth-or-consequences-hot-springs-my-experiences/), I mentioned enjoying the paintings on the wall of the private room I soaked in at La Paloma. However, I couldn’t get the formatting right to include any of my photos of the murals in the post. I decided to share those photos today because #1 the paintings are nice and #2 I am tired and possibly incapable of writing anything long and thought-provoking.

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When I asked my friend Sue Soaring Sun about these paintings, she told me they were done by Tracy Turner Sheppard. Here’s what Sue said about the paintings on her blog The RV Artsy Life of Sue Soaring Sun (http://ebayrv.blogspot.com/2012/06/cool-times-in-hot-town.html):

La Paloma was beautiful last year when I worked there and became even more beautiful while I was gone for the winter.  There are more gardens, some bird feeders, and lucky bamboo plants in every room.  All of the bath house rooms have been replastered and repainted, and a well-known New Mexico artist, Tracy Turner Sheppard, is painting mimbres and mandalas on the walls of each tub room.  Tracy is in town working on this project this week, and I’m delighting in getting to know her.

The next photo shows how the artist took an air vent and turned it into something cute and colorful.

soaked at La Paloma.I think if something functional (and kind of ugly) has to be in a room, living with it is much easier if it can be colorful and cheerful.

I really like how the colors the artist used are somehow both vibrant and subdued. They make me feel energized but not hyper or frantic. (I think “vibrantly subdued” is an oxymoron, but that’s the best way I can think of to describe these colors.  Please leave a comment if you can think of better words to use to describe them.)

SDC10003 - CopyMy favorite thing on the wall was this fat turtle and the decorative squiggles all around it.

This is what the artist says about herself on her website (http://www.tracyturnerart.com/bio.htm):

As a native of the west, I grew up surrounded by landscapes of astonishing diversity, light and beauty.Coming into the world this way, I developed a great passion for wild places and a love for the infinite ways color and light manifest with form on this earth.
My work is a reflection of that love and seeks to express a magical reality with color as the universal language. I play with its endless variety and vibrancy, translating my own sense of joy and mystery of the physical world onto canvas.

To see more of Tracy Turner Sheppard’s work, go to http://www.tracyturnerart.com/gallery.htm.

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I love the lavender sun and the fat-bellied reptile.

I took all of the photos in this post.