Hey, I’m Tee!
Full-time van dweller, part-time hermit, and unpaid butler to two cats.
I enjoy photographing wildlife, writing helpful articles about life in a van in nature, and inspiring and educating people about our natural world. Here’s the longer version.
How I ended up here
I used to own a house and I paid for it by turning the upstairs portion into an AirBnB. But I quickly realized houses and vans both come with a list of problems, and sharing a home with short-term tenants was a bit too loud, intrusive, and all-around stressful for an introvert like me.
After 3 years, I decided I’d rather have the set of problems that comes with adventure, nature, and solitude.
So in April 2023, I moved into a van and haven’t looked back.
But that wasn’t entirely out of nowhere. I thru-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail in 2014 and the Appalachian Trail in 2015 (plus a failed attempt in 2011), and after a few thousand miles of walking, I reached a firm, well-reasoned conclusion: I did not want to rejoin society.
The main obstacle was money.
I spent a few years working as a clinical tech at a wildness-based drug rehab in the mountains of North Carolina. As much as I grew as a person working with addicts at the beginning of their recovery journey, ultimately, the burnout was real, especially for an introvert.
So years before it was acceptable or mandatory, I clawed my way into remote work specifically so I could keep living in nature, away from the hustle and bustle of the concrete urban nightmare.
The cats, my daughters
Post-COVID, I almost talked myself out of the whole thing because of Boudica (calico) and Pooka (…brown). I had two cats and a deeply held belief that I owed them a life with walls and a couch.
Well, it turns out they adapted to the van faster than I did! They’re seasoned adventure cats now, and at this point, I’d feel guilty putting them back in a house. Ask them and they’ll tell you they run this operation. And they’re not wrong!
Not built for “normal”
I’m neurodivergent — introvert, ADHD, social anxiety, the full starter pack — so “normal life” and I never really clicked. There were years of fear and depression, of white-knuckling jobs, missing the memo on society’s arbitrary social rules, and generally struggling with the friends, family, and romance portion of being human.
I won’t pretend I hacked it. But I did eventually build a life that fits me perfectly. And, plot twist for two nomadic introverts who met through online dating (an unfortunate necessity), I even found a partner in Alex Noriega, award-winning nature photographer. Since December 2025 we’ve driven thousands of miles across the USA together, which is a lot of togetherness for two people who require a lot of alone time. And yet, it works beautifully.
My kind of van life
If you’re picturing an athlete free-soloing a cliff at golden hour: wrong van. I’m the slow, quiet, nerdy-divergent version. A normal week looks like:
- Parking somewhere remote in a national forest
- Taking slow walks in the woods with the cats (they just follow me around! It’s incredible!)
- Photographing wildlife with my Canon R7 and 100–500mm lens
- Working my very ordinary remote 9–5
- Playing Path of Exile 2 with my boyfriend and our friends who live in actual houses
- Examining things I found outside under my microscope
- Metal detecting, exploring nearby historic sites, and reading about the explorers who came before me
- Learning the local birds, plants, animals, and rocks
- Posting all of it to Instagram
- Clumsily painting with watercolors and drawing
What this site is for
Mostly I’m following my curiosity and seeing where it leads. But if it does anything, I’d like it to:
- Nudge fellow introverts to step outside their comfort zone — only if they actually want to, no pressure
- Show that van life and nature don’t have to mean extreme sports and glamor shots
- Share what I’m learning about nature, science, backcountry living, raising adventure cats, finding romance on the road, and living fully as a neurodivergent introvert
- Make “different” feel a little more normal, maybe build a little community, and generally spread some joy where I can
That’s the story so far. Pull up a quiet campsite and stay a while.