Walden On Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom

Ken lay on the floor of his van, noting the cramped space between his bed and the driver’s seat. The heat in North Carolina caused him to sweat, and he panicked because a security guard was parked next to him. Ken spent the four months of the spring semester living in his van in a campus parking lot. He knew that if the security guard found out, he would be banned from campus and forced to go back into debt to get an apartment.

Ken explains that many people live in vehicles. They are called “vandwellers,” and each has their own reason for deciding to live this way. They may enjoy the wilderness, they may be forced into a desperate situation, or they might like freedom from possessions. Ken says he is most often asked about why he became a “vandweller,” living in a Ford Econoline he purchased in 2009, and he clarifies that this book is about student debt as much as it is about living in a van. Ken decides to start the story when he was 21 years old and about to graduate college with massive debt.