EP 56 Finding Freedom in Van Life with Carl Henn

Carl Henn, author of 'My Two Centuries in Africa' and upcoming book 'Home Free', shares his journey into van life and the freedom it brings. After retiring from a career in public health, Carl embarked on a national book tour, which led him to discover the joys of van life. He found that living in a van allowed him to travel freely, reconnect with old friends, and experience the beauty of national parks. Carl also discusses the shift in mindset from being a consumer to focusing on experiences and creativity. He encourages people, especially those approaching retirement, to explore their passions and live a life that brings them purpose and meaning.

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Transcript

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It takes a brave and independent mindset to go tiny. If you are trying to figure out your tiny pivot, this podcast is here to inspire and connect you with the other unconventional, gritty, inspirational people within this community. I am Laura Lynch, your tiny house friend and host. On this show, we are always going to come back to money because as a financial planner, this is the question I hear the most. How do I make this work for me financially? Well, that's my jam, so jump in, let's go. New episodes drop every Thursday. to Less House, More Moolah podcast. I am super excited to have you here. You know, this whole tiny living world is so serendipitous. You and I ran into each other at a writer's conference of all places. And so it's really interesting how tiny living has been interwoven in your author journey. So I'm super excited to explore that a little bit with you today. So please introduce yourself and share how you came. to live tiny. Sure, I'm Carl Henn. I'm originally from Indianapolis, but for the past few years, my dog, Mr. Bones, and I have been traveling the country and living in a mini camper van, nicknamed Van Gogh. How I came to the van life, sort of a long story. I spent most of my life, adult life, working in Africa, 40 years. And then in 2020, the COVID pandemic forced everyone to come home from overseas. And when I got back home, there were no more jobs in my field, public health. And I had just turned 62 and I found out that no matter how many jobs I applied for, I just could not get an interview. And then at some point I realized this is probably ages. Employers want to hire younger people who might stay with the company for a long time. And at 62, I was overqualified for most jobs. So I had more years of experience than required. And they don't really like that. And then as you get further along in your career, you move up the salary ladder. And I was more expensive than people in their 40s or 50s. So then it was like, what do I do now? And some of my friends said, well, you know, just get an hourly job for now. It'll keep you busy and it'll bring in a little money. But I didn't want to be a greeter at Walmart or Flip Burger. And I had this idea to write a book about my time in Africa. So in 2021, I started working on it and I worked on it for a year. March. 2022 it was done, but then I couldn't get an agent or publisher So I self -published it on Amazon and then I realized that nobody was buying it so And then it turns out that a million people yourself publish on Amazon and so You know, my book was one out of a million, but in the way of like saying, okay, there's a million stars in the sky and I'm waiting for someone to look up and point at me, you know, and it just doesn't work. So then it was like, what do I do? So I decided I would do my own national book tour to the lower 48 states. And. And I pretty quickly figured out that it would be expensive to stay in hotels all the time. And that's when I decided to get the camper van and camp wherever I could. And then I thought, well, you know, I'm going to be gone for six to nine months. And I didn't want to pay for my place in DC that whole time. So I gave up my lease and put my stuff in storage. And then I drove from DC to Indiana, which is where I'm from. And I was visiting my mom who's in a nursing home and I bought a van. And then I drove it to Denver where they do a lot of camper van conversions. And the guy needed it for 10 days. And so while I was waiting, I went to the shelter and found a dog, Mr. Bones. He's right there with me now. And I adopted him or he adopted me. We've been traveling together ever since. And so, It didn't really occur to me until I started the National Book Store. I had given myself six months, and that worked out eight days a month. And that worked out to a state every 3 .5 days. I realized that we were going to be driving all the time. So we managed to finish in six months on the road. But... By the time we had visited all 48 states, I was hooked on van life. And I realized I don't want to go and get my stuff out of storage. And I don't know where I want to live anywhere anyway. So I did go back and I got rid of more stuff in storage. cause you know, it's expensive to pay for the storage unit. And so I just have very little. that's left. And so I still haven't really figured out what to do about housing. Most people my age retire and then they move into what they call a green house. And I call it a permanent resting place because they basically stay there till they die. So and I don't want to go sit in a rocking chair and stare at four walls. So I guess I'll just keep roaming around. So yeah, they retire and they get what they call a dream home. And I call it a permanent resting place because they generally want to stay there till they die. So it's kind of a little bit morbid. And I didn't want to sit and rock. So yeah, that's about all on the first question. Yeah, good. So you took off from Northern Virginia and you know, I hear it a lot where people put stuff in storage and then they forget what's in storage and they come back to storage and they're like, I didn't need this stuff this whole time. So I don't need it anymore. So it sounds like that you have really taken to van life. You know, as you said, you really have fallen in love with van life. What is it about that moving around and that lifestyle that has appealed to you? Well, it kind of started with this big idea of doing a book tour to the lower 48 states. I just got really excited about that. I mean, maybe for most people doing a book tour sounds really boring, but I thought it would be exciting. And I had never visited all 48 states. And of course, I had to start doing some research. figure out what kind of vehicle to get and how to convert it to a camper and what that would cost and how the van life works, you know, where do you go to shower in the morning. One of the first things I found out is that Planet Fitness has thousands of locations all over the country and you can get a black pen for $25 a month and you can go and shower and work out all over the country. Pretty much any city that has hundred thousand people or more. And then, so that took care of, of souring in the morning and working. And then I thought, well, you know, I'm going to be by myself a lot. So it would be nice to have a companion. And for some reason, no women volunteered to drive all over the country with me in a tiny van. So. I just said, well, I'll get a dog. it'll take up less room. We won't have as many arguments. Yeah. The dog would not say, I told you so. So, I got the dog in Denver and then, you know, we started, we drove west, for San Francisco and visited parks along the way. We went to great sand dunes. in Colorado, it's a very day in Southwest Colorado and Canyonlands in Southeast Utah and then you drive through Nevada on US 50 which is the loneliest road in America and you can drive for like hours and it's not another or any and But I was just having a great time. I mean, you know, the parks were fantastic. And in San Francisco, we finally got there. I have a husband. I stayed with him and his wife for a few days. Went to all the bookstores. City Lights is a big bookstore in San Francisco. And then we drove up the coast through Oregon. I had a friend in Portland. And then... Seattle, I had another old friend in Seattle, stopped at National Parks along the way, Great Crater National Park in Oregon, Olympic National Park west of Seattle. It's just amazing. Yeah, amazing. And such a great way to reconnect with people and feel a sense of community all across the country. I'm sure that's been really rewarding to be able to spend time with people who you haven't seen and be able to move between relationships. Yeah, I mean, it's funny, like most people, and partly it's because of the job and because of having, you know, got little kids at home, you don't move around as much, you don't travel as much. But I mean, these are people that I hadn't seen maybe in 20 years or something. And if I had gone on a trip, I might not have ever seen them again, because they weren't coming my way. And so the lady in Seattle, I had been in the Peace Corps with her when we were 20, 40 years, you know. And, Yeah, you get to reconnect with people and you realize that it may take a lot of time, it may be a lot of work to drive all that way, but it's worth it. Because otherwise life just gets in the way and then you just never see people again and that's just you know, that's kind of sad, isn't it? It is it is so let's talk a little bit about philosophy you mentioned something to me when you and I talked before about you know consumption too and so talk a little bit about how van life and your ideas around consumerism are sort of coming together. Well, so I have a minivan. It's a Toyota Sienna minivan and that's converted so that it now has a bed and it has some sort of storage space under the bed platform. And in the back it's got a cook station and It's got a refrigerator and so on. And then I've got all my stuff because I needed to bring like winter, you know, fall, spring, all the different seasons of clothing and, you know, practical stuff, you know, sleeping bag, blanket, you know, food for the dog. So the engine's filled up and there's just no room for anything else. So the first thing I realized is I can't buy anything. You know, because I would go to bookstores, you know, to show them my book. And then I, of course, wanted to buy books because I love books. But then I realized I can't. I can't go and buy five books here and ten books there and on and on. I would have hundreds of pounds of books, which is what happened. On Let's Has More Mola, we hear so many stories of people living unconventional lives. Each of them is literally building their all -American dream. Are you tired of putting your dreams on hold because of money? Well, let's fix it. I have a two -part offering that is here to help you. First, I'm gonna give you access to my financial freedom calculator so that you'll understand your numbers and have a tangible starting point. This is free. And then second, we'll book a session to figure out your finances so that you can live your alt -American dream as soon as possible. This is paid. Why am I giving you something for free? Because I'm passionate about empowering people to choose an unconventional path. So let's work together to figure out money so that you will know that you've officially taken action on your plans. This offering is for you if you're unsure of your cost of living or how much savings you might need. You don't know what money move to make next. You dream of an unconventional life built on your terms. You're seeking a permanent solution and not a one time motivational boost. You want to learn about money from someone who shares your interest and breaking away from the norm. So what do you think? Are you tired of starting sentences with someday when I then go to all American dream .com and get the financial freedom calculator. Thanks for watching! And then I realized I can't even order anything from Amazon because I'm on the road. Where are they going to deliver it? Are they going to have a drone track me down on the road or something? So I just stopped spending money except for food and gas and stuff like that. And so then I realized I'm not consuming. I'm not a consumer. anymore. I'm just a what? What am I? If I'm not a consumer, I felt a little bit un -American, you know, like I was letting the economy down or something. But then it's like you just stop thinking about buying things. And, you know, you just focus on experiencing things, you know, seeing. the sites as they're driving along and visiting the national parks, spending time with friends and things like that. And it's really great. It's really great. That's so good. Yeah, I think we can all create a little, we can all be a little, have a focus a little bit more on creativity over consumption. I like to talk about this a lot because when we're creating, it can be very fulfilling and we're consuming not so much. So I'm glad you mentioned the bookstores and your books. What is it that tells a little bit more about your writing and the book that you've already published and what you're working on now and kind of your overall message that you're trying to deliver with your writing? So the first book is called My Two Senses in Africa. And it's about the time that I spent 46 in Africa. And I started in the Peace Corps in my 20s. And I was working with kids that had polio. And that got me into public health because I thought, you know, if we could just vaccinate kids. You know, they wouldn't get polio and they wouldn't have to struggle with it their whole life. So about the time I got my master's degree in the mid -80s, the AIDS epidemic started and it just exploded all over Africa. And so that's what I did for most of my career, prevent and entreatment of HIV. also working on malaria and Ebola, all kinds of infectious diseases. And then of course I had to come home because of COVID, which is another infectious disease. And I thought, you know, this is a little bit unusual what I did and maybe it would be interesting for other people. So the book is part memoir and part travelogue. And I ended up living and working in 27 of the 54 countries in Africa. And so there was a lot of, you know, ground to cover. And I had some unusual ideas for the book. I wanted to include color photographs that I had from over 40 years. And then I found out that when you put color pictures in the book, it cripples the because color printing is very expensive. And I also wanted to include African music because I fell in love with it and I had selected music all over. And so I ended up putting five different playlists in the book and there are three or four hours of music from each reader. So I hope that the experience of reading the book with the pictures and the music will be very And I kind of wonder, you know, now that we have the technology to do these things, why don't more books include, you know, the photos and the music and so on? E -books, for example, it doesn't cost anything to include color pictures or, you know, a link to a playlist. Now, of course, I had to sit down and write the whole book. And for some people, that's the biggest challenge because they get writer's block. And then for me, I discovered that the words just kind of pour out of my head. And I came to the conclusion that I have a, what I call a word factory in my head that works 24 hours a day. So the challenge when you have. very like busy brain is that I write quickly and I don't stop to edit along the way. So I get a first draft done pretty quickly compared to a lot of people. But then you have to go back and do the rewrite. Everybody has to do a rewrite. That seems to be the rule. And so when you're a banger, which is what I am, I just bang out the first draft. you have to do a lot of cleaning up. And then the other kind of writer is a slogger, you know, who writes slowly and painstakingly. And so I think, you know, probably their first draft is a bit cleaner, but, yeah, I mean, there's no one right way to do it. You just have to do what works for you. Tell us a little bit. You're working on a project, a writing project right now, correct? Yeah, yeah, so as I was going along the book tour through the 48th lower states, I was meeting people and tell them what I'm doing. And yeah, they tell me what they're doing. And it seemed like everyone wanted me to write a book tour and running away from home when you're 62 and with a dog and everything. And... So people got saying, you should write a book about this. And I discovered that it's very easy to tell someone to write a book. But for the author, it's a lot of work. So I didn't immediately start in on it. I needed to figure out what the book was going to be. And I didn't want to just write, today I went to this bookstore. And then tomorrow I'm going to the house. It had to be more of a story. It had to have more of an narrative. And I was still not sure what I was doing and what I was looking for. I thought I was looking for where I want to live next. Meaning where I would get my next home. And then I was driving last week. 2023 when I was driving through the US, you know, it's all desert. And when you're out in the desert, like your mind has sort of realm. There's no trees, there's nothing really to look at. And I was driving and I was heading towards Joshua Tree National Park in California. And suddenly the phrase just popped in my head. I'm home free. And I was like, home free. Wow, I like that. And suddenly I was like, that is the title of the book. And I'm home free. I'm free because I wake up every morning and I'm in a van and I can drive any direction I want as far as I want. long as I want and the van is my home. And so I thought, yeah, home's free. And I don't have the expense or the responsibility of a home somewhere. I don't have to worry about cutting the grass, shoveling snow, or bringing nails, or watering the house plants, or any of those things. So... You know, then you just start thinking differently when you aren't attached to that home anymore. And I thought, you know, sometimes you own your home, sometimes your home owns you. Meaning, you know, most of us are paying, you know, a 25 year mortgage, a 30 year mortgage. You know, we're going to be paying that until, you know, we retire or we die. And in fact the word mortgage from friends means, you know paying until death It's a kind of gloomy isn't it? So I finished the The 48 states thing and then we kept going and then I started working on writing home free and I finished the first round in let's see, March of this year. And then I wanted to see if I could find an agent this time. And then the agent could find the publisher. And so I realized that I needed to have a, you have to send them a proposal. You have to send a proposal to the agent. And I realized that I need to have the, edited by a professional before I sent it. Because you can't send, you know, stuff that's not professional. You just can't. And so I found a really good editor and I sent him the first three chapters. He wrote back and basically said, this is really bad. And so I was like, Christ. And, But that's pretty much what happens is the first draft, from what everyone I know tells me, the first draft is always bad. Then somebody has to tell you just how bad it is and what you have to do to fix it and make it good. So I've just been three weeks down here in Marston, Texas, about a week. And I think they're just about ready. That's amazing. So we are super excited that you're gonna have a book coming out about how you are home free in your van life. This'll be awesome. Share with the listeners where they will be able to find your book if you can tell us that. Also where they can find your book about your journey through Africa and all of your years in public health. The book about Africa is available on Amazon. My full name is Carl Williamson. And there is an e -book, a print book, and an audio book of all three. And then Home Free will also be available through Amazon. Probably, if all goes according to plan, by Christmas. and also ebooks, audiobooks, and textbooks. But it will also be available to bookstores, and I hope it will be in bookstores. And the way that works is you have to get a distributor, and there's one distributor for the whole country. It's a company called Ingram. And I don't know if this is interesting to you, or... your listeners, but I found it interesting. So the way it works is the bookstores every month order more books based on reviews, for example. The New York Times, the LA Times, something. So you have to have your book reviewed by a reputable source like that in order for bookstores to consider it. And then they get the book, from the distributor, but they are not owners of the book. They're kind of like renting the book. So if the book doesn't sell, the bookstores are not there to keep books. They are there to sell books. And if it doesn't sell, they all have like a time limit. If, you know, a month, three months, whatever. If it doesn't sell, they return the book to the distributor and they get a credit. They don't really own it. They're kind of like renting it. And this is really terrible. What they do is they don't actually ship the book back because that would cost a lot of money, right? They rip the cover off the book and they send the cover to prove that they have got rid of the book. So they just throw the books away. And then for the author, any returns are taken out of the proceeds they get from the distributor. So maybe a thousand of your books go out to the bookstore, but maybe 400 come back. So until the returns are in, you don't know how much money you get. So there's a whole business. Yeah, that's so interesting. I have definitely found that the whole publishing industry is like you need a whole master's degree in order to figure out how to get a book out into the world. And it is super complicated. It is, it really is. And, New York Times bestseller. I was just going to say that, you know, still sometimes it's water's worth wading through in order to get your important message out there in the world. And it sounds like that you have really struck on something that is deeply resonant with a lot of people right now related to. experiencing freedom of being on the road and van life or schoolie or tiny home or lots of other different ways of being sort of nomadic. And so your message is going to be very pertinent to things that people are trying to make decisions about right now. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I agree. Awesome. Well, Carl, thank you so much. Is there anything else that you would like to share with us before we wrap up? Yes, buy my book. No, seriously. I guess what I want to say, especially for people who are approaching retirement, you know, most of the advice for retirement is financial advice, you know, save money, be careful, be cautious, and so on. And... I think a more important or equally important question is, what do I want to do with my life? And where do I want to go and where do I want to live? And what will make me want to get out of bed in the morning? And my answer to that is to let your imagination wander. Let your imagination be free. and find something that really lights you up that you want to do, that you really want to do with your life. Something that will give you purpose and meaning and so forth. And so it doesn't apply only to people at retirement age. It's really, you know, of any age. I mean, look at the situation for younger people now. especially since the COVID pandemic, you don't have to go to work every day in the office. You don't have to commute every day the way people used to. You could work remotely from anywhere or everywhere. And, if you want to travel, and I suspect many, if not most people want to travel, then why not do it, you know, and why not make decisions? that allow you to do that. And so I don't think it's my place to tell people they could travel full time and live in a van. I think everybody has to decide how much they want to travel and where and for how long. But I do hope that people will think about doing sun travel and exploring and discovering America. Yeah, for people sort of my age or older who are approaching retirement or have retired, I think a really important question is not to, you know, financial retirement, you know, having enough money in the bank and, you know, managing, you know, controlling your expenses. And that's what I see most people focusing on. But... I think as important, if not more, is what are you doing in retirement? I mean, what makes you want to get out of bed in the morning and put on clothes? Why not sit around in your pajamas all day every day? What I think is a very important thing is to allow our imagination to wander and to be free to think of and find something that lights us up and for me it's the writing. I love it and the traveling and you know if I think it's going to be different for everybody not everybody wants to travel and write full -time maybe somebody wants to do speed quilting. or competitive scrabble. It could be anything. Learning to play the piano. But use your imagination. I mean, we have imagination for a reason. And be open to new things. And then the other thing I was saying for younger people, I mean, this isn't just for old people. Especially since... COVID, people don't have to go to work in the office every day, the same place, commuting to work and home again. Look how many people can work remotely. And so, you know, think about what you want to do and where you want to be when you're doing it. Do you want to travel? Do you want to explore this country, other countries? Do you want to live in a yurt? You know, do you want to live in a teepee? I mean, where do you want to live? How do you want to live? And just be very open to all kinds of options and different ways of living and spending your life. I love that. I'm sure you know, Carl, that you are singing my song right now because that is absolutely the message that I'm trying to get out both to people in retirement and also younger people. We have to figure out when we're retiring, what we're retiring to. We're not just retiring from something that made us, you know, unhappy or that we had completed, but we have to have something to retire to. And there's still a very important need for meaningfulness. mastery, all of those things that fill us up that are much more important than our shelter. And likewise, for younger people, shelter, just a basic need, right? So what else can we maximize in our life? And how do we use shelter as a leverage point to focus on things that are more important? So I appreciate you echoing what I am saying all the time through your own experience. Thank you so much for being on the podcast today. Thank you. Hey, thank you for taking the time to listen to Less House More Moolah. I have another free resource on my website for you, the Unconventional Values Quiz. In just two minutes, you can pinpoint your style of freedom seeker, security guardian, adventure enthusiast, or community builder. Check it out at thetinyhouseadvisor .com. And one more thing, podcasts don't have algorithms like social media does. They only grow by word of mouth and reviews. If this podcast is helpful to you, would you please post a review on your podcast app and tell a friend who is trying to live a values -based life? It would totally make my day.