We just spent the last year building a camper van while we house sat around the Southeastern US.
On June 1st, 2025 we arrived back in the US from spending a year back packing in South America. We have been full-time nomads for the last 14 1/2 years. Our new plan was to build out a new camper van. I convinced my husband that we could do it while doing house sits .
Our first house sit was on June 12. We didn’t have the van yet, but we started planning the van’s layout and building the batteries that would run the camper’s electrical system. We took possession of an empty Ford Transit cargo van on July 7.
Out of 373 days until June 20, 2026 we sat 328 days in 4 different states. We did 22 sits in total. 18 of our sits were with Trusted House Sitters. 4 were off the platform. We sat 20 dogs, 8 cats, 3
donkeys, 6 geese, 5 chickens, and about a dozen cows.
We did our last sit in the first city we did our first sit in an amazing little neighborhood called Cabbagetown in Atlanta, Georgia. This is the neighborhood we lived in before we went full-time nomads 14 1/2 years ago and where we got our start as house and pet sitters.
All of our host were so supportive of our project, often times offering us the use of their tools and, of course, the use of their space. We so enjoyed all the new pets that we got to hang out with. And I met my new all time favorite dog friend.
This project has been huge for us. I’m so glad it is finally finished and that we were able to do it this way. It adds another unique chapter in our very odd and unexpected life.
What’s the most interesting thing you’ve done on a house sit?
My husband and I have been traveling full-time since 2011 and sitting since 2014. It has been quite an adventure. We have done over 120 sits on THS, and have sat in about 20 countries–originally from the US (New Jersey) and currently in California. Your van looks great and congratulations!
What a beautiful job you did! It’s one of the nicest insides I’ve seen. Such art to it and someone has an eye! It’s great that you don’t have to spend on hotels and may find some gorgeous campsites. A YouTube channel building the van out and traveling doing sits would be a big hit I think. Happy Trails!
Your van looks fantastic!! I really enjoyed your blog and have become a subscriber! I loved reading about your visit to the Quisato Solar Clock. We also visited the museum “Mitad del Mundo” in Quito about ten years ago and really enjoyed it. We’re not full time sitters but it’s very tempting after reading your post
We just purchased an RV (motorhome) and are fixing it up while taking short trips. Next year, we plan to take it to Alaska for the summer - with our pets.
As a THS HO, in spirit I would be so on board with your project - we would definitely offer tools and garage space. Unfortunately our HOA wouldn’t allow camper vans so that would be a big rain cloud on the parade.
But love what you’re doing and maybe we’ll see you out there
What a fabulous van! As @Maggie8K suggests it would be lovely to have a video tour, see where you sleep, storage, shower etc. Meanwhile, congratulations.
You win post of the day!!
What a fantastic project
I’m very proud of my little Brighton Beach hut haven here in Sussex, it’s simply a shed by the sea but I love it.
What an amazing way to pet sit while you are building a project!!! Love this idea of combining both and not waiting for a van build to be complete to start going around the world to pet sit. I love what you did
I might try to get a video of it. It is just so much work. And right now we are on our way to visit my niece in New Orleans. Then we have to get out of this heat! Hopefully, 3 long days of driving will get us somewhere cooler. But there are many moving elements as to how this build works. Only a video can really capture it.
Thanks! I’m glad you have enjoyed the blog. It has been difficult to keep up. But when I know people are reading it, I try harder. The Solar Clock was fun. And it is cool imagining being in the middle of the world!
Thanks! I made sure all the homeowners knew what we were doing. And so many were enthusiastic about it. There were a few sits we didn’t get - maybe because of the build. But honestly, it was great for sitting because we were at the house all day. My husband did most of the building and I did most of the pet entertaining.
We went to Alaska in 2022 in a different van. It was a great trip—although very rainy.
We haven’t traveled with pets, but have friends that travel full-time all over the world with dogs in campers. I hope you have an amazing trip!
We hired a local Cabbagetown artist to paint the mural. Cabbagetown was once a mill village. You can see in the mural the stacks of the old textile mill. There used to be textile mills all over the southern US. This one shut down in the 1970s and was turned into lofts.
The “open” spaces in the mural are where we will have other artists from other countryies paint a scene representing their city. We plan to take the van south through Mexico to Panama. Then we will ship it to Europe.
@Makelikeanapeman I’m sure I’m being super stupid but I’d love to know how the bed bit works.
My husband built our teardrop caravan. We are now in a townhouse with nowhere to repair it, I’ve been telling him we need to sit for someone with a big garage space
