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

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.

Ken has a recurring dream of confronting a grizzly bear. In his final year of college, Ken worked at a Home Depot, making minimum wage, and putting small amounts of money toward his student debt when he could, noting that he spent too much on drinks, video games, and trips. In high school, Ken was average and, like most American teens, felt compelled to attend college with classmates. He and his friend Josh attended Alfred University in New York, which cost almost $20,000. Ken was uninspired at Alfred University, noting that his fantasies of wild college life did not come true, and he decided to transfer to the University at Buffalo (UB), where he could commute from home and work at Home Depot. UB cost $7,000 per year, which Ken paid off partly by working, though additional loans for supplies contributed to his growing debt. Home Depot frustrated Ken, and the holiday season specifically triggered a feeling of inauthenticity and dread. In his junior year at UB, Ken became more invested in his schoolwork as a history and English major, taking on unpaid internships to write for newspapers and broadening his perspectives.

Ken fantasized about driving to Alaska, thinking about how his parents and schoolmates lived a planned life, going to school, going to work, and living boring lives. He wanted to subvert these expectations and saw Alaska as a chance to experience freedom. In his car at UB, Ken heard his voice say his name and a three-word message. In the mirror, he looked tired and unhealthy. The message made him more aware of the inevitable approach of his student debt and its accumulating interest, and he knew that the upcoming summer was the last before he needed to enter the workforce in full. Ken accepted a promotion at Home Depot, without a raise, but decided to cut up his work apron and pack a suitcase of his belongings. Driving from his parents’ house, he passed friends’ homes, Home Depot, and UB but continued driving.

In Alaska, Ken failed to secure a job at any of the campsites or tourist attractions he found, noting his lack of skills. He finally got hired as a lodge cleaner at Slate Creek Inn, a motel in Coldfoot, Alaska, a remote town in the Brooks Range. Ken brought his friend Paul, and they felt like adventurers until they started their jobs in Coldfoot, which were tedious. Ken and Paul decided to climb the 5,910-foot Blue Cloud mountain. They were cheechakos, an Alaskan native word that means “the idiots from down south” (20); Ken derogatorily notes Paul’s feminine demeanor. An hour into their hike, they found bear tracks, and Ken fantasized about seeing a grizzly bear. He wanted to see nature like John Muir and Henry David Thoreau did, longing for a transcendent experience but hampered by tussocks. Paul hurt his feet and had to turn back, but Ken decided to push forward. However, he forgot to take Paul’s pack and quickly realized that he did not have the necessary supplies. Ken hiked for 16 hours, and he notes how climbing the mountain was perilous, but he was awestruck and felt humbled by the view from the peak and the beauty of the wilderness.

Ken told Paul to return to the base camp in 12 hours, at which point Ken was not yet back. Paul alerted a ranger, who scanned for Ken from a plane. Ken struggled to hike back, losing his map and realizing that he had no way to navigate a path to camp. The ranger called off the search due to forest fires, but Ken—after 28 hours of hiking—managed to get back to Paul, who was waiting in the SUV at base camp. Ken remembers the hike fondly. He returned to hike Blue Cloud multiple times over the summer. At the end of summer, Paul and Ken went home, and Ken took a fifth year at UB to finish his degree. Ken’s mother confronted him about his student debt, which he did not take seriously. Ken realized that his debt was another mountain to climb.

After college, Ken lamented his lack of skills, noting that many recent graduates enter the job market with a degree but no practical experience. His friend Josh struggled to find a job too; he and Ken sent out many applications without getting hired. Ken and Josh became friends at six years old, and they regularly exchanged emails detailing their personal lives. Josh was abundantly successful in high school and college, but after one year of graduate school, he left his PhD program and could not find a job. Ken remarks that an alarming number of college graduates are in jobs that do not require a degree, but he fantasized about working a regular office job and looking forward to retirement. After returning from Alaska, Ken resolved to pay off his debt quickly and become transient, seeking the freedom he felt at Blue Cloud. He notes that he took a job as a tour guide at Coldfoot, despite his parents’ protests, adding that he graduated in May with a feeling of dread at entering the workforce.

Ken writes about the history of Coldfoot, which he views as a blemish on Alaska’s beauty. It was a mining town until 1912 and laid dormant until it became a truck stop in the 1970s along the oil pipeline from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay. Ken settled in for the summer with his coworkers: Jordan, Ray, Avery, Kerno, Natalia, and James—all of whom varied in age and demeanor. Ken gradually took on more responsibility in the camp—leading tours, rowing down the river, cooking meals, and helping clean rooms—and he earned substantial overtime pay. He felt bad for the tourists, noting how lackluster the tours were, but he also resented work, commenting on how much time is lost to employment. Ken drank heavily with his coworkers but dedicated most of his money to tackling his student debt.

Some of Ken’s tours took place in Wiseman, another former mining town, where Ken met Jack Reakoff. Jack grew up in the Alaskan wilderness and, after a semester at the University of Alaska, resolved to stay in the wild, growing his own food, hunting, trapping, and leading short tours of Wiseman. Ken envied Jack’s lifestyle, noting his happy family, expansive garden, and freedom. Ken started to regret taking the job at Coldfoot, though the wages were helping him pay off his debt. Ken owed $17,700 in a private loan, which his mother took over using an interest-free credit card, and had $114 minimum monthly payments against his remaining $15,000 government loan. When Ken discovered that his mother had been putting his money back in his own account, he was furious, as she was supposed to use that money to pay off her credit card account. Ken’s mother insisted that Ken needed money for emergencies, but Ken demanded that she put it against his debt.

Ken gave boat tours on the Koyukuk River, and after being forced into the water while docking the boat, he noticed that people gave him more tips if they thought his job was harder or more dangerous. By pretending to struggle with the boat, Ken increased his tips, ending the summer with $3,000 in cash and $8,000 of debt paid off. He continued to struggle to find work, and he moved back in with his parents and considered joining the military. Ken offered to find a job for Josh in Alaska. At a tourism convention, Ken met Bob Abrames, a Canadian voyageur, who trekked the wilderness with minimal amenities. Ken wanted to join Bob’s next expedition but could not because of his debt. Ken’s boss asked for help closing the Yukon River Camp (YRC) for the winter, and Ken got Josh to come to Alaska to help. Josh and Ken collected the trash at the YRC, burned it, and took it to a dump. They spent long hours cleaning the camp, struggling to breathe through trash fumes that made Josh vomit. Ken fantasized about voyaging, and he considered hitchhiking but decided against it because of his debt.

Back in Coldfoot, Josh cleaned rooms, Ken cooked at night, and the two started hiking mountains, which unleashed a freedom in Josh that Ken had never seen before. At the beginning of winter, Josh went home, and Ken’s hours were reduced to cooking only five nights a week. Winter in Coldfoot brings below-freezing temperatures and little to no sunlight. Ken managed to put all $300 he earned each week toward his debt, paying off $11,000 by the end of December. The crew in Coldfoot changed, as summer workers left and winter workers arrived, including a handful of crewmembers that scared and worried Ken. He and Avery grew closer, as Avery tried to overcome his dependence on drugs and get a better job. Natalia invited Ken to visit Ecuador, which he did for three weeks, using half his tip money. Ken felt guilty using his money for anything other than debt and he worried that he was becoming like the tourists he pitied. He notes how he was frustrated with his coworkers, the truckers for whom he cooked, and the bleakness of winter in Coldfoot.

Ken led arctic tours for people visiting Coldfoot for the Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, taking them to Wiseman to watch the lights from Jack’s home. Ken was mystified by the lights and notes how Alaska showed him a side of nature that his suburban life in New York obscured. Ken mused about the things humanity has lost to office work, three-week vacations, and monotonous lives and routines. However, he realized that his failure was rooted in blaming his debt, his job, or his resources instead of himself, and he decided to apply to PhD programs, treating his year in Coldfoot as a gap year. In addition, he reached out to Bob, expressing interest in Bob’s two-month expedition across Canada over the summer.

Avery left Coldfoot, and Ken spent most of his time reading. He discovered Walden by Henry David Thoreau and he fell in love with Thoreau’s transcendentalist perspective. Ken agreed with Thoreau’s insistence that industrial society hampers people by forcing them to work tedious jobs for low wages that only allow them to keep up with their neighbors, who are in the same position. Ken fantasized about Thoreau’s time in a cabin on Walden Pond, living off the land and taking long walks, as well as his acts of civil disobedience to protest the Mexican-American War, slavery, and misuse of tax dollars. Josh discovered that he owed $8,000 more in student debt—$66,000 total—and lamented that two months of working in Alaska had paid off only $1,500. He moved to Denver with a friend to look for work. The crew in Coldfoot changed again, and Ken calculated that he made $22,000 over a year, figuring out that he saved about as much as he would have working a regular job for almost $50,000. Ken spent more time with James, a 72-year-old retiree, discovering that James lived in a vehicle outfitted with a propane stove and insulation against the cold.

Inspired by James’s lifestyle, Ken continued exercising, hoping to be chosen for Bob’s expedition. Ken was rejected by the PhD programs to which he applied, but he was relieved to avoid a graduate program he might not enjoy. Bob called, inviting Ken to join the voyageurs that summer. Ken was excited but was upset about the $600 plane ticket. Leaving Coldfoot in May, Ken promised to return, gave away most of his belongings, mailed his more valuable possessions to his parents, and packed up to meet Bob in Canada. Leaving Coldfoot, Ken mused about his path in life and decided to hitchhike.