New York Times on RTR 2018 - The Real Burning Man

Noo Yawk Times gets to Bob Wells' RTR 2018.

Even though the treatment seems to be favorable, it remains to be seen if this publicity will be good for (and to) the "tribe" and Vanlife movement in general. Hint: probably it won't.

The Real Burning Man - The New York Times

Organized by Bob Wells, a 62-year-old van-dwelling evangelist who has been living on the road for over two decades, the RTR drew just 45 people when it began in 2010. This year, Mr. Wells said, rangers estimated the crowd at over 3,000. Often called a Burning Man for retirees, the RTR is starting to skew younger, at least by anecdotal measures.

Committed nomads come to share tips on solar power, stealth overnights in parking spots on city streets, van conversion, mail, hygiene, finances and low-cost dental care, which can be found over the border in the Mexican town of Los Algodones, an hour and a half away. Aspirational nomads come to test the waters, in rented mini-Winnies and camper vans. And they come to meet Mr. Wells, a celebrity here. With his abundant gray hair, lustrous beard and mellifluous voice, he is an amiable philosopher-elder of the road: Bruce Chatwin in a GMC cargo van.

Twenty-three years ago, Mr. Wells went through a bitter divorce that upended his finances. He couldn’t afford to rent an apartment on his own; with his last $1,500 in savings, he bought a box van and moved into it, stealth-parking on the streets of Anchorage, where he worked at a Safeway and where his ex-wife and two sons lived. The first nights, he cried himself to sleep. “I came into the van life kicking and screaming, but I fell in love with it,” he said.