Life on the road is nothing if not different—at least, different to the common understanding of normalcy. In this edition of ROVA, we celebrate the unique people that make up the road-life community as they share their stories with us.

Karly Mareka and her daughter are both on the autism spectrum, and Karly shares how life in a travel trailer creates an ideal travel environment for her family; we speak with Bruce Edwards Jr and Kadedra Jones about their upcoming meetup, Black Nomads Meet, which aims to educate, inspire and connect black van lifers; Chiara Fabbri shares her experiences of bike-packing, a once uncommon but quickly growing way to travel; and we interview professional cyclist Payson McElveen about why he chooses to travel between races in his van. 

We also take a look at the differences between hashtag vanlife and the reality of life on the road; we hear from long-distance hiker Jeff Garmire, who stumbled upon a Van Build gathering in the desert and was heartily welcomed despite being an interloper; and Brian O’Dea shares his insight into feeling like an outsider when returning home from a long period of travel.

In the “Places” section of this edition, we feature seven destinations for you to discover, including the bumpy roads of Kauai, Hawaii; bear country in Montana; a small quilting township in Alabama; the idyllic mountains of the Adirondacks; and Turkey’s beautiful southwestern coastline.