logo

50 pages 1 hour read

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

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2013

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Part 3Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 3: “Grad Student, or My Attempt to Afford Grad School by Moving into a Creepy Red Van”

Part 3, Chapter 14 Summary: “Purchase: January 2009-Duke University, Savings: $3,517”

“Day One of Vandwelling Experiment”

During Ken’s few days at home with his parents, his mother casually ignored his decision to move into a van. He looked through advertisements for used vehicles, settling on a 1994 Ford Econoline for $1,500. Using Craigslist, Ken met Marietta, who offered to house Ken until he could find a place to live near Duke. Ken was mesmerized by his first sight of the van, which he notes had several issues, including bald tires, peeling tint on the windows, and plenty of scratches and dents. The car salesman added a $200 documentation fee, which upset Ken, who planned each of his expenses to keep him afloat as he searched for a job. Ken bought the vehicle nonetheless and drove toward Duke University.

“Day Two of Vandwelling Experiment”

Part 3, Chapter 15 Summary: “Renovation: Savings: $1,617”

Ken summarizes the history of mobile homes in America, noting how large wagons housed pioneers in the 18th and 19th centuries, followed by motorized mobile homes in the 1930s and the Volkswagen Type 2 in the 1950s, which became the symbol of hippie culture. By the 1980s, van culture was already declining, and in the 2000s, vans were primarily used by parents and outcasts. Ken calculated that he could make the van work until the summer, when he could work for the parks service and get an apartment when he returned in the fall. Ken reached out to Bob Wells, the creator of a “vandwelling” website, who converted a van in 1995 after his divorce and shared his story to inspire others to live in vehicles. Bob did not know how to live on a college campus, though, and Ken was not sure how he would skirt campus security.

Ken went to Walmart for food, supplies, and storage containers and discovered that the back seat of the van converted into a bed. He bought some cookware and linens from a thrift store and completed his van conversion using his camping gear. In total, Ken spent more than $2,500 in his first week at Duke, and he dreaded his upcoming cellphone and car insurance payments. Nonetheless, he reasoned that he was saving more money than he was spending, as he would not have monthly rent or utility expenses. He bought his school supplies and signed up for a gym membership, which would allow him to shower, as well as a parking permit that would last into the fall semester. Taking two classes in the spring term, Ken would owe a total of $540 every four weeks for four payments. Ken spent the night in his van in the Walmart parking lot, nervous about security.

“Day Seven of Vandwelling Experiment”

Part 3, Chapter 16 Summary: “Acclimatization: Savings: $981”

Ken knew he needed to keep his living situation a secret, unlike “vandwellers” who move frequently, noting that the absence of any law forbidding “vandwelling” would not prevent his situation from causing alarm. He applied for a parking permit, using Marietta’s local address, and hoped he was assigned a distant and unpopular parking lot. Ken was assigned Mill Lot, which was not as appealing as Walden Pond was to Thoreau, and he worried that Mill Lot—centered between bars and apartments—might not be a safe lot to keep his van. He walked through East Campus to West Campus, admiring Duke’s architecture and landscaping while noting that Duke is one of the country’s wealthiest universities. Although Duke is hard to get into, Ken thought his experiences made him a perfect fit for the liberal studies program. He aimed to learn how to live his best life at Duke, taking a course on identity and a course on biodiversity for his first term. Ken felt out of place, noting the changes in fashion and technology since completing his undergraduate program. During his first class, Ken talked with a young woman who asked where he was living, and he nervously replied that he lived on Ninth Street, next to Mill Lot, realizing that his secret van life would hamper socializing.

“Day Thirty-Five of Vandwelling Experiment”

Part 3, Chapter 17 Summary: “Adaptation: Savings: $830”

Ken heard college students partying at night, forcing him to lie perfectly still. Given his limited savings and upcoming tuition bills, Ken got a part-time job as a research assistant and severely limited his diet. His constant hunger led him to consider eating trash, and he reluctantly admitted to his mother that he was living in his van. His mother was worried about him, and Ken reflected on his parents’ modest upbringing. Ken refused to accept his mother’s offers to pay for rent or bills, noting how accepting gifts is another form of debt. His coworkers in the parks service often bragged about collecting unemployment, allowing them to take eight months off each year, but Ken disparaged this practice as unethical. To make extra money, Ken signed up for research experiments taking new medications, allowing researchers to probe him, and spending hours in an MRI machine. He picked up a job tutoring with America Reads, but his first paycheck did not arrive until February, so his tuition bill was still an imminent threat.

Living in the van was both uncomfortable and tranquil, and Ken ate various meals made with cheap ingredients. The temperature changes were difficult to mitigate, but Ken loved the feeling of sleeping in his warm sleeping bag on cold nights. The smells in the van disturbed him, so he cleaned as much as he could, keeping dirty clothes in the front seat to keep his nice clothes fresh. He spent long periods in the library or classrooms to study in warmth, and he even watched television and films on his laptop. His biggest fear was that he was one mistake away from bankruptcy.

“Day Fifty of Vandwelling Experiment”

Part 3, Chapter 18 Summary: “My First Guest: Savings: $1,160”

Paranoid about getting caught living in his van, Ken followed strict rules to not discuss the van or let anyone see him. He felt isolated because he could not continue many conversations about himself without risking revealing the truth of his living situation. When a man asked Ken for money on the street, Ken confessed that he was a “vandweller,” only to realize that the man was experiencing real poverty, which Ken had never known. Although the man said he was leaving town, Ken found him asking for money in the same place over the following weeks and resented his own gullibility. Overhearing students and in brief conversations, Ken discovered that most Duke students were on a rigid path to careers in finance and environmental engineering. Although Ken hoped Duke would be full of idealists and philosophical debate, he found that most students only dreamed of adventure without any plans to execute those dreams. He was disappointed to see how liberal studies had become a milestone to long, meaningless careers and dull, uninspired students.

Ken discovered a mouse in his van, noting scurrying sounds and small feces around his living space. As he took on more work, had more schoolwork, and experienced more troubles in the van, he became sick, foregoing the gym and occasionally purchasing coffee. He killed the mouse in his ceiling upholstery, only to discover during a rainstorm that the van’s roof leaked. Sick and struggling, Ken realized that his van life was not as smooth as he had anticipated, adding that his lifestyle was not a model of sustainability either. He criticized Thoreau’s rejection of human companionship, noting that Walden Pond was a short walk from family and friends and that Thoreau had regular visitors.

“Day 115 of Vandwelling Experiment”

Part 3, Chapter 19 Summary: “Solitude: Savings: $1,771”

The next day, Ken felt better, cleaned out his van, and washed his clothes and cooking supplies. Before going to a biological station in the Appalachian Mountains for his biodiversity class, Ken discovered that he would receive a $1,600 tax refund, which made him feel rich. He enjoyed three days at the station with Chuck, Joe, and Salman, buying beer and food, and he told them that he lived in his van. After returning from the station, Ken realized that he had saved thousands of dollars by living in the van, comparing his low expenses to the exorbitant fees that most landlords and universities charge. Ken mused on how society convinces people to feel poor all the time, noting how wealth does not resolve feelings of envy. However, Ken felt superior to those around him, having hardened his body to discomfort, including solitude, and pitying those who value expensive cars or yachts. Ken invited Chuck for a beer in the van, and Chuck was impressed, speculating that campus security knew that Ken was living in the van and did not care. Ken doubted it, and they made plans to visit Walden Pond when Ken visited Chuck in Massachusetts. Ken was excited to go back to Alaska for the summer, where he would make good money, and wondered if he could continue living in his van indefinitely. A police car pulled up alongside the van, and Ken hid on the floor of the van until the police officer’s footsteps retreated.

Part 3 Analysis

Having paid off his debt, Ken switched from tracking how much money he owed to tracking how much money he had saved. Furthering the theme of Debt as a Necessary Burden, Ken changed from seeing debt as a burden to something that many people need to live their lives. He acknowledged that the Econoline van was a good deal but saw how insurance, repairs, gas, and quality come at a price that many people cannot afford without loans. The van was Ken’s solution to paying for his education: “If I did things in a conventional manner by paying the typical costs (apartment rent, utilities, food, transportation, tuition), I knew there was no way I’d make it to the end of the semester without having to take out loans” (191). In this instance, Ken is discussing a single semester, and the broader task of making it through multiple semesters seems even more insurmountable. Although Ken’s book centers on avoiding debt, he sees how debt is a necessity for many contemporary students.

“Vandwelling,” for Ken, was a critical step in meeting the thematic challenge of Living Authentically in a Modern World, as he acknowledges how he knows he “had the personality for vandwelling,” adding, “I was blessed with a high tolerance for cold temperatures, practically no sense of smell, and a bladder (I hate to brag) the size of an adolescent’s football” (205). These details continue Ken’s comparison of his journey to that of others, as he also had the disposition, means, and desire to live this lifestyle. Periodically, such as when Ken gave a man money in the street, Ken recognized how the “voluntary nature of my experiment prevented me from experiencing poverty in its most extreme and authentic form,” (238) highlighting how his own path to an authentic life was uniquely positioned to minimize risks and struggles. For many, the lifestyle is not a choice, and they may lack some or all the advantages Ken sees in himself. This distinction frames the work as a personal journey, underpinning the idea that each person needs to find their own path toward an authentic life.

In addition, Ken started to realize that many people did not seem to desire the kind of authentic life that he was pursuing, and even among those who shared his broad desires, many lacked the efficacy to attain a freer life. Ken was infuriated by students who wanted to go backpacking, hitchhiking, or adventuring while preparing themselves for corporate jobs. Ken wanted to ask these students, “You actually want to work for one of those companies?! Aren’t they kinda evil? Wall Street? You messin’ with me?” (242). To some, these companies are a path toward freedom, embodying in social values of consumerism and wealth, while others resent the need for such jobs, which drain their energy, resources, and time. To Ken, Wall Street embodied inauthenticity, but, for some students, Wall Street was the path to living free from debt and poverty. These differences in perspective undermine some of Ken’s insistence on the evils of modern life, which allows him to reexamine the theme of Contemporary Transcendentalism and the Power of Nature.

Living in his van, Ken began to see a different side to Thoreau’s works, noting how the isolation of living in a van was starting to damage him emotionally. Praising his entrenched position in nature, Ken waxed poetic about waking up to “a medley of birdsong so loud and cheery you’d think my little hermitage was tucked away in a copse of trees at Walden pond” (254), fulfilling Ken’s desire to live as Thoreau did in the 19th century. However, Chapter 19 is titled “Solitude” because Ken realized how socializing was central to living a fulfilling life. He fantasized about women, confessed his living situation to friends on a trip, and desperately wanted to form the friendships and connections he imagined for his time in college. Although Ken asserted his transcendentalist perspective that happiness “does not come from things,” but from “living a full and exciting life” (257), he also saw how society was part of that fulfilling life. Ken found that he could not “do without people the same way I could do without luxuries and material comforts” (247), criticizing Thoreau’s judgment that society is “insignificant.”

blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
Unlock IconUnlock all 50 pages of this Study Guide

Plus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.

Including features:

+ Mobile App
+ Printable PDF
+ Literary AI Tools