SENIOR SEEKS ADVENTURE WORDS Alex Petry I I PHOTOS MaCJ' Pate Following her graduation in December 2017, senior Macy Pate embarked on a dream adventure: traveling across the .S. in a van with her childhood best friend, Emily Breedlove. With the duo's graduations approaching, they decided to look into an epic journey through the West that included a stop in many national parks. They began researching and created their six-month traveling schedule. "We had both been following the stories of several couples who lived in vans full time, and we always talked about how road tripping for a large chunk of time really could be a dream that we brought to life," Pate sa.id. "At the end of the conversation, we somehow reached the conclusion that there was no time like the present." The next step in their plan was to find the most essential component of their trip: a van. Pate approached her boss at the pizza shop she worked at back home in ashville about the van he and his wife traveled in while vacationing, and asked about the process of finding a van that could be converted. "He kept saying he didn't believe we were serious enough to take further steps, which was fair," Pate said. "We knew absolutely nothing and didn't have enough combined money to even buy half a van. When we finally convinced him this was a real plan, he immediately sat down with us in his office and started searching Craigslist." By the end of the night, Pate and Breedlove contacted th_e owner of a baby blue '95 Chevrolet van. Soon afterwards, they were in possession of their new traveling home, which they dubbed "Li_]' Ma." Aside from the financial difficulties of purchasing the van, Pate and Breedlove also had to tackle the task of converting the van into a livable space. ''A far as actual conversion, getting the solar power set up correctly has definitely been tl1e biggest struggle," Breedlove said. " either of us know anything about working with electricity, let alone solar power, so we had a to seek out a lot of help." Friends and family encouraged Pate and Breedlove from the beginning of their adventure, and they credit their success in their journey to the support they received. Senior Megan Page, Pate's suitemate, was excited to see Pate and Breedlove take on such an interesting expedition. "I was super excited for Macy and Emily when I found out [about the trip]," Page said. "I've seen a lot of people on Instagram who have lived or are living out of a van, and I always thought that would be such a cool thing to do." I Emily Breedlove drives across the U.S. with senior Macy Pate after graduating from Harding in December 2017. Before graduation, P te decided to embark on a six-month journey through the West, visiting several national parks along the way.// Photo courtesy of Macy Pate IN VAN LI FE (f) m z 6 :0 (f)
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