Book Review | Walden on Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom

Walden on Wheels
Walden on Wheels

Joe Russo of We’re The Russo’s recommended Walden on Wheels as a good place to start when researching van life.  If you are not watching their youtube videos you should start.  Kait and Joe are very entertaining and full of useful information for anyone interested in van life.

In Walden on Wheels, the author Ken Ilgunas takes us along on his adventure to reduce is college debt.  Like many of us, myself included, Ken, followed the societal norms of going to college after high school, simply because that is what was expected of him and what he was taught he should do.

After college, he has a large amount of debt he needs to pay off and fast.  But with a degree in literature, he has trouble finding good paying jobs.  The readers will follow him on various adventures to Alaska among others in order to find work where there is also free room and board offered.  This is great because all of the money he is making goes straight to paying off his debt.

Once the debt is paid off, when you think the book is about to end, Ken actually continues his adventure by going back to school.  What?!  What about the debt he will incur, wasn’t that the whole thing about the book?

Ken has a plan.  He is going to live in a van while going to school and eat hardly anything while working in all of his spare time.  For me, this is where the real adventure started.  This book is a really fun ride and helps you appreciate just how much that we have that we don’t really need.  What is life about, possessions or experiences?

This is the first book I have read in 2018.  Well, finished in 2018, I started it on December 29th.  The best part of this book, besides the content, of course, is that the book is free for Amazon Prime users and is also part of Kindle Unlimited if you have that.