We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tracey Tischler a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Tracey, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I’m 57. My daughter, Jessie, is going to be 22 this month and is graduating college as a teacher and also working in special needs. I have been a single mom since she was 1. She graduated summa cum laude in high school and she has a 4.0 at Pacific Lutheran in Tacoma, WA. She is also the coxwain and captain for the Lutes rowing team. I did a good job and my parents were all helpful and very supportive.

I’m the youngest of six kids, 5 girls and 1 boy. Here is the order, oldest to youngest: Sandy, Chris, Pam, Al, Kim and Tracey (me). My sister Chris found out in October, right before I turned 28, that she had an aggressive form of cervical cancer. She died in hospice on January 13th (not even three months later) in hospice leaving a husband, Frank, and two kids, Chad and Ana. Ana was adopted from Bogota, Columbia when she was a baby because Chris and Frank couldn’t get pregnant after Chad.

When Frank was 52, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. They operated and gave him around five years. Within the year, he found out that he had a tumor wrapped around his carotid artery. No surgeon would operate. He died in hospice that year in his home.

The day we buried Frank, afterward we were going to my sisters to have a cookout and relax. Before I got there, I got the news my dad had a massive stroke and was at the hospital. He wasn’t supposed to make it, but he did. His surgeon called him her miracle patient. Lots of rehab and a different life, but he lived for three more years and died in hospice at 79 of congestive heart failure. He and my mom had been married 59 years when he passed.

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At 53, my sister, Kim, was diagnosed with MS. She controls it with medication.

At 56, my brother, Al, was diagnosed with colon cancer. He passed in home hospice two days after he turned 62.

My sister, Pam, had strokes at 62. She is now 68 and lives in an assisted living home and will never leave. I’m the only one who takes her out of the assisted living home (her and my sister, Sandy, don’t get along. Pam can be difficult to get along with).

My mom is 93 and we are very close. She is now in congenital heart failure but it is handled with medication right now. She lives in a 55 plus community and in otherwise great health. She is legally blind from macular degeneration and has hearing aids. My sister, Sandy, takes her to her doctor’s appointments but I’m the one that takes her out socially and every week.

I had thought about van life for 6 years before I did it. Always daydreaming about it. And, somehow, I made it happen. I didn’t think I could. My daughter was off to college and I was home still being a caretaker as I had my whole life. From experience, I know life is short and anything can happen. I wondered when I was going to be able to live my life and I had always wanted to travel.

In 2019 I bought a 2001 Roadtrek Versatile 190. It was still all original. I ended up redoing the whole inside of the van myself. I painted, laid new flooring, tiles, covering the cushions and the curtains.

I decided I was going to leave for the Minnesota winters and travel cross country. In 2021, I sold everything I owned and moved into my van in October 2021 and took off on the road November 7, 2022. I have lived full time in my van ever since.

I was more afraid not to go than I was to go.

For my next adventure . . .

I have been applying to cruise ships for the past couple of years and I just received notice that I passed the fist part for getting a job as a Spa Manager/Esthetician on a large cruise ship line! I’ll know more of the process next week but I’m excited. It’s my dream job! To travel and get paid for it!

I am now coming to the end of my second winter traveling cross country.

For work, I have a paralegal and political science degree and have worked in the legal field for 38 years. Right now, I work for a legal processing firm (when I’m home, I’m also a legal processor) remote from 1:30 to 5:30 daily. I’m also a certified life coach and have clients and I also do invoices and travel for events for an audio visual company. I’m also a YouTube and have my channel Ad-Van-Tures Over 50 where I travel cross country in my van and do adventures! I’m also a professional makeup artist and have worked on print and commercial for 20 years. I’m a licensed esthetician, trained in microblading, a licensed tattoo artist and a licensed pharmacy technician.

At 57, I never thought I would be happier than I’ve ever been and so excited for this time in my life!

I’m more afraid not to live than I am to die.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I became a solo female van lifer because I personally experienced so many family members have health problems early in life and I didn’t want to wait until retirement to live my life! The life I wanted to live. I know how life can change in a moment and I didn’t want to waste any time after I got my daughter to college.

I’m also a professional makeup artist, licensed esthetician, microblading certified (tattooing eyebrows), a licensed tattoo artist and a certified life coach. I have a paralegal and political science degree because I was taught that you go to college and then get a “real” job after high school even though I was more of a creative. I planned on going to law school and took the LSAT but realized it wasn’t what I wanted to do. I was dying a slow death sitting at a desk every day working at a law firm. I’ve always had my foot in the legal field and do contract work, but I’ve created a life with all aspects of everything I do. I love to help people and make them feel beautiful and good about themselves!

I’m most proud of raising a beautiful, kind, smart and loving daughter to adulthood mostly by myself. She’s ready to spread her wings now and I feel now that I’ve done that, I can spread my wings again for this later part of my life. I’m proud I don’t have any debt and have lived that way since I was young. My parents paid for my two year paralegal degree and I paid for the rest of my schooling at the University of Minnesota for my political science degree. I’m proud that I love to learn and keep learning and studying things that I’m interested in. I’m proud that I jump into life with two feet! I was actually a roller derby girl at 46! I tried out and there were 62 women who tried out and they only chose 15 and I was one of them. I’m proud that I’m athletic and have continued working out and taking care of myself through my 50s. I’m proud I started a YouTube channel and take people along with me on adventures that they may never be able to do.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I’ve been in the creative industry for over 20 years. The best way society can support artists is to recognize them as artist and pay them what they are worth! Even after being a makeup artist for over 20 years and working for Suzanne Sommers and working with Steve Martin on his video Caroline and many years of studying and working my craft, I still have people ask me to do work for free! I know so many creatives being asked to give their talent and their time for free.

On social media, for some reason people don’t see YouTube as a job. It truly can be a 24/7 job. You are always feeling like you have to be videoing what you are doing, you have to edit videos which takes a lot of time, uploading can take forever, especially if you don’t have good wifi. Plus, it’s entertainment that if free to them! Also, dealing with negative comments and people feeling that they can say anything to you because they are behind a computer or reaching out to you and having a parasocial relationship which they don’t realize is only one sided. It’s a lot of hard work and can be both physically and mentally draining at times. That said, you do have many people that are truly supportive of you and that feels great!

Life would be without much color without creatives. We need to start realizing in society how much we rely on creatives to give us an escape from our lives and to pay and acknowledge them accordingly.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I feel with so many people close to me in my family dying so young and such slow, painful deaths in hospice and watching them, that I feel like I’m somehow living for them. I remember when my sister was dying at 42. I was the only one in the hospital room and just looking at her and wondering to myself, I wonder what she wished she would have done. That has motivated me so that when I die, no one needs to ask that.

Also, when I go visit my sister at the assisted living home, I see the people with dementia and those that are living there that will never leave. My sister is probably the youngest one there. She was only 62 when she had her strokes and she is now only 68. She only gets out if I take her out. Every time I go there, it reminds me to get out and truly live.

I want people to remember their magic. I want them to do adventures. They don’t have to be huge adventures, they can just stay home but take a walk or even take a walk on a path you never have. I want people who are older, like me, to still look at things with wonderment like seeing through a child’s eyes. I just want them to live before they die. And, if they can’t get out because of physical or financial constraints, I want to be able to take them on my adventures with me so they can do and see those adventures through me.

Those are the things that drive me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ad-van-turesover50.com/
• Instagram: @adventuresover50
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tracey.tischler
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/tracey-tischler-8039816
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AdvanturesOver50

Image Credits
Tracey Tischler