Kelly Shea and Brendan Banks launched West Falls Studio from their 1984 VW Westfalia camper. Photo courtesy of Shea
It’s a story that’s becoming more and more common, almost to the point of becoming a cliché: girl meets boy and they start a life in New York City. They have high stress jobs. They miss nature. So, they buy a van, fix it up, and ditch the corporate world for life on the road. It certainly sounded familiar to me—I’d done it myself over the summer, living out of a Sprinter van with my then-boyfriend (now fiancé) as we hightailed it out west. But when you sit down and chat with Kelly Shea, 25, and Brendan Banks, 26, you realize their story is anything but cliché.
Reason one: They didn’t just quit their jobs—they invented new ones.
“I was working in corporate advertising for Ralph Lauren in New York,” says Shea. “I learned a lot working there, mostly about what I didn’t want: working in an office with no windows, crazy hours, a lot of stress. Last summer I made the leap to freelancing, and transitioned from doing branding to doing set design and art direction for photoshoots.”
Banks and Shea left jobs in New York to buy a Westfalia and travel the country. Photo courtesy of Shea
Banks had been working in television for a few years, first as a coffee boy on the set of big Hollywood productions, then holding various positions at the comedy-centric website CollegeHumor.com. He, too, realized all the things he didn’t want.
“One day I was working on a project, and I got super fed up and went to Kelly’s apartment,” he remembers. “I just said, ‘We should hit the road. We should just leave. Let’s do this.’ Surprisingly, she was up for it.”
Which brings us to reason two: Their traveling van wouldn’t just be a camper—it would double as a creative studio.
You see, a van costs money, as does gas, food, and all those rest-stop showers along the way. So the couple decided to combine their talents and experience and launch West Falls Studio, a company that does, well, a little bit of everything.
“We’ve been doing some editing for companies, some video production, a lot of photography work, some web design, and some internal design,” Banks explains. “We had both been saving for a while, no knowing why. It’s not like we had a ton of money, but we just said, ‘If we’re going to do this, let’s do this. Let’s not let this be a thing we talk about for a really long time.’”
Shea and Banks ripped out the interior of their new van and updated it with laminate flooring and handmade tables. Photo courtesy of Shea
They immediately broke the leases on their apartments and went to live with Banks’ parents, swapping their regular diet to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to save some extra cash. Two weeks later, they were en route to Maine to buy a 1984 VW Westfalia camper Shea had found online.
“There weren’t pictures of the interior, and we soon learned there was a reason why,” Banks says. “The engine was rebuilt, the transmission, the whole thing was mechanically in excellent condition. Thumbs up there. But the inside was … less than satisfactory.”
“You didn’t really want to sit in it too long,” Shea laughs. “It had this brown shag rug that had 30 years of dirt in it. The curtains were so crusty they literally broke apart in your hand.”
So they ripped up the upholstery, redid the seats with ten yards of denim gifted to them by a designer friend, and added some faux-wood laminate to the floors. Then it was time to pack and ship out.
And, like most good stories, things started falling apart almost immediately. First, there were the breakdowns.
“For the first two-and-a-half months, we were breaking down constantly,” Banks says. “I rewired the entire engine and swapped out the alternator.”
Shea and Banks are currently in Durango, Colorado, but will eventually find a rental in Rhode Island for the winter. Photo courtesy of Shea
Then came the storms.
“In the Badlands in South Dakota, we were staying at this campsite and there were thunderstorms approaching us from all sides,” Shea remembers. “There were tornado warnings fairly close by, so we were up all night wondering if the van was going to flip over.”
“There were tornados touching down less than 15 miles away,” adds Banks. “The storm just came out of nowhere, all of these fronts hitting each other. I was sitting there researching how fast wind gusts had to be to rip the top off the van. At 65 mph, the top comes off. We were close. We were just sitting there praying.”
But all of the hardships have had an upside: They are serving as a quick and dirty form of couples therapy (especially considering this is the first time the duo has lived together).
“I’ve always been of the mindset that a good relationship will bring out the best in you while showing you the worst of yourself. This trip has been like an intensive study in that. There’s no escaping—you can’t just excuse your behavior away. You have to adapt and move forward.”
Selling the van? Not in the plans for Shea and Banks, who plan on having endless microadventures in New England this winter. Photo courtesy of Shea
But all good road trips much come to an end—at least, that’s the traditional thinking. For Banks and Shea, it certainly means putting down roots—just don’t expect them to settle down. They plan on renting out a vacation home in Rhode Island during the cheaper winter rental season—but with one very important clause.
“We’re planning on keeping our van,” Shea says. “We want to have a home base, but we’ll be going on micro-adventures around New England.”
“We want to start a new lifestyle, but we’ll continually change it up,” Banks adds. “Even if we have a semi-normal life, we’ll still be going on sweet van adventures. We love this van too much.”
So maybe their story reads like this: Boy meets girl and they go on an epic adventure…only (plot twist) the adventure doesn’t end when the road trip is over, and they redefine what it means to live on the road. And that is anything but cliché.
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