Trent Arant has been to about 40 states and dog-friendly nationwide parks in his travels everywhere in the U.S. in a custom-built van that doubles as his house. It doesn’t have a rest room or bathe, however it does have one thing extra essential to his each day life: a PC gaming station.
“Gaming has at all times been an enormous a part of me,” says Arant, 29, who has greater than half one million followers on YouTube as TTTHEFINEPRINTTT who comply with his journeys and gaming experiences, which embody enjoying creepy titles in the course of the evening in the course of creepier woods. “It’s my approach of enjoyable after a tough or dangerous day.”
He’s had his justifiable share of these over the 4 years he’s been dwelling this nomadic life, sharing his heartbreaks, loneliness and resilience together with his many followers. He’s additionally stumbled upon a growling bear together with his canine and backed away with out incident and loved outside weekly showers from the again of his van (when he’s not close to a gymnasium). Residing and dealing in a van has taught him find out how to adapt and make do with much less.
“Doing one thing so uncomfortable made me step out and develop,” he says. “I wanted that 5 years in the past. I used to be caught in my methods. I needed to turn out to be one thing new. Vanlife was a catalyst for me. It pushed me out to the world and adjusted me indefinitely. I’m a totally totally different individual now. I grew up so much. This has been a transformative time in my life, saying goodbye to a previous model of myself.”
Although he’s taken some breaks from his van, it’s his homebase, born of a wanderlust that wasn’t fulfilled after attempting it quickly. That point, he had been dwelling with buddies in a home for about 4 years. In these early days of vanlife, he discovered an inexpensive, outdated van and went all in on a three-month street journey. He cherished it a lot, he needed to reside that life full-time.
Being on the street a lot with solely his canine Millie for firm, he meets new folks on a regular basis (and he or she loves that the world is her yard). However Arant misses his buddies. Gaming is important to how he catches up with them.
“This way of life has loads of freedom and it’s so rewarding, thrilling and filled with adventures. However there’s loads of isolation,” he says. “In locations I’m unfamiliar with, it’s so comforting to play and reconnect with my buddies by gaming on-line.”
PC gaming captured his consideration when he was a toddler, in fifth grade. A serious milestone occurred: the household received a pc. Certainly one of his siblings opened a brand new world by displaying him how a keyboard and mouse – vs. utilizing a controller and mouse – may result in new adventures.
“That basically bought it for me, and it felt much more immersive once I may sport on-line,” says Arant, who credit Age of Empires and RuneScape together with his early choice for PC gaming.
The primary van he constructed and lived in didn’t have gaming as a spotlight again in 2018, so by the point the pandemic and lockdowns rolled round he was firmly entrenched in that life and capable of adapt rapidly, isolating himself and Millie within the woods. However through the years, he tweaked his gaming setup and documented these adjustments on his social media channels: switching out totally different chairs, consolidating tools and upgrading displays and computer systems. Most significantly, he constructed a devoted and comfy house for gaming. He additionally advanced his on-line gaming from tethering his cellphone’s web to hotspots to the rather more dependable cell satellite tv for pc equipment he now makes use of.
“Starlink modified the sport for me,” he says. “Vanlife places me so removed from cell towers and locations I averted earlier than, however now I don’t.”
He additionally made different enhancements together with his second van, which debuted in spring 2021 after engaged on it for a number of months beginning in 2020. He ditched his cooler for an actual fridge, added an actual range and burners, traded in a sink he needed to pump together with his foot to a operating one and meticulously selected ornamental handles and designs for his new and improved kitchen cupboards.
One fixed via all these upgrades that guarantee he can play when he desires: photo voltaic panels put in on his roof, which complement a lithium battery financial institution that shops energy for him to make use of all through the evening or on days he can’t depend on the solar’s rays to return via. He additionally makes use of a DC-DC charger that enables him to cost the battery financial institution whereas driving.
He’s had loads of computer systems through the years, for work and for play – and even constructed just a few – however his newest go-to for work, play and every thing in-between is the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 18.
“Out of all of the computer systems I’ve had, it’s essentially the most highly effective PC I’ve ever used. It’s outperformed every thing I’ve ever owned and sufficiently big to really feel like a full tower PC,” says Arant, whose present video games embody World of Warcraft, Fortnite, Name of Responsibility and Apex Legends. However he’s additionally utilizing the laptop computer to edit his YouTube movies.
He’s a fan of the Home windows OS.
“It’s each prosumer and shopper. It may be barebones, however it can be actually nice for nerds like me who wish to dive deep,” he says. “That’s what I like about it.”
ASUS adopted Arant’s journeys and received in contact with him, resulting in a proper association that made him a model ambassador for ASUS ROG. Whereas Arant nonetheless enjoys working within the movie business creating on-screen graphics, the current strikes had minimize down the project-based work he often did.
As a part of his partnership with ASUS, he’s been attempting out the ASUS ROG ALLY, a conveyable Home windows 11 gaming gadget. He took followers on a tour of it in June, displaying off its versatility and intuitive options. He’s taken it tenting and loved gaming underneath the celebs.
“I like that factor! I like that it performs any PC sport like a console, however you may also hop on YouTube and Netflix. It’s laborious to explain, however it feels totally different.”
Although he’s adept on the cell gaming vanlife model, the mobility of the ASUS ROG ALLY is a wholly new expertise for him.
Arant grew up in Georgia, however since he first dedicated to dwelling the vanlife, he’s traveled to all however about eight states within the U.S. His favourite surroundings to this point is the Pacific Northwest as a result of it reminds him of a spot in a online game.
“It has what I wish to name a hauntingly stunning feeling to it,” he says. “The tall pine timber poking via the night fog and the luxurious inexperienced forests with that darkish blue hue within the environment is so eerie, but so stunning and comforting to me. It’s a bizarre satisfying distinction and I at all times cherished the sensation that type of panorama offers me.”
When he was a toddler, he says, he leveled an Undead character on World of Warcraft for the primary time, strolling via the Undead beginning zone feeling “alarmingly cozy and at peace.” That place wasn’t precisely an space you would possibly suppose would elicit these sorts of emotions.
“You’re surrounded by zombies, evil spirits and mutated bats which are attempting to kill you,” he remembers. “However I noticed it was nature and the environment that made me really feel that approach. I bear in mind telling myself I needed to go to a spot like this in actual life at some point.”
As he approaches 30, he says he realizes how brief life is and is glad he’s participating in these adventures now, visiting different scenic landmarks such because the Grand Canyon, Nice Sand Dunes, the Grand Tetons, Demise Valley and the Nice Smoky Mountains.
“It’s a reminder to me that we solely exist on this planet as soon as,” he says. “This makes me wish to exit extra, develop extra and problem my ideas.”
To search out out what he’s doing subsequent (or the place he’s been), comply with him on YouTube.
All images courtesy of TTTHEFINEPRINTTT.
