Gene and Brandy are a young couple seeking a life beyond societal structures. Their Wanderbox isn’t just an RV; it’s home for themselves, their six-year-old daughter, and their 160-pound Presa Canario mastiff. They’ve architected a life that prioritizes freedom. Their Wanderbox is the vehicle to make it possible.
An Expedition Truck To Escape the Matrix
Gene and Brandy used an expedition truck as the foundation to build a life that affords them ultimate freedom.
Freedom from debt. Location freedom. The ability to unplug from society and take their lives off-grid at their whim.
With roots in Michigan, where they own a successful cleaning business, Brandy and Gene had achieved the American dream. It came complete with a big, beautiful house and a $5,000 a month mortgage payment.
Despite having achieved what many would call material success, they realized the dream they’d been sold wasn’t for them.
“We’ve realized what life is really about, and we don’t want to waste it anymore on a white picket fence American dream.”
Transitioning To RV-Life
Brandy and Gene purchased a Mercedes Sprinter Class C Motorhome as a means of vacationing and began renting out their home while they were away. With the freedom to manage the business remotely, the lure of life on the road reeled them in.
They sold their home and most of their possessions and transitioned into the RV full-time.
However, they quickly “ran it into the ground,” pushing the motorhome to its limits on trails it had no business being on, crossing rivers, and even going at the slide with a sawzall.
It was drafty, the road noise was bad, and the slide kept falling apart.
It was nowhere near comfortable or rugged enough to meet their needs. “It’s just not a home, right? It’s just a weekend getaway-mobile,” is how Brandy explained it.
Why Wanderbox?
After researching everything available (including Wanderbox) and even testing other expedition vehicles, Brandy and Gene met Wanderbox’s CEO, Mike, at Overland Expo, where they also saw a Wanderbox on display for themselves.
The remote work setup in the rig on display caught Brandy’s attention as a business owner. But ultimately, the array of configurable options sold them on their new expedition vehicle.
The First of Our Wanderbox Extreme Series
The First of Our Wanderbox Extreme Series
Gene and Brandy’s dream rig didn’t sit on a Ford F550 or Chevy chassis. “[Mike] told me that he would build the Wanderbox on my dream truck, which is a one-of-a-kind 6×6 Mercedes Unimog,” says Gene.
Their build became the first of our new Wanderbox Extreme Series: Expedition RVs built on more aggressive chassis specifically geared for off-road use.
These differ from our original lineup of off pavement friendly, but less rock crawling capable standard 4×4 motorhomes.
There are companies out there that build expedition Mogs, but their prices are hard to stomach, and they don’t offer the flexibility Gene and Brandy needed. Mike and the team at Wanderbox agreed to come up with a one-of-a-kind build on this very unique chassis.
Brandy and Gene purchased the Unimog from a third party, and the Wanderbox team went to work bringing their dream expedition RV to life.
According to Brandy and Gene, it “felt really good to connect with a company that was willing to do everything,” from building on their Unimog to including a handful of eccentric and functional features.
A One-Of-A-Kind Expedition Vehicle
Their expedition rig is as homey as it is apocalypse-ready—complete with a climbing wall and a wood-burning fireplace.
For this family, staying out longer is no joke. They prefer backroads and boondocking and want the freedom to turn down any dirt road or trail they feel called to explore.
Their perfect day looks like, “No people. Somewhere way out in the middle of nowhere, phones don’t work.”
Thanks to their Wanderbox, they can put that day on replay for up to a month at a time without the need to refill water, plug in, or go to town for fuel.
Their expedition vehicle is complete with a 150-gallon water tank and solar panels over the cab, leaving the roof free for an epic party deck where their family can sleep under the stars.
As infinitely capable as their Wanderbox is, features that support their family life were the most meaningful to Brandy and Gene. A huge pass-through makes time on the road feel more like quality time together, and their daughter has her own room with a door, which was important to them as she grows up.
Vehicle to a Values-Driven Lifestyle
For a family that values experiences over things, Wanderbox is the ticket to a life of unbridled exploration, adventure, and freedom. “We feel like we’re raising our child way better.”
They referred to their Wanderbox, which they’ve named ‘The Wandering Ark’, as their “freedom rig”. It’s making it possible for them to pursue a debt-free life while collecting priceless memories as a family.
While the finishing touches are still being installed on their rig, Gene and Brandy have had a chance to take it for a test run—from Colorado to the Arizona/California border, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and back to Colorado. Just under 4,000 miles in seven days.
It gave them a taste for the life they’re eager to start living.
Brandy and Gene dream of living more slowly; spending each morning watching the sunrise and being present parents. Hiking, paddleboarding, and exploring whenever they please, between a few business emails here and there.
“We think freedom from the matrix and from the world is probably the most important.”
The Wandering Ark gives them the freedom to pursue life on their own terms. To opt out of the daily grind and build their days around the things they value and the passions that light up their souls.
What Does Freedom Feel Like To You?
While Brandy, Gene and their apocalypse-ready rig may be a more extreme case than most, they are only one example of how our live, work, and play anywhere mantra can be realized on any kind of truck, for any kind of customer and lifestyle.
Whether freedom to you looks like a rig ready to go on epic family vacations a few times a year without dealing with travel and lodging logistics, or a full time home on wheels, Wanderbox opens up a world of opportunity to reimagine what’s possible. “One thing we really want everybody to know is that we are not rich, we are clever,” says Brandy. “We literally just traded all of our possessions for this. We’d rather live for memories than money and material possessions.”
