How Far Would You Go for a Friend?

Originally published in 2021.  Current updates on Kevin and Felix are below the article.

 

How far would you go for a friend?

 

What are our first words to a friend in crisis?

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

When we think of the “anything I can do”, we think of running errands, dropping off casseroles, checking the mail, feeding pets, picking up relatives at the airport.

Things that are nice and well appreciated, but that don’t take a big chunk out of our busy and well-planned lives.

But what if the “anything” required driving thousands of miles to help a friend you haven’t seen in years?  A friend who lives alone in his RV with his three small dogs, and who just learned he had cancer and might die?

This is the extraordinary story of two friends, Kevin and Felix, who had been separated over many years and many miles.

There is a saying that those who have the least to give, are those who give the most.

Kevin and Felix make it real.

Campervan Kevin begins his nomadic life

 

Kevin left his Georgia pressure-washing business to become a full-time RV nomad seven years ago, after his life had been turned upside down by a cardiac crisis.

Kevin left home with his two tiny Yorkies named Martini and Baby MaeMae.  They lived frugally along America’s backroads and wild places.

In time, Kevin added another Yorkie to his “Woof Pack” named Tucker.  Tucker is shown in the photo above and below.

Kevin created a YouTube channel about his life called “Campervan Kevin.”  His channel took off, as more people followed Kevin’s fascinating journey and his down-home storytelling.

Over time, Kevin bought and sold several used campervans and RVs.  He became proficient at everything from repairs, campfire cooking, and surviving wild weather.

Campervan Kevin’s YouTube videos teach these skills, step by step.  Here is my article about one of Campervan Kevin’s great kitchen hacks.

 

Ms. Gypsy –

 

With the success of his YouTube channel, Kevin was able to buy a beautiful large motorhome in 2019, that he named “Ms. Gypsy.”

Luxurious Ms. Gypsy was a big change from Kevin’s early days of van life.  Ms. Gypsy is shown here with his Yorkie “Tucker” at the helm –

 

Campervan Kevin touches lives on his journey

 

Over the years, Kevin has shared his kindness with other nomads on the road.  Many of them live without simple things that most people take for granted.

This past Christmas, Kevin camped in our beautiful desert with a group of other nomadic “vloggers.”

“Vloggers” chronicle their daily lives with online videos.  Videos can be made very inexpensively these days, and it’s free to load them onto YouTube.

One of these nomadic vloggers was a cheerful homeschool family of five who lived–very snuggly–in their RV.  Their RV had no room for a Christmas tree.

Kevin figured out a way for this family to have a lovely Christmas tree, without spending any money and without squeezing a bulky tree into their RV.

This beautiful, short video below shows how Kevin gave this family, along with the other nomads in their group, their own Christmas trees–in the desert, using odds and ends the group scrounged up.

This video also gives a glimpse into Kevin’s heart and his faith.

 

Everyone’s Worst Nightmare

 

Steve and I met Kevin in Quartzsite, after we had followed him on YouTube for years.  It was in December 2020, around when he made the above video.

Kevin told us he hadn’t been feeling well, and he was going to see a doctor in Phoenix soon.

The doctor confirmed Kevin’s greatest fear.  He had kidney cancer.

The doctor said he would remove Kevin’s cancerous kidney and try various treatments, but Kevin had to accept that his cancer could be terminal.

Kevin shared his diagnosis on his Campervan Kevin YouTube channel, like he shared the rest of his life.  He assured his viewers that he had an emergency savings account, and that he didn’t need money.

What Kevin needed to do was figure out how he could manage his life and take care of his three little dogs when he was in and out of a Phoenix hospital, thousands of miles from his old home.

He had to face the fact that he could die soon.  He was in excruciating pain.

Kevin turned to his faith, to lead him through his terrifying new journey.

In his darkest hour, his prayers were answered.

Felix, an old friend from Georgia, drove from Georgia to Arizona to be with Kevin every step of the way.  Felix told Kevin he would be there throughout Kevin’s surgery and treatments.

If the treatments didn’t work, Felix would stay with Kevin till the end.

Felix didn’t have any easy life.  He lived in a small van with his little rescued dog, “Foxy Lady.”

Felix had built a bed, sink, and cooktop into his van.  But like many nomads, his toilet was a five gallon bucket.

Like Kevin, Felix chronicled his nomadic life on his own YouTube channel.

 

Second chances and necessary changes

 

Felix cared for Kevin and his three dogs during Kevin’s surgery and recovery.

The doctors removed Kevin’s cancerous kidney.  They believed that they had removed all the disease from Kevin’s body.

They warned Kevin, though, that only time would tell if the cancer would return.

Kevin loved his beautiful large motorhome, “Ms. Gypsy.”  But Ms. Gypsy was a lot of RV that needed a lot of care, and she was challenging to handle on the road.

Kevin had been weakened by his cancer surgery and treatment, and he knew that he needed to simplify and downsize his life.

Ms. Gypsy would need to be replaced with a smaller RV that better fit into his streamlined new life as a recent cancer patient.

Kevin and Felix began searching online for Ms. Gypsy’s replacement.

Kevin had always regretted selling his favorite RV, a “Bigfoot” model, years earlier. There aren’t many of those Bigfoots left on the road, and they are very difficult to find.

Felix found an 1997 Bigfoot in Denver.  It was identical to Kevin’s long ago favorite RV.   The owner promised to hold it for Kevin.

So Kevin and Felix took off for Denver.  It was to be Kevin’s last trip in his beautiful Ms. Gypsy.

Like always, Kevin chronicled their trip on his YouTube channel.

 

“God has laid something on my heart.”

 

Kevin’s video below started off ordinarily enough.  Kevin and Felix lounged in folding chairs in a Colorado parking lot, waiting for Kevin’s Bigfoot to finish its final check-up before he took it on the road.

As Kevin points out in this video, the key to living happily on the road is to be happy wherever you are–even if you are sitting for hours in a parking lot.

Kevin showed his viewers that this parking lot had a beautiful view of the Colorado Rockies, for them to enjoy while they waited.

The date was April 1st–“April Fool’s Day.”

The first ten minutes of this sixteen-minute video was mostly lighthearted banter between the two old friends, as they played with their dogs and waited for the mechanic to finish working on Kevin’s “new-to-me” Bigfoot RV.

When the Bigfoot is finally ready, Felix drives it back to Kevin and the dogs, who are waiting by Ms. Gypsy in the parking lot.  Felix gives Kevin a rundown on the Bigfoot’s checkup.

Then things get really intense, really fast.  Kevin briefly talks to the camera when he is alone by Ms. Gypsy, then he joins Felix for a talk in the Bigfoot.

The last six minutes of this video are among the most powerful, heart wrenching, and real things I have ever seen.

How far would you go for a friend?  Kevin and Felix show us.

 

Kevin and Felix are still sharing their RV lives online, and they both keep their followers updated on their lives.  

 

Click here for Campervan Kevin’s YouTube channel.

Here is Campervan Kevin’s Patreon page.

Don’t miss Felix’s YouTube channel, BiggDogg RVer.

 

July 2022 Update –

 

Sadly, Felix has just learned that he has pancreatic cancer.  He is in a great deal of pain.  Kevin is by his side, as always.  Felix is receiving treatments, and both he and Kevin are giving updates on his condition.

Felix has little money in savings.  To donate, please click here to donate on Felix’s YouTube channel, or click here to donate on his go fund me page.

To donate on his YouTube channel, go to the “Thanks” link right below the videos.

October 2024 Update –

Felix had surgery following the above update, which removed all the cancer.

Sadly, Felix’s cancer returned this year.  He is now very ill.

Felix bravely continues to make videos, with the help of his loving family.

He faces his illness with courage, grace, humor, honesty, and faith.

Felix and Ms. Gypsy recently traveled to Texas, to be near family while he received his latest cancer treatments.

Felix was in the passenger seat of Ms. Gypsy this time.  He got to look out the window and watch the beautiful Arizona desert go by.

The mystical and mysterious desert that captivates nomads like Felix and Kevin.

That captivates nomads like my husband Steve and me.

We nomads know that we live our lives differently from other people.

We also know that we need to face our eventual deaths differently than other people, too.

Some Quartzsite scenes from Nomadland covered this topic very well.

In this scene, Swankie’s character reflects on her life, after learning that her cancer is terminal.  She plans to make one final trip to Alaska in her van, rather than die in a hospital.

 

 

“See you down the road”

In this scene, Fern and Bob Wells discuss how they remember their loved ones who have died –

 

 

This scene shows Swankie’s beautiful Quartzsite nomad funeral –

 

 

In this scene, Quartzsite mainstay Paul “Sweet Pie” Winer remembers his late friends in a cheerful song –

 

 

Swankie and Sweet Pie in real life –

 

In real life, Swankie is still reported to be alive, kicking, and kayaking.  Inn 2022, she donated a big chunk of her Nomadland paycheck to a school in Africa.

Sadly, Paul Winer did not live to see the film Nomadland.  He died May 7, 2019.