Trent Arant has traveled to approximately 40 states and dog-friendly national parks as he travels across the United States in a custom-built van that doubles as his home. There is no bathroom or shower, but there is something more important to his daily life: a PC gaming station.
“Gaming has always been a big part of me,” says Arant, 29, who has more than half a million followers on YouTube TTTHEFINEPRINTTT which follows his travels and gaming experiences, which include playing spooky titles in the middle of the night in even spookier forests. “It’s my way of relaxing after a hard or bad day.”
He has experienced a lot of this in the four years he has lived this nomadic life and shared his grief, his loneliness and his resilience with his many followers. He also happened upon a growling bear with his dog, retired without incident, and enjoyed weekly outdoor showers from the back of his van (when he’s not near a gym). Living and working in a van has taught him to adapt and make do with less.
“Doing something so unpleasant made me want to get out and grow,” he says. “I needed this five years ago. I got stuck in my habits. I had to become something new. Vanlife was a catalyst for me. It pushed me out into the world and changed me indefinitely. I am a completely different person now. I’ve grown up a lot. This was a transformative time in my life where I had to say goodbye to a previous version of myself.”
Although he has taken some breaks in his van, it is his home, born of a wanderlust that was not fulfilled after he tried it temporarily. At that time he had been living in a house with friends for about four years. In the early days of van life, he found a cheap, old van and went on a three-month road trip. He loved it so much that he wanted to live this life full time.
Because he’s on the go so much and only has his dog Millie for company, he’s constantly meeting new people (and she loves that the world is her backyard). But Arant misses his friends. Gaming is crucial to how he can keep up with them.
“This lifestyle offers a lot of freedom and is so rewarding, exciting and full of adventure. But there’s a lot of isolation,” he says. “It’s so calming to play in places I don’t know and to reconnect with my friends through online gaming.”
Even as a child, in fifth grade, PC gaming caught his attention. A big milestone happened: the family got a computer. One of his siblings opened up a new world to him by showing him how a keyboard and mouse – as opposed to using a controller and mouse – could lead to new adventures.
“It really resonated with me, and it felt even more immersive than when I could play online,” says Arant, bragging Age of Empires And RuneScape with his early love of PC games.
In 2018, the first van he built and lived in did not have a gaming focus. When the pandemic and lockdowns began, he was firmly entrenched in this life and was able to adapt quickly by isolating himself and Millie in the woods. But over the years, he optimized his gaming setup and documented these changes on his social media channels: he swapped out various chairs, consolidated equipment, and upgraded monitors and computers. Most importantly, he created a dedicated and comfortable area to play. He has also evolved his online gaming by tethering his phone’s internet to hotspots and now using the much more reliable mobile satellite kit.
“Starlink changed the game for me,” he says. “Vanlife takes me so far away from cell towers and places I used to avoid, but now I don’t.”
He also made other improvements to his second van, which was launched in spring 2021 after working on it for several months starting in 2020. He replaced his cooler with a real refrigerator, added a real stove and burner, traded in a sink that he had to pump with his foot on a running one, and carefully selected decorative handles and designs for his new and improved kitchen cabinets.
One constant through all of these upgrades that ensure he can play when he wants: solar panels installed on his roof that complement a lithium battery bank that stores electricity that he can use throughout the night or on days when he doesn’t can’t count on the sun’s rays, can use it to get through. He also uses a DC-DC charger that allows him to charge the battery bank while driving.
He’s had many computers over the years, for work and play – and even built a few – but his latest favorite device for work, play and everything in between is the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 18.
“Of all the computers I’ve had, it’s the most powerful PC I’ve ever used. “It’s beyond anything I’ve ever owned and it’s big enough to feel like a full-tower PC,” says Arant, whose current games include World of Warcraft, Fortnite, Call of Duty and Apex Legends. But he also uses the laptop to edit his YouTube videos.
He’s a fan of it Windows operating system.
“It’s both prosumer and consumer. It can be barebones, but it can also be really great for nerds like me who like to dive deep,” he says. “That’s what I love about it.”
ASUS followed Arant’s travels and contacted him, resulting in a formal agreement that made him a brand ambassador for ASUS ROG. While Arant still enjoys working in the film industry and creating on-screen graphics, recent strikes had limited the project-based work he normally did.
He tried this out as part of his partnership with ASUS ASUS ROG ALLY
“I love this thing! I love that it plays every PC game like you would on a console, but you can also access YouTube and Netflix. It’s hard to describe, but it feels different.”
Although he is familiar with the mobile gaming vanlife style, the mobility of the ASUS ROG ALLY is a completely new experience for him.
Arant grew up in Georgia, but since he first embraced van life, he has traveled to all but about eight states in the United States. His favorite landscape so far is this Pacific Northwest because it reminds him of a part in a video game.
“It has what I like to call a hauntingly beautiful feeling,” he says. “The tall pine trees poking through the evening mist and the lush green forests with that dark blue hue to the atmosphere are so eerie to me and yet so beautiful and calming.” It’s a strange, satisfying contrast and I feel that “This landscape conveyed to me, always loved.”
As a child, he says, he leveled an undead character in World of Warcraft for the first time and walked through the undead starting zone in a “terrifyingly comfortable and peaceful” way. This place wasn’t exactly a place you’d think would evoke such feelings.
“You’re surrounded by zombies, evil spirits and mutant bats trying to kill you,” he recalls. “But I realized that it was nature and the atmosphere that gave me this feeling. I remember telling myself that one day I want to visit a place like this in real life.”
As he approaches 30, he realizes how short life is and he’s glad he’s embarking on these adventures now and other scenic sights like the Grand Canyon, the Great Sand Dunes, the Grand Tetons, Death Valley and visited the Great Smoky Mountains.
“It reminds me that we only exist once on this planet,” he says. “It makes me want to go out more, grow more and challenge my thoughts.”
To find out what he does next (or where he has been), follow him Youtube.
All photos courtesy of TTTHEFINEPRINTTT.
