FELLOW DIRTBAG REVIEWS HIS EUROVAN STAY

Jackie Fleming

ON HOW SHE MANAGES THE "NESTING INSTINCT" AMID A NOMADIC AND FREE-SPIRITED LIFESTYLE

Dirtbag Profiles: Jackie and Kofi

The Cutest Pair on the Outdoor Education Circuit

ABOUT JACKIE

• Type of rig: A periwinkle Honda Fit.
• The name of her car: Kofi, after Kofi Annan, the former Secretary General of the United Nations. The name symbolizes peacekeeping, nonviolent activism, social and political progress, and environmental justice. But don’t be mistaken; Jackie’s periwinkle Kofi is a female.
• Number of years living out of her car: Since the spring of 2008.
• Her favorite thing about her car: The back, with the seat folded down. “It’s like a studio apartment,” Jackie says. “It’s my bedroom, kitchen, studio. I can be in the most remote area, freezing cold and lonely, and all I have to do is crawl back there. I can hangout, play the guitar, write in my journal, curl up and be cozy.”
• Occupations: Raft Guide, Outdoor Educator for the Boojum Institute, Instructor for Wilderness Ventures and Outward Bound, Ski Instructor for Mammoth Mountain
• In her words, what defines a dirtbag: “A free-spirited person, with the ability to go where the wind takes them, and to be self-contained. A car isn’t required, but it helps.”
• Why she has chosen this lifestyle: “…the discovery of new places, building friendships, the affirmation of independence, discovering what I’m capable of….”
•  A saying she lives by: She who is brave is free.