Have you seen this colorful van in Happy Valley? Its owner invites you to leave your mark

In our Uniquely stories, CDT journalists celebrate what we love most about Centre County, its history & culture. Read more. Story idea? cdtnewstips@centredaily.com.

Most people generally frown upon strangers defacing their vehicle, but not Trie’sena Brown. The 27-year-old not only encourages it, she’s even made it easier by leaving chalk out as an invitation.

Brown said she often gets questions about the conspicuous 1995 Ford Econoline van that she’s been driving, and living out of, for over three years.

That’s because her vehicle isn’t just any run-of-the-mill van — after covering it with black chalkboard paint, it has garnered several hundred signatures on all sides, with some signatures coming from people who live states away from Happy Valley.

Since 2021, Brown’s vehicle has brightened parking lots wherever she’s been, and as a result, she frequently gets requests from people to leave their mark on the van.

“Almost everywhere I go people will come up to me or my van and ask if they can sign it,” Brown said. “People have spotted me on highways and drove with me to my destination just to ask if they can sign it — I love it, it’s such a treat for me and whoever leaves their name on it.”

Brown started her journey growing up in North Dakota before moving to DuBois, where soon after she would move to State College to pursue studying education at Penn State. Penn State ended up not being for Brown though, and now she studies online though Harrisburg Area Community College.

During her time in Happy Valley, Brown just couldn’t seem to find what she was looking for when it came to affordable places to rent in the area.

“I’ve come to find that especially around the State College area, apartments cost entirely too much for entirely too little,” Brown said. “I couldn’t find a place that felt like home to me that was also within a reasonable price range, so I opted into the van life and haven’t looked back since.”

After making the decision to purchase a van and make it her own personal living space, Brown and her friends decided to paint the vehicle black with chalkboard paint so that it could be made more decorative through collected signatures and notes from strangers and friends alike.

Now, all sides of the vehicle have been tattooed with signatures, notes, remarks and stickers from all those who have crossed paths with Brown.

She’s even prepared a small tin bucket filled with chalk markers to hang from the side of her van when she’s parked, so that anyone who wants to leave their own memento on her vehicle can do so.

“Whenever I’m at work, a concert or just anywhere outside of my van, I’ll hang the bucket up so that whoever wants to sign it can,” Brown said. “I encourage anyone who wants to come and sign it to do so, as long as the writing that you leave is appropriate.”

It’s important to Brown that the notes left on her van are kept clean because throughout the year, her vehicle does attract a lot of the area’s youth.

“Around Halloween I will park my van and offer out candy to anyone who wants it,” Brown said. “It is a massive hit with the kiddos around here — even outside of October, kids and teens will always want to come up and leave some sort of silly note, so it’s important to me that whatever gets written on the van stays under a PG-13 level. If someone does leave an inappropriate remark, I’ll try to get it washed off as soon as I can.”

Over the years, Brown has found that the freedom of using the van as her own living space is not the only thing that’s good about the vehicle — it’s saved her a lot of money, too.

Through living out of her vehicle, she said she has saved enough money to complete two years of college completely debt-free, although the lifestyle comes with its drawbacks too.

“Every once in a while I’ll run into some car troubles,” Brown said. “I’ve gotten some flat tires here and there and I do have to replace a part or two every now and then, but I have an emergency fund specifically for those reasons so I’m never too worried about any troubles that have come my way so far.”

As a part of her precautionary measures, Brown keeps a flat tire patching kit, emergency equipment and other necessities in her van, just in case something goes awry. The vehicle even has a fully-functional solar panel on the top to power the battery, as well as to charge any electronics that she has — including a cooler for cold groceries, a laptop and her phone.

After living in her van for as long as she has, Brown has no intentions of stopping this lifestyle anytime soon, and is looking forward to any new experiences that come her way as a result of it.

“I love the way that I live and I don’t intend on stopping this lifestyle any time soon,” Brown said. “I own this van and I own everything in it — it’s granted me a great sense of independence and pride in myself. I’m always meeting new people and hearing new stories, and this van give them the opportunity to permanently share a part of their story with me and whoever else sees it, and I love that.”