Common Misconceptions

After traveling for almost four years we still laugh at the reactions we get when we tell people that we live full time in our RV and travel the country. 

After we explain our nomadic way of life to someone the reaction typically falls into one of these two categories almost every time.

One group seems to pity us. You can almost see them envisioning our poor family living practically homeless eating canned beans over an open fire. The puzzled look typically says it all and then we get to explain how we have heat, air and even running water.

In stark contrast comes the next group of people and their complete polar opposite reaction. Their eyes light up in wonder and confusion. They ask if we're retired or how we ended up lucky enough to do what we do. I’m sure they picture us on the beach with our coconut drinks in hand, toes in the sand and not a worry in the world. Of course this comes with almost a sense of envy wondering how we can afford to live such a lavish lifestyle especially at our ages!

What we find most amusing is not so much the reactions, but how they are on complete opposite ends of the spectrum over the same lifestyle.

So, which is it?  Well, neither. 

How can one lifestyle create such differing opinions? Well, there is obviously some misunderstanding happening when looking in from the outside.  I think the first group clearly focuses on our actual living space and material possessions, while the other group focuses on the experiences we must have with this lifestyle.

And that brings us to a list of common misconceptions about families who full time travel:

We must live like hobos, rambling from place to place. 

   Well, we do ramble from place to place, but even though our house is small it has all the functions of a normal home.  We cook fantastic meals in our tiny kitchen and, even sometimes, use our outdoor kitchen. We have more TVs than we had in a real house. We are constantly connected with wi-fi everywhere we go and we even have a fully functional bathroom in order to shower. It's pretty amazing. 

We live on permanent vacation. 

   We are with our kids every day and out at the beach posting on Instagram while others are at work. We are fortunate, but we don't live on permanent vacation. Our way of life came about by making the intentional choices and the sacrifices necessary to do things our own way.  That is what we did.  We didn't win the lottery. We left our 9-5 careers and headed (with our imaginations and a HUGE leap of faith) into the great unknown. This decision came after lots of prayer and an immense amount of planning for over two years to cushion our transition. Steve Jobs once said "Your time is precious, don't waste it living someone else's life." This thinking hit home for us and we came to a time in our life where we wanted control of our time and to manage our own life.

We still work, but for ourselves on our own schedule. It's not always easy and we don’t have endless funds.  We splurge at times by visiting the tourist attractions while other times we enjoy the simple pleasures of life.  We may never remember that re-run we watched years from now, but we can’t ever forget the feelings of hiking to the top of a mountain, swimming in that cascading waterfall or that amazing time out exploring with friends.

But, in these ways, our life still has to have balance.  The difference is our entertainment is ever changing and each day in this life feels like a blank slate laid before us.  A new day with  new experiences. 

      

We're homeless.  

   This is our home.  Our space is small, but it is our place of retreat.  We find it funny how often we get invited to leave our RV with nothing but the best of intentions of course, but our RV is our home.  And this is the life we have chosen.  Our RV is our beach house, lake house, farm house, city condo--the possibilities are endless! 

   We don’t live this way because we have to live like this, it is our choice to live in such a small space because of what it allows for us to see and do. We've chosen experiences and simplicity over space and material posessions.

We camp every night. 

   Camping is what started this whole pursuit.  We loved camping—tent camping—and we assumed that our overnight stays would always kind of feel like camping, but better.  This couldn’t be further from the truth.  There’s not bacon and eggs over an open campfire in the mornings or s’mores over an open fire at night.  We do love that kind of camping, but it rarely happens.  Our trailer is parked at a campground or a park, but our home is more like a rolling home base for exploration than anything else. Honestly, some days we still miss unplugging and "camping."

We're living the dream.

   Well, yes and no. What is interesting about living this way is that it encourages living to dream.  There isn't one dream and then that's it. We are constantly thinking of other possibilities. The dreaming doesn’t stop.  It feels like every time we accomplish something we add three more things to the list!  Then, bigger dreams surface.  After we tour all 50 states, there could be backpacking Europe, hiking the Appalachian Trail, or... who knows! Living this way takes the limits off and makes us feel capable of accomplishing anything.  We’ve seen that mentality in our teens, too.  They know they have a world of possibilites ahead of them. 

   

Also, on the other hand, while we may be living our dream, we still live day to day like everyone else with all the normal responsibilities.  We have our fun. We have our work. We have our struggles. We have laundry day. No escaping laundry day. Not every day is the picture perfect world you see on social media. Life is still life.  We are just fortunate enough to live ordinary life while on a grand adventure from one place to the next.

We have no community.

   There is an amazing community of people who live this lifestyle. Families with kids of all ages live this way and gather together through rallies and meetups. Plugging into this community makes all the difference in your full time travel experience. 

   We love to go and explore nature and see sights, but having great friends to share this life with is one our favorite things about this lifestyle. We are all so different, but yet the same in so many ways. We have amazing friends that we meetup with across the country.

   We know most people have a hard time imagining what it is like to live full time with our family in an RV. We get it.  So, we don't look for pity or envy over our lifestyle. We are just an ordinary family living our American dream.

Three Year Nomadiversary

“Don’t confuse a chapter of your life with the story of your life.” 

Three years ago to this very week was the launch of everything—living in a home on wheels, unplugging from the “norm,” trying out a new way of life. 

We have had quite the wild ride and have clung on in both anticipation (and sometimes fear) waiting for what comes around each corner.  At times this “trip” was likely to kill us as we all dealt with seeing each other every moment (for better or for worse), but we rode it out through the good and bad and experienced what I like to refer to as the beautiful chaos in between. 

We’ve driven the east coast from Maine to Florida and in doing so walked the same steps as historical figures, hiked granite peaks, swam in crystal clear springs, jumped in waterfall after waterfall, wine tasted from the coast of Michigan to the hill country of Texas, sailed the waters where our ancestors first imagined independence, climbed the tallest lighthouses, plunged into caves, chased black bears, rode roller coasters, ziplined in jungles and have done so many more amazing things. 

The past three years have brought unforgettable memories with family and lifelong friendships formed with people across this country and fellow nomads.  We have met truly inspiring families and people who have given us a window into a unique way of life.  We’ve also volunteered side by side with people who make our world a better place—the true heroes in my opinion.

Stepping away allowed Tom and I to chase our own career path.  And, in doing so, we have been extremely fortunate to find several rehab properties across four states and successfully call ourselves “house flippers.” Rolling Renovation has grown in ways we could have never predicted.  We even bought an Airstream Classic to renovate while in the renovating spirit.  I can’t even imagine how different our career path would be if we hadn’t left. 

While we weren’t looking, our kids have turned into young adults, and we’ve added to our family with adorable baby nomad.  We’ve learned so much about our world and each other and what living out this journey means to our family.

And, on top of all this, we have even entertained the idea of showcasing our chaos for others…yes, we have even been signed with a production company for our own show (hold the gasps…we aren’t famous yet.)  Wow. Our life is far from boring.

But it hasn’t all been gravy.  This same family has also had flat tires on the side of the road, torn awnings at the beach, busted car windows, bike rides on the devil’s backbone, lonely days away from friends, days we felt we were flopping more than flipping, times we wondered what in the world we were doing and, let’s not forget, the worst case of chiggers imaginable.  And, many, many times we weren’t the perfect family you see on social media. 

So many aspects of our life were different than we imagined.  We had these ideas of getting healthier and learning new languages and how to play instruments as a family and looking back I laugh thinking about all these high hopes we had!  While we had great intentions, we soon realized that while these things were all possible and things we wanted to do, this life on the road wasn’t going to make our old habits die and new habits form all at once.  Life is still a process, nothing is instant. Even after many failed attempts at doing many things we had hoped, hitting the road did make us look at things from a very different perspective.  And, that has been priceless.

It has been quite the journey.  I still can’t believe it has been three years. 

This year as we finished up our last flip in Texas this spring and searched for the next property, we couldn’t help but find another house in the very familiar city of Pensacola.  Maybe it is the white sand beaches, loving family around or the grand amount of real estate rehab opportunity here, but we just can’t seem to stay away from this place!  This “beauty in the pines” on one and one half acres came with a huge pool, greenhouse and a gorgeous 3,000 square foot house waiting to be uncovered.  As the renovation began it had us all wondering at this stage in our life and travels: “should we love it, or list it?”  For the first time on our travels we weren’t too sure whether this could be it for us.  We now have two teens and a baby.  Should we leave full time travel behind?  Is this a new chapter in our story of life?  And the struggle became real.  And that is where we have found ourselves the past couple of months in serious conversation about where the journey goes from here. 

But, while seasons in life may change and finding a place to landlock will one day come, we also quickly realized, once again, that we don’t fit in suburbia.  The next step will feel right when it happens like it did three years ago when we left.  Maybe it is acres of rolling hills with a tiny home built by us or a town that captivates us in a way like we haven’t experienced yet, but with dreamers you can always guarantee on thing—there will be a new chapter of dreams to chase.

This is where we can’t “confuse a chapter of our life with the whole story.”  Life is made up of seasons and we all have moments to pause and reflect.  Our nomadiversary is that time for us.  So, what does this coming year look like?  Well, I wouldn’t dare spoil it all for you…or us.  We will just wait and see what life brings and what crazy twist and turns come and hang on in excitement as we share.  We hope it means to lend our hand where needed more often, follow a path that we don’t lead on our own, enjoy each other more than ever before, laugh with old friends, make new friends ,see more of the hidden wonders of this country, embrace healthy changes one at a time and focus less on figuring it out and more on embracing every opportunity we are given.    

And we know that it will, as always, be filled with many adventures, travels and new.  So, on we roll.