Full-time RV’ing — Really?
A Shared Love of Travel and Adventure
Enjoying the great outdoors is ingrained in Lois’s and my childhood experiences. Lois has fond memories of extended family adventures at her Uncle Phil’s Hume Lake cabin. In addition, there were trips in the family camper, water skiing, snow skiing, beach time, and more. As for me, special experiences include family vacations to coastal and mountain destinations up and down the West Coast. And then there was Scouts — monthly camp-outs, 50 mile hikes, jamborees, and Scout camps..
Such adventures did not end when we got married. In our early years together, we did much of the same — coastal and mountain trips of various kinds, mostly with the family. So I, too, got introduced to Hume Lake and Uncle Phil’s cabin — fun times, great experiences. But eventually, after riding on the coattails of extended family outings for several years, we began to forge out on our own, making new experiences for ourselves. Among our many adventures, this included a legendary trip to the 1986 World’s Fair in Vancouver, Canada with our dear friends Tim and Barb — 4 adults, 3 kids-under-three, and 1 in the oven, all crammed into a 30 ft RV for 2 weeks. It was a hoot!
And so it was, some time during those early years, that we began to forge a dream. Wouldn’t it be awesome to buy an RV and tour North America when we retire someday? But over the years that distant, not yet attainable dream was shoved to the back burner. College had only recently finished, a professional career needed to be made, and growing our family was still yet to come.
But as the kids began to arrive, Lois and I made sure the journeys continued, and not just in California. Unbelievable places were traveled to and explored in France, Switzerland, and the UK while living and working overseas. And when we eventually repatriated to the U.S., of all the states we could have adopted, it was Colorado we chose to raise our family — a state with so much to experience, so much to explore. As our kids transitioned into grade school, traveling the Mountain West became all the more viable when we bought a Coleman pop-up trailer. For many years, good times and fond memories were forged in Colorado, South Dakota and Wyoming.
Lois and I are so blessed. A lifetime of such experiences has fostered in us a great love for traveling and exploring God’s creation. Immersing ourselves in the beauty, tranquility, and awe of His natural kingdom is salve to our souls and a great antidote for the stress and frenetic pace of everyday life.
Someday is Today
So here we are at retirement. Our 40 year dream to travel North America never faded; the time is ripe to move it to the front burner. At age 64, if we’re going to do this thing, now is the time for that motorhome. Waiting for any number of practical reasons means the dream will slowly slip away. We are faced with a bold and courageous decision. Let’s do this thing!
But wait… Much to our surprise, there is one wrinkle in the revived dream that crept in over the last couple of years. The very hard to ignore word “full-time” is now mashed together with “RV’ing”. Really! What does this mean?
We have made a huge decision — for a season of 2-3, maybe 5 years — to not just buy an RV, but to also make it our full-time home. In doing so, we are realizing not only our dream, but also an opportunity to put into practice an evolving commitment to simpler life (another story for another time). We are seeking experiences and people over stuff. And by minimizing our stuff, we free ourselves for oh so much more.
So does this mean we are selling our house? You betcha. More about that in our next blog.
