Fulltime RV Travel Plans Phase One

If you’ve been reading for a while, you know that last spring we sold almost all our possessions, packed our family of eight into a 31 foot travel trailer and hit the road.

Find out a little more about why we chose fulltime RV living.

Since then we’ve spend time in Tennessee, back “home” in Maryland, and the last three months in sunny Florida. We’ve learned so much about living in a small space, and have really enjoyed our time in our tiny home on wheels, but we’re ready for the next chapter of our lives.

Are we leaving the RV?

Not at all! Instead we’re hitching her up and driving cross-country from central Florida to the Pacific Northwest. We’ll be traveling the southern route across the US to take advantage of the warmer spring temperatures then up the coast of California and into Washington state just as the temperatures in the south start to be too hot for my liking.

Why do we want to travel?

Tim and I have always enjoyed seeing new parts of the country. In fact, four months after our wedding we took a month long road trip from Maryland to California and back again. We’ve always wanted to do something similar with our kids. However, before moving into the RV we assumed it would be something we’d need to wait on for quite a few years. Discovering the possibility of living in an RV has opened up fulltime RV travel.

Why are we doing it now?

Our kids aren’t getting any younger (and neither are we). We want to spend as much time with them as possible and build as many wonderful family memories as we can. Right now, we’re all healthy enough to travel, Tim and I both have the desire to travel, we have the means to travel, and we aren’t tied down by a lot of debt, a house, or a physical business.

At the end of the day, we have the chance to do it now, and we want to take advantage of the opportunity and avoid any regrets we may feel if we let the chance of fulltime RV travel pass us by.

Are we excited?

You betcha!!! Planning all our stops made the trip a reality and now we’re really excited to experience these places as a family. Truth be told, we’re also a little nervous…a whole lot can happen on a long road trip, but we’re praying through our fears and trusting God to lead us along the journey.

Where exactly are we going?

We know that plans can’t ever be finalized, but we’re about as close as we can get without knowing the future 🙂 That’s really great since we’re heading out this Friday!

On our path we’ll be visiting national parks (like White Sands, Grand Canyon, Zion, and the Redwood Forest), science centers, children’s museums, and famous landmarks. We’ll also visit local treasures and interesting pitstops (like the world’s largest working fire hydrant).

How can we afford this?

Well, we didn’t win the lottery, we’re not independently wealthy, and we don’t make a full-time income working online, so our fulltime RV travel plans will be a little unique.

We have a good emergency fund in the bank, but even with that, we were uncomfortable with simply traveling and not bringing in a sizable income. While our online businesses (like this blog, our wall art shop, and our educational printables) bring in some money each month, we have a ways to go before they will cover all our expenses.

So, to keep from using our savings, we’ll be driving to our next main stop in 5 weeks, then living in Washington state for three months. During this time we’ll explore the region and Tim will wait tables at night to pay our monthly bills and save money for the future. We’ll also be devoting more time to developing our online income streams.

The great thing about RV travel is that it does not need to be as expensive as people believe! We’ve found several ways of saving money with this lifestyle and even including the gas for travel, we’ll be spending less than half of our former monthly expenses.

What comes after Phase One?

Phase Two, of course! 🙂 In Phase Two we’ll be taking another month-long (ish) roadtrip, then settling into another region for Tim to work for three (ish) months. This pattern of travel-work will most likely continue for the next year. At the end of 2016, we’ll seek God’s direction, evaluate our experience, and make a decision about continuing this pattern of fulltime RV travel for next year.

What questions do you have for us about Fulltime RV Travel?

Do you have any questions about our travel plans, please leave them in the comments below. I’ll answer as much as possible in an upcoming blog post all about our trip. Have a stop you’d like to suggest? Head over to this page and fill out the quick form to tell us the places we really should consider visiting.