Getting ready for our nomadic lifestyle

I briefly mentioned at the end of December last year in my post Year in review and looking ahead, that my husband and I were planning to leave our home base and set out in an RV to travel and live a nomadic lifestyle.  This is something we have planned for a few years.  Prior to that it’s something we had talked about doing when we were “older”. My in-laws have been doing this for 20 years or so and still going strong at almost 80!  So we are no stranger to the lifestyle. We have watched them and other full-time RVers over the years and feel like we are now ready to do so.

In 2006, we bought our first RV. It was a Thor T@B, a really adorable teardrop trailer. It was considered 16 feet long, but the living space was only about 12 feet. For six years we traveled the West and enjoyed every moment of it. We sold our little “T@bin’ in the Woods” when we decided to buy something larger. It was sad to say good bye but there was no way to live full-time in it!

To prepare for our lifestyle, we had to pay off debt, save money for our new RV and begin selling all our “stuff”.  We started having garage sales a couple of years ago. During the Christmas break I sold some items through a local buy and sell Facebook group. We are now on the final stage of selling the last bit of items we will no longer need when we leave our “sticks and brick” home.

Last fall in October, we found the RV that we thought would be right for us. No RV is perfect and it took us a few years of looking at all kinds of RVs before we decided to get a motorhome. There were trailers, 5th wheels and motorhomes. Though a 5th wheel is more roomy, we decided on a motorhome. At one time we thought our T@B would grow up to be an Airstream trailer, but they just don’t have enough storage for full-time living. I know there are people living in theirs full-time, we’ve seen their blogs, but we looked long and hard at the space and decided against it.

Mike and I sold our home several years ago because we were thinking of moving out of the area at one time. I was working as a freelance web designer until I was hired as a web developer for the local community college. We have been renting ever since. I gave my notice to the college for leaving at the end of June. My husband retired three years ago at the age of 56 with 32+ years in his career.

I plan to keep this photo blog going but in addition to it am developing a new blog specifically for our travels. I’ll make an announcement within the next couple of months when that goes live.

Since photography has been my main passion over the last few years, I’m looking forward to finally having the time to explore and capture our great country and beyond!