We started this blog with the best of intentions to chronicle our new life as full-time RVers, but now we’re four months deep and haven’t written a single blog. Oops! In our first month, we traveled 3000-something miles, first driving to Drayton, North Dakota, then down to Key Largo. There are a few experiences worth backtracking for that we’ll share over the next few weeks on the blog, starting with the two-week period before we ever left Denver. Otherwise, this is a fresh start and you can expect regular, timely posts.
The morning of August 31, 2015 began the last two weeks Kenny and I had at our jobs. It was also the day we needed to move out of the house we'd rented for the last four years.
Why move out of your house before you’re done with work?
Great question!
Take another trip back one month when the van breaks down on our way to my friend’s wedding over 300 miles from home. To get back to Denver, we need to buy a new fuel pump and pay for a rental car. We decide to work for two more weeks at our jobs to earn back what we lost in car repairs, which is sweetened by the deal that someone offers us their uninhabited rental property for free, while contractors work on the basement.
Why move out of your house before you’re done with work?
Great question!
Take another trip back one month when the van breaks down on our way to my friend’s wedding over 300 miles from home. To get back to Denver, we need to buy a new fuel pump and pay for a rental car. We decide to work for two more weeks at our jobs to earn back what we lost in car repairs, which is sweetened by the deal that someone offers us their uninhabited rental property for free, while contractors work on the basement.
Skip forward a month to the morning of August 31, 2015. We’re told that the contractors are finished early and that we can’t stay at the rental property. Now we don’t have a place to live, we still have two weeks left at our jobs, we’re on a tight budget, and we’re without many options. Our Casita - our new home we can’t wait to hit the road in - becomes an enormous burden because we need to find somewhere to put it. Not to mention the dog (Sorry, Annie, but it’s true!). We have until 10:00 pm to clean our house, find a place to park our Casita, and stitch together places where me, Kenny, and Annie can stay for two weeks.
In planning our exit from Denver, Kenny and I considered a number of living arrangements for our extended two-week stay in Denver, where staying somewhere for free was the only solution to earning the money we lost back. The high cost of living - one big reason we decided to move - made short-term housing through services like Airbnb not an option. We’d looked at staying at RV parks in the Denver area, but all the parks were at least 20 miles away and we were down to one vehicle. We also considered “urban camping,” but Denver has strict laws against it, and even if we could, we weren’t equipped to camp without shore power. We also have a dog.
In planning our exit from Denver, Kenny and I considered a number of living arrangements for our extended two-week stay in Denver, where staying somewhere for free was the only solution to earning the money we lost back. The high cost of living - one big reason we decided to move - made short-term housing through services like Airbnb not an option. We’d looked at staying at RV parks in the Denver area, but all the parks were at least 20 miles away and we were down to one vehicle. We also considered “urban camping,” but Denver has strict laws against it, and even if we could, we weren’t equipped to camp without shore power. We also have a dog.
Luckily, Kenny and I have some amazing friends who welcomed us into their homes, including my friend who lent us a car so we could get to work and take Annie to doggy daycare. Over the last few years, we’d been too busy working, taking care of a dog like she’s a human child, getting married, and a billion other excuses where we had become near hermits and saw friends less and less. While couch surfing our last days in Denver was not what we had planned for, it was nice to be without daily ritual and have the excuse to slow down and hangout with friends on a work night. I mean, we literally had nowhere to go!
In my eight years in Denver, I never lived more than a mile from Washington Park. I learned how to run to the park, then around it, then how to love running. I’ve logged thousands of miles on that trail and haven’t stopped running yet. After work one evening, Kenny and I needed to kill a few hours before heading to his friend’s house to stay for the night, so we went to Wash Park. At this point, we had our Casita parked with friends and were more or less living out of our van. I didn’t go for a run. Instead, Kenny and I sat in the grass - me in my office attire - and fed the dog. At another park, in another town, it would have been no big deal sitting at a public park with my husband and dog and hundreds of other people who didn’t notice us. But this was different. It was my park, where even if I was among the lowest earners in the neighborhood, I always felt entitled to the amenities of the neighborhood because I paid my rent. But we were genuinely homeless (for the time being) and the running trail didn’t appeal to me today because it no longer ended at home where I could cook dinner in an oven, take a bath, and throw the ball to the dog out back. This was the beginning of New Life. This is where things got a little more uncomfortable, but not unbearable. And now we’ve evolved with that initial discomfort, and appreciate that life on wheels is a little more raw, absurd, slow, fast, thoughtful — and it’s great.
In my eight years in Denver, I never lived more than a mile from Washington Park. I learned how to run to the park, then around it, then how to love running. I’ve logged thousands of miles on that trail and haven’t stopped running yet. After work one evening, Kenny and I needed to kill a few hours before heading to his friend’s house to stay for the night, so we went to Wash Park. At this point, we had our Casita parked with friends and were more or less living out of our van. I didn’t go for a run. Instead, Kenny and I sat in the grass - me in my office attire - and fed the dog. At another park, in another town, it would have been no big deal sitting at a public park with my husband and dog and hundreds of other people who didn’t notice us. But this was different. It was my park, where even if I was among the lowest earners in the neighborhood, I always felt entitled to the amenities of the neighborhood because I paid my rent. But we were genuinely homeless (for the time being) and the running trail didn’t appeal to me today because it no longer ended at home where I could cook dinner in an oven, take a bath, and throw the ball to the dog out back. This was the beginning of New Life. This is where things got a little more uncomfortable, but not unbearable. And now we’ve evolved with that initial discomfort, and appreciate that life on wheels is a little more raw, absurd, slow, fast, thoughtful — and it’s great.
As we were preparing to move into the Casita full-time, I would keep my eyes closed when I woke up in the morning in our large basement bedroom and try to imagine I was waking up in the Casita. There is no upstairs, there is no yard, there is hardly anymore space than the bed I’m laying on. Most times, it would cause anxiety. Having lived out of the 17’ Casita for four months with a dog and a man, I can say I’m glad we left behind the brick and mortar and didn’t buy a bigger RV. We can fit into any camp spot - which has saved us a few times when we arrive late to a campground with no reservation - we have a comfortable bed, Annie has a comfortable bed, I figured out how to wash my hair and shave my legs with 5 gallons of hot water in a navy shower - what more can you ask for!
We’ve been in Eustis, Florida for the last three months working as the only cooks at a RV resort. Turns out it gets into the low 30s in central Florida — who knew! Coming up, I’ll share our experience working at the sugar beet harvest in North Dakota and give a recap of our trip down South.
We’ve been in Eustis, Florida for the last three months working as the only cooks at a RV resort. Turns out it gets into the low 30s in central Florida — who knew! Coming up, I’ll share our experience working at the sugar beet harvest in North Dakota and give a recap of our trip down South.