Its pretty simple really, why did we chose to full-time RV?, to live our best life now – not later.

Call it what you want, life goals, retirement plans, philosophy, or anything else, we all seem to have an innate desire to enjoy our life and we dream and make plans on how to best achieve that. The problem is many of us plan too long, too hard, and for the wrong things. Some of us may never make it into the next “stage” of life where we can just enjoy life.

And therein lies the problem. Many people see enjoying life something you do after your kids are grown, after you’ve retired, and after all your other worries are gone. And to throw more fuel on that fire we fool ourselves into thinking that we must work hard, save, plan meticulously and do everything you can while your working age in order to have a splendid retirement. In fact, the “American Dream” is based on this idea. Work hard, buy a house, have a family, get involved with your community, and retire happy.

So what happens when you don’t want to wait for retirement? Well… you find a way to do life on your terms. But to get there, you’ll have to learn some new truths.

 Work to Live – Don’t Live to Work

There are generational differences in the way that work, careers, and employment in general are perceived. But for us, we learned that work was a means to allow us to live the life we wanted to live. That meant changing jobs to something that provided a higher work-life balance and not being focused on the next title.

Homeownership isn’t all its cracked up to be

I can probably rant for a long time on this one, so I’ll keep it short. I feel like I was sold a bill of goods on the dream of home ownership. When we bought our house, I had that “we made it feeling”. Now – I almost feel enlightened, like I figured out something few others have.

What did I figure out? Home ownership pulls you in, grabs you, and often times keeps you, your money, and your time captive.

Yea, yea, I know some of you are saying that homes and property are great investments, etc. I get it. Real estate can be a great investment – if you want to be in that business. It can also be a terrible loss and money pit.

We made money when we sold our home. We probably made the most we could have from our home– we bought in a low market and sold in a high market. However, I would be hard pressed to say that the money we made was any more than the money (above and beyond the mortgage) and time we invested with a bit of interest. In other words – I feel I could have been just as successful putting my money in an index fund and walking away with the same money, with a whole lot less work.

Theres a whole country, or even world out there

If you never leave the area you’re from or live in, you will miss out on so many experiences. We aren’t the most outgoing bunch, we aren’t socialites looking to schmooze over dinner and drinks with everyone. So don’t think just because you are generally introverted that you shouldn’t go explore! We have an absolute blast. We have been able to experience the natural wonders and beauty of our country in person and together. And our kids have been able to learn through hands on experiences, not just book work. We’ve been able to experience different regional cultures and food. Its been amazing and you don’t really know what your missing until you get out there.

Our journey started in 2016 with a small travel trailer. We travelled up and down the east side of the country as weekend warriors and vacationers. Our world got flipped upside down in 2021 when we had the opportunity to leave for a whole summer (remote work – thank you Covid!) and we did an epic road trip all throughout the west. We came home a new family – wanting to shed all the extra in our lives – the extra commitments, the extra toys, the extra junk – everything. We had experienced life on the road with the bare minimal possessions and found that we loved it. By the end of that year, we had made up our mind. We ordered our motorhome and started prepping the house for sale – the rest is history.