Hello! My name is Brian and I travel with my GF Stevi and our dog Vinny.  We are originally from MN and hit the road in december 2013.  We started planning for this in July of 2013 after our apartment lease ended.  My landlord was going to remodel and raise the rent.  Apparently I had a really good deal because I couldn't find anything like it to move into.  I didn't want to pay more for an apartment so we started looking into options.  At first we romanticized about building a tiny home but soon realized a camper would be much more practical.  We already had an old pick up truck so a truck camper was a natural choice.  We thought about a trailer but it sounded cumbersome.  We moved into the truck camper and had planned to be ready to travel by that fall.  Fall came and went and we never felt ready to go. Winter creeped in and then a really nasty cold front came in and the temp was -20 on december 5th of that year.  Ready or not the weather forced us to go anyway.  I thought we had enough savings for a very frugal 8 month trip but we had some major truck issues right away and burned through our money in just one month.  We found ourselves broke but warm in California and the rest is history.  We really had our back to the wall and we were forced to figure out how to be self sufficent on the road.  That rolling stones song has proven itself time and time again.  We can't always get what we want, but as long as we keep trying, we always seem to get what we need. My advice to those still in the dreamer phase is to just do it.  You might go through some hardships but it will just build your character, and if you keep your spirits high and just keep going, things will eventually work out.  We are now having the time of our lives traveling around just like we dreamed of 3 years ago. 

We started a blog when we left but have been very streaky with the updates. www.thenomadicpack.com,  I also have fallen in love with landscape photography while being out west, and I started a site for that as well.  http://bjg.photography. I don't sell or advertise anyting on the sites, just sharing our stories and photos.  

Some honest feedback, if this is not my grandpas RV community why is there no dedicated section for smaller, more practical rigs?  Not eveyone has an RV or 5th wheeler.  Also where is the boondocking section?  If I had a house to sell and a nice retirment income I would also have a huge rig and stay in campgrounds, so I mean no offense I am actually jelly of how you guys do it.  But we don't all have situations where we can live like that.  For those of us who decided to jump in young, without a house to sell off for a new rig, retirement funds, etc a lot of this is un-relatable. However the lifestyle is still very viable for us and there are more and more young people out there doing it with shotty old rigs and very little money.  

Hi Brian - welcome to the site! It sounds like you guys have found your way. I think you will find similar stories in here - people that just jumped in and did what they needed to do. Where did you start out that got so damned cold? I have done some pretty cold winters myself. Spent a winter in Moab, Utah, and had 6 weeks that didn't get above 20 degrees. That was cold.

 

Thanks for the feedback on the site. We are always open to suggestions. The site is built around RVs in general, not any specific kind. Truck campers, vans, Class A motorhomes, and trailers are all RVs. We don't discriminate on what kind. If we had some more interest and traffic on the forums, we could add some more specialized sub forums. There are an endless number of types of RVs. I think we just put them in general categories.

 

Your situation is not that unique. Most of us here did the same thing, and most of the members here are working on the road to stay alive. I will never be retired. But I get to be in different places all the time, which makes my life a little more meaningful. It's not about income level, or how fancy your home is. It is about taking advantage of the freedom. Living life on your terms, whatever it takes. 

 

--kev