Great Escapetations

Sometime this February my husband and I bought an RV. Meet Lexi, our 29 feet future home on wheels while we explore the great USA:

With my husband’s early retirement around the corner next year and my decision to pursue a different path in my career, topped with our joy of travel, we decided to bite the bullet and invest in an RV. I’m not sure exactly how the idea came about but we had been watching HGTV’s Beach Hunters for a while, dreaming about getting a boat, living on it, and island hopping. Then the hurricanes hit… and we thought that perhaps that dream could be modified.

That’s when we found Heath and Alyssa’s blog and started following their travels. The young couple hit the road right after getting married, traveling the entire country, working, and writing about their experience. There is a lot of good information and advice about working from the road and what to expect from living on wheels. Although we didn’t have an RV at the time, we drove to Nashville where Heath and Alyssa were hosting an RVers meetup. We had such a great time meeting a variety of people who had already been on the road full time or who were planning on doing so. We kept in touch via The RV Entrepreneur Facebook group, which has been a source of great inspiration and support. I was pleasantly surprised by the positive and supportive environment I found in this group. People can get so mean when competing in an unhealthy work environment… The mind-set I found in my fellow travelers was a nice change.

Fast forward a bit to spring. I finally took the big leap and quit my job. When I took the job four years ago, I was extremely excited about being able to finally stay in one place for a long time. More so, I wanted to work for a place that made a difference, and not just to have a job. And although I know that the work I put in mattered, I didn’t feel fulfilled. The work environment wasn’t what I had hope for and I constantly felt frustrated. With every new frustration, the thought of finally giving myself permission to pursue my writing and traveling interests gained more strength. Of course, my mind went through the spasms of “What are you doing? Is this the responsible thing to do?” To which, my friends succinctly replied: “Pursuing your passions IS the responsible thing to do.”

Surprisingly maybe, I settled into my new lifestyle quickly and now I wake up each day at peace, excited to work on my writing. I am making plans to travel and share my experience with others. It’s amazing what a powerful force is giving yourself permission to work hard for what you love instead of what others expect of you – or perhaps what you think they expect of you. Tricky.

Now, for my next trick: I am starting a list of places to visit on our tour of the USA (and I’m open to suggestions, please!). There are so many national parks to see and I am really looking forward to seeing the beautiful desert sky, the mountains of Utah, Niagara Falls, having lobster in Maine, admiring the beauty of the New England architecture, and so much more!

The road trip is probably about a year away but there’s a lot of planning to be done. Plus, we need to take Lexi out for trial runs. And we need to figure out the logistics of sharing our space with our two senior dogs and cat (suggestions are welcome).