Our lives changed forever on Dec. 3, 2016 when Baby Nomad made his grand appearance. Since we’re celebrating his first month of life tomorrow, it’s about time we shared him with you here on our blog. [Read more…]
Quick Hello Before Baby Nomad Arrives
Capturing the moment at 37 weeks
Well, this is it. Baby Nomad’s due date is this Saturday–only five days away. He seems pretty cozy in there, so I won’t be surprised if he shows up late. But one way or another, I expect to have a little boy in my arms this time two weeks from now. [Read more…]
What First-time Pregnancy Is Like for a Full-time RVer
Pregnancy and child birth are two things people tend to picture a certain way. As I anticipated my first pregnancy, I had no frame of reference other than what I knew from word of mouth, limited research and maybe a little Grey’s Anatomy. As a full-time RVer with no plans to stop RVing, my main question was how is this going to work? [Read more…]
Why We’re Cutting Our 2016 Grand Loop Trip Short
We embarked from our home base of Austin, TX at the beginning of January to take our most ambitious RV trip to date. The aptly-named Grand Loop Trip would take us west to California through New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada, then north to Seattle before cutting east to North Dakota and going back south to Texas. It would take eleven months and more than 5,700 miles.
Alas, our epic Grand Loop Trip is not to be. [Read more…]
What It’s Like to Work on the Road as a Fulltime RVer
Not knowing how to earn an income on the road is the number one factor that keeps people who want to fulltime RV from doing it.
I actually made that up, but I’m pretty sure it’s true.
If nothing else, it was certainly true for us. If it’s also true for you, let our story be motivation and inspiration. With planning and courage, you can live in an RV and travel fulltime.
RVing is personalized in so many ways, from the RV you choose, to the types of campgrounds you like to stay at, to the way you earn an income. Rather than providing an exhaustive guide to working on the road, my goal is to share what we’ve experienced. I hope you can relate to the pros and cons Eric and I assessed as we prepared to change our lifestyle, and be inspired by what it’s actually like to be a fulltime, working RVer. [Read more…]
Getting to Know Xscapers, Organization for Working Age RVers
We left the day before this picture was taken, but we did have THIS much fun!
There are numerous membership programs for RVers, each with their own perks. Signing up for all of them is budget suicide, but deciding which ones are right for you can save a lot of headaches. To date, we’ve signed up [Read more…]
RVillage: Platform for RVers We Use Daily
To be honest, whenever someone tells us about a new online platform, page or group for RVers, we kind of wince and half heartedly agree to take a look. It’s not that we’re too cool for school, believe me. It’s just that we’re already a member of so many, and most of them we hardly ever use.
Hey, it isn’t personal, we just have a life to live and we don’t want to always be online if you know what I mean. After all, we’re supposed to be out exploring the country, right?
So Many Platforms, So Little Time
But this wasn’t always the case. When we first started full time RVing just over a year ago, we tried to be involved in every group, page and platform we could. [Read more…]
Building Friendships When You Live in an RV
Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that gives value to survival.
-C.S. Lewis
As full-time RVers, we’re often asked, “What is the most difficult thing about full-time RVing?”
I could easily make a list of our standard answers. But one that we feel merits discussion, is building friendships when you live in an RV full time.
Our newest RV friends Ryan and Michele Newbrough. We’ve been talking for months and finally met up in Virginia Beach. We’ve already gone out twice and have a third time planned before we leave the area.
We start with the premise that friendship is usually predicated on the fact that you spend time in person with those whom you call friends. [Read more…]
Comparing AT&T Phone Plans After Our Recent Upgrades
New iPhone 5S
Connectivity is almost always a big deal for full-timers. And it doesn’t only matter for those of us who work online. Our retired next door neighbor here in Arlington was just telling us how crazy she gets when she doesn’t have phone or Internet service! We all want to feel connected to our loved ones, current events, and individual interests.
But connectivity comes at a premium. Before getting on the road, we were extremely concerned about our Internet options and the level of service we would have in different parts of the country. Through extensive research, we chose Millenicom’s wireless device for our Internet service. It runs off Verizon’s network, and we’ve been extremely pleased with it (despite the recent price hike). With some advance planning and use of the Coverage? app, I can’t think of a single work day we’ve lost for lack of Internet service.
On the phone side, we’ve had iPhones through AT&T since about 2009. We love our iPhones, and for the most part we’ve appreciated AT&T because of its reliable coverage across the country. But we hadn’t [Read more…]
Searching for the Best Portable Gas Grill
I needed a portable gas grill. Heck, everyone who RVs needs a portable gas grill, right? After all, who wants to be “that guy”? You know who I’m talking about – that one guy who shows up to a campsite without the essentials. I mean, would other campers look at me funny if I rolled up in a 40′ diesel and had no grill? That guy on the right is looking at me funny even now.
See how happy they look? (Photo credit: SteveR via FlickrCC)
I envisioned myself looking longingly at other people’s campsites as they enjoyed their evening festivities with the aroma of seared meat filling the air, my stomach grumbling something unintelligible to me…nope, I wasn’t going to let that happen.
It was decided. I wanted the best portable gas grill I could get. [Read more…]
