There are many reasons why we decided to start traveling in an RV full time. One of those reasons is to do what we love, for US and no one else. So often people do what others want them to do, or expect them to do, and this may not be what is best for you and your happiness. It took us many years to get to the point where we decided that it was time to do what we wanted and not what would be expected of us; like buying another house. A lot of people define home ownership as being successful. If you do not own your home then you should move towards this goal. Over the last 20 years, we have moved over 10 times. In this time we purchased a townhouse in Beaverton Oregon and roughly 10 years later, a house in Arlington Washington with rentals in between.

The feeling of home ownership never felt the way it does right now, as an RV “home on wheels” owner. This is not for everyone, that’s for sure. We found this out quickly by sharing with friends and family that we decided to sell everything we owned to move into an RV and start our journey as full time travelers. You can tell by the pause before a response, and the tone when they say “oh, that sounds interesting” or “wow”, (there is so much meaning to “wow” haha), and we have also experienced no comments from some at all. But that is OK! We can only hope to have the support of our loved ones eventually, as we live our lives for us, as they do for themselves.

One thing that we found out about ourselves, since being on the road is that we love hiking! This is something that we enjoy doing together and while we enjoyed periodic hikes while living in San Diego, we really love scoping out places to explore/hike on our stops. Our favorite hikes are in mountainous locations because they are more challenging and there is so much beauty to take in while in the mountains. Right now we are on the east coast, so our most recent hiking trails have been on pretty flat land through the woods near the water. We cannot wait to make it to places like the Grand Canyon, Utah and back to Wyoming for some great hiking views.

Korey has discovered a love of fishing. He always enjoyed it when he would go fishing before, but it was very rare and he wasn’t in the same place (mentally and spiritually) as he is right now. During the weekdays when I am working and he is in between workamper jobs, you can always find him on the lake, river or pond nearby our campsite. It brings him such peace and joy, I am so happy for him that he has this outlet. Some mornings he is gone for an hour, others he is gone all morning. There are days where he will run down to the lake to fish while I am getting ready for the day, before we head out to explore. He is loving that he gets to fish so often and has been gradually adding to his collection of rods & reels based on what kind of water or kind of fish he is fishing for. I am pretty sure that a kayak is in his future as well.

I (Michelle) have found that I enjoy writing. Before this journey, I would journal sporadically, but that was it. Now I have been working on writing a book, something I only joked about in the past. Connecting with other like minded couples on social media brought some pretty amazing people into our lives, and I lucked out and met a few others who have self published multiple books. Even luckier, I connected with one person who I met with and she shared some pretty amazing tips on how to get started on writing. These steps are so much easier than the route I was going before, so I started over. I hope to have it completed by the end of summer…more to come later on this. I initially wanted to bust it out asap, but decided that part of the joy of traveling is a slower pace of life in general. I work Mon-Fri and in the evenings we enjoy exploring the area we are “living” in, so I extended my personal deadline. Korey will be working all summer so there will be days and evenings when I am on my own, this will be a perfect time to hunker down and focus my time on putting together what I started.

Our wedding anniversary is coming up in a couple weeks, 18 years, and we have never been happier in our marriage as we are today. Sharing so many exciting experiences, time together and focusing on ourselves and each others needs has been so rewarding. It was also very much needed. We had a pretty rough time a couple years back that we will share about eventually, but we came to a point where we had to look at our marriage and what was important to us. We chose us. We chose to do whatever it took to have a happy and healthy relationship again. It worked. Some people are happy with living in the same home, or town for years. Some people are happy moving often. We knew we would be OK with the constant change, since that has been how we roll for years. We never knew what a new backyard every couple weeks could do for the enjoyment of our own lives, and in turn strengthening our marriage to feel the happiest we have been in a very long time.

We do not know how long we will be living this lifestyle but we do know a few things….

1. We want to visit all of the National Parks
2. Returning to the west coast is most likely not in the cards, so far Wyoming is looking pretty great. We want to built a cabin and have some land, with water nearby for fishing of course 🙂
3. Spending a summer exploring Alaska would be amazing and would take some planning and prep, but it’s on our wish list.
4. Visiting historical sites along the way has been amazing and we want to keep learning as we travel.

Doing what brings us joy has been rewarding in so many ways and we see no end date at this time as we live our adventure.