Celebrating our Five Year Travelversary!
Join us as we celebrate a huge milestone as digital nomads.
Five years ago today, we embarked on an epic adventure that was both exciting and scary – we sold everything to live as digital nomads.
We had an agenda, but no long-term plans.
We had some money, but not enough to sustain us for long.
We had a Chevy Silverado pickup truck, but no place to live.
We had a dream, but no clue if it would work out.
But we took a leap of faith into the unknown and we’re so grateful we did!
That’s the thing about chasing dreams. You never know what will happen or how it will end, but if you aren’t willing to take a risk, you’ll never find out. For us, it’s been a thrilling ride so far with no regrets.
Of course, it’s not all been perfect.
Like anything in life, traveling full-time has its ups and downs, along with an increasing number of challenges like overtourism, price gouging, and airline problems, and we’ve had to learn how to survive being together in confined spaces for long periods. Sometimes we even have to sit still and do nothing for reasons we can’t control.
And yet, even with those hardships, it’s still better than being trapped in a concrete jungle, waiting for the apocalypse.
A look at the bigger achievements.
It’s fun to look back at the stats and all we’ve achieved in five years! Here’s a short list of what we’ve done.
Driven approximately 125K miles with two different trucks.
Achieved our goal of traveling to all 50 states.
Reached Alaska, our 50th state, in August 2023.
Visited 35 of the official 63 National Parks and 78 other NPS locations.
Seen two of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World (Aurora Borealis & Grand Canyon).
Hiked hundreds of miles of trails and summited Twin Sisters Peak.
Crisscrossed the United States and the Continental Divide multiple times.
Traveled to seven different countries, bringing it to a total of 20.
Spent a fortune staying in hundreds of hotels and resorts.
Bought a Rooftop Tent to “live in” but just recently sold it.
Survived 143 major arguments with each other. OK, I made this one up. It’s probably more. 😜
We also bought a timeshare with Hilton Vacation Club (formerly Diamond International), and as bad as it sounds, it worked out great because we worked the system and earned thousands of dollars in free stays. They lost money on us!!!
Additionally, we joined the Armed Forces Vacation Club and Passport America, which saved us even more money.
That’s just scratching the surface for our adventure.
WHEW! 🤯
The Next Chapter is about to begin.
Last month, as we traveled around Utah and Colorado, we decided to revisit the idea of upgrading to a camper van, something we’ve dreamed about for a couple of years.
We did some research and discovered a Colorado company that converted camper vans at very reasonable rates, so we decided to visit them. It started great, and we made an offer on a van, with the promise of delivery the week after Independence Day. But after three weeks of frustration with their horrible customer service and the time and money we'd lost trying to get the deal done, we had had enough.
The good news is I found a company in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that also builds camper vans at a fantastic price, and they do it way better than the other company, so we’re now in the process of hiring them to build our next home.
Thanks for being a part of the community.
While we love what we do, our Road Life Adventure wouldn’t be the same without the friends we’ve made along the way!
In the last five years, we’ve met amazing people from all walks of life and from all over the world, and connected with so many great folks online. It’s extraordinary, and it’s a huge reason we keep writing, creating, and publishing.
As we look forward to the future, we’d appreciate your input.
Please share your thoughts on how we can make this a better publication or stronger community. Let us know what you’d like to read about or learn. Join us for a coffee or a beer along our route. Or help us grow our YouTube channel, which is a work in progress.
Your honest feedback and comments matter. We always appreciate it.
We’ll end with this.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Until next time.