Ten Years Ago It All Began…

Even though the research began so many years prior, this is the actual day we had it all sold and we were “homeless” and so many dreams in our hearts.

We have to go back a little bit…

We both had this dream to travel from the time we were very young and when we married we shared those thoughts with one another but as life sometimes goes, it got in our way and we put that dream on the back burner…again!

We had a successful tile installation company, we were blessed with a grandson and we had a 4 bedroom, 2 ½ car garage that was packed with “stuff” and we were living the “American Dream”. 

But it was not our dream and then significant changes began to happen in our lives, we lost my baby brother, Jeff who hid his sadness behind a bottle as many people do but he died at forty taking all of his dreams with him.  A short year later my mother passed, then Jerry’s dad passed, then we lost our daughter and grandson a year into living this lifestyle.  We now consider ourselves orphans with no family, just each other and we are happy with it.

Our initial dream was to travel the NASCAR circuit but just a few weeks prior to us adventuring out the floor dropped out from under us and our dream took a very nasty turn.  We lost our RV, we lost set jobs along the way, we had nothing but a dream.  Jerry wanted to get our stationary lives back and me, well, being the dreamer I am, I talked him into staying in the mobile lifestyle and came up with a marvelous idea…so I thought.  We would find work that included housing, and/or tenting along the way.

It was rough, it was scary and I silently cried very often but I could not let Jerry see that because he just wanted to hang up the keys and get back to the stationary lifestyle where he had security.  Me, I knew if we went back, we would never come out again and I could not allow our dream to go under again.  So we fought, and we fought hard to stay afloat.  We found ourselves several times in the middle of nowhere with nothing, but we persevered and we made it to another state, another job, and many more items on our bucket list to cross off.  Not the way we had it planned but truly exciting none the less. 

Not always the way Jerry seen it, but then after about 3 years of continuous struggling, he came around and knew that this is our lives and he needed to jump on board and just live it.  That is the way we have been doing it now for 10 years…

“Living on a wing and a prayer.”  “Living by the seat of our pants.”  No bank account, no safety net, no idea at times where are next meal will come from or if we will make it to our next destination.  But, you know what, we would not trade the wonderful memories for anything.  We have been able to see the United States in depth and enjoy places we would have never been able to see if we were not traveling full time.

Would we like to have it differently?  Of course, nobody likes living by the seat of their pants, not even us who make it look good, but the alternative is just not an option.  Being in a stationary home lifestyle, working the same job, seeing the same scenery with only a few weeks for vacation is just not the life we want for ourselves.  So we continue to struggle, but through each struggle we learn a life lesson and we grow.

Our relationship was strong prior to us coming out here, but now it is so much stronger and the love between us is so deep and the respect for one another is absolutely the greatest is could ever be.  We would not trade any of this for anything, but if the Universe could make things easier, we would not complain.  But if not we will continue to live this lifestyle with all we got or don’t have and enjoy every moment of it.

Life is Good!