ORDINARY PEOPLE LIVING EXTRAORDINARY LIVES

“It’s never too late to find that thing that’s going to help you find your balance.”

Photos: Jacob Langston

Charles Dasher

LIFE ON FOUR WHEELS IS A TICKET TO FREEDOM

Where you live can have a major impact on how you live. How you live can define who you are. No one believes that more than Charles Dasher. At the age of 56, he made a big change. He sold his townhome, fit what he could into his Airstream RV and moved into Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park, a large campground in the Jacksonville, Florida, area.

“I had been curious about what they call camp hosting,” he explains. “It’s where you’re out being a host at the campground, and you live full-time in your camper. I found that to be a romantic idea; but also, it fit a necessity as I needed a place to live.”

He grew up nearby, where his favorite pastime was windsurfing. Now, he was living in a heavily wooded area along the Atlantic Ocean. Instead of a neighborhood full of cars, kids and clutter, Dasher was surrounded by, “coyotes along the trail, eagles in the trees and alligators by the lake.” Dasher felt refreshed, renewed.

“What a difference,” he noted. “This change of lifestyle has been a sanctuary, a total escape. I’ve never felt more grounded.”

The trappings of life, of work and of aging had been weighing heavily on him. Letting go of material things helped lighten the load in ways he did not expect.

“There’s been a ton of noise in this head for a lot of years,” he said, pointing to his temple. “Living like this let me get quiet enough to actually know myself, understand myself and truly be my own best friend once again.”

In one way, he has less than he used to have; but he now has so much more.

“It’s forced me to simplify,” he said. “I’m less judgmental and more forgiving. I’m no longer busy with things that don’t really matter, and I think it has made me a more empathetic person.”

Nature is his yard, and the ocean is his playground. If Dasher is not in his camper, you are most likely to find him on his mountain bike or riding the waves hydrofoil surfing. It’s where he feels the most energized, passionate and ageless.

“I don’t feel old,” he said. “Sometimes the body aches, but my spirit is so fulfilled out here. That’s what I get by staying active, and living here makes it so easy.”

The change in lifestyle was an adjustment; but for Dasher, the timing was perfect and offered him lessons he never expected to learn.

“It’s never too late to find that thing that’s going to help you find your balance,” he said. “I’m enjoying my life so much more since I’ve gotten to where I understand who I am. I have let a lot go — not just physical things. I feel unburdened, refreshed and ready for some new adventures.”