Just like every great road trip, sometimes life takes you in a new direction. At Heartland, we’ve launched a new journey to make our RVs better than ever. We’ve doubled down on seeking out the highest quality materials, creating fresh and inviting interiors and giving every unit the kinds of finishing touches you’d find in a new home.
Every unit goes through a top-to-tails inspection with a quality assurance expert—in fact, we have an 89,000-square-foot facility dedicated to walking each RV through a series of checklists to ensure it works exactly as it should. And with updated floor plans incorporating features our customers love best—spacious bathrooms, designer kitchens, furniture meant for cuddling up together—we’re confident every trip in a Heartland will be a happy one.
After all, that’s what RVing is all about: hitting the road with people you love, having adventures, making memories. So when you buy a Heartland, just focus on taking the journey of a lifetime. We’ll take care of the rest.
Experience the all-new Heartland online and check out 360-degree model tours, detailed floor plans, all-new features, galleries of updated decor and more.
Just visit HeartlandRVs.com.
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18 Young and Rootless Couple makes an RV into their first home
28
The Traveling Canine
How to transition your pet to full-time travel
36 Tropical RV Renovation
A facelift to transform this travel trailer into a beachy burro
WHENEVER, WHEREVER, WE MAKE YOUR EXPERIENCE BETTER™
The Takacs’ family are weekend warriors with an epic twist. Throughout the week, they are hardworking students, teachers and scientists, but when the weekend hits, they transform into explorers. Their family truly takes advantage of every weekend they can and hits the road to find the best trails and moonlit skies. When the sun goes down, the fun doesn’t end for this adventurous family - Alison and Jason capture stunning astrophotography to share with their followers! Follow their journey on Instagram; they truly are one-of-a-kind.
Loop
This couple is cruising 6000 nautical miles around the USA
65
Tucson’s Best Eats on a Budget
Find your next favorite restaurant in this foodie hub
72 Saguaro National Park
The ultimate travel guide to an iconic desert destination
@alison.takacs & @jason takacs Roadtrippin’ with Takacs
AS I WRITE this, we have just hit our three-year mark for Rootless Living Magazine, and what an amazing adventure it has been.
Some of you might know that back in 2016, I thought I invented the idea of going full time in an RV while still working. I had no one in my life that was doing this or talking about it, and as researched for our launch, I was shocked when I learned that more than a million Americans live and travel full time in an RV.
Why had I never heard of this lifestyle? It was common knowledge that some people RV full time during retirement, so it seemed obvious to me that people who could work remotely would choose to live this way as well. But even though knew and followed thousands of people online, hadn’t come across anyone who was RVing full time.
When I started digging deeper and found all the blogs and YouTube channels about the lifestyle, assumed there must be a magazine, too—but there wasn’t.
Rootless Living is not the first magazine I’ve published, so knew that just because there was a need, it didn’t mean I should rush and launch a magazine before I had a full understanding of the subject matter. But after two full years of RVing full time, we were ready—we announced Rootless Living in November 2019, and you are now reading our 18th issue.
am so grateful to my co-founder, Nikki Kirk, and our team, who have really taken ownership of what we started and made it better and better with every issue. And a big thank you to all of you who are living the lifestyle for reaching out to us to share your stories and experiences … the good, the bad, and the beautiful. And that is still very important to us! We want people who are out living this lifestyle to be the ones sharing about it. This isn’t full-time RV theory, and it isn’t only Demian’s thoughts on RV life—this is the true experience of others who are living the life, at all different levels of expertise, and with tons of different ways of approaching the journey.
We are very proud of how diverse and inclusive our contributors have been,
and we want to keep it that way moving forward. If you have a story to share that you think could inspire others, please reach out and let us help share your story. It might be the one that encourages someone to make the leap into a lifestyle they didn’t think they could do.
Until the next issue … stay Rootless.
Demian Ross, Publisher @demianross demian@rootlessliving.com
Nikki Kirk, Chief Editor @nikkirk7 nikki@rootlessliving.com
To me, living an alternative lifestyle is a state of mind, not the four walls surrounding you, and this issue shares a range of topics that expand the idea of ‘living rootless’. Our team is always looking for stories that inspire our readers to think, and live, outside the box. From traveling on a budget to sailing around the world, our authors open the door to their unique perspectives, helping others see things just a little bit differently. If you have an article that you want to share with our readers, please email us at collab@rootlessliving.comwe’d love to hear from you!
Managing Editor Jess StilesPublisher Demian Ross
Chief Editor Nikki Kirk
Managing Editor Jess Stiles
Editorial Assistant L. Merredith
Art Director Melinda Gonzalez
Operations Manager Jamie May
Copy Editor Kristin Skagg
Director of Advertisers & Sponsors Richard Kirby
Valerie Kientzle
Kayla Tuala
Courtney Kane-Barbaglia
Mo Belanger
Pat Schulte
Thomas Basch
Jessica Rambo
Trevor Eyre
Jennifer Johnson
Emilie Brillon
Lauren Lynass
Chris Nalbandian
Christi Mills
Landon and Megan Price
Brooke and Kyle Miller
Kaitlyn O'Brien
Kaetlynn Daoust
Amanda and David Boles
Kyli Brook
Brooklyn Durell
Katelyn and Howard Newstate
Samantha Inman
PO Box 437, Jennings, OK 74038
Disclaimer: One of the great things about digital publications is the ability to link you directly to the products or services you want to hear more about.
Some of the links in this issue are affiliate links where we earn commissions on goods or services you buy. These commissions help us to continue to publish the magazine. Rootless Living is also a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at info@rootlessliving. com
@discovery.detour
The Traveling Canine
Madalyn travels with her husband, Drew, and dog, Charlie. She has a master’s in ecology, and marries her passions for science, writing, and travel in her science-themed travel blog, discoverydetour.com
ANNE KLUMPP
@ontheroadofadventure
Tucson’s Best Eats on a Budget
Anne, her husband, Brian, and their dog, Skipper, travel full-time in their 2015 Class A Entegra Aspire 44B motorhome. Anne "retired" from a 25-year career in the wine business to pursue life on the road. She shares their RV Lifestyle and adventures on the road, especially related to food and beverage. Visit their blog ontheroadofadventure.com
@livingtinywithawolf
Couples Who Live Small, Love Big Nicoll and her husband, Jake have been living and traveling full time in an RV with their two dogs and wolf hybrid since 2019. You can follow her pack and their latest escapades or livingtinywithawolf.com
@adventuresofaplusk
Saguaro National Park
Adam, Kathryn, and Kona are an adventurous married couple and their pup living on the road in their self-converted sprinter van! Find them driving all over scoping out the best coffee shops, eating tacos and ice cream, and enjoying nature. For their detailed travel guides, check out adventuresofaplusk.com and their YouTube channel, Adventures of A+K
“It can be so easy to get caught up in how far you have to go rather than taking a look back at how far you have come.”
“Do you ever just scroll through pictures and think ‘This life we live is so freakin’ amazing?’”
“Views like this are exactly why we dreamt of coming back into our new home.”
“In all aspects of life, we’re fans of changing things as many times as we want until we like the results!”
By Valerie Kientzle
IREMEMBER SITTING AT the lunch table during my senior year of high school and realizing my best stories were about other people’s lives. I always found a way to mention how my sister played college basketball while also getting her BSN/RN. I would tell people how my cousin is a professional surfer, and how my other cousin will play Division basketball in a few years.
I was sick of telling other people’s stories—I wanted to have my own story to share. That was the motivation needed to have a destination wedding in a town I had never seen before except in photos, to go to college in Florida even though was from a small town in Minnesota, and finally, to jump at the chance to live in a camper and travel with my high school sweetheart.
I chose to go to college in Pensacola, Florida, but my partner chose a college in Virginia. He quickly realized he could take online school, work full time, and live with me. Unfortunately, some of the only housing available for a 20-year-old couple was a crappy apartment that cost $1,000 a month. With concerns about personal safety and security, it wasn’t something we were too excited about. We looked into a van conversion, but it didn’t take long to realize that we both needed a vehicle—I was not about to drive my home to college every day. Buying a camper was the perfect solution. There are five reasons why living in a camper was the perfect option for a travel-obsessed, young, broke couple like ourselves.
The first is cost. We bought our camper for $6,000, knowing we would be able to resell it for about $10,000 because of the renovations. We were able to live in Pensacola at a campground for $550 a month. During our travels to Washington, Montana, Oregon, and more, we only paid about $30 a night at campgrounds. We also found a lot of state parks to camp at for free. Reason number two is safety. When people think of a camper, safety doesn’t initially come to mind. But those who are familiar with campgrounds know that they are full of families on vacation and retired couples that are traveling. To us, it felt like a
much safer environment than many apartments.
Third, we wanted to see God’s creation! The world is so gorgeous. God didn’t have to make the Grand Canyon, the mountains, or the ocean, but he did. Our travels have taken us to so many beautiful places where we’ve seen so many awe-inspiring things.
Fourth, living in a camper gives us the freedom to move wherever, whenever. We mainly stay in Pensacola during my semesters at school, then travel during our school breaks. In the summer of 2021, we got married in Tennessee, then we traveled from Minnesota all the way to Washington and Oregon. Afterward, we stayed in Minnesota for two months and then drove 25 hours back down to Pensacola. I graduate in December of 2022, and we have no idea where we’ll live in January of 2023, but I think it’s fun to know we could live anywhere.
Lastly, I wanted to inspire other people to travel young, to seek minimalism, and to not have to live the same life everyone else is living. I’ve heard so many people look at a destination on their Instagram feed and say, “I want to visit there.” always say, “Well, why don’t you?” I’ve heard people talk about how they want to travel with their partner, but they never seem to do it. Whenever people message me to say I inspired them to renovate a camper and travel, I know that this is all worth it. I always like to tell people that we are rootless (meaning we are just passing through), but I think the reason why am able to live rootless is because I’m very rooted in my relationship with Jesus. think any traveler can relate to the feeling of loneliness—it’s hard being in a random place and not knowing anyone. I combat those feelings by finding community everywhere I go, and by reading my Bible. Talk to people at the campground. Go to a church while traveling. Go to a coffee shop or spin class and ask people what their favorite thing is to do in that town. We were created to be rooted in community, even though we are technically rootless in destination.
Find Val on Instagram at @val_kientzle
By Jamie May
PROGRAMS ATTEMPTING to lure digital nomads and remote workers with a promise of $10,000 or more have been popping up across America. All you have to do is move to the specific area and stay put for a set amount of time. What’s the catch? Other than a few basic requirements, there really isn’t one! We talked to teams in three regions who run programs to draw remote talent to their area, as well as a few people who have already been through the application process and made their move.
made in the USA
Brad D. Smith and his wife, Alys Smith, are behind West Virginia’s Ascend WV program. After a successful tenure in Silicon Valley, Brad and Alys saw the value in Brad’s home state and funded the organization to help remote workers call the Mountain State their home. Not only will you find New River Gorge—our 63rd national park—in West Virginia, but the terrain is perfect for climbing, hiking, kayaking, whitewater rafting, golfing, skiing, biking, and more. Outdoor adventure enthusiasts with the ability to work remotely will have a hard time passing up the offer to relocate here.
Ascend WV includes multiple towns, each with its own vibe. Each town will have an Ascend coworking space that will also double as a community hub. The Ascend Experience Coordinator for each town facilitates gatherings, activities, and social outings to not only create camaraderie among group members, but also help them integrate into the local community.
Among the perks of acceptance to the program is $12,000. The first payment comes after your first month of residency in West Virginia, with payments throughout your first year totaling $10,000. At the end of the second year, you’ll receive the additional $2,000.
For RVers Matt and Stacy Cook, the West Virginia
at a glance
mountains have been the perfect place to settle down. “We are most excited about the connection between our personal goals and the town culture,” said Stacy. “We have upcoming projects to establish our basecamp, which will allow us more RV travel time around West Virginia.”
Applicants must be 18 or older, employed full time, able to prove remote status, and currently living outside of West Virginia. Those who are self-employed may also apply. You must relocate within six months of being accepted.
To find out more, visit ascendwv.com
$10,000 for one year $2,500 in outdoor gear rentals $2,000 bonus at 24 months Relocation grace period of six months
at a glance
$10,000 for one year
36 months of free coworking space
12 months
Relocation grace period of 12 months tulsaremote.com
More than 1,400 remote workers have already relocated through Tulsa Remote, which offers a coworking space free for 36 months once you’ve made your move.
The program also has an inherent sense of community. Tulsa Remote has meetups, professional workshops, volunteer opportunities, and other options for collaboration.
Justin Harlan, managing director of Tulsa Remote, said, “Many of us on the leadership team have called Tulsa home for years, but we know everyone comes with different hobbies and interests. Part of the program’s orientation includes a one-on-one chat with a team member so that we can help align individuals to find ways to explore their passions in Tulsa.”
Trae Sjogren, a former vanlifer and freelance animator who now calls Tulsa home, said the application process was straightforward and easy. “What really gave me the confidence to commit was the idea of living among a like-minded group of people who wanted to take a risk and experience a new chapter in their life,” he said.
Since moving to Tulsa, he has founded a branding and animation firm. “Tulsa doesn’t get in the way. You can access people, resources, and fun with ease. [There is] no traffic, no pretentiousness, [and] tons of support,” he said.
The $10,000 incentive is provided in installments over the course of the year, or all at once if you decide to purchase a home in Tulsa. You also get free space to work at 36 Degrees North downtown. The program benefits package is rounded out with access to events and other perks.
Applicants must be remote workers (full time or self-employed), age 18 or older, permanent residents of the United States, not currently living or working in Oklahoma, and able to relocate to Tulsa within 12 months.
Applications are currently open and reviewed on a rolling basis. To find out more, or to apply, visit tulsaremote.com
$6,000 to $10,000 for one year
6 months
Relocation grace period of six months
remoteshoals.com
The culture here is creative, the musical roots run deep, and the Southern hospitality is real—this is The Shoals. Spread across two counties in Northwest Alabama and made up of four main cities (Florence, Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia), the area attracts remote workers and digital nomads with its climate and affordable cost of living, as well as Remote Shoals’ promise of up to $10,000.
The Shoals sits on the Tennessee River and offers a variety of things to do, including outdoor activities, festivals, concerts, art, shopping, dining, and more. It’s also famously known for being home to recording studios where musicians including Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan made their mark.
Mackenzie Cottles of Shoals Economic Development Authority said, “We know that many people moving with our program have no ties to the area and minimal connections. We become their resource for anything in the community, whether that be real estate, plumbers, connections in the community, etc. We want to ensure The Shoals becomes the best home possible for our participants.”
After living the RV life, working remotely for 21 years, and spending two
years on the road as a digital nomad, Phyllis Jones, IBM royalty and payment offering manager, came across the Remote Shoals program and felt it was the perfect time to apply.
“It’s a risk, but we nomads are pretty risk-tolerant people. For me, it was an opportunity to explore a new part of the country more fully, continue to work remotely, start to work towards life with a home base again, and think about what next year will bring,” said Jones.
Upon application, participants complete a questionnaire online, and then a video interview. Once selected, the participant has six months to relocate to the area. The incentive amount is based on income, and ranges from $6,000 to $10,000, paid out in installments at relocation, at six months, and then upon completion of the program terms.
Applicants must be 18 or older, a resident of the U.S., employed full time or self-employed, and not currently living in The Shoals.
Applications are always open at remoteshoals.com and are accepted on a rolling basis.
To begin your application or to learn more, visit remoteshoals.com.
HEALTH ISSUES ARE never convenient, but I’ve learned that for nomads, they can look very different. Since the start of 2022, we have experienced the disruptive impact health issues can have while living rootless. As someone with a diagnosed kidney disease, am no stranger to health difficulties, but never expected to go from stand-up paddleboarding in Mexico to a hospital bed in the span of just a few weeks.
From September to December of 2021, my husband Josh and traveled in our truck and trailer from Texas to Maine, then down to Florida. In December, we planned to fly back to Texas for the holidays and to be in town to help my mother as she went through surgery for breast cancer. When we left Florida, we left our trailer there, thinking it would be just a few weeks before we flew back. My family had decided that for Christmas, rather than presents, we would go on a trip together. We met
up with my parents and sister for our vacation, and while paddleboarding in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, I was stung in several places by jellyfish. They were little stings, and it hurt, but I thought it was no big deal. We then headed to our hometown to spend the holidays with our families.
I started experiencing relentless nausea over the next few weeks. thought it may be due to the stress of helping my mom with her cancer surgery, but instead was diagnosed with a kidney infection. I have had many of these in my lifetime due to the aforementioned kidney disease, but none of them had ever made me feel this way. I felt like something else had to be wrong. A short time later, my jellyfish stings showed back up! Then within a few hours, I was covered in a rash and I felt my throat start to tighten. It was time to go to the hospital. What happened next can only be described as an Amazing Race-level
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rush out the door. Within seconds, my dad, my husband, and I were all in the car and headed to the emergency room.
By the time we got to the hospital, was in shock. From increased throat tightness to full body muscle spasms, the symptoms were intense—so intense, in fact, that we completely forgot to mention the jellyfish stings when they asked what I might be reacting to. No wonder the doctors were confused while trying to find the cause. Did you know an allergic reaction to jellyfish venom can occur weeks to months after a sting? started taking medications for the reaction, but within five days, debilitating abdominal pain and rashes sent me back to the emergency room. The ER was overwhelmed with the Omicron surge, so the little time they had was spent treating my symptoms, not trying to identify the problem. We left with only information on the status of my kidney function and a new set of medications. This string of events that sent me to the hospital twice marked the beginning of some of the hardest months of my life. Before this, we were moving campsites weekly, and hiking and exploring new places daily. Afterward, I could barely
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make it out of bed without collapsing or experiencing excruciating pain. I was taking more medications than ever had in my life, including Benadryl every few hours, which took a lot of my energy, and high dose corticosteroids, which took the rest.
To say the next few weeks were miserable would be an understatement. Each week, we kept thinking I would be well enough to travel, but just wasn’t. We rescheduled our flight back to Florida three times before coming to the sobering realization that I might be dealing with these health problems for a long time.
Despite my condition, we wanted to go out with a bang, so we decided to spend two weeks in Florida before heading back to Texas to receive the medical care would need. We scheduled a two-week stay at a campsite right on the beach. This was a bucket list item for us both, so we knew it would be the perfect last experience before putting our travels on pause. It turned out to be all that we had hoped. My health has gradually improved and I’m doing much better than I initially was.
When we began our journey of living rootless, we never could have predicted this health crisis. However, it turned out that there was no better time to be
living nomadically and working remotely. Despite all the chaos, Josh and I have only missed a handful of work days. Even while feeling as bad as I was, I was still able to set up my workstation in bed and continue my regular schedule. With the cost of my medical intervention, it’s crucial for us to maintain our income, and if our jobs were not remote, it would never have been possible for both of us to keep working. Nomadic life has its own set of challenges, but in our case, it has absolutely worked to our advantage.
Kayla shares more of their journey on Instagram at
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By Madelyn Meyers
ILOOK BACK ON the weeks leading up to full-time RV living through a thick fog, vaguely remembering a cycle of donating, cleaning, packing, and purging, occasionally interrupted by an intense staring contest I would start with my dog, Charlie. Valiantly pursuing the impractical goal of communicating to him that his life was about to change forever, would scoop him up like a swaddled baby, and find my husband, Drew, to seek assurance.
“Is Charlie going to be okay?” would ask. Of course, Drew could provide no concrete answer at the time, making me now wish I could somehow send reassurance to that former version of myself. I would tell her that Charlie was going to be just fine.
Many of us think of our pets as family members—albeit ones who are hard to communicate with—so it’s natural that when they’re about to face the overwhelming change that comes with starting a mobile lifestyle, we want to ensure they’ll be okay through the transition. As a dog mom to one spunky, travel-loving, furry companion, allow me to share the techniques we used to help transition Charlie into a rootless lifestyle.
Drew and I were lucky enough to have a space on our sticks-and-bricks property to park our RV in preparation for full-time travel. As the space began to resemble a
home, we brought Charlie out to enjoy movie nights, family games, and dinners. When our rig was ready enough for a test run, we went on a weekend outing to the Pocono Mountains, showing him, at least for a short period of time, that our new home on wheels could keep us safe and warm. Then, in the last few days before our departure, we began to sleep in the RV, duplicating our bedtime routine in our new and smaller space. Throughout this process, Charlie became more comfortable with the RV. He learned where the front door was, and that he needed to allow the automatic steps to fully extend before climbing them. He claimed his favorite spots and began squirrel-watching out the front windshield the same way he would through the windows at our house. When it was time to roll away from our property, we did so with Charlie sound asleep in his bed, already comfortable with his new home on wheels.
After our first few weeks on the road, Charlie developed a disdain for moving days. He would quiver as the RV jostled during our leveling routine, and cower as we rolled in our kitchen slide. In hindsight, the reason for his distress seems obvious—the shaking of the jacks is akin to an earthquake, and the retraction of the slide makes it seem like the walls of his home are closing in on him.
The remedy for this reaction is not found through time, as many may assume, but through teaching Charlie the verbal cues that allow him to anticipate these actions within the RV. Telling him that we’re about to “roll in the slides” before we do so gives him time to find a comfortable spot in his bed and prevents the negative association that used to be reinforced whenever he was startled by the commotion.
Like any command you teach your dog, they will need repetition and consistency to learn its meaning, but it’s often the structure they need to make them comfortable with the unusual activities that come along with a traveling lifestyle.
Having moved into our RV only nine months ago, I vividly remember the process of touching every item owned, asking to what extent that item brought me joy, and then being forced to decide if it belonged in the “trash,” “donate,” or tragically-tiny “keep” pile. It’s a necessary part of any rootless lifestyle that the freedom we gain through full-time travel requires the sacrifice of everything but our most precious belongings. If you have a four-legged companion joining you on your adventures, you’ll have the responsibility of downsizing their items as well, something encourage you to handle with as much care as you do your own belongings.
When organizing your mobile home, reserve a few areas for your dog’s belongings, even if it means sacrificing some of your own. Like you, your dog will be forced to give up some luxuries while living on the road, so they deserve to have their own small but cherished “keep” pile.
Drew and I often joke that Charlie is underestimated. At only 14 pounds, it’s common for people to remark on his size while we are out for a hike, many of them asking if his short legs will allow him to reach the summit. In fact, he’s often the one pulling us up the hill! He’s an avid hiker, despite his appearance, and we bring him with us on as many hikes as we can.
Although our pets may not be able to help us empty our black tanks, they do
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an excellent job of absorbing our energy, so they feel the stress of this lifestyle as much as we do. It seems only fair, then, that they deserve to enjoy the rewards of participating in our adventures.
Though tiring and challenging, the allure of living rootless is in the endless opportunity for new experiences. This unquenchable thirst for adventure keeps us on the road, and it’s great to share it with our canine companions. This way of thinking has allowed me and Drew to bond with Charlie more than we ever did in our stationary home. He was panting alongside us as we viewed Nashville from Capitol Hill. He ran with us at Boca Chica beach as we watched the construction of the largest rockets in the world. He got
to feel the breeze as we pedaled our bikes through miles of trails surrounding the Bottomless Lakes of Roswell, New Mexico. This rootless way of life has allowed me and Drew to create memories that will last the rest of our lives, and I am forever grateful that our fur baby gets to be a part of them.
Follow Madalyn, Drew, and Charlie on Instagram @discovery.detour
MY WIFE, BETH, and I are a married millennial couple living and working full time from a 26-foot RV as we travel the country. In April 2020, we decided to sell our house and belongings to move into an RV, despite having zero experience. Now we share our journey and lifestyle through a variety of social channels online. We learned a lot during our first year on the road and want to help others who are new to RVing with our top 10 tips for getting started.
We’ve encountered veteran RVers who will say, “Ah, don’t worry about it, just throw some wood in front of the tires,” but we’re here to tell you to worry about it and use legit chocks.
One of our inaugural experiences with our trailer was unhooking it for the first time and having it roll down our driveway until the tongue jack dug itself into the ground. Once you have an experience like that, you never forget to chock your tires, and you tell everyone about the importance.
We chock in the front and the back, both because we’re traumatized and because of the grade of the land we’re parking on. There’s no hard and fast rule for chocking the front tires, because sometimes your campsite is slanted backward and you need the chocks behind the tires. If you’re not sure, put them on both sides or use X-Chocks.
Don’t forget to remove the chocks before you leave! We’ve also made the mistake of pulling away with the chocks still in place, ultimately running them over and leaving them behind.
Sometimes you don’t have a choice. Sometimes the only option is to get out of the campground by checkout or finish the trip and get your rig unhooked. But when you have the choice, don’t. This is not only because it results in approximately 72% more fights, but also for your safety.
When we’re sleep-deprived, hungry, or frustrated, we’re not thinking straight, and one shortcut or missed step could lead to a rig not being properly secured or stabilized, which means someone can get injured.
As you regularly hook and unhook, set up, and tear down your rig, you’ll notice you fall into patterns of who does what. This is what we recommend so that nothing is missed, but it’s also very important that you know how to do each other’s jobs in case of an emergency.
If someone is sick or injured, you’ll need to know how to do all the chores on your own.
One time at a campsite in Georgia, we were casually packing up our site the night before a travel day, enjoying a day fire and taking in the outdoors, when my back completely seized out of nowhere. I couldn’t move, and within 30 seconds, had to lie face-down in the dirt next to our fire pit trying to alleviate the pain.
We were hoping it would resolve the next day, and until it did, I was incapacitated. Beth was solely responsible for getting us to our next site safely.
It doesn’t always have to be injuries that put you in
this position. We both work full time, and Beth was on a work call once when we arrived at a campground in Phoenix, Arizona, so I backed us into our campsite and unhooked all by myself, which was an empowering experience!
Communication is key to the full-time RV lifestyle, especially when you’re backing in your rig.
There’s a saying you may have seen on tee shirts or coffee mugs in the camping world: “I’m sorry for what I said when I was backing in the camper.” Backing your rig into a campsite can be frustrating, exhausting, and sometimes embarrassing, three things that can be a disastrous combination.
We decided to do everything in our power to avoid these feelings when moving into campsites, which led us to get walkie-talkies. You’ll see some people using their phones. We tried this, but with the Bluetooth connections, we had a new frustration on our hands when the wrong person’s phone kept connecting to the truck and we were
missing vital directions from each other. We also think it’s better to not hear each other’s every thought while backing up.
With walkie-talkies, communication is quicker and more reliable. Unfortunately, we see lots of couples shouting and getting really frustrated with each other in the backing-in process, which only makes the whole experience more unpleasant. With walkies, you can give each other directions quietly and calmly for a smooth parking experience.
When it comes to the moving process with an RV, there’s a lot to remember: packing, hooking up, unhooking, setting up, and then there are the maintenance pieces, such as checking your tire PSI and lug nuts. It can be overwhelming, and it holds some people back from diving into the full-time RV lifestyle.
We totally get it; we were there too! Think of it this way: At some point in your life, you didn’t know how to do something you really wanted to do. You ultimately found a way by taking it one step at a time and building
confidence as you went.
Use a setup and teardown checklist as you get started so you don’t miss anything. You’ll make adjustments to your checklist over time, but keep using it so you can feel confident every time you hit the road.
There’s little worse than unhooking your travel trailer only to realize everything rolls to the left and all your doors swing open and smack you in the face. Plus, with certain layouts, you can wake up with killer headaches from being tipped slightly downward all night if you’re not level, because the blood rushes to your head.
In extreme cases, being unlevel can even ruin your refrigerator because of the liquid needed to run through the coils.
We use the LevelMate Pro for leveling, but a good ol’ regular level works too. Be sure to level side to side before unhooking, then put your chocks in, unhook from your truck, and level front to back.
Be mindful of your slide(s) too. When you’re backing in, make sure you have room to open them all the way without hitting the electrical box or your neighbors.
We turn on the water spigot and electric box separately before unhooking, just to make sure the hookups work. Again, super annoying to finally get settled only to realize your hookups have issues and you have to move.
This one is pretty rare. We’ve been on the road for more than a year and a half and have only run into a couple of sites with this issue, but it goes like this: You get to a site, back in, level, unhook, level again, go to plug in your utilities, and they don’t reach.
This most commonly happens with the sewer hose, but has also happened to us with our electric hookups. Unfortunately, it means removing your chocks, hooking your trailer back up, and doing the whole process again.
The simple way to avoid this is to get your cords and hoses out before you unhook to make sure they reach.
Avoid damage to your water lines by using a water pressure regulator
that connects at the spigot. Attaching it right at the spigot also protects your hose. Some campgrounds with extremely high water pressure even mandate that you have a water pressure regulator. We also recommend protecting your body from toxic chemicals by using a water filter inside and outside. Campgrounds provide potable water, but that doesn’t mean it’s totally purified. We have one water filter on our hose coming into the rig and we also use a countertop reverse osmosis water filter to purify our drinking and cooking water.
We ran out of propane on Christmas morning while trying to make our traditional Christmas feast, so we had to pay $60 for a tank at a 7-Eleven, instead of $20 to refill our tanks. We also ran out of propane in the middle of the night when it was 30 degrees. You’d think we’d learn!
Mark a date on the calendar every couple of months to check your propane levels. Most rigs come with a gauge on the lines that hook into the propane tanks, so you can tell when you’re running low.
Research your next campsite and its surroundings before you go. More than once, we assumed our next stop would have similar grocery stores and amenities to our current site, only to find out there was only one grocery store within 20 miles, and it was actually a gas station convenience store. If we had known, we could have gone grocery shopping before moving to the next stop.
Scope out what you’re working with ahead of time so you never have to choose pasta from Dave’s Pit Stop. No one wants Dave’s Pit Stop pasta.
Find Courtney and Beth on Instagram @lifewithbethandcourt or lifewithbethandcourt.com
• Sanded, fiberglassed, and body filled the overhead interior seam
BLAKE AND I have always known we wanted to travel and explore the United States with our two dogs, Lola and Zara. We live in South Florida, but we’ve road tripped west to spend time in Utah and Colorado throughout the past four years, all while tent camping and living out of our Toyota 4Runner. After weighing the options of a van or a tow-behind camper, we decided a tow-behind was the best choice for us. We got to work researching different makes and models, and realized there were huge benefits to lightweight, simple, durable, fiberglass campers. We liked the idea of a renovation to really make the camper our own, and we weren’t afraid of a project!
Remi is a 1980 Burro camper. Similar to a Scamp or Casita, the Burro is a lightweight fiberglass dream. Our model is a 13-foot camper with a dry weight of about 1,200 pounds, so it can be towed with our Toyota 4Runner, Meg. The 4Runner is named after megalodon sharks, and now we have Remi, named after their trusty partners, remora! We always dreamed of having a tiny home we could tote around the country, so
when Remi popped up on Facebook Marketplace in April 2021, we jumped in the car and drove four hours to pick her up with no hesitation! It’s been an adventure ever since.
We began renovations immediately and found that our subfloor and metal frame were rotted and unstable. We had a brand new custom frame made by a local welder, and we replaced the subfloor with Bluewater 26 Coosa Board, a fiberglass composite material used on boats, to ensure longevity and water resistance. Since the subfloor restoration was a big job, we wanted to do it once and do it right. We took the camper shell off its trailer and worked on it while it was propped up at each corner on cinder blocks. Once the subfloor was traced, cut, and installed, the pieces were fiberglassed together. We then had to put the camper back on the new trailer, and we used elevator bolts to secure it. This was definitely our biggest and most nerve-wracking project!
The renovation process was honestly exhausting. We both have full-time jobs,
• Installed cork underlay and plank flooring. This was one of our most time-consuming projects, as no wall or corner is straight in the Burro. Everything is wonky, so to speak, so each piece of flooring had to be traced and cut to fit the interior.
• Repainted the interior
• Cut new cabinets and cabinet doors to create storage
• Cut custom cushions and had them upholstered with durable Sunbrella fabric
• Removed each window, took them apart, put them back together again, and reinstalled them with new sealant.
• Installed a new fan, a new sink, a propane dual-burner stovetop, a butcher block countertop, and a drawer system for our IceCo fridge and freezer
• Cut, sealed, and installed a custom teak dinette table
• Created an exterior mountain mural, which is perhaps the most popular upgrade
so we would work during the day and begin on the camper as soon as we were done. The most tiring job was the upside-down fiberglass work—both the subfloor and the infamous Burro carpet on the interior seam required long stretches of upside-down fiberglassing in the Florida summer heat. One of our last big projects was finishing our solar setup and running water. We had basic handyperson experience prior to our restoration, just from owning an old Florida home, but the Burro took our skills and problem-solving capabilities to a whole new level! The challenge was both fun and interesting, and we learned a lot through trial and error.
We’re very proud that we did all the work ourselves. However, we recently met with Daniel and Raquel of Retro Renos—they’re a husbandand-wife duo running a fiberglass-camper renovation business, and we have seen them do some great work. Our door was sagging and needed to be rehung with new hinges, so we trusted this project to them. We’re also working with Retro Renos to see what other upgrades we could add on to Remi in the future!
Our usual design style is bold, bright, and tropical, but in such a small space we decided to go with a simple, clean, black-and-white style that pulled subtle notes of our tropical Florida home, including the seafoam-colored upholstery and tropical accent wallpaper.
We have a few finishing touches to make, but we are so happy to finally be where we are and to see all the progress we’ve made. Mostly, we’re looking forward to all the adventures to be had in our camper!
Mo shares her travels on Instagram at @thebeachyburro
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IMAGINE YOUR FIRST-EVER road trip being 29,000 miles and covering 16 countries—and that you and your travel buddies aren’t citizens of a single one of them. That was reality in 2017 for three friends from France who had big dreams of traveling differently and better.
Benoit Lafond, Paul Aubert, and Antoine Alberteau, the founders of Bemyvan, came to the United States with little more than grit, determination, and a shared dream. Little did they know that not only were they embarking on the adventure of a lifetime, but they would also go on to help hundreds of other people do the same.
In January 2017, Benoit, Paul, and Antoine pooled their money and bought a 39-foot, 12.5-ton traditional yellow school bus they named Natasha, then spent the next two months working tirelessly to convert her into the ultimate adventure vehicle, splitting their time between Phoenix and San Diego. They enlisted the help of a few handy friends and worked around the clock wearing many hats, including carpenter, electrician, plumber, and interior decorator. Slowly but surely, Natasha morphed into a full-blown rolling hotel that could comfortably accommodate six people, complete with a bathroom, a fully-equipped kitchen, and a large living
By: Cecile Vermeulen
and dining area.
As the build-out progressed, so did the crew’s vision. Why not share Natasha with other travelers? After all, the concept of bus hotels isn’t new, having originated in Germany in the 1940s.
Thus, La Brigade du Voyage—The Travel Squad—was born.
A couple of months after the conversion officially started, Natasha was roadready. Her destination? Patagonia, the very southern tip of Argentina. Along the way, La Brigade had lofty travel plans: almost every country in Central America and many in South America, including Mexico, Belize, Nicaragua, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, and more.
The further they drove, the more people the guys met who wanted to join their journey. On that maiden voyage, more than 100 travelers boarded Natasha along with Benoit, Paul, and Antoine, many of them on a whim.
When Natasha returned home nine months and nearly 30,000 miles later, the guys behind La Brigade were inspired. One of the crew’s biggest
takeaways was that many people desperately wanted to travel in this unconventional, nomadic, adventurous fashion, but either didn’t know where to start or didn’t have the proper vehicle.
It wasn’t long before the trio added a second vehicle, Barbara—an iconic flatnosed Blue Bird skoolie—to La Brigade. Soon, they started offering guided adventure tours in the Western United States to international travelers.
Wanting to share their love of adventure and life on the road with others, as well as connect more people to nature, La Brigade began taking tourists on multi-day excursions through America’s most iconic national parks and other classic destinations, like Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, Zion, Death Valley, and the Redwoods.
Planned activities involved everything from hiking and mountain biking to paddleboarding and fishing. The trips even included all meals and nightly entertainment at the bus, like stargazing on the roof or watching movies on an inflatable projector screen under the stars outside.
La Brigade’s tours were steadily
becoming more popular, and Antoine, Benoit, and Paul felt they were onto something. It seemed that more and more people wanted to experience a taste of life on the road as nomadic adventurers.
Then COVID happened.
Instead of shutting the business down altogether in the face of the pandemic, the guys turned their attention to designing and building custom adventure vehicles for other people, and a new company was born—MyBusHotel. The name was an homage to the European bus hotels that inspired the friends to hit the road in the first place. Heavily prioritizing functionality and design, they found a way to continue connecting people to adventure, the great outdoors, and road-tripping, even though travel had come to a screeching halt worldwide.
The guys endeavored to create adventure vehicles perfectly suited to the pandemic. MyBusHotel built “B-Hotels,” mini versions of the school
buses they used for their tours, geared more toward families, couples, and solo travelers.
In the last couple of years, much like the world as a whole, the business has evolved even further. Today, MyBusHotel is officially known as Bemyvan, or B-Van for short, and as the name implies, its focus is now exclusively on building vans.
Rather than a home away from home, B-Vans are designed to feel like real homes on wheels. They’re stylish, but they’re also legitimately comfortable and most importantly, functional.
B-Van offers three van builds, each suited to different lifestyles, and all designed to be self-sufficient for full-time life on the road.
B-Home vans feature an extendable kitchen, full bathroom with indoor shower, oversized dining area, and a full-size dedicated bedroom to consistently get a solid night’s sleep.
The B-Adventure is more compact and practical, always ready for what’s next. It focuses on modular design solutions to offer tons of clever storage space and adaptable sleeping arrangements. You never know when a friend may want to crash with you!
B-Digital vans are designed for digital nomads. This build is thoughtfully designed to feature a dedicated workspace with built-in computer monitor, Wi-Fi booster, projector, and other technology to ensure you never miss a deadline or Zoom call, no matter where your travels may lead.
In its first two years, Bemyvan sold about 200 fully-outfitted custom vans.
The Travel Squad seeks to prove that you really can live, work, and play anywhere—you don’t have to choose between vanlife and normal life. With the right home on wheels, you can work full time, have a family, and pursue whatever other dreams you have, all from the road.
FINDING A WAY to fund travel is essential, which is why this is the number one mostasked question. The answer, however, is not so simple—from creative businesses to seasonal gigs to unique side hustles, our readers reveal how they make money on the road.
@therollinboles
“David works on an oceangoing tug and barge for three weeks, then spends three weeks wherever the RV is!"
@drifterkait
“Digital illustrator and graphic designer!”
@kyli.brook
“Rug designer”
@girlandhusky
“Marketing director and freelance copywriter—ads, emails, webpages, etc.”
Photo by @rollinboles
Committed to cutting-edge innovation, quality, style and value, Keystone Cougar offers a wide selection of travel trailers and fifth wheel RVs for half-ton and 3/4 ton trucks. Designed to grow with your family, from your first RV to your last.
I’VE BEEN TRAVELING the world for 20 years now. Before that, my wife and I had a fairly typical American existence, living in Chicago, working, and going out on weekends, with the weeks and months ticking by in a very predictable way. We could have gone on like that forever, but luckily, something woke us up. was a commodities trader at the Chicago Board of Trade—a high-risk, high-reward job working for myself. A nice perk of that life was that the trading day was short. I’d walk home early in the afternoon and hop online. There wasn’t much on the web back then, but stumbled upon a travel site where people were posting stories of their travels. read, enraptured, as people five or 10 years younger than me traveled the world on a shoestring having all sorts of amazing adventures.
By Pat Schulte
Almost overnight—in fact, over just one typical Saturday night at our local watering hole—we decided to do something big. To change everything and sail around the world.
Four years later, we were sailing our catamaran back into Florida after circumnavigating the globe. It was during that trip that we decided to make this lifestyle permanent. Our life’s story wouldn’t have just one big adventure, it would be a never-ending series of bucket-list-style adventures.
We took off on the road and lived in a 1958 VW bus while traveling from Alaska to Argentina, and then across Europe. We had children and sailed another boat in Mexico, then decided to do more land travel. That’s how we ended up in a 1966 Dodge Travco motorhome. You could say we have a thing for vintage.
I mentioned before that I was a
more about making the money to buy yourself time. This lifestyle gave our family of four the freedom to make these life-changing decisions and act on them almost instantly. We packed a few bags, listed our boat for sale, hopped on a plane, and were back in the States staring at a motorhome renovation and a fun new land-based adventure for our kids, who had spent their entire lives so far living on the water. Our Travco was a work of art, in our not-so-humble opinion. We were pleasantly surprised by it when we showed up to a snowy Iowa field to pick it up. All the vintage pieces were still in pristine condition, from the Imperial “Dishmaster” faucet, to the giant storage box / front bumper, to the couch that converted into bunk beds. It was like stepping 50 years back in time, which, coincidentally, is sort of how we lived.
We decided not to touch the body and focused our attention on the interior. We built bunk beds for our young kids, tore out the shag carpet and replaced the wall panels, but for the most part left it as original as possible. It was an expensive marvel in 1966, and we didn’t see any reason to try and improve on that now.
I would work on the bus in the early morning, trade for a bit when the market opened, do a bit more renovating, and be done by early afternoon. Staying with family in Minnesota, in the middle of winter, we were dying to get south in a hurry. In just a few short weeks, the bus looked like new and we were rolling down the snow-dusted roads in search of sun.
We spent the next couple of years traversing America and Mexico. We boondocked in the desert, camped on surf beaches, climbed pyramids, and explored old forts with our kids. It was fun to see the world through their eyes.
Being a digital nomad makes raising kids all the more enjoyable. We are able to travel and explore new
places, but at the same time balance that with the need to earn a living. As a family, we spend just about every moment together living in our small space. Our kids are best friends, and we get to participate and steer their upbringing in ways we might not be able to if we had office jobs.
The Travco proved to be a perfect platform for our family. It worked pretty well as a mobile office. We mostly traveled in Mountain and Pacific time zones, which allowed me to wake up before the rest of the family, do my work quietly at the kitchen table, then call it a day and head to the beach with the kids by lunchtime. For years, our simple routine didn’t vary much despite the fact that we were often on the move and waking up somewhere new. For two parents addicted to seeing what’s over the next horizon, having kids can sometimes present challenges, but when you pack yourselves into an RV or boat, those challenges fade into opportunities.
We eventually sold “Papa’s Blue Bus,” a nickname the kids had given it back when I was deep in the throes of renovation. The siren song of the water drew us back, as it always does, and we now travel the seas again in our
commodities trader before our life of wandering. Throughout our travels, I slowly transitioned to trading stocks and stock options online. It was a natural and necessary progression. When we found ourselves with decent Internet and plans to stay put for a couple of days, I’d check into the markets and look for opportunities. I’d always blogged about our travels, and eventually readers started to pick up on how I was funding our globetrotting and began asking questions, which led me to write “Live on the Margin.”
Around this time, we had been sailing around Mexico for a few years and were looking for our next “home.” We spotted the Travco on Craigslist, fell in love with its curves, and bought it without a second thought.
Being a digital nomad is less about getting rich in order to buy things, and
42-foot Grand Banks trawler. I’m still a digital nomad, and find that it only gets easier as the years go by. It’s no longer a struggle to find a cell signal, even anchored off of the most isolated islands. My kids are growing up too fast, as they tend to do, and I’m infinitely grateful for the time we’ve been able to spend together and for the experiences we’ve had. Many of those experiences almost surely wouldn’t have happened if not for the choices we’ve made to give ourselves this freedom.
Pat Schulte authored two books, Bumfuzzle and Live on the Margin, and runs one of the longest-running travel blogs on the internet, bumfuzzle.com, as well as wandererfinancial.com, where aspiring digital nomads join together to learn more about trading and travel.
IF YOU’VE EVER thought about making a full-time RV lifestyle a reality but worry about how you’ll make money on the road, we’re here to tell you it is possible! My wife, Victoria, and I went from never having stepped foot into an RV to exploring new places and living full time in our 34-foot Kodiak Ultimate travel trailer. Beyond the obvious “how do we operate this thing,” our biggest concern was making money. Using the careers and skills we had in our sticksand-bricks life has helped us generate income while traveling full time.
When the pandemic first began, Victoria, who was a staff nurse in our hometown, wanted to help out where she could, which led her to the idea of travel nursing. We determined RVing would be the best option for our whole family, including our dogs, Oreo and Barley. Just a few months later, we had sold our belongings, purchased our RV and truck, and were ready to hit the road!
Nurses are in high demand, and travel nurses get paid really well for working in unfamiliar environments at hospitals with the most need. In fact, Victoria has taken travel contracts that pay
up to four times as much as she made as a staff nurse. Plus, the travel nurse contracts she’s accepted so far have taken us to places we had never previously been in Texas, Arizona, Virginia, and Alabama. Each contract gives us the ability to have a home base and then explore the surrounding areas.
Thankfully, Victoria’s income as a travel nurse works as our security blanket, but what about me? How does a former mid-market country radio personality make money while constantly on the move? Well, part of giving up my growing career in radio was figuring out how to apply the knowledge and skills learned under the roof of a radio station while working remotely.
In the radio industry, no matter what position you’ve been hired for, you can expect to work four additional job duties on top of it. While it can be frustrating, it prepared me for what was to come.
Yes, I was the guy people heard over the airwaves, but there was much more going on behind the scenes. I learned job skills that have translated well to
working remotely, such as running the station’s social media, shooting video for advertisements, and editing audio for shows. When we first started RV life, my immediate thought was to document the entire journey. Improving my camera and video knowledge was a no-brainer, which we did with our “Project RV: Living Lost” YouTube channel. But making money on YouTube is more of a marathon than a sprint. The hundreds of hours I spent shooting and editing video helped to expand my skills and prepare me for my next project.
Radio isn’t just radio anymore—the industry has morphed into a multimedia format that relies heavily on social media exposure. For me, that also meant duties as the social media manager for all our stations. This understanding helped me
as began my own business as a social media manager.
Of course, getting clients to pay me as an independent contractor was the tricky part. My strategy was to visit and talk to small businesses in each city Victoria accepted a travel nurse contract in, since it would be our home base for at least two months.
This allowed me to establish a relationship with local business owners and offer to create some posts and videos for them free of charge. After some initial time and effort, I am now earning income as an independent social media manager.
Sometimes it’s all about relationships. Podcasting is a natural next step after radio broadcasting. Through a former radio station colleague, was lucky enough to develop a connection with a
company that needed a producer. This company has several podcasts, which means there’s a lot of audio that needs to be edited. This happened to be one of my favorite job duties while working in radio, and it ended up being the perfect situation—as long as I have my laptop and a good internet connection, I can work from anywhere.
In truth, finding a consistent, reliable internet connection has proved to be slightly challenging. We’ve approached the problem in several ways, depending on where we are. If we’re at our current home base, we just go through the local internet provider. They come out and install everything at the RV park just like they would at a sticksand-bricks home. When we’re on the move in an area with minimal Wi-Fi, we’ve used a few different strategies. When possible, we’ll use the hotspots on our phones. We also purchased a signal booster, which generally gives us extra bars on our phones. Our most reliable solution in weak signal areas is a 150GB Verizon Wireless hotspot, which has helped us out big time in very remote places.
Obviously, everyone’s situation, skill set, and previous job history is different. We’re sharing our story to show you that no matter what your particular situation is, you can make full-time RV living a reality. The world we live in today is filled with opportunities to work from wherever—why not make it someplace you’ve never traveled to before?
Thomas and Victoria share their journey on Instagram @projectrvlivinglost
By Jessica Rambo
THERE’S A FINE line between living life to the fullest and everyone around you thinking you’re insane, and that’s where you can find me and my kids on any given day. We know what rock bottom feels like. We have been scraped, beaten, and pummeled more times than I can count—usually at the hands of my military career, my mental health journey, and just me trying to heal my inner child. Together we climbed from there to where we are today, and without all the ups and downs, I don’t think any of us would be who we are now. Bus life began in search of saving myself from myself, and together, my kids and I built a life we didn’t want to run away from. The Painted Buffalo began as a pipe dream, and turning it into reality literally saved my life. I know that sounds a little extreme, but the truth is I’m not the same person who was medically separated from the Marine Corps five years ago. Just ask any of the Marines I was stationed with, or any of the students who met me in the first couple of semesters of college.
Five years ago, left a prestigious position as Sargent Rambo at the Pentagon on a Friday, and ended up in a classroom at UNC Greensboro to begin work on my bachelor’s
degree on Monday. A bulldog of a Marine isn’t really what kind, sensitive, creative art students had in mind when they first met me and my service dog, Bella. was all Marine Corps—savage, no filter, and firm but fair. didn’t know it then, but the decision to go to art school would catapult our life, Evil Knievel style, into where we are today.
I’m pretty open about our journey, partially because sharing is like therapy for me, but also because I want others to know that having a dark or scary past doesn’t have to define your present. feel a lot of guilt about where I’ve come from, but to be honest, my kids are really the superheroes of this journey, whether they wanted to be or not. That’s the part of mental health that many people don’t talk about— when you’re waist deep in anxiety, depression, and drugs, you don’t know which way is up, and you don’t really care about the people around you. How can you when you don’t really care about yourself?
After a semester or two of art school, I made the decision to detox from all the medications I was prescribed through the military medical system. Unfortunately, my story isn’t uncommon. After a conversation with my then-6-yearold son that instantly grounded me and put me in my place, I knew I needed to make a change. One medication at a time, I detoxed from a life that was killing me, and one tool at a time, I started to build my own personal care package.
In May of 2018, I started rebuilding both this old, retired Marine and an old, retired school bus. Between all the projects that needed to be completed and all the medications that needed detoxing from, there was a lot to get through, but I did it. I don’t mean to simplify the process, but everyone’s story is different and everyone has different motivators. You have to find what works for you inside of yourself—everyone has
that thing that clicks for them. Ask any addict in recovery! Some call it a “come to Jesus moment,” some have a 6-year-old to ask the right question. Whatever yours is, you’ll find it.
From May 2018 through August 2019, I built that school bus up into both our home and a traveling studio for myself and other veterans. As I built the bus, I got healthier, became an active member of the bus life community, and started working on a nonprofit to help other veterans like me. I was looking for a healthy outlet, and I started Painted Buffalo Traveling Studio to provide art education and art supplies so veterans we met on the road could tell their own stories through The Paint Can Project.
The Paint Can Project is a care package program. We fill ammo cans with art supplies and other products for veterans who are willing and ready to tell their own stories through art. In March 2020, right when the pandemic took over the world, we set off on the trip of a lifetime, loaded with ammo cans and a mission to meet as many veterans as possible. We only meant to wander for a year, but eventually we realized a year just wasn’t enough. Over the last few years of travel, we’ve
met nomads, veterans, and others who were inspired by our story. I personally drove that old school bus 65,000 miles, a couple of times across the country. We went as far north as Vancouver, as far south as Key West, and anywhere and everywhere in between.
That old school bus brought us loads of adventures and memories. We met countless veterans on the road and handed out Paint Can Project boxes to hundreds of veterans wanting to get into making art, but after a while, our self-converted bus got a little small for us, and our mission was getting bigger. So we sold the first bus and started building a new one, which we call Painted Buffalo (PB) 2.0. We were on a mission to fix a few things from the first bus. We learned a lot in three years of traveling, and wanted to make it more fitting for our family.
Our first bus was built for a 7-yearold, a 10-year-old, a couple of road dogs, and me. Now I’ve got older kids, a few more pets, and my artistic mission has grown. In this new bus, we have the art-making supplies for painting, coloring, and pottery, as well as a Glowforge laser engraver!
Our mission and journey are just beginning in this new traveling art studio. In April 2022, we hit the road for another year of adventure, and we have some pretty killer goals to meet! We joined forces with another veteran bus family, Adam and Chelsea from @ time_to_go_adventure, and we are headed to Alaska. Neither of us were ready to make the journey alone, so for the past year we have been planning together and encouraging each other that we can do it! That’s the whole mission of the Painted Buffalo Traveling Studio—to encourage and inspire veterans to get out there and heal through telling their stories, art supplies in hand, and to create adventures and stories along the way.
Jessica Rambo shares her art and adventures on Instagram at @the.painted.buffalo
FIGURING OUT A good office setup in an RV can be tricky, especially if you have children and can’t claim the extra bunk room, or if you don’t have an extra bunk room to begin with. I am a software engineer and full-time traveler on the road with my wife, Lia, our four-year-old daughter, Lennon, and our two dogs, Banana Pig and Mango Salsa. My office setup took a lot of time and research to figure out, but in the end, I’m happy with the results. I actually have a few different work setups—my main “office” in the hallway of the RV, a portable setup I can use in our tent or at a coffee shop, and a truck setup if all else fails. When you’re living in an RV, flexibility is always the name of the game!
My main office is in the hallway, where I have an ultra-wide 34-inch monitor mounted on an autopole. I had never heard of an autopole before; they are typically used by photographers or videographers to hang backdrops, lighting, and other studio equipment. I have a height-adjustable monitor arm that was made specifically for the autopole, and when I’m not working, the monitor swings out of the way against the wall. The best thing about the autopole is that it’s pressure fit, which means it’s super sturdy even though I didn’t have to drill any holes to mount it. It has been holding up my monitor for more than two years now without skipping a beat. I do take the monitor down and stick it on our bed on move days, and the arm has a quick-release latch so can easily pop the monitor on and off without disassembling anything.
For my standing desk, I use a height-adjustable percussion table, like the kind a drummer would use to hold a laptop or other instrument next to them at a gig. It’s the perfect size for a mouse and keyboard, and it folds up to store under our bed when not in use. I also ordered a custom mouse pad to the exact dimensions of the percussion table, so the entire surface is one giant mouse pad.
These days, I almost exclusively stand while working, so I added an anti-fatigue standing mat to the setup so my feet don’t get tired. I bought a smaller mat size that’s a perfect
fit for the width of our hallway. If do get tired of standing, have a slim, height-adjustable folding chair that I can pop up. It’s not the most comfortable chair in the world, but it works to give my feet a little break when they need it, and it folds down flat and stows away nicely when not in use.
In addition to the RV office, I have a portable setup I can use for a change of scenery. I use it mostly outside in our Clam Quick-Set tent when we have room to set it up, but it’s also great to take to a coffee shop, brewery, library, or wherever.
For the portable office, I set my laptop on a foldable laptop stand to get the screen up to eye level for better ergonomics. Then use my wireless mouse and keyboard like normal. The whole setup fits easily in my backpack, and can also bring along my folding chair and a collapsible camping table if I need to bring it somewhere with uncertain seating arrangements. With all that, I can pretty much pop up the portable office anywhere, as long as it’s not raining.
Speaking of rain, when all else fails—for instance, when the cell coverage at the campground is nonexistent, the weather outside is ghastly, and it’s a global pandemic and I’m not allowed inside any buildings—I can also set up an office in the back seat of the truck as a last resort. And I have resorted to it several times. I have a laptop mount that hooks to the back of the driver’s headrest. I can prop the laptop up there and sit in the back seat with a portable laptop tray to hold my mouse and keyboard. So even in the truck, I can get a relatively ergonomic, fully functioning office setup going. It’s definitely my least favorite of the three, but it gets the job done in a pinch.
2 3
And there you have it—an RV office three ways. The flexibility of these setups has been key to working full time while we enjoy our life on the road.
Follow Trevor on Instagram for more tips at @llamallamaadventure
WHEN MOST PEOPLE
think about the challenges of living in a small space, they imagine things like limited storage and cramped layouts. But families who choose to live tiny on the road also face unique challenges when it comes to maintaining healthy relationships.
If you are willing to put in the effort and practice effective methods of communication with your loved ones, it is definitely possible to find success living and traveling as a family or couple in a small space. To get some firsthand insight into this topic, I reached out to a few nomad families who were kind enough to share their personal experiences and advice on how to make it work.
For many couples, living in small spaces together is a test of
compatibility and commitment. With only so much room to stretch out, and limited shared resources, arguments can easily arise over seemingly minor things. It’s important to find ways to resolve conflict quickly and effectively.
Lindsey and Brandon Melott, who have been together for 18 years, now travel full time in a 1974 Argosy Trailer with their four-year-old son, Abner, and their dog, Lefty. The couple acknowledges that while conflict in a relationship is a natural part of life, dealing with it can be tough, especially when you’re living in such close quarters. “We’re forced to resolve conflicts quickly because we live in such a small space,” Lindsey said. “If we have a conflict, we often go outside to get some fresh air. This allows us to find more clarity to resolve the situation.” They emphasized that by removing yourself from the situation for a bit, you can
often find the perspective you need to come up with a solution that works for everyone.
If you’re living tiny and traveling with a big family, it can be tough to find time for quiet reflection and self care. But for Charlie and Courtney George, this is an essential part of the journey. The George family has been exploring the United States by road for the past seven months in their 2018 Heartland Cyclone. During that time, Courtney has learned that spending time in nature helps her family to maintain harmony while living under a small roof. “Get outside, go for a walk, ride a bike, and take the time to clear your mind,” she said. Courtney finds that getting outside is helpful for resolving conflict in a constructive way.
After being together for 11 years and living and traveling in a converted school bus for the last two, Lauren and David Robinson have learned it’s important for everyone to have their own space from
time to time. “Creating alone time allows us to decompress, collect our thoughts, and relax before discussing our conflict again,” Lauren said, adding that making time for self-reflection is essential if they want to successfully move past disagreements. “Spending brief times apart, doing an activity alone, and having our own personal hobbies helps us to reduce conflict tremendously.” Lauren has noticed that by carving out quality alone time, she and David are able to give themselves what they need to tackle challenging conversations with renewed focus.
Communication is an important aspect of any relationship, whether between family members, friends, or romantic partners. Effective communication can help to build trust and understanding while providing a space for both parties
to express their needs and concerns, and the Melotts say this has been essential in helping them navigate the good and bad times in their relationship.
“We’re able to acknowledge faults in each other that become more bearable because we communicate,” said Lindsey. By remaining open and honest with each other, the Melotts have been able to create a strong foundation for their relationship.
One of the benefits of living in a small space with someone else is that it can help to build intimacy. When you live in close proximity to someone, you have more opportunities to interact with them on a daily basis. “We have loved the consistent time, meals, and overall moments together,” said Courtney.
“The closeness means you don’t miss anything. You get to be a part of every
tear, laugh, and occasional awkward moment.” Being so physically close has allowed the George family to build trust and a deeper level of compassion for one another. Having the chance to interact on a regular basis can deepen your relationship and help you feel more connected to one another.
“One of the biggest benefits of living small is simply getting to see each other more often and getting to do more together,” Lauren said. By spending more time together, you will likely find ways to explore shared interests and hobbies and learn about new activities you both enjoy. “It has allowed us to travel to more than 20 states, see 32 national parks, and visit countless cities, and it’s taken us to many of the wonders our country has to offer,” she added.
It’s important to keep in mind that living in a small space is not going to fix any problems you have in your relationship. If you’re having difficulties before you hit the road, they’re likely going to continue while you’re living in close quarters. “Close proximity will amplify what is already happening. If your marriage is strained, this will make it worse. If you are thriving, this will only add joy. Traveling in a tight space can be tough, so talk about it, be
“We live in less than 200 square feet, and we think it goes without saying— you physically cannot get away from a person you share that little space with. Living so closely with someone else is not necessarily a bad thing, but if you want any alone time, you have to get creative!”
– Lauren and David Robinson
“We have been able to see each other more often and communicate more frequently, improving our relationship immensely, and we have learned how to solve conflicts more quickly and easily as well. We also have become less selfish, more giving, and have fully remembered why we chose to love one another in the first place!”
– Lauren and David Robinson
“Allow personal space when personal space is necessary. Don’t force activities on your significant other. There needs to be compromise with everything. Make plans in advance for travel goals and try to release expectations if things don’t go as planned.”
– Lindsey and Brandon Melott
honest, and love one another well,” said Courtney.
“It forces you to communicate and to resolve your problems. It’s incredibly challenging to stay mad at your significant other when there is no room to get away from each other. So, if there are things that bother you about the other person, living in a small space can intensify those feelings.”
– Lindsey and Brandon Melott
“Personal time and space. When one spouse is a hyper extrovert and the other is just a “normal” extrovert, one needs time to be alone and decompress. We have had to be very intentional about asking how the other person is doing and whether there is anything they need, and making sure to serve each other’s emotional needs, not just the physical ones.”
– Charlie and Courtney George
“Make sure you both have your own things—the moments you like, the shows you like, the foods you like. It’s easy to slip into routines that serve only one person’s interests, but never forget you aren’t alone.”
While some of these challenges may seem relatively minor, they are often magnified when you’re constantly traveling together in a tiny space. Lauren said, “No matter how small or big you live, if you can’t communicate your needs clearly with one another, you’re eventually asking for trouble. Practicing clear communication, learning how we both communicate, and using resources like Enneagram studies and therapy to learn how to become better communicators have been key for us over the years.”
– Charlie and Courtney
GeorgeWhen we spend time in close proximity to our loved ones, we may learn that we have different communication styles, different ways of handling conflict, and different ideas about personal space. We may discover
a greater sense of empathy, understanding, and appreciation for the differences between us. As a result, being in close quarters can be an opportunity to connect with each other on a deeper level. If you are lucky enough to have a partner who sticks by your side while navigating life’s challenges in a small space, take a moment to reflect on how truly special and unique your relationship is.
Find Nicoll on Instagram @livingtinywithawolf or on livingtinywithawolf.com
Lauren and David Robinson
EVERYONE STARTS SOMEWHERE. Sometimes there’s detailed planning, and sometimes you just jump right into the deep end. Our journey into boating was the latter. We had already been living rootless out of two suitcases and traveling internationally before COVID, so our decision to “upsize” into a 34-foot trawler and live on the water started off a bit different than most. Our original plan was to travel around the world for a year, as a sort of gap year. When the pandemic hit, we got locked down in India and had to completely reimagine what types of travel were possible and what “safe” traveling looked like. We decided to “pivot” into our greatest challenge and biggest adventure yet—America’s Great Loop, a 6,000-mile journey around much of the United States by boat. The Great Loop traverses through a variety of waterways and is typically completed with the seasons; up the East Coast of the United States during the spring, west through the Great Lakes in the summer, south via the Mississippi and other Midwest rivers in the fall, and finishing up with the Gulf of Mexico and Florida in the winter. Many boaters work up to this trip for their whole lives and complete it when they retire, with a lifetime of boating experience under their belt. Neither of us really grew up boating and we had a huge learning curve.
We bought our boat, PIVOT, in January of 2021, and took a shake-down cruise we called our “maiden voyage.” During
that trip, we practiced docking, anchoring, using our dinghy, taking our dog to shore, navigating, and learning the boat’s various systems. We tried to imagine what the Great Loop would have in store for us. That five-day trip was a trial by fire! This initial voyage provided us with many eye-opening experiences. Looking back, if you are new to boating, we recommend either starting with a smaller boat or having a captain take you out to help you learn the lines.
In April 2021, we left our home marina for our 6,000-mile journey, which would bring us to many cities, towns, and islands we probably wouldn’t have visited otherwise. The Great Loop was our opportunity to see the United States in a unique way. The first day of our trip brought us to Fernandina Beach, Florida, where we visited a local farmers market and toured the cute, walkable town, followed by a visit to Cumberland Island National Seashore with some friends.
Later in our trip, we cruised through the beautiful and undeveloped Georgia waterways, watched dolphins swim with our boat, learned about local history in Beaufort, South Carolina, and experienced extreme tides along the Georgia and South Carolina coasts.
A month into our Great Loop journey, I was unsure about boat life. There are a lot of challenges working full time, running a YouTube channel, and learning how to live on a boat. felt like we weren’t cut out for all of this! We made the decision to continue to Charleston,
where we would decide to continue on our journey, or sell the boat and pivot to another adventure. We made our second successful docking of the boat, began to learn weather patterns and how they affect us, and established a routine to take our dog ashore. In the end, we made the decision to keep going.
The day we left Charleston was a memorable boating day that left a lasting impression. Having just made the decision to keep going, we were set on gaining more experiences as we completed the Great Loop.
Following our first two lock experiences, we stopped in Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia, which coincides with the start of the Intracoastal Waterway, and we felt we were starting to get this whole boating thing. We were excited to enter the long-awaited Chesapeake Bay, which was one of the bodies of water that had excited us most.
The first destination in the Chesapeake Bay was Smith Island - the last remaining inhabited island in Maryland and only accessible by boat. We booked two nights at the Smith Island Bakery, excited to check out the town. But as Elliot was moving from the boat onto the docks, he missed the dock, and we heard a big crack. The local crabber overheard and called the EMT on the island, who called the Maryland State Troopers to helivac us to the nearest hospital. In the emergency room, we learned that Elliot had broken his wrist.
A few days later, the surgical doctor
Jen, Elliot, and Ollie in Beaufort, SCtold us Elliot’s wrist would require surgery. Due to insurance and scheduling difficulties, we didn’t return to PIVOT until four months later in Crisfield, Maryland. We were unable to continue on our journey due to the time constraints of completing the loop with the seasons—it was September and we didn’t have enough time to cruise the remainder of the Chesapeake Bay, the Erie Canal, and the Great Lakes before the weather would make it unsafe. We decided to work on some much-needed boat projects to improve our quality of life for the winter season and continue the Great Loop journey the next year. Staying in Maryland, we replaced our leaky decks, installed a new anchor, and tested out a new dinghy motor, in addition to a bunch of other small projects. We met many incredible people since transitioning to life on the water, and had “boat buddies” while cruising to the Florida Keys for the winter. We kicked off the Great Loop again from Key West in March. Since re-starting the Loop, we’ve had many highs and lows, which is typical. Overall, we’ve enjoyed boat life much more than last year.
While traveling America’s Great Loop and living on a boat full time, we have also been filming daily vlogs for our YouTube channel. We believe that every Loop is different—people have different desires, budgets, and experiences—and with so many options, we decided it was worth sharing ours. Like any other entrepreneurial adventure, we have struggled with separating the fun from the work and maintaining work-life balance. This has led to a unique Loop where we choose to anchor off as frequently as possible, stay present for the small moments, and critically determine which big-ticket items we are interested in!
We’ve come pretty far since buying a boat with zero boating experience, thanks to all the lessons along the way. We continue to make mistakes and learn from our choices, but we’re embracing the pivots. PIVOT has become a mantra or ethos of sorts. Embracing change, learning, and new experiences is part of our everyday life, and we encourage others to see the value of “pivots” in their own lives.
Find Jennifer and Elliot (aka Scho & Jo) on schoandjo.com and watch their travels on YouTube at youtube.com/schoandjo
SURROUNDED BY MOUNTAINS and right next to Saguaro National Park, there’s no shortage of natural beauty in Tucson, Arizona. In addition to the outdoor opportunities in greater Tucson, the city offers a vibrant food scene for its residents and visitors! We’re certainly not the first to notice Tucson’s culinary offerings—in 2015, UNESCO named Tucson the first Creative City of Gastronomy in the United States.
2938 E Grant Rd., Tucson, AZ 85716
1030 W St Marys Rd., Tucson, AZ 85745 would guess that at least 90% of the food at St. Mary’s Mexican Food is homemade, including their flour tortillas, which are rolled so thin you can see through them. Wrapping a piece of tender carne asada or cheese-oozing chile relleno inside the tortillas is a great way to avoid using the plastic silverware and get the most out of every bite. This place is busy from sunrise to sunset. Call ahead for your order or expect to wait in this currently takeout-only restaurant.
If you’re in Tucson long enough to tire of Sonoran food, you’ll find plenty of other places to try. For an American diner experience, check out Bobo’s Restaurant and Coffee House. Arrive before 8:00 a.m. Monday through Friday for the breakfast special, with two eggs, potatoes, and toast. While breakfast seems to be their primary business, they offer plenty of lunch selections as well. We highly recommend ordering a banana pancake. You’ll get a pancake the size of a dinner plate, with caramelized bananas that provide a crispy edge and a sweet flavor. Some may call it breakfast—we called it dessert!
Jekyll Island, GA
1002 W Congress St., Tucson, AZ 85745
Tucson has many options for vegans and vegetarians, the most lauded of which is Tumerico. We ate at Tumerico’s sister restaurant, La Chaiteria. If the saying, “You eat with your eyes first,” is accurate, we were very well fed before even taking a bite! The beauty of the finished plates alone was terrific. Carnivores may find a couple of specials available on their menu. Whether you eat meat or not, the creativity and flavors are outstanding.
610 N Grande Ave., Tucson, AZ 85745
The most challenging thing about this restaurant is selecting from its massive menu. Taco Giro offers full service, including a bar with delicious margaritas. You can order a steaming bowl of pozole (pork and hominy stew) served with fresh shredded cabbage, onions, radishes, and limes to brighten this hearty soup. You’ll find plenty of options in this neighborhood restaurant, including fajitas, molcajetes, and fresh seafood.
1372 W St Marys Rd., Tucson, AZ 85745
If you’re looking for a fast food option, try Viva Burrito Co. With six locations around Tucson, we were impressed by the quality and size of their burritos. As the name implies, burritos reign supreme, with an extensive selection, but you’ll also find a wide selection of tacos, tortas, enchiladas, and combination plates. Our favorites were the steak burrito rolled with tender grilled beef, fresh pico de gallo, and guacamole, and the Tejano burrito assembled with red chili chicken, sour cream, potato, and cheese.
311 N Court Ave., Tucson, AZ 85701
For the best Mexican food in Tucson, many articles recommend El Charro Café. The original location, in downtown Tucson, was founded a century ago in 1922. El Charro claims to be both the oldest Mexican restaurant in the country, as well as the creator of the chimichanga. You’ll find classic Sonoran Mexican offerings, like green corn tamales and carne seca, traditional sun-dried beef, and innovative cuisine, like their vegan tamale stuffed mushrooms. With every plate, you’ll be impressed by the depth of flavor in their sauces, leaving you well-sated and more than willing to return again and again.
3502 E Grant Rd., Tucson, AZ 85716
Noodleholics is a Chinese noodle shop featuring Guilin rice noodles and homemade wheat noodles in their savory bowls. We were happy to discover crispy pork belly that lived up to its description and braised beef shank that radiated Chinese five spice. Each dish we tasted was packed with flavor and offered complexity by way of texture. I’m still thinking about my dinner, the Guilin with chicken broth, spicy pickled greens, bamboo, long bean, roasted peanuts, fresh bok choy, green onions, cilantro, crispy pork belly, and shrimp.
1491 W St Marys Rd., Tucson, AZ 85745
You can feed your family at one of the six locations of Chicken Nuevo with a whole chicken, a choice of two large sides, salsa, and tortillas. The pollo asado is moist and flavorful on its own and even tastier rolled in a fresh tortilla with some beans and rice! Don’t miss the salsa bar, where you’ll find various options, from fresh pico de gallo to a creamy salsa verde to enhance your meal.
2480 N Oracle Rd., Tucson, AZ 85705
don’t consider myself a hot dog aficionado, but when in Tucson, trying a Sonoran dog is required! El Güero Canelo Restaurant is a former hot dog stand and is now a local restaurant chain. In 2018, they earned a James Beard Foundation Award for America’s Classics. We suggest the Sammy Dog, with two slow-roasted, bacon-wrapped hot dogs served in a soft bolillo roll with beans, tomato, onion, mayonnaise, and mustard. It comes with a grilled pepper on the side. The salsa bar in the restaurant offers many other toppings as well.
3699 N Campbell Ave., Tucson, AZ 85719
For a high level of quality in a less formal and less expensive setting, be sure to check out Barrio Charro. This brunch/lunch restaurant combines the talents of two of Tucson’s iconic James Beard award-nominated chefs, Chef Carlotta Flores from El Charro Café and Don Guerra from Barrio Bread. The latter’s bread is the best bread I’ve found in the country and possibly reason enough on its own for me to return to Tucson. You’ll have a chance to enjoy some of Barrio’s house-made bread used for the hamburgers, tortas, and plano sandwiches, plus options to have bread on the side of a salad or brunch plate. Couple the outstanding baked bread with fillings created by Chef Carlotta, and you will love this place!
Whatever you may be craving while in Tucson, you’ll likely find a place to eat it. And you don’t need to break the bank to eat out a few times while in town. The hardest thing about going out to eat in the city is deciding which place to try first! There’s one thing know for sure—if you leave Tucson hungry, you should have stayed longer.
Anne shares his travels through @ontheroadofadventure on Instagram
HAVE YOU EVER heard someone say that adventures stop when you have children? It really doesn’t have to be that way! In fact, my husband and are even more adventurous now that we have kids.
Before kids, we would go out to restaurants, festivals, and bars. We enjoyed weekend getaways in New York City or Boston. We even lived in Paris for three years, visiting museums and cabarets, and flying to Milan, Prague, Barcelona, and London on weekends.
Once we had kids, everything changed for the better.
We learned that our kids were not indoor cats—they didn’t enjoy visiting cities, and won’t even talk about sitting still in a restaurant.
Slowly, and without even realizing it, we transitioned from an urban couple to an adventure family. And one day, when our kids were 2.5 and 4.5 years old, we (maybe a little impulsively) bought and converted a van.
By Emilie Brillon
In 2020, we had sold our house with the plan of traveling the world with our two sons, but as the world slowly started to shut down, we realized our timing had not been the best. So we adapted our plans, as we always do.
Most of our stuff had already been sold or donated, but we still had our travel backpacks and our car, and we decided to hit the road. We slowly drove from Quebec City to Victoria, British Columbia, a 5,000-plus-kilometer road trip.
We had no tent, no RV, and no van— just our small SUV filled with all of our belongings. We stayed in hotels and Airbnbs, and it was great, but finding accommodation was more challenging and way more expensive than we had hoped. Some places didn’t have many hotels, but they had lots of camping options.
We then spent the winter in the Canadian Rockies and fell in love with the mountains and the fresh air. We hiked every week, watched wildlife, and chased waterfalls. We felt great in nature, and our kids were thriving. They were getting so curious and their imagination was amazing.
On our last week in Alberta, my family joined us in a rented campervan. We did one last road trip in the Canadian Rockies, visiting Banff, Jasper, and the iconic Icefields Parkway. I’ll always remember driving our car along the Icefields Parkway following my sister and
her boyfriend in their rented van. At that moment, I knew I wanted to try vanlife with my boys.
After that week-long road trip, we were ready to get moving, so we packed the car and drove down to California to spend some time with my husband’s family. We booked a campsite in Lake Oroville, borrowed my father-in-law’s ancient army-style camping gear, and were ready to go.
It was amazing. The boys helped us set up the tent, and they played in the dirt for hours. They analyzed a group of ants working and they waited for a lizard to leave its hiding spot. We ended each night by the fire, telling stories and eating s’mores. By the end of the weekend, my husband and were ready.
“We need to have these kids outside all the time,” we said. “Why don’t we get that van?”
I’ll be honest—the process of converting the van wasn’t all roses and rainbows. It was hard. My husband worked full time while I was full time with the kids in 110-degree California summer weather.
Plus, we had never done a conversion and we had a tight schedule. We ended up making the van just comfortable enough to be able to go on epic adventures, but also to be able to enjoy time with the family during our visit. Our van is not Instagram-ready, but it was perfect for us to get started. We are now in the process of re-converting it to make it more practical.
My husband and I are a little impulsive—we are doers rather than thinkers, and so far, it has served us well! But we did think through whether we wanted a van or an RV, and there are a few reasons why we decided on a converted van.
First, a travel trailer or fifth wheel wasn’t an option for us because we didn’t want to invest in another car and our small SUV didn’t have the power to tow a travel trailer. I am not even sure it could have towed a pop-up tent.
Second, there are not many options for motorhomes that provide safety
fixtures for kids’ car seats. With older kids, it could have been a good option, but with younger kids, it wasn’t really an option for us.
But the main reason for the van was that I wanted to be able to comfortably take the kids on adventures alone. I feel good driving the van alone, and the setup is super easy for me, even with two little kids running around.
Lastly, the van is small enough to drive everywhere and to park in crowded downtowns. Plus, we can reserve pretty much all campsite sizes. It just feels like we have more freedom on road trips. love how simple it is to drive around and stop pretty much wherever we want. We can cook meals at any time, almost anywhere. Plus, the boys are outside most of the day running around, hiking, and searching for bugs—they are at their best outside. The van brings us the
We got our van in the summer of 2021, and we’re not full-time travelers anymore, but we already created many unforgettable memories. There are moments in the van that I will never forget.
The first one was traveling with my two boys and my mother, who had just retired. I feel so lucky to have an adventurous mom who doesn’t care about sharing a tiny van with her daughter and her two grandsons. “As long as we are together,” she says.
Then, there was the week took the boys alone on a road trip from Sacramento to San Diego—just the three of us for seven days. My husband had to finish a big project before joining us
in Los Angeles, where we drove up the Pacific Coast for another week.
On our last night of this California coast road trip, while we were waiting for the fire to be ready for our marshmallow snack, my husband asked the kids, “What was your favorite part of our week?”
Without any hesitation, my oldest son responded, “Camping with Mama!”
My heart melted. With all the fantastic things we did during that two-week trip, from afternoons at the beach to a day at Disneyland and little treats here and there, my son’s best memory was camping with me.
I knew at that moment that even if we were exhausted from all the driving, we made the right choice to impulsively buy our first campervan.
Emilie and her family are at @lovelife_abroad on Instagram
WHEN WE THINK of the Southwest, we think of desert landscapes full of saguaro cacti. And at Saguaro National Park in Tucson, Arizona, you’re able to walk among millions of these giant cacti in all shapes and sizes, making each one a unique treat. Pair these saguaros with mountain views, petroglyphs, and an epic sunset, plus a delicious meal in a UNESCO City of Gastronomy, and you have an iconic Arizona experience that you’ll remember for a lifetime.
Ready to experience this idyllic Southwest destination for yourself? We’re sharing everything you need to know to visit Saguaro National Park West, including the best trails and sights!
Saguaro National Park gets its name from the more than 2 million saguaro cacti it was created to protect, which can only be found in a small part of the United States, plus Sonora, Mexico.
Saguaros can live to be 150 to 200 years old and up to 60 feet tall, but they grow very slowly—a 10 year old saguaro can be only 1.5 inches tall! Their greatest growth period is between 50 and 70 years old, which is when they start to grow their branches. This is why only some saguaros in the park have branches.
You’ll notice fleshy green skin on the outside of saguaro cacti, but inside they are made up of wooden ribs, which can be used for fencing, furniture, and roofing, so even after they die, saguaros can provide value for years to come.
Saguaro National Park is located just a short drive from downtown Tucson and is made up of two areas—the Tucson Mountain District (west) and the Rincon Mountain District (east). The eastern side has older and taller cacti, while the western side has a higher concentration of cacti. Although they look close on a map, it takes about 45 minutes to an hour to travel between them, so for this guide we’re specifically sharing about Saguaro National Park West. It’s a great region to explore, especially for your first visit.
When to visit
Saguaro National Park is open year-round, but due to its location in the Sonoran Desert, the summer temperatures can reach 110 degrees. And with no tree cover in the park, it can be dangerous to visit during the heat of the summer.
In our opinion, the park is best visited between November and March, when the temperatures are more pleasant. We have visited the park in both January and February, and even with cooler temperatures, the sun still made it feel pretty warm.
While it will be a bit warmer, late April to mid-June is another great time to visit the park. You’ll be able to see the saguaro flowers in bloom, but we recommend starting your days very early to beat the heat.
Saguaro National Park doesn’t have any campgrounds, but you still have lots of options since it is located near a city.
Minutes south of the park, just off of Old Ajo Highway, are a couple of open dirt areas that allow boondocking. We stayed at these for multiple nights, but it’s definitely not glamorous and is essentially a parking lot filled with RVs. If you just need a place to sleep, it works fine.
For something a bit more traditional, the Gilbert Ray Campground is just outside the park and has 130 RV sites. There is also the Tucson/ Lazydays KOA Resort closer to town, which has more amenities.
DID YOU KNOW?
150-200
Saguaro cacti can live to be 150 to 200 years old 60'
They can grow up to 60 feet tall 78'
The tallest saguaro ever recorded was 78 feet 2
Saguaro National Park has two districts in Tucson
Entrance Fee
It costs $35 per car to enter the park, which covers 7 days. Unlike most parks, there is not an entrance station, so you will need to pay either at the self-pay stations, online, or at the Visitor Center. We recommend purchasing an America the Beautiful annual pass for $80, which gives you access to all national parks.
How much time do you need?
One full day in the west area of the park is plenty of time to see all the major attractions. If you want to spend time in the east side of the park, you’ll likely want another day.
Dogs are not allowed on many trails in Saguaro National Park. They are only allowed on the unpaved Bajada Loop Drive, the Desert Discovery Trail, and on the portion of Golden Gate Road to the east of the Bajada Loop Drive. Start early and bring sun protection
We recommend hitting the trails early to beat both the crowds and the heat. It’s also crucial to bring sunscreen, sunglasses, and a hat to protect yourself from the harsh sun!
Drink lots of water
Even in the cooler months, the air is very dry, so be sure to pack lots of water! The Visitor Center is the only place to fill up on water in the park.
Hike Wasson Peak
Looking to hike to the highest peak in the western side of the park? Wasson Peak sits at 4,688 feet and was by far our favorite thing we did in the park! This trail is loaded with saguaro cacti and amazing desert mountain views.
THERE ARE 3 DIFFERENT TRAILS YOU CAN TAKE TO THE TOP OF WASSON PEAK:
King Canyon and Hugh Norris Trail (7.9 miles round trip, 1,863 feet of elevation gain): This is the route we took, and we loved it. It has the largest and nicest parking lot and offers great views right from the start. We recommend going up the King Canyon Trail and coming down on part of the Hugh Norris Trail so you won’t see the same scenery twice.
Hugh Norris Trail (8.9 miles round trip, 2,398 feet of elevation gain): This is the most strenuous option to the top. Be sure to start early, because the parking area is not very large.
Sweetwater Trail (9.3 miles round trip, 2,093 feet of elevation gain): While this is the longest option, it doesn’t gain as much elevation as the Hugh Norris Trail. It also doesn’t have the largest parking lot, so plan to get there early to ensure your spot.
Desert Discovery Nature Trail
If you’re interested in learning more about saguaros, other plant and animal life, and how they all coexist and rely on each other in the park, then the Desert Discovery Nature Trail is a must. It is a 0.4-mile paved trail with lots of signage
detailing the wildlife and desert habitat.
Tip: This is the perfect trail to let your four-legged friend stretch their legs as well, because it’s one of the few spots in the park they are allowed. It is also wheelchair and stroller friendly!
The Bajada Loop Drive is a 6-mile gravel loop made up of Hohokam and Golden Gate Roads. Along the way you’ll find many trails, roadside views, and quick stops, and even though it’s gravel, it’s doable in any vehicle.
Tip: The second half of Hohokam Road is one-way, so enjoy this loop without any backtracking. It is suggested to drive it counterclockwise.
This was our second-favorite thing we did in the park. The 0.8-mile trail is mostly flat and leads you through an area with a high concentration of saguaros, ending at a beautiful overlook of the saguaro-covered valley below. We highly recommend coming here for sunset! We were able to witness the valley floor filled with golden light, which was a perfect ending to our day in the park.
Tip: The parking area for this trail is very small and is right where the road turns into a one way, so you will have to loop around if you can’t get a spot the first time.
The Signal Hill Petroglyph site is the largest collection of petroglyphs in the park, with more than 200 left by the Hohokam people, who called this area home more than 600 years ago.
It’s a very short, 0.3-mile walk to see a handful of these images on the rock, with the first set of images being on the side of rocks before climbing a staircase, and the most iconic being a spiral petroglyph at the top, with mountain views behind it.
The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is just outside of the park boundary. This paid attraction is a combination of a zoo, natural history museum, art gallery, aquarium, and gardens. And most of it is outside, so you can still enjoy the beauty of the desert while learning all about it!
Between easy, paved strolls, strenuous mountain hikes, and even a trail for your pup, Saguaro National Park West offers something for everyone. Set your alarm early, pack a bag with lots of water, and be prepared to be in awe of the millions of saguaros that surround you.
Find Adam and Kathryn’s travels on Instagram at @adventuresofaplusk
King Canyon Trail
Wasson Peak
Signal Hill Petroglyphs
King Canyon Trail
We loved staying here! There is lots of camping before you get to the trail head. The road up is dirt and a little washboard, and some of the side roads are a bit washed out, but we made it slowly over potholes to some of the primo spots. During our two-week stay, we moved around three different times and had no problem at all in our 25-foot Winnebago Class C motorhome. We work from the road and had great connectivity with Verizon—there were no issues due to cell towers at the top of the pass. The road is busy during the day, with ATVs and vehicles driving up to the trail head, but it’s a small price to pay for gorgeous free views! It’s also in such a convenient location—just 25 minutes to Vail, Frisco, or Silverthorne. We highly recommend this spot.
Pleasant Creek Dispersed Camping in southern Utah is about 20 minutes east of Capitol Reef National Park, which means this boondocking spot is close enough to enjoy the park while also being quiet and secluded. During our stay, we set up camp in time to enjoy the most stunning sunset while eating dinner, then ended the night with a fire and the most insanely beautiful stargazing I’d ever experienced.
We were traveling in a Class C RV and had no problem accessing this Bureau of Land Management site. Campendium reports Class As can also access the land without difficulty.
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