live. work. dream.

I’d like to share a list that was recently emailed to me by fellow RV traveler, Kim She kindly sent it from somewhere in the Yukon territory of Canada last week.

She and her husband Sam left their home in Louisiana last June, and have been touring around the U.S., criss-crossing much of the same territory that Jim and I have. Read about their travels on their blog.

Kim and I share a lot of things in common, as you can tell by her list of favorite towns. See how she’s picked many of the same places / regions that we have, for many of the same reasons? But she’s also introduced me to some new ones that I’d like to check out, like Rodeo, New Mexico.

Here is Kim’s list of the best small towns in North America that she’s been to, so far. Thanks Kim.

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After a year on the road, it seems clear to us that if and when we settle down, it will be somewhere in the West.

We gave the Midwest and East Coast a chance, and even fell in love with a few places, like Wisconsin, and Vermont. But ultimately, there’s just too many people crammed into the Eastern states. And in the Midwest, the mountains aren’t nearly tall enough for us. Many places we spent time in were beautiful, and quaint, but all along, I couldn’t help but drawing comparisons to my favorite places in the Western states. Nowhere else could measure up.

When we first hit the road, I didn’t want to consider Colorado as a future home, because I knew I would love it, but that real estate is expensive, and there were better deals to be had throughout the rest of the country.

But, the old adage “You get what you pay for” is so true. While you can get 100 acres with a home for less than $200k in the Midwest . . . it’s the Midwest. The people are the nicest, but the land is flat, the area is homogeneous, and the scenery just can’t compare to the kind of western mountain landscapes that take your breath away.

With this in mind, I’m willing to admit that I love the familiarity of the west, and would consider buying something in these parts. For now, here’s a list of places we want to investigate in depth.

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Dad,

Thanks for those summer vacations, when you packed up the family and took us to the Sierras and beyond, to show my sisters and I what life was like outside of the concrete jungle.

In the shade of the pine trees and alongside cool mountain lakes, you taught us to love nature, to play in the dirt, to fish, to hike, to sit by a lake in solitude and just be.

Each summer, no matter what our destination, I loved watching the road go by beneath our wheels. At some point I fell in love with the idea of seeing more of this great big country, and knew that some day I would.

You passed along the road trip gene to me, which is why I won’t be with you on Father’s Day. I’m road tripping, Dad. I wish you could be here, or I could be there, but I know you of all people, understand.

Today in the mountains of Colorado, I am missing you, and sending my love across the miles.

Happy Father’s Day!

Workamping is a great way to find seasonal RV lifestyle jobs, but we recently learned of another group that connects responsible, wandering vagabonds like us, with property owners needing help.

The Caretaker Gazette is a newsletter packed with unique house sitting jobs and property caretaking opportunities all over the world. For example:

BELIZE. EXPERIENCE TROPICAL SUSTAINABLE Living. No experience necessary. Prefer couple or two adults to caretake Dem Dats Doin, a self sufficient integrated homestead. Age not a factor if you are in reasonably good health. A minimum commitment of four (4) weeks or more, anytime of the year.

COLORADO. RANCH CARETAKER COUPLE needed in Hayden, Colorado. A large ranch called Wolf Mountain Ranch is looking for a couple to reside on the premises and help out with daily chores. Housing will be provided and salaries will be based upon previous experience.

Like workamping, some gigs pay, some don’t. Many have great perks besides a rent-free place to live. For example, I know of a woman, along with her husband, who caretake a horse property near Santa Fe, where they’re allowed to board her horses for free.

We still aren’t sure what we are going to do a year from now, but at least we’ve found another way for us to explore our options for future business and lifestyle endeavors. It’s cool to think that we can have a go at running a ranch or huge private estate without having to actually fork over the money to buy it!

This just in: every minute you spend sitting in traffic to get to a job you hate, one more young adult decides to quit the rat race, sell everything, and hit the road.

Ok, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration. But the longer we’re on the road, the more we keep meeting crazy kids our age who are also fed up with running on the treadmill of job/home/stuff/debt.

Hitek Homeless Hits the Road
Take for instance, Johnny and Jenn, aka Hitek Homeless. We met this couple online last year, while their escape plans were coming to fruition. They bought a killer Arctic Fox truck bed camper and a diesel dualie, sold their stuff, and finally hit the road a few months ago. Recently, Truck Camper Magazine interviewed them about their decision to fulltime.

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Last year when we started this journey, one tank of diesel cost us somewhere around $80. This year, the pump shuts off at $99, and we have to slide our credit card again, for another $22 or so in fuel. Today, I just heard that prices are going up another 25 cents per gallon in the next few days.

I’m glad we’ll be workamping in Lake City Colorado during the so-called “peak driving season.” Maybe prices will stabilize after summer, when we hit the road again (one can always hope, right?). But if you’re on the road now, here are a couple of websites that can help you find the best prices in your area.

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We came across this earthen home near Pagosa Springs, Colorado. It’s under construction. We were so thrilled when we saw see a “For Sale” sign on the property. We thought “Hey, maybe it’s a sign! Is it meant to be?”

When we stopped to talk to the closest neighbor, he gave us the scoop.

The home is for sale because “Wild Bill” as he’s known by the locals, ran out of money after pouring over $1 million into it. It’s a bare shell, nothing more. It’s been on the market for over three years, and the property owners in this tidy subdivision near Williams Lake would be happy to see it blown up. They’d pay someone to bulldoze it if they could.

Looking at the sorry state of this property, one man’s earthship dream, got us thinking; maybe we don’t have enough money to be so green?

One year ago this week, we drove away from Humboldt County in a daze. We couldn’t believe that we had really pulled our sabbatical off, and year on the road seemed like an eternity. Little did we know that it would fly by seemingly as quick as a two week vacation. We have so much to say about our epic journey. But for now, let’s start with the hard numbers.

Thanks to the meticulous Quickbooks expense tracking I’ve done over the last several years, and Carol White’s Live Your Road Trip Dream book budgeting templates, I was able to put together a budget that works for us. In short: we came in under budget, and the money we’ve saved will enable us to continue to live this lifestyle for at least the next year if we choose to.

If you’d like to see the technical details, a PDF with summarized numbers is here. But if spreadsheets make you snooze, then here’s a quick summary of my numbers for the year, and some ways we saved money:

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As soon as our rig crossed the border into Colorado, my spirit felt as if I had returned home. This land just calls out to me.

From Minnesota to Maine, there are lots of beautiful places in this country that I think I could live in. But none of them feed my soul like Colorado does. I know I’d love living here. But it could be a pipe dream.

Because in Colorado, you’d never know real estate is crashing all over the country. The Rockies are the most beautiful place in the U.S., and property owners know it. They have it made. I’m not seeing reasonable prices on any pieces of land, except for the most isolated patches of non-irrigated ag fields in the plains regions.

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This journey isn’t only about choosing where to live, but how to live. Like how to use sustainable, eco friendly building construction methods that we can incorporate into our future stick home. From straw bale to earthships, there are countless, affordable options to live a less impactful life. All it takes is a little research, and a lot of elbow grease.

Before leaving New Mexico, we toured the world-renowned Earthship Institute, just outside of Taos. Earthships are built out of recycled materials like tires, and aluminum cans, and are designed to be completely off-grid. They’re a lot of work to build, but as you can see, the results are spectacular. We definitely see one in our future.

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