Unlike many things in life, Jim and I found that RV road tripping is all that it’s cracked up to be (for us, anyhow). On this Thanksgiving holiday, here are a few RV-related things we are thankful for. Now, if you’re a RVer, what are you thankful for?

RVers are Thankful For:

Adventure. From far-reaching corners of North America, like Big Bend National Park to the coast of Maine, traveling by RV allows us to see so much more of this country than we ever thought possible.

Escapees Days End Directory. One way we can afford to live this lifestyle is by finding free camping spots. Our preferred method: this $10 Days End Directory that you can only get through Escapees. We’ve literally saved hundreds of dollars with this guide.

Experience. Each year our lives become richer because of everything we experience on the road. It’s not always perfect, but even when things have sucked, we learned better ways to handle adversity. When you live in 200 square feet, you’re forced to roll with the punches instead of punching each other out!

Freedom. We live life on our terms, outside of the box and far away from mainstream ideas about how adults are “supposed” to live their lives. We are grateful for the freedom to choose this path.

Free Public Lands. The West is definitely the best when it comes to free camping in America. With so much free camping to choose from, you could spend a lifetime boondocking west of the Mississippi and not camp in the same spot twice.

Friendship. RVers really are some of the nicest, most social people around! We’ve met more people since hitting the road than we ever did by living in one spot, and most of them have been great. It’s so much fun to randomly meet members of your own tribe when you’re traveling.

Internet Connectivity. With the Internet available anywhere you go (especially if you have a Motosat dish), your office view can change every day when you make a living on the road.

Pull-Thru Campsites.  Our little 24′ fifth wheel can fit just about anywhere, but let’s face it, pull-throughs are so much easier to park in, especially after a long day on the road.

Being Debt Free. Everything we enjoy about living on the road wouldn’t be possible without a simple, debt-free RVing lifestyle.

Staying out of debt gives us the fearlessness we need to explore new ways of making a living, like our newest business venture that we’re so crazy about!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tomorrow as we sit down to dinner in Austin with our RVing friends, we’ll raise a glass to these perks of living the road tripping lifestyle. Now, what will you toast to on Thanksgiving?

At the risk of offending anyone about what they drink, life is simply too short to drink cheap liquor.

I’ve never liked gin. And tonic water is just nasty. But I discovered long ago that something magical happens when you mix the two and add just the right squeeze of lime.

At some point I learned that Beefeater and the like belong only in the well of a cozy dive bar.

Tanqueray became the gin of choice. Then Christopher turned me on to Bombay and I never looked back. Thanks to the liquor guy at Wilbur’s, Hendricks is now the top shelf gin of choice. And with its sturdy compact bottle, it travels well too!

Debating over the cost of Sapphire at Wilbur’s one day, a clerk noticed us spying the unique Hendricks bottle. He explained the new microdistillery craze and described how Hendricks is handcrafted in small batches, goes down smooth with much less botanical complexity and is great with key limes, or cucumber. How could we resist?

I gave the cucumber a try, but as refreshing as it was, I’ll have to pass. The key limes, however – with Hendricks and brand name tonic over ice – redefine freshness, and they take up less room too! Go ahead, call me a mixer snob too. But it’s true, generic tonic water simply does not do good gin justice.

“Small Batch” distillation typically yields 1,000 or fewer liters. Hendricks is distilled with two distinct spirits in 450 litre batches and infused with rose and cucumber.

What’s your favorite RVer cocktail? Republic Texas Tea perhaps? Or maybe a Nü Hawaiian? When we hit the road we usually limit the cabinet to one concoction at a time. This season, Hendricks should fit nicely under the couch. And it’s best we do not leave the tonic at home!

Two years ago this month, we found our place in paradise at Red Feather Lakes.

After searching the country to find Jerry’s Acres, we landed in a place we had passed three times in our travels.

Not once did we realize that paradise awaited deep in the Mummy Range on the way to Walden.

If it wasn’t for the relatively affordable land for sale and our awesome realtors Mike and Marie Edwards, we never would have guessed that everything we were looking for was just an hour from what we think is the best small city in the nation, Fort Collins.

The Honeymoon’s Not Over

When you’re in a spot for a while, those little annoyances you didn’t see upon your arrival tend to make their debut. But not here, not for us.

Sure, there’s the pine beetle epidemic that’s killed quite a few magnificent trees, but we can’t control what the beetles do (thank you, climate change), only try our best to shoo them off with pheromones and natural tree fertilizers.

Sometimes this place does cost more than if we were still fulltime RVers. And while I don’t like the financial burdens of having a piece of the American Dream, I keep reminding myself that ultimately our little place will serve us even better than it does now.

Property values actually increased this year up here, which was a shock. Still, we felt incredibly fortunate to have been in that boat, even if our taxes went up.

Where to Next?

If we stayed here during winter, I think my complaint list would grow.

But we’ll still fly south in winter for the forseeable future.  Just as we start to get fat, happy and settled into routines, it’ll be time to go test our wits out there in the world and live spontaneously once again.

We love Red Feather Lakes. And although it’s nice to have a beautiful place to stay for a while, the adventure of the road tripping lifestyle will always beckon.

As a full-time road tripper, do people you meet on the road ever say to you “Gee, you travel all the time? What, didja win the lotto?”

What do you say to them?

I hesitate to tell people how Jim and I live because most assume that we’re loaded (with money, that is). Which we are not. Ok, it’s all relative, but still.

We manage to do what we do because we keep our expenses extremely low and stay debt free. Our wallets are thin but our spirits are not.

Of course explaining this to a stranger takes more than a 15-second spiel, so I usually just say “we’re snowbirds.”

One of the ways we can do what we do and still eek out a living is through our Internet connections and by scouring the countryside for freebie spots like this one in Utah.

Last week, after taking an emotional beating over our dented Dodge, we hit the road and started heading back to our summer spot.

But before braving the Colorado cold, we stopped near Moab to soak up some sun and camp for a few more days.

Spring has sprung here and we wanted to see more. We also haven’t experienced any warm weather whatsoever since last summer, so I was hoping for high temperatures.

Some fellow road trippers told us about this pretty spot, which I’ve since added to the Escapees Day’s End Directory. (go buy a copy to find out where it is!).

These free spots are widely available to wintertime road trippers in Southwestern deserts. Winter brings many more options for finding solitude on the road.

It’s rare that I actually feel like I’m getting something for my tax dollars, but when we camp on free public land like this, I love knowing that my tax dollars paid for it.

As we prepared to leave Moab and head to Red Feather Lakes, news about President Obama’s awesomely stunning move broke on BBC News.

I never thought I would feel any sense of exhilaration over the death of an individual, but I surprised myself with my reaction when Jim screamed “They got Bin Laden!”

“GOOD!” I said. Yes, I was happy that they killed him. Ecstatic that this horrible human being was wiped off the face of the earth. Now it’s really time for the collective “We” to move forward toward better days ahead. Is that so wrong?

Thank you Mister President.

Now if we can just get rid of Fox News, I’d be even happier.

Land of the Free, indeed.

Allow me to stray from the topic of snowbird RV wanderlust for a moment here once again to share some more of that open source enlightenment.

When shit happens – and it undoubtedly will – we must deal with it, that’s a fact. How we cope with emotionally difficult situations depends on how we choose to feel. Allow yourself to feel frustration, angst, embarrassment or whatever else ails you, and you’ll certainly be dealt a bad hand.

Choose to reframe outcomes in your favor, and you can be free of pain and stress. Easier said than done, right?

Right. I have always asked myself just that. How? Exactly how does one correct their own reaction when in the moment of distress? Mindfulness teacher and meditation guru Jon Kabat-Zinn suggests by befriending your breath and dancing with the acuality of the event. Other ennlightened individuals will suggest by being – with all your heart and soul – in that very present moment, for that is when you have the choice to better your environment. Believe it, and this is easier done than said.

Immersing yourself in the present moment feels fantastic, and comes naturally when remaining calm in a peaceful environment. Simply being becomes much more difficult when spontaneity brings misfortune and distress. So again, how does one follow through after making the choice to feel good while the fan is praying shit everywhere? Just flip a switch in the brain? Yes. Turn off the fan.

My good friend NLP Dave explained an understanding of his that may help. I’ve been mulling over his allowance theory since our walk along the Eureka waterfront a few weeks back. From what I gathered – or if I recall correctly – negativity is a basically the resistance of positive thinking. The opposite of that resistance would be allowance. So, one must accept outcomes at face value and allow the silver lining of even the darkest clouds to shine through.

“Above every dark cloud, the sun is always shining bright. Except at night.”
— me

Recent events and resulting anguish provided the opportunity for putting this precept to the test. After putting a major gouge in the side of our truck while attempting to fit in a tight spot where I had easily parked just days before, with fellow campers waiting to pull by, I wasn’t exactly feeling quite chipper or acting very calm.

Quick coincidental digression: I recently read an article about EFT which Dave showed me can be a powerful self therapeutic tool. Practicing a quick touch sequence while focussing to let go of the pain, anger, embarrassment and distress I was feeling allowed me to clear my mind enough to accept what happened, and realize that how I was acting was making me feel so shitty. Being in the present at that time meant understanding the damage was done, and how I fealt about it was up to me.

I allowed myself to welcome a positive vibe about our new spot – in the campground that is, not on our fender.

As much as we shouldn’t compare – nor should on ourselves – the whole scene could have been much worse. The scrape is purely cosmetic, any damage to the trailer would have likely been functional. We finally had a nice wide open good level spot, with a more beautiful view of the river and cliffs. Satellite connectivity was quick and cell phone reception was better. We now had plenty of water, produce and provisions. We ran all our necessary errands and had a spot available at the small riverside campground before the busy Easter weekend.

There is a moral or two to this story. There is a great free campground about 9 miles outside Green River on Hastings road. If headed before a busy weekend fill the fridge at the market in town and top off with water at the truck stop. That way you won’t have to park again after rushing to town. Pay attention and never feel rushed when parking your rig. Just because you fit easily in a tight spot before, don’t assume fitting again will be just as easy. Always have your navigator keep on eye on the trailer and the truck.

And if you happen add another battle scar to your trailer or tow vehicle, understand that freaking out won’t fix it. In fact, it only makes matters worse.

Life Is Give And Take

You see, I have always looked at life like this. It’s all about give and take. Life, that is. It’s about giving what you’re willing to lose to get whatever it is you want to take. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes being put to the test to find that perfect spot.And you must be willing to pay the price for living life to the fullest and loving every minute of it.

In other words – if you’ll pardon my French one more time – sometimes ya just gotta say shit without letting it hit the fan. Because if you let it build up, life gets pretty stinky.

Epilogue: In nealry four years on the road we are fortunate and grateful to have experienced no major catastrophe. Perhaps positively dealing with the number of smaller mishaps that do occur will ensure we never do. After all, it is these dark moments that remind us to slow down and allow those silver linings to shine through.

Recommended Reading

FREE EBOOK: The Benefits of Mystical Oneness by Wayne (Wirs)

Mindfulness for Beginners by Jon Kabat-Zinn

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to RVing

It was over two years ago now that I first pondered publishing a post titled, “I Could Die A Happy Man.” Now that may sound morbid to most, but I meant it in only the most positive sense, and still do.

My reasoning at the time was that we had enjoyed a wonderful life with Jerry on the road, where he taught us – among many other enlightening lessons – that every day is a great day, no matter what life throws your way. I was recently reminded of this by a comment on some satellite radio show about coping with difficulties. It went something like this…

“You always have a choice. Even if your only choice is how you react to the situation, you still have a choice.”

So true. I choose to be happy. It sounds simple enough, but it can be harder than you might think, especially when life throws you a curveball. Or worse, beans you high and hard.

With the anniversary of Kris’ death coming up, and doctors suddenly telling another dear friend cancer is killing him, I thought it high time to share how I do it. Be happy that is. Consider it a bit of open source enlightenment.

Ever since we hit the road with our three legged dog after his cancer diagnosis and amputation, I have been privately working on this personal mantra…

“I am available to more good than I have ever experienced, imagined or known ever before in my entire life. So I open myself to all the wonderful gifts the universe has to shower upon me. And I am grateful for living a happy healthy life free of pain and discomfort, thriving in tune with the cosmic dance. I know the universe is conspiring on my behalf, so I free myself of guilt and blame and think kind thoughts, speak kind words, and act kind deeds toward myself others and the environment. Should I experience stress or pain, I choose to let it go knowing that I am completely free without it, because I am most happy and comfortable enjoying every moment to the fullest choosing to live life in the ever present now.”

It’s an ever-evolving work in progress but that’s what makes it work so well. I repeat it most often when out for my morning runs. Another friend, Dave Berman, found it enlightening enough to use a variation we agreed upon when he launched his Manifest Positivity blog. You can ask Dave how the differences he suggested I incorporate make the mantra more effective, he’s the certified NLP practitioner.

But I am a creature of habit, and I believe this is working for me. Call it mumbo jumbo if you will, but a little good juju can go along way if you ask me. So I recommend anyone seeking a little more happiness from life develop a mantra of their own. Below are a few resources that led to me developing mine.

Recommended Enlightenment

The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfillment of Your Dreams by Depak Chopra –  I first listened to this audio book on tape (yes, audiocassette) in my previous life as a marketing manager who spent hours a day in traffic.

Ethics for the New Millennium by his holiness the Dalai Lama – Could there be any greater path to enlightenment than getting it directly from the source?

The Secret – The law of attraction is no secret after all, and anyone who has read or seen this will recognize the first few words of my mantra.

Pronoia by Rob Brezsny – Never read it, but a few of the things I tell myself I learned from Dave, who swears by its teachings about how how the whole world is conspiring to shower you with blessings.

Am I Being Kind by Michael J. Chase – I still owe Dave a public thank you, and book review for this quick read about how asking one simple question can change your life, and your world.

Excuses Begone! by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer – Didn’t read this one either but did take plenty of notes during Dr. Dyer’s seminar of the same name on PBS about how to change lifelong, self-defeating thinking habits.

Guardians of Being by Patrick McDonnell with words by Eckhart Tolle – Read our book review of this enlightening little treasure if you love Mutts, or wonder why it’s such a big deal to us.

I was recently interviewed on Trans Resister Radio by Aaron Franz who writes the Age of Transitions blog. I talked about our life on the road and we discussed things like biodiesel, workamping, and of course, three legged dogs.

The conversation eventually led me sharing my thoughts about life in the big city – specifically, Los Angeles – where we recently spent a month with la familia. Had I known Aaron lived there, I may not have bashed it so hard.

But now that we are once again isolated, somewhere in southern Arizona where it is always quiet and dark at night, I’ve been thinking about how unhealthy running is – at least in the big city.

This morning I ran on dirt roads again, without encountering a single soul. I quickly found my pace, and felt at peace. Nothing like those runs in L.A.

While I did run through a couple sketchy neighborhoods, I never actually felt in danger, because I’m smart. I was constantly aware of my surroundings, and most importantly, always making eye contact with drivers. The only time I actually felt threatened was when a guy leaving a McDonald’s drive thru proceeded to dip his french toast in syrup while he proceeded toward me without looking up!

So what was killing me? Besides all that concrete? The smell.

I don’t mean the incessant smell of automobile exhaust, spewing factories, steeping landfills and pollution in general either. I’m talking about chickens and horses. Running by any ranch back in Colorado, it’s easy to actually glamorize the smell of a working farm. There is something to be said about the smell of fresh manure in the morning. But not in L.A.

Running through a certain “equestrian district” of Los Angeles, I was overwhelmed by the stench. In a land of concrete, not designed for proper horse piss runoff the effluent is less than glamorous. But I survived. By holding my breath I was able to work up to seven miles, dodging traffic the whole way. Now, if only I can keep that up until we get back to altitude this Spring.

Taking a break from the road means all sorts of advantages for us.

With a full-sized oven, we can make huge batches of Alton Brown’s Homemade Granola.

Revisiting favorite bric-a-brac brings back good memories.

and we eat really, really well because we have a huge fridge, freezer and pantry to store lots of good eats

All this cooking and lounging around is gonna make us fat.

Good thing there’s lot of manual labor to be done around here!

Jim likes to tell people “Stop shoulding all over yourself!” Shouldding is unproductive and creates misery. Shouldding keeps you from doing what you really want to do.

It’s not easy to eliminate it from your vocabulary. We’re conditioned to take on obligations that “should” lead to happiness (I should go to school. . . should make lots of money. . . should start a family. . . should buy a house). Meanwhile, all this shouldding all over ourselves creates huge demands on our time, and brings our youthful dreams to a screeching halt. Then one day we wake up and realize we are trapped in the “Someday Syndrome.”

We can all use some help finding our way back to our dreams, and Alex Fayle’s new book, “Someday I’ll Get Around To It” is the perfect place to start.

Alex is a “Someday-busting Coach.” He helps people dust off their dreams, sort them out, and create a plan for obtaining the life they really want. His new e-book, “Someday I’ll Get Around To It” shares his strategies for someday-busting.

In this 100-page workbook style format, we learn how to make conscious choices to create happier lives that more closely reflect our dreams. Alex walks us through ways to overcome inertia and understand our limitations and obstacles. We learn how letting go of control will free up time and enable us to achieve our goals. And finally, his useful worksheets in the back of the book will help us draft simple, doable plans to help achieve our dreams in step-by-step increments.

Life is short. Live your dreams. And remember, you can’t justify putting your dreams on hold, by listing all of your obligations.

Because like Alex says, “In not pursuing your dreams, recognize that you are choosing not to pursue your dreams.”

If you are at all doubtful that Alex can help, just read about his life here. You can also read his interview with Jim and I.

Don’t wait for Someday.

Sell your crap. Pay off your debt. Do what you love.

Since childhood I have always had a taste for the finer things in life. I remember being about 11 years old when my parents would take us out for dinner at a favorite Italian restaurant, I would order the prawn scampi. Fresh lobster is another all time favorite. I will never forget my mother telling me, on many more than one occasion, that I have Champagne tastes on a beer budget.

Believe me, I still yearn for the taste of those finer things. But my budget is more suited for sparkling water now, and I do not mean Perrier either. After stretching our one-year roadtrip budget to last nearly three years, and making frequent reality checks on the savings we are still spending, I have become quite good at letting those tastes linger on my palate praetendere.

In years past we have enjoyed Moët & Chandon on New Year’s eve, though Cristal was my favorite. But in past years, we used to actually make money too! This year, it was Trader Joe’s finest. And that’s OK. Long ago, I came to terms with getting what you pay for, and paying for what you get. Yes, those finer things in life taste good, but they never last long enough. There was even a time when spending over $100 on a bottle of bubbly made me feel good, but that was when we could afford such things. Now I know what matters most is the memories.

Friendship, good health and good times. Happiness, well being, comfort and prosperity.

These are the things we toasted to ring in the new year with our good friends Martha and Ralph and the Oaktown pack. And these things are what we wish upon all our friends and family. Keeping in mind, that is, to prosper need not necessarily require being wealthy.

I for one, will take my debt-free lifestyle with a sip of California sparkling wine over an upside down mortgage and French Champagne any day. Cheers!