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:
Considering the millennia it took to form Capitol Reef, not much has changed in Cohab Canyon over the past dozen years.
But we sure have.
Looking at the canyon, I recognize the old rock formations. Looking at the young tent campers nearby, I realize we would have bagged on all these big RVs and us old “campers” running our noisy generators.
We’ve found ourselves back at the campground in the grove at the trailhead to Cohab Canyon where I proposed to René about a dozen years ago on our legendary motorcyle tour of the southwest.
We are just feet from where we tent camped. We probably would have moved if this big ol’ rig parked next to us at the time.
I also just found the following autobiographical early “web page code” and have hereby salvaged it from becoming internet detritus….
Surprised? I saved the cartoon shown for many years before giving it to the woman I knew would marry.
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.
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.
Please allow me this brief moment to shout out to the entire world just how much I love my wife. Isn’t she beautiful?
Living together in a trailer on the road, it’s hard to surprise someone with anything. But since steel is the traditional gift for an 11-year anniversary, and Rene isn’t really into jewelry – the modern choice – perhaps I can steal her heart once again with a few heartfelt words.
I recently expressed concern to René about her dancing on the precipice at Black Canyon National Park. OK, she wasn’t dancing. But her scrambling made me nervous nonetheless.
Hola, housekeeeping … me name is Jaime. I am here to clean your rooom. Knock, knock. Hello?
OK, I didn’t clean the rooms. And the housekeepers at Riverbend all spoke perfect English. Nonetheless, my workamping job at the hot springs in Truth or Consequences gave me a good taste of resort management.
Good enough to now know that we could easily run some sort of lodging business, someday. And good enough to know that we would hire workampers to do the dirty work.
We’re done with workamping and back on the road this week. And now that our wheels are turning again, so is my stomach every time we fill up that tank. Today, the cost of B20 biodiesel in Santa Fe, NM is $4.46 a gallon. Regular diesel: anywhere from $4.17 to $4.34.
Like always, we swipe the card, fill the tank, and forget about it until the bill comes (it’s the American way!). While it’s painful, I try really hard to look at it as a cost of doing business; the business of living our life, seeing things we’ve never seen before, and having a good time. In light of the chaos happening in the world, I know that sounds like a truly schmucky thing to say. But for now, what else can we do except live our lives, one day at a time.
Have you seen the May issue of RV Life yet? It just came out, but we’ve already received some visitors who clicked they way over here from the online edition. Why?
We thought Mike wanted a Blurb from us for a feature he was doing on Phil and Carol White’s new Road Trip Tream book. But we’re a bit embarrassed – and honored – to see it nearly the other way around.
We were also happy to see, however, that we got our plug in for NURVers.com which is quickly growing to be the hip place for full-timers who break the stereotype. Are you Nü?
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.
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