Hi y'all! Mason and Amanda here. In June of 2021 we made the decision to give up "normal" life and hit the road full time in our camper on a grand Nomad adventure. Here's how it all started and what we did to prep for the trip of a lifetime!
Why Nomading?
I (Amanda) have been interested in alternative living since the tiny house revolution started in the early 2000's. It's always been a concept that fascinated me, and was something I put on my "someday" list. Someday we would travel, someday we would see the world, someday we would go on all these adventures - but someday seemed so far away. I have always been incredibly career focused. I finished every single one of the last five years of my life with unused vacation time, and the vacation time I did use was often spent answering phone calls and emails for work.
This attitude benefitted me tremendously in the workplace for a long time, but my personal life, and my dreams suffered for it. I realized that at work, I was replaceable. At home, I wasn't. So it was time to make a change.
I came home from work one night, looked at Mason, and said "I have this crazy idea." And I told him I wanted to sell our home, put our belongings in storage, and buy an RV. He took a few days to come to terms with what I was saying. He did the research, crunched the numbers, and realized it wasn't just possible, but it was more financially responsible than our $2,500 mortgage for a house in the city.
Our plan was contingent on a few things. First, we had to sell the house. This wasn't a difficult task in the 2021 housing market in Texas. Less than 60 days after listing our house we were living full time in a camper in Arlington, Texas. Then, I needed to make a change at work. Finding a job that would allow me to work remotely was the first priority. Afterall, nomading wouldn't happen if I had to report to an office every day. Again, less than 45 days later, I was putting in my notice at work and prepping to work remote full time. By mid July, we were making final preparations to hit the road and Nomad full time. We set out on our adventure on August 1st and haven't looked back!
Preparing for the Trip
Making the decision to go was the easy part. Preparing was definitely a deterrent to this adventure, but we shockingly survived.
Step 1: preparing our belongings. We didn't want to sell everything we owned because we thought this was going to be a shorter term trip than it has been, so we put all of the things we didn't need to bring with us in storage. We expected to be back by winter and in the process of buying another house to settle down in. We ended up loving the adventure so much, that we have since extended this trip to a full 12 month trek across the country. Our biggest mistake here was putting everything in storage (including winter clothes and shoes), and keeping far more of our stuff than we should have. For all of our belongings and Mason's car, we have 3 storage units! That is NOT a small bill. If we extend this trip out any longer than the 12 months we already have planned, we will be selling some things and condensing our storage units down significantly.
Step 2: preparing the camper. This one is just as big as putting everything you don't need in storage. Imagine going through an entire 3000 square foot house and deciding what you can live without, and what you MUST have in a 300 square foot camper. Additionally, what you can bring that won't break on driving days. Thankfully, we had about 2 months of full time camper life before we actually hit the road. We started with a lot of clothes, shoes, dishes, and one beloved Kitchenaid Stand Mixer that we did not end up keeping for the trip. I highly recommend having this buffer time to truly decide what you need. If you're like me, you need that long to say goodbyes to your purse collection anyway.
Step 3: stocking up. The way you stock up for a long road trip is entirely dependent on where you are going. Our first six weeks were scheduled to be in national parks and far off the beaten path. This meant certain things would be hard to find, or much, much more expensive because of scarcity. We stocked up on things like dog and cat food, personal hygiene products, frozen meat, canned goods, and snack foods to ensure we were not trying to make full grocery trips while off the beaten path. This was an excellent decision because the price of food in Grand Teton and Yellowstone is shocking to Texans like us. Second, when stocking up, be sure to stock up on things you know you can't find away from home. We made the trip to HEB and Bucees so we could stock up on our favorite Texas goods like Whataburger Spicy Ketchup and Texas Pecan Coffee. We are several months in and still drinking that glorious pecan gold.
Step 4: appointments. Along with a $400 trip to HEB, we spent the last few days in Texas completing all of our appointments. Vet appointments, doctors appointments, dentist appointments, hair appointments, etc. We knew it would be at least six months before we had the opportunity to see our healthcare professionals, so we were sure to complete these appointments before we hit the road.
Step 5: prepare your vehicle. One non-negotiable for me on this trip was bringing my Jeep, and obviously a Jeep can't pull a 37 foot camper. This meant we were bringing two vehicles, and had to get both ready to go. Ensuring our registration stickers wouldn't expire while we were on the road was imperative. Completing all maintenance and oil changes, topping off fluids, stocking up on extra fluids, buying new tires, etc. are all things we did with our vehicles in the days leading up to our departure.
Step 6: paperwork. You don't just have to get your vehicle registered to leave on a year long road trip. Renewing licenses and passports, forwarding mail, authorizing out of state charges with your bank, and cancelling any subscriptions you can are all important steps in preparing to leave the state. Additionally, if you are traveling with pets, get registration and shot information updated before you leave. Some RV parks are very particular about this!
Step 7: Saying goodbyes and hitting the road. The day before we hit the road, we completed all of our final preparations. This included checking equipment, securing belongings, doing laundry, taking out all trash, and filling up on gas before attaching the camper to the truck and taking off. Once final preparations were made, we completed the hardest task: saying goodbye to our family and friends. All of our friends got together to see us off the night before we left, and reminded us what we were coming home to when the adventure is over. Goodbye was the hardest part of leaving!
While leaving your family, friends, and life behind to hit the road for a year is hard, it has been well worth it so far. Nothing can replace the memories we are making together on this trip!
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