Ever
since I had the opportunity to travel across-country as a young
child, I have had a passion for the freedom and unique living that
RV'ing provides. When I was nine, I travelled with my grandparents to
Alaska and back. Our "rig" then was a 1995 Ford F150
SINGLE-CAB with a Palomino pop-up truck camper. The camper had no air
conditioning, a small fridge and cooktop, and no bathroom. My bed was
the dinette folded-down. We travelled over 10,000 miles in 5 weeks. I
sat in the middle of the bench seat of the single-cab pickup for
every mile. Some people would call it miserable; I thought it
was the highlight of my childhood.
When
I was 14, they decided to make the trip again, this time with my
Great Aunt coming along. The rig was bigger now - a 1997 Dodge 1500
extended-cab, and a mid-90's Wilderness 27' 5th wheel (no slides).
Again, we travelled about the same amount of miles in the same
time period. Alaska was still the primary destination, but the route
to and from was a bit different. It only engrained in me more a
desire to travel and see the country. Some people desire to
travel the world; but I know I could spend my life seeing all that
the USA has to offer and still never see it all. The diversity of
this country is incredible.
Fast-forward
to 2014 - I'm 29, have a beautiful family, a steady job, and a load
of responsibility. My wife and I took a 2-week road trip in
2012, which is when I started the Facebook Page "Phillips
Expedition".
I gained several followers from the online RV community, and it
was then that I realized just what a large community it is. There are
many websites and countless blogs online of families who have
abandoned the typical "American Dream " (i.e. 9-5 job,
mortgage, property, yearly vacation, organized and predictable
schedule, etc) and left it all behind for a life of freedom and
simplicity.
Lora
and I have talked many times about the desire to be free and travel,
but that dream was always quickly snuffed out by what seemed to be
reality. We had a mortgage, bills, debt, and jobs to pay for it all.
That's what normal people do - they buy the nicest house that a bank
says they are allowed to have via monthly payments for 30 years, and
then they work constantly to pay for it. This is what I did, because
it's "normal". I remember when I bought my first home
in 2007. I was determined to do it, because I knew that's what you
were supposed to do. I knew that if I could handle the responsibility
of a mortgage payment, then I was officially an adult and could
support myself and a family. If I knew then what I know now, I
would have never went down that road. I didn't want to spend
my life where I bought my first home, but I bought it anyway because
I thought I was supposed to. I paid six years worth of taxes,
mortgage insurance, homeowners insurance, and mortgage interest
before I sold the home and barely paid-off what I still owed. Then we
immediately bought another home in 2013; because we had a baby due
soon and well....owning a home is what you're supposed to do. So,
diving in again May 2013...until two weeks ago we were monthly
mortgage-payment "homeowners".
So
what changed? I finally decided I'd had enough of working
around the clock just to pay for a home that I'm never in. We
realized a couple months ago that we had a garage and extra bedroom
FULL of STUFF that we had packed up in May 2012 when we moved and
hadn't touched in almost a year. Boxes and boxes of just stuff. No
idea really what it was, but we kept it all. A large garage that i
never had time to work in, because I'm always out making a living to
pay for it all. 10 acres of my own, surrounded by another 80 acres of
wilderness that I never had the time to explore and enjoy, because I
was always out working to make enough to pay for it. So, after
much thought and prayer and consideration, we devised a plan to
change our lifestyle.
We
knew we wanted to downsize and be full-time RV'ers. We had spent so
much time camping that it was just second nature to us. Living in a
small camper or large home was really the same. We went camping with
our daughter when she was not more than a few weeks old. Some people
thought we were crazy; but a nice camper is just like what you have
at home, just in a smaller space. We still had a queen bed, hot
running water, A/C, and a bassinet/baby bed for Alice. She didn't
notice a difference, and neither did we. When we were gone for days
at a time, we didn't miss the large home or the rooms full of stuff
we left behind. This was our (or at least my) motivation and fuel to
make the change.
Because
of my line of work, it wasn't (and isn't) feasible for me to quit my
job and live on the road full-time, working here and there. I have a
good steady job and decent income as well as paid-for health
insurance for the family, and retirement. We decided the best
way to start this would be to have a fixed “home base” so I could
still work my Fire Department job. All we needed was a small piece of
land with utilities. Such a place existed on my grandparent's land.
It's actually where I grew up until I was about 10. There was at one
time a mobile home, so the electric service, water and septic was all
still intact. It had since been overgrown and used for horses, but I
saw the potential.
We began of course by talking about the plan with my grandfather (“Papaw”). He was hesitant at first, due to his concern that we wouldn't actually be happy living in such a small space with a baby. However, he saw that we were very serious and had made the decision to pursue this life. He then was willing and happy to have us living close by. After his blessing, we began the process of selling the house. I just knew this would take months. When we bought the home, it took several months to get financed. The realtors had it listed for over a year. It's very difficult to find a buyer and financing for a mobile home and land. However, within two weeks of listing it privately on Craigslist, I had an accepted offer and they were completing financing. Within 60 days, we closed and were mortgage-free. During that time, I worked every day and night possible getting the new home site prepared. I had to build a new fence, build a driveway, dig up the septic line, have new electric service hooked-up, build animal pens, and many other things. We also had to sell our current camper (a 2007 Keystone Outback 21RS) and find a suitable fifth-wheel that we could live in. On April 26th, 2014, it all came into place. We bought the new “home” and sold the current home all in the same weekend.
A new chapter begins...
We began of course by talking about the plan with my grandfather (“Papaw”). He was hesitant at first, due to his concern that we wouldn't actually be happy living in such a small space with a baby. However, he saw that we were very serious and had made the decision to pursue this life. He then was willing and happy to have us living close by. After his blessing, we began the process of selling the house. I just knew this would take months. When we bought the home, it took several months to get financed. The realtors had it listed for over a year. It's very difficult to find a buyer and financing for a mobile home and land. However, within two weeks of listing it privately on Craigslist, I had an accepted offer and they were completing financing. Within 60 days, we closed and were mortgage-free. During that time, I worked every day and night possible getting the new home site prepared. I had to build a new fence, build a driveway, dig up the septic line, have new electric service hooked-up, build animal pens, and many other things. We also had to sell our current camper (a 2007 Keystone Outback 21RS) and find a suitable fifth-wheel that we could live in. On April 26th, 2014, it all came into place. We bought the new “home” and sold the current home all in the same weekend.
A new chapter begins...
Check out the next blog entry for many photos of the process.
Interesting. Choose the life you want to live. Good luck with everything.
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