Our last day as homeowners!

Today is our last day in our house.  We’re one day away from setting off on our new life on the road.  Our head’s our full with our endless to-do lists.  Between keeping on top of our business during it’s busiest season and packing up our house, there’s hardly been a moment to spare.  If I sit around and dwell on all the changes we’re making, it’s easy to get emotional.  Luckily, there is no time to sit around and do so.  When making this kind of change, the worst thing you could do is stir on the past and everything you’re leaving behind.  We made this decision for many reasons, solid reasons, those of which are written in a document that resides on my desktop just in case I begin to waiver and wonder what in the world it is that we’re doing.  Luckily I haven’t had to refer to that document once because I know this is just the adventure we’re meant to be embarking on.

This morning I got to thinking about all the reasons why we have no concerns about our decision to live on the road.  Since I know many of you have considered making the leap to full-time travel also, I thought I’d share why we think this decision is right for us, in hopes of helping you to decide if this lifestyle is right for you too…

1. We’ve lived 2-3 months at a time out of our truck camper and have loved it.  Each and every time we’ve taken an extended trip in our truck camper, and we’ve done many, we’ve had no desire to come back to our house.  We’ve not missed a single thing about our house or what living in a house offers.

2. We love being together.  This is probably the number one reason why this lifestyle works for us.  We’ve been partners in life and business for 13 years and thrive on being together 24/7.  We love each other’s company and for that we are grateful.  But not every marriage thrives under these circumstances.  It’s important to know what works for you and your marriage and if you think a life spent together everyday, all day might compromise your bond, listen to that instinct.

3. We’ve been ready for a change.  Last winter Mark and I were living beneath a heavy, dark cloud.  We were not happy.  We’ve been craving a change for a few years now and had reached the point that it was becoming necessary to do something different.  When you know it’s time for a change, you just know.

4. We’ve never enjoyed being homeowners.  Whenever we would go to a friend’s house and see that they were happily working on improving their homes, Mark & I would look at each other cross-eyed and think we must be missing the home improvement gene.  Are we the only ones that don’t want to spend our free time decorating, landscaping and renovating?  We’ve never had any interest in being homeowners and yet we bought a house because we thought that’s what you’re supposed to do.  We’re ready to turn that idea upside down on it’s head and just not have a house at all.  At least for now.  Maybe one day my thumb will turn green and we’ll set down some roots somewhere but for now we’d rather be free to roam.

5. We thrive on new experiences.  If you were to ask me what makes me the happiest in life, besides my husband, the answer would be seeing new things and having new experiences.  For me, there’s nothing like driving down a road I’ve never been on or waking up to a new view everyday or meeting new people or trying new things.  There is too much to be squeezed out of this short life to let today be just like tomorrow and tomorrow just like a year from now.  It’s up to us to get the most out of every day.

6. We have no problem changing our minds and doing something different.  I think this is the key to this whole endeavor of ours.  At any moment, if we change our minds and decide we want to do something different, we will.  We have absolutely no problem changing our minds.  We do it a lot and we don’t care what people think.  All that matters to us is that we follow our hearts and are true to ourselves and what makes us happy.  Basing your decisions off of a concern for what people may think of you is a dangerous way to live.  As long as you do not hurt anyone along the way, it is your prerogative to live however you choose.

7. We’re intensely aware that nothing is guaranteed and to not put off the life we want now to an uncertain future.  Absolutely nothing in this life is promised to us.  We’re relentless in the pursuit of our dreams because we have no idea how much time we really get.

“And then there is the most dangerous risk of all…the risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later.” -Randy Komisar

I’d like to end this post with a nugget of brutal honesty.  I know not everyone is lucky enough to pursue their dreams or to live a life like we do and with that I struggle with sharing our life with the world.  I constantly think about the fact that there is a certain amount of privilege or misfortune that comes with the circumstances under which we arrive here on earth (when and where we’re born, etc.).  But then there are all the years that follow and the decisions we make to live a life of joy and fulfillment.  Mark & I are lucky to have been born in to families that support us and have taught us many great life lessons.  But I’m also proud of the life we’ve designed together that is solely a result of hard work and good decisions.  Your joy may not look like ours, your circumstances may not allow you to throw caution to the wind and chase your wildest dreams.  But I hope our transparency will simply make you think twice about what makes you truly happy and how to follow that path.

8 Comments

Leave a Reply to Greg EstepCancel reply

  • Oh Michele you have done it again. You do have a way with words and your final paragraph was wonderfully said. I applaud your decision made for yourselves. There are as many ideas of how to live as there are people and it is wonderful you are following your own path. Please continue to keep us all informed so that in some ways you will help us all enjoy our dreams in our own ways as well. Best to you both. When you get to Maine you have a place to park for sure.
    Jim

    • Thank you Jim for always leaving the kindest comments! We look forward to sharing more on this adventure as it unfolds.

    • Originally we thought we would tow it but decided against it due to the potential wear & tear/damage it may cause. For now, we will travel during the winter without the airplane but still fly during the summers as we will be based in the town where the airplane resides. This could all change as we’re still trying to figure out how to best incorporate the Kitfox in to our lifestyle!

  • YES! Well done! I love this post and are very happy for you both. We can relate with many of the items on your list and are also fortunate enough to have the same flexibility and freedom to choose which path to take and when. I use the word “fortunate” very loosely because like you guys, we have worked very hard over the course of several years to design a lifestyle and business where we can be together 24/7 working from home and taking adventures when the mood hits us. Yes, there is a bit of fortune like you mentioned with when and where we were born, the parents we have, and the opportunities that have been placed in front of us – but at the end of the day nothing was handed to us and hard work, planning, and having a vision/goal of what we want our life to look like is working out 🙂 Please don’t ever restrain from sharing your adventures with the rest of the world because it is a great example of what hard work, perseverance, and loyalty/faith in each other can lead to! We are excited for you both and you always have a place to stay with us – wherever we are 🙂

  • Good article, have a great time and sorry we missed meeting you.! Your posts have helped my husband and I get a bit closer to our dream of doing what you are! We may only be a year away! Your attitude is the rare healthy one and you both ought to have the time of your life!

By michele

About

Hi!  We’re Mark & Michele, a couple of modern-day nomads perfecting the art of slow, perpetual travel.  Our tiny home on wheels and slow-paced travel style allows us maximum freedom at minimal expense.  This blog is where we share our travels as well as our insights in to this lifestyle that we absolutely love.  Thanks so much for being here.

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