A Life Filled With Adventure: Dee And Nate

We realized we wanted to go full-time when every time we went out for a weekend camping trip we never wanted to go home! We felt trapped in our apartment and unhappy stuck in an area we didn’t want to be in. The same day to day grind was wearing us down and we were constantly waiting for those vacations! Before we knew it 8 years had passed us by! Plus, all those useless bills and money wasted on rent and other “necessities” we felt we needed… no need to say more.

The freedom and joy we felt during those short weekend trips is what we longed for and after giving it hardly any thought we decided the life we had been living wasn’t for us! We sold most of our belongings, packed the rest in storage and headed out on a 2-year adventure across the United States with our 4 fur family members and our bun in the oven!

Our RV

We have a 32 foot 2018 Kodiak Dutchmen 291RESL and a 2019 F450 dually. We originally bought our travel trailer for weekend camping trips but found out we loved living in it too! The size works perfectly for us! We decided to get an F450 dually for several reasons. With our first child on the way, safety was our number 1 priority. We also knew in the future we would be upgrading to a 5th wheel toy hauler and wanted no weight limitations based on what our truck could tow.

Careers While RVing

For the last 4 years, I (Dee) have been with this incredible pet nutrition company that allows me to work from anywhere. I get to meet the most amazing people and their pets during our travels and it’s extremely rewarding knowing I’ve been able to help make a difference! My husband (Nate) was active duty military and is now getting his Masters Degree online. By traveling around the country we’ve been able to share what we do and helped others go full-time too! Find something that’s not geographically dependent! It’s truly amazing when you can find a company that allows flexibility and gives you financial freedom! That’s why this pet nutrition company works great for us!

What we love the most about traveling is the freedom we have to go anywhere at any moment! We never imagined all we would see and experience living this life!

Water Damage in Our Rig

We all started out as newbies to camping and the RV life at one point, am I right? Well in our “starter trailer” several years ago we didn’t know you had to check the roof for cracks and leaks. Obviously this led to unseen issues with water leaking into the walls and floors! Our last camping trip in that rig ended with me climbing up into the trailer at 11 pm at night after a 9-hour drive during 30-degree weather only to fall completely through the floor due to the water rot from the cracks in the ceiling! To this day I can’t believe our trailer didn’t fall apart on that road trip!

Kids And Pets In An RV

With a bun in the oven on the way so I don’t have too much advice on kids yet. But from what I’ve truly learned from others who full-time is that it’s possible to live this lifestyle with kids and that they really don’t need much!

As for pets I absolutely recommend lots of outside time, especially during those long traveling days! Also, always keep them healthy and up to date on their vaccines and checkups! We always have their records on hand because many places require up to date vaccines and paperwork!

Expenses RVing

Verizon, Verizon, Verizon! We have unlimited data and the MiFi Mobile Hotspot. It’s worth every penny and extremely reliable for when we need to work from home, do online classes and stream Netflix all day. (guilty)

We have found we are actually saving more because we are not spending money on things you would usually spend when living in a house. This allows us to buy more experiences!

A home on wheels is bound to break, especially when you pack up and go several times a month. We’ve had very minor tweaks and fixes along the way but always set money aside for those repairs!

Finding This Amazing Lifestyle

I’ll admit I miss my really long hot showers and a dishwasher! We love full-time RVing and the minimal lifestyle that goes with it so much that we never felt like we had to “adjust”. We feel as if we’ve gained in life by paying for experiences rather than losing or adjusting to things we never need in the first place!

A New Adventure On The Way

We have been full-time RVers for 6 months now and definitely have a goal to keep doing so for as long as we choose! I honestly can’t picture going back into an apartment or home!

After several months of traveling, we have decided to settle down a bit in Florida since our baby girl is due end of January! She will be born into an adventure for sure! After she is here we plan to get back on the road and head west to be with family and go wherever the wind may take us!