Ariel
Member
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2014
- Messages
- 24
- Reaction score
- 0
I discovered this site several months ago by noticing a link on Amazon to Bob's book. I was looking for RV purchase advice books, I think? Anyway... I truly never knew that this lifestyle was an option. I love the road. I love new places. I love reading quietly with the sun in my face knowing I have absolutely nothing to do. I love the wild. I hate soul-crushing work for other people. In fact, I hate (almost all) people. [Dostoevsky said that he loves humanity and hates men individually? Yeah, that.] But what I especially hate is the dog and pony show known as modern day life comprised almost exclusively of stressor upon stressor. I'm only in my early thirties and I'm over it.
I've always known I needed something else, but I never could quite put my finger on what form that something else would take. Homesteading seemed like an appealing option, but I know myself enough to realize that it would be a terrible fit. I'm lazy. I don't like dealing with the nasty bits of animal husbandry. I've killed nearly everything I've tried to grow. I also like the option of escaping situations or people I don't like... but, a homestead is pretty much an all in or nothing bet. Additionally, my husband and son are NOT the homesteading types. They are city boys 95% (more on that later).
Enter the discovery of Vandwelling. Wow. Did that ever suck me in immediately. I read Bob's blog from the beginning in a long weekend. Each entry was a revelation - the realization that there's another way. And people, normal people - not such hippies touring festival circuits selling bead jewelry or wealthy retirees in wheeled mansions - but real people doing this fully, intentionally, permanently, and loving it. I read more blogs - people who post on this site or others I could find. RVSue and Crew read like a novel I couldn't put down. This was it. This was what I needed to do. Lightning struck.
I had a professor who once told me, based on his study of the lives of saints, that if you're going to have a life changing epiphany, it's most likely to happen in your early thirties. I had been patiently awaiting it. Well, let's just say that I didn't need this as confirmation of his genius.
Anyhow... now the good and the maybe not so good. The thing is, I want to leave tomorrow. I want to leave tonight. But, I need to cool my jets. You see, I have this pretty cool guy in my life that just happens to be 10 years old. I also have a pretty cool guy in my life that happens to be my husband. I can't leave for my adventure until my son is comfortably settled out of high school - so we're talking 9-10 years. Oy, 9-10 years you say!? Well, why even think about what you are going to do that far out? Well, it's clear that while 9-10 years will be an excruciating wait... I'll need at least that long to a) clear all my student debt and b) save enough to buy the IDEAL rig and to travel for 6 months to a year before needing to find work on the road [all without putting my family through deprivation in the here and now]. I also plan to buy my rig at least a year before setting out full-time in order to get a real feel for what I do and don't need and to make the appropriate modifications while I have the income to do it. Let's call this my early 40's retirement plan.
And what about the husband? He's cool with it. No, really, he is. We've had several long conversations about it, and he knows me enough to know that this is what I need. I love my husband, but we're not in some mystical "can't live without you" love. We love our son, we are the best of friends, but flexibility is the name of our game. He likes the idea of living on the road, but he has needs and desires that will always keep him in our Pacific Northwest city. And he wants to live on a boat, anyway.... see, we're not too different after all. We're sure to hook up once or twice a year.
Anyhow, this has become obscenely long. I hope to interact with the really lovely group of people her more as my plans evolve, grow, solidify, real-ify.
In short: Hello, everyone.
I've always known I needed something else, but I never could quite put my finger on what form that something else would take. Homesteading seemed like an appealing option, but I know myself enough to realize that it would be a terrible fit. I'm lazy. I don't like dealing with the nasty bits of animal husbandry. I've killed nearly everything I've tried to grow. I also like the option of escaping situations or people I don't like... but, a homestead is pretty much an all in or nothing bet. Additionally, my husband and son are NOT the homesteading types. They are city boys 95% (more on that later).
Enter the discovery of Vandwelling. Wow. Did that ever suck me in immediately. I read Bob's blog from the beginning in a long weekend. Each entry was a revelation - the realization that there's another way. And people, normal people - not such hippies touring festival circuits selling bead jewelry or wealthy retirees in wheeled mansions - but real people doing this fully, intentionally, permanently, and loving it. I read more blogs - people who post on this site or others I could find. RVSue and Crew read like a novel I couldn't put down. This was it. This was what I needed to do. Lightning struck.
I had a professor who once told me, based on his study of the lives of saints, that if you're going to have a life changing epiphany, it's most likely to happen in your early thirties. I had been patiently awaiting it. Well, let's just say that I didn't need this as confirmation of his genius.
Anyhow... now the good and the maybe not so good. The thing is, I want to leave tomorrow. I want to leave tonight. But, I need to cool my jets. You see, I have this pretty cool guy in my life that just happens to be 10 years old. I also have a pretty cool guy in my life that happens to be my husband. I can't leave for my adventure until my son is comfortably settled out of high school - so we're talking 9-10 years. Oy, 9-10 years you say!? Well, why even think about what you are going to do that far out? Well, it's clear that while 9-10 years will be an excruciating wait... I'll need at least that long to a) clear all my student debt and b) save enough to buy the IDEAL rig and to travel for 6 months to a year before needing to find work on the road [all without putting my family through deprivation in the here and now]. I also plan to buy my rig at least a year before setting out full-time in order to get a real feel for what I do and don't need and to make the appropriate modifications while I have the income to do it. Let's call this my early 40's retirement plan.
And what about the husband? He's cool with it. No, really, he is. We've had several long conversations about it, and he knows me enough to know that this is what I need. I love my husband, but we're not in some mystical "can't live without you" love. We love our son, we are the best of friends, but flexibility is the name of our game. He likes the idea of living on the road, but he has needs and desires that will always keep him in our Pacific Northwest city. And he wants to live on a boat, anyway.... see, we're not too different after all. We're sure to hook up once or twice a year.
Anyhow, this has become obscenely long. I hope to interact with the really lovely group of people her more as my plans evolve, grow, solidify, real-ify.
In short: Hello, everyone.
