I want to be a nomad!

[aktraveler]

Hi, everybody! 

I'm not sure what free-living nomads such as yourselves call a person like me, since I have just begun to research nomadic living. I live with my wife Lori and two of my three sons, Little Jerry who is 10 and Lance who is 25. Lance has had a rough go of things since his girlfriend passed around six months ago from a blood clot, and he's adjusting to life as a single dad.

I work as a broadcaster, and have done that pretty much all my professional life with little to show for it other than high blood pressure from the stress of it and the "dad bod" from the inactivity of it. The business has changed so much over the years that I really just don't enjoy it any more. 

I discovered that I have a love for traveling when I accepted the current job that I have here in Juneau, Alaska four years ago. I loaded up my truck with everything I could put on it and left Muscle Shoals and traveled across the country, camping or staying in hotels along the way. I really enjoyed that drive. Matter of fact, I enjoyed the drive and the adventure of getting here a whole lot more than I'm enjoying the job that awaited me at the end of the trip.

A few weeks ago, I began to notice Lori watching all of these RV videos on Youtube. One of them caught my attention, and now I can't think of anything except how I have to do this. I'd leave today if I could, but Winter is setting in and I need to save money and try to find a great deal on a rig to start out in. We're kind of stuck for now, I guess, but I have started socking back money already and hope to be able to buy a rig to start living in ASAP so that I can save even more. I'm hoping to be able to hit the Alaska Highway and head down into the lower 48 by October of 2018 if not sooner.

At any rate, I just wanted to say hello to akrvbob and all of you who I have seen on youtube, and to let you all know how you have inspired us to save up some cash and light out for the territories as soon as we possibly can. There is a lot to do, but I'm really excited about the prospect of hitting the road and living as cheaply as we can and as free as we can possibly be.

Until we see you on the road, stay safe and thanks for inspiring us. We can't wait until we can meet you all in person.

Jerry James

 

[highdesertranger]

Welcome Jerry to the CRVL forums! To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips & Tricks" post lists some helpful information to get you started. We look forward to hearing more from you. highdesertranger

 

[tx2sturgis]

It's a cool story Jerry, but what about the kids?

Of course the 10 yo will be with you, but the 25 yo with a kid....just wondering how that will be dealt with. 

If the whole group will be hitting the road, then the rig, RV, trailer, whichever, will need to be pretty large. I have seen some youtube videos with whole families converting an old school bus with separate 'pods' inside for each kiddo. 

Old school buses need work, for sure, but don't seem to fall apart like older motorhomes sometimes do. 

Or maybe a large cargo trailer you convert, and pull it with a good sized van or pickup. 

Anyway, good luck. I'm working on some logistics myself!

 

[VanKitten]

I have read of families actually making a "go" in high top vans!

What do you plan for the family? You mentioned that the 25 yo is a single dad? So, how many total would be going?

Let us know how your plans progress......

 

[aktraveler]

It's a cool story Jerry, but what about the kids?

Of course the 10 yo will be with you, but the 25 yo with a kid....just wondering how that will be dealt with. 

If the whole group will be hitting the road, then the rig, RV, trailer, whichever, will need to be pretty large. I have seen some youtube videos with whole families converting an old school bus with separate 'pods' inside for each kiddo. 

Old school buses need work, for sure, but don't seem to fall apart like older motorhomes sometimes do. 

Or maybe a large cargo trailer you convert, and pull it with a good sized van or pickup. 

Anyway, good luck. I'm working on some logistics myself!

Hi, tx2sturgis and VanKitten!

Well, this is certainly something that I've put quite a but of consideration toward. There would be a total of 5 of us. 

Since his girlfriend passed, he's been staying with us anyway in a small mobile home that we bought back when he was self-sufficient and had his own place. Him and his little girl, who is one and a half,  have my living room. The ten year old has his own bedroom, and Lori and I spend most  of our time in this tiny bedroom. 

I've racked my brain over it, and I continue to burn brain cells over it quite a bit. There are several factors that make the situation even more difficult for us since he does not and cannot drive. His vision is poor and he's just one of those people who society is better off if he never gets behind the wheel of a moving vehicle.  The boy is super intelligent, won a scholarship to the Alabama School of Math and Science when he was younger, but he's just for the lack of a better word, weird.

So far, I'm thinking that my best solution is to find some inexpensive land to use as a home base, (possibly Nevada) and get him a trailer of his own to park on it so that him and little Olivia have a place to stay and we can keep an eye on them. Of course they would  be welcome to hit the road with us when we were traveling, but I really like the idea of having a piece of land that is ours and is big enough to park a couple of campers on, or building some inexpensive tiny houses on and him having his own space to stay in when we aren't on the road. There would be a lot of time spent outdoors of course on road trips.

We all have a love for flipping flea-market finds, so this is something we'd probably spend a lot of time doing to try and make some extra money, plus I also plan to visit lots of broadcast facilities in my travels to offer my services remotely from the road. I can produce imaging and commercials or even voice-track shows from the road. Just four or five stations on a monthly retainer should be plenty. On top of that, I dabble in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies which makes a little bit. I can't wait to set up a solar bitcoin mining operation!

My main concern right now though is to save enough for a dependable rig and to have enough to score some land in a state where we can pick up some inexpensive acreage to set up as home base with enough left over to sustain us for the first year on the road living as frugally as we can. It's a tall order, but I'm looking for a second job right now to try and make it happen quicker. I really want to hit the road ASAP, which would be Summer. Lori wants to wait until October because Alaska has the PFD check that AK residents get every year, so that would be an extra $3,000 to $5,000 right there to add to what I'm able to save. If we have to wait that long, we'll probably scrap the driving through Canada plan and take the AK Marine highway to Bellingham, Washington and then head somewhere warm from there.

 

[akrvbob]

My last year as a resident I was in the state the whole year until December 15, no questions I had a PFD coming. But because I applied from out of state they freaked out and it took lots of work to get that last one.

As soon as the applications come out get it sent in and you can avoid that problem.