Hello all! I've been watching Bob and Cheap RV Living on YouTube for quite some time now and figured it was time to introduce myself! I mean, I've seen so many videos I feel like I know the guy, and he has no clue I even exist, ha ha.
My name is Monica. I currently live in PA but am originally from NJ. I have lived in several areas around the country: NJ, NY, PA, FL, WA... and I've done road trips to all those places as well. I have loved road trips since forever. My mom used to take us kids when we were little, then I started navigating my own when I got my drivers license. It was a wonderful sense of freedom! I started out by purposely "getting lost" in NJ, where I lived at the time, and seeing how long it would take to find my way home. This was a game I played most every weekend. (Gas was cheap in the 80s!) One day my grandfather said something to me that would change my perspective of road trips, getting lost, and finding my way home forever: He explained to me if I just pay attention to where the ocean was, I'd always be able to get home (I lived very near the ocean at the time). He pointed out that when I got on a road I'd never been on before, if it was eastbound, I was headed towards the Atlantic. It was like suddenly I could see something so obvious and in my face but never noticed before! Of course, pay attention to the actual direction you're headed and you'll never get lost! ha ha, I know. But sometimes people need obvious things pointed out to them. I was only 18 at the time, I wasn't thinking about actual navigation, I was thinking about what I might find on my road trips.
So with that new-found confidence, I began to drive further and further away until finally one day I wasn't afraid to leave the state of NJ and went to Delaware. From there I just kept going. My first long distance road trip was from New Jersey to Florida. I was hooked. I loved it. I couldn't wait for the next one.
I haven't been on nearly as many long distance trips as I'd like to have been due to financial and other responsibilities, then when I had kids, forget it. I was pretty much stuck there. I know a baby doesn't have to mean you're stuck, but I didn't have the right partner and I just couldn't do it without some sort of emotional support. So I stayed put and raised my babies.
Now they are all teenagers and I've got a supportive partner, so I'm ready to hit the road again.
I've decided to do a no-build conversion in my current van, an early-2000s Town & Country minivan. I can set it up in about an hour and break it all down in half hour to hour. (The set up and break down is referring to the big stuff: the bed, toilet, camp stove, etc... I now am figuring out all the little details, such as window covers and other things to make my trips comfortable and safe) I like this, because I still need a daily grocery getter. Plus I have no plans at this time to live in the van full time, I'm only planning on doing long distance road trips. I do realize I'm very fortunate to have this choice and that some people have to choose between the two. Believe me, I remember every single day how grateful I am I get to experience it this way right now. I also have a partner who, while he is extremely emotionally supportive of me going out on road trips and occasionally being my co-pilot, doesn't have a desire to do it full time. So we are doing it this way to address both of our needs.
We had a big 30-ft travel trailer summer before last. It was one of the best experiences! I have wanted one since I was a child and this was my very first time having one. But it was really big and definitely not at all stealthy, so we decided to park it in a campground for the season. Despite not moving around, I still loved it. Being able to escape into the woods for a weekend, a week, longer... it was the greatest thing that happened that summer! Then something happened we were sort of expecting, but didn't know it was coming so quickly: We were both in a situation where we were losing our homes for different reasons and we both needed to find somewhere to live, so we decided it was time to move both of our lives to live together. There was a very brief moment where we seriously considered living in the trailer for a little bit, however that thought quickly went away once we thought realistically about winters in Pennsylvania. So we found a house with a yard and bought it, and let go of the travel trailer. It killed me to let it go, but it really was the most logical decision. If we brought it to the new house, it would have taken up ALL the space for our driveway and it needed work, as all those trailers do, there were some leaks that we fixed, but we had to address the water damage issue. We had a friend who was interested in it, so we said goodbye.
Then 2020 happened, with the Covid and everything else, and I found myself pretty much trapped in our new home for months. When we were in quarantine, I really wasn't concerning myself with thinking about how I could get out of the house. I was pretty content to stay right here for a while. I loved our new home and didn't mind being in it a lot. But... eventually the travel bug started to hit me. I knew it was inevitable. I was itching to get out there again.
Since I've been obsessed with the idea of living on the road for pretty much my entire life, I began watching the videos on YouTube, found Bob's channel, and realized I had a travel vehicle already, right in my own driveway! I didn't have to wait until we had an RV. I could literally make one. So this has become my winter project this year and I'll be ready to get out in the spring. I'll be balancing a new career in real estate at the same time I'll be doing road trips. In one way it's a good thing because in real estate you have a bit of freedom to take time off... but it's not so good because any time you take off, you don't get paid for... so like I said, I'll be balancing it all. It's all good; I'll figure it out.
And I really want to do it this way for a while and still have a home base to come back to, stability for the kids so they can finish out high school, and figure out how I want to live my life in retirement. I think it's a perfect situation for all of that.
Sorry this was so long, I'm just excited about all of it! I'm really looking forward to getting out there and meeting people and seeing parts of the country I haven't seen yet and just soaking it all in. My bucket list is to step foot in every single state including Puerto Rico. Flyovers don't count, I mean actually stepping foot in and spending a bit of time in every state. With the traveling I've done so far, I'm up to 24 states. Halfway there! So this next part of my life is extremely exciting to me, the anticipation of finally seeing the rest of this amazing country. My cousin is an over the road trucker and 2020 is the first year he hit every single state (except Hawaii) in the same year. I'm jealous! ha ha
I've already reached out to a couple of people online in other ways, so I figured this forum is a good way to start to get to know even more people before I'm out there. I very much look forward to developing friendships and then meeting people face to face in the near future. Thank you for having me here.
My name is Monica. I currently live in PA but am originally from NJ. I have lived in several areas around the country: NJ, NY, PA, FL, WA... and I've done road trips to all those places as well. I have loved road trips since forever. My mom used to take us kids when we were little, then I started navigating my own when I got my drivers license. It was a wonderful sense of freedom! I started out by purposely "getting lost" in NJ, where I lived at the time, and seeing how long it would take to find my way home. This was a game I played most every weekend. (Gas was cheap in the 80s!) One day my grandfather said something to me that would change my perspective of road trips, getting lost, and finding my way home forever: He explained to me if I just pay attention to where the ocean was, I'd always be able to get home (I lived very near the ocean at the time). He pointed out that when I got on a road I'd never been on before, if it was eastbound, I was headed towards the Atlantic. It was like suddenly I could see something so obvious and in my face but never noticed before! Of course, pay attention to the actual direction you're headed and you'll never get lost! ha ha, I know. But sometimes people need obvious things pointed out to them. I was only 18 at the time, I wasn't thinking about actual navigation, I was thinking about what I might find on my road trips.
So with that new-found confidence, I began to drive further and further away until finally one day I wasn't afraid to leave the state of NJ and went to Delaware. From there I just kept going. My first long distance road trip was from New Jersey to Florida. I was hooked. I loved it. I couldn't wait for the next one.
I haven't been on nearly as many long distance trips as I'd like to have been due to financial and other responsibilities, then when I had kids, forget it. I was pretty much stuck there. I know a baby doesn't have to mean you're stuck, but I didn't have the right partner and I just couldn't do it without some sort of emotional support. So I stayed put and raised my babies.
Now they are all teenagers and I've got a supportive partner, so I'm ready to hit the road again.
I've decided to do a no-build conversion in my current van, an early-2000s Town & Country minivan. I can set it up in about an hour and break it all down in half hour to hour. (The set up and break down is referring to the big stuff: the bed, toilet, camp stove, etc... I now am figuring out all the little details, such as window covers and other things to make my trips comfortable and safe) I like this, because I still need a daily grocery getter. Plus I have no plans at this time to live in the van full time, I'm only planning on doing long distance road trips. I do realize I'm very fortunate to have this choice and that some people have to choose between the two. Believe me, I remember every single day how grateful I am I get to experience it this way right now. I also have a partner who, while he is extremely emotionally supportive of me going out on road trips and occasionally being my co-pilot, doesn't have a desire to do it full time. So we are doing it this way to address both of our needs.
We had a big 30-ft travel trailer summer before last. It was one of the best experiences! I have wanted one since I was a child and this was my very first time having one. But it was really big and definitely not at all stealthy, so we decided to park it in a campground for the season. Despite not moving around, I still loved it. Being able to escape into the woods for a weekend, a week, longer... it was the greatest thing that happened that summer! Then something happened we were sort of expecting, but didn't know it was coming so quickly: We were both in a situation where we were losing our homes for different reasons and we both needed to find somewhere to live, so we decided it was time to move both of our lives to live together. There was a very brief moment where we seriously considered living in the trailer for a little bit, however that thought quickly went away once we thought realistically about winters in Pennsylvania. So we found a house with a yard and bought it, and let go of the travel trailer. It killed me to let it go, but it really was the most logical decision. If we brought it to the new house, it would have taken up ALL the space for our driveway and it needed work, as all those trailers do, there were some leaks that we fixed, but we had to address the water damage issue. We had a friend who was interested in it, so we said goodbye.
Then 2020 happened, with the Covid and everything else, and I found myself pretty much trapped in our new home for months. When we were in quarantine, I really wasn't concerning myself with thinking about how I could get out of the house. I was pretty content to stay right here for a while. I loved our new home and didn't mind being in it a lot. But... eventually the travel bug started to hit me. I knew it was inevitable. I was itching to get out there again.
Since I've been obsessed with the idea of living on the road for pretty much my entire life, I began watching the videos on YouTube, found Bob's channel, and realized I had a travel vehicle already, right in my own driveway! I didn't have to wait until we had an RV. I could literally make one. So this has become my winter project this year and I'll be ready to get out in the spring. I'll be balancing a new career in real estate at the same time I'll be doing road trips. In one way it's a good thing because in real estate you have a bit of freedom to take time off... but it's not so good because any time you take off, you don't get paid for... so like I said, I'll be balancing it all. It's all good; I'll figure it out.
And I really want to do it this way for a while and still have a home base to come back to, stability for the kids so they can finish out high school, and figure out how I want to live my life in retirement. I think it's a perfect situation for all of that.
Sorry this was so long, I'm just excited about all of it! I'm really looking forward to getting out there and meeting people and seeing parts of the country I haven't seen yet and just soaking it all in. My bucket list is to step foot in every single state including Puerto Rico. Flyovers don't count, I mean actually stepping foot in and spending a bit of time in every state. With the traveling I've done so far, I'm up to 24 states. Halfway there! So this next part of my life is extremely exciting to me, the anticipation of finally seeing the rest of this amazing country. My cousin is an over the road trucker and 2020 is the first year he hit every single state (except Hawaii) in the same year. I'm jealous! ha ha
I've already reached out to a couple of people online in other ways, so I figured this forum is a good way to start to get to know even more people before I'm out there. I very much look forward to developing friendships and then meeting people face to face in the near future. Thank you for having me here.
