This past year has been interesting, to say the least. With the COVID-19 pandemic still making its rounds and keeping the U.S. in a weird state of lockdown, we are so grateful that our goals and plans are still in the works amongst this ‘new normal.’
For those of you who have been wandering along with us over the last few years, you’ll remember our plan to climate chase and move around the country. If not, you can read all about that adventure here.
Well, as all things happen in life, that plan has changed. At least, for the next three years!
We Made a Big Decision
The first stop that we originally planned on making within our climate-chasing plan was Washington, and we ended up in Utah instead, and we couldn’t have made a better choice. We have acclimated to winters filled with ice and snow, something that we were not accustomed to coming from the southeast.
In our time here we have gained both experience and knowledge when it comes to hiking, camping, and backpacking while building up our gear in the process. Being able to visit beautiful national parks such as Bryce Canyon and Zion, just to name a few.
But the biggest decision we made in just the last year, was coming to the consensus that we wanted to do a road trip and fully immerse ourselves into the culture of living on the road.
Let the Planning Begin
As much as we love to make spontaneous decisions, we always PLAN out those decisions. Although by all appearances it may not always look that way!
We knew that we had to start planning ahead to make this crazy dream a reality. So our list of planning went as follows:
1. Should we opt for a travel trailer or go the van life route?
2. Will we save up money to use while on the road or figure out how to make money while traveling?
3. How long do we want to be on the road?
We also knew that to make this work, we would have to pay off as much debt as possible so our monthly bills were significantly decreased before the trip.
Making the First Moves
Answering the questions stated above, we knew that it would be two adults and two medium-sized dogs along for the ride on the trip. Let’s just add in a possible third for any friends or family members that decide to visit and tag along. So, we opted for the travel trailer route based on space alone. Although we haven’t written off van life for a future try!
Being out west in snow, and high elevations commuting in the mountains, our little Honda Civics were already a hassle during the winter months. We had been planning on purchasing a new vehicle, and we both had our eyes on a 4Runner. Knowing that we now needed to spec out what model could handle pulling a travel trailer. At the end of 2019, we purchased our 4Runner.
To Save or To Work
Deciding whether we wanted to save money versus work on the road was a tricky milestone. Clay has his photography, and we have the blog and our travel gym. But we still were working for other companies, so we needed to start forward-thinking our plans and making moves to make the change.
As of this year in 2021, I have fully transitioned to remote work with my freelance work within the marketing and branding sphere, and running our travel gym full-time! You can find out more about both here and here.
We want to work while on the road, so we have a steady income coming in, with the perk of seeing the U.S. at the same time! As long as we have service or Wi-Fi spots, we can work.
Deciding on the Timeline
Ultimately, we know that we want to wander slowly and not have a restricted time frame wherever we are. Not having a timeline to dictate yourself is how we personally like to travel. Besides, neither of us likes long-haul drives.
Can we do them? Yes. Do we want to? No. Do we HAVE to? Definitely not.
Having in mind that we could stay somewhere that we enjoy for a week or even a month is the kind of freedom we want and is how we decided that two years on the road should be long enough for us to drive around the country at least once, with the possibility of Canada, Alaska, and parts of Mexico come year two.
Searching for a Travel Trailer
When we first started looking at travel trailer options we started with a pros and cons list of what we wanted in a trailer. We knew that we wanted something that was on the shorter side since we don’t need that much room.
Originally we were planning to go with an A-Frame hard top pop-up style trailer. We had gone to the dealerships many times to look at them, and price them out, and we decided on a specific model we were going to save up for.
Well, that didn’t happen. The more we looked at new trailers, the more we disliked them. Not for anything specific other than their complete lack of character as well as high price points that would push our plans back by another year or two, and we have already been antsy.
Purchasing Our Travel Trailer
This past November after we had looked at a dealership for the specific model A-frame trailer, I was disappointed in how much work we would still have to put in to make this $17,000 trailer feel like home to us. To add that character into a standard-rate trailer, which by all definitions would be fine and ready to go.
On a whim, I perused Facebook Marketplace and you can probably already guess where this is going. But I scrolled through travel trailers on marketplace and came across a beautifully remodeled 1969 Kit Companion Travel Trailer, with all the character in the world.
There were a few other options that we had reached out to and considered, but both of us had our hearts set on this trailer with hopes that it wasn’t sold. Fate played a huge part in obtaining this trailer. Not only was she budget-friendly, but all-around perfect timing, and we purchased ‘Betty.’
We are so excited to be planning this adventure and taking you all along for the ride! Here’s to all the trailer DIY projects, road trip chronicles, and amazing experiences still to come.
