Our Story

Some people think we are crazy to be undertaking this change in lifestyle. Maybe knowing where we've come from will help them understand why we want to make such a drastic change. So for those who don't know us and those who wonder how we came to this decision here is our brief (not really) biography.

I grew up in TX and NY, my father worked for Texaco during my childhood. Since my folks had moved away from their families for dad's career summers were spent in IL with my mom and brother Andy while visiting my mom's family. At the end of the summer my dad would come and get us, after a short stop in OH to see his folks some kind of road trip was started. I remember camping in the Rockies, arrowhead hunting along the lakes of TX and after my folks bought property in Ft Kent ME spending summers primitive camping there.

Dave was born and raised in Beacon NY where his father also worked at Texaco. Dave spent his weekends growing up at Whaley Lake with his Uncle Ed. Fishing, swimming, water skiing, sailing, ice skating and all sorts of things of water related. Before our meeting, Dave had hardly ever been out of NY, brief trips to NJ and CT to visit family were the extent of his travels.

We met in May of 1982 through a mutual friend. By this time Dave had been working at IBM (nights) for a year and I had been working for The Bank of NY for a few years. That fall Dave and I went on our first road trip, we visited VA Beach and Lancaster PA. The summer of ’83 we moved in together and were engaged that Christmas. By the time the summer of ’84 came around we were recovering from major injuries sustained in a massive car accident, a compact doesn’t win when a full size 70's station wagon turns in front of it. In the summer of ’85 we were married and honeymooned island hopping around Hawaii. Only problem was Dave has a problem, motion sickness and we found out plane travel would not be in our future traveling plans, if at all avoidable, to this day he has not been in a plane again. The summer of ’86 found us camping in Maine, we had found out just before leaving I was pregnant with our first child.

Soon ’87 rolled around with the birth of our oldest son David, then in the summer of ’89 our youngest son Tom was born. By this time I had left banking, was a real estate agent for a while and now was a stay at home mom working nights at the local department store to get out the house for a bit, sanity. By now we lived 45 minutes from Dave’s folks; I can still hear my father in law complaining about how far away we lived. My folks by then were back in TX and would come for summer visits which usually entailed all of us going on some type of road trip, Maine was usually some part of it, had to check on their property in Ft Kent.

In 1993 IBM transferred us to VT. We camped with some other families for awhile when we got to VT but then the boy’s lost interest and when they drained the reservoir at our favorite campground that was the beginning of the end of our tent camping, our last camping trip was in 2000.  Over the years we took trips west to CO see my brother and his family, always driving and staying in hotels, not ever enough time to stay in one place too long. The boys grew up, graduated high school. David stayed home and went to college locally, he now lives in AZ. Upon high school graduation Tom headed to CO, then to Yellowstone then to CO and then back to VT, back to CO became victim of horrendous home invasion so came back to VT with his girlfriend for a year to regroup and they are now back in CO. At one time we had 6 of us living here in this house together for about a year (6/10-5/11), and all of us worked at IBM though some on nights, they were crazy but good times.

By 2005 Dave’s folks had moved to FL and his mom was recovering from brain cancer. We took the boys that February to FL. Meanwhile my folks now lived across the street from us in VT and wintered in FL with lots of my mom’s family. I've always been thankful we took the boys that year to see Dave’s folks in FL. By that fall the tumor had returned and surgery was scheduled, my mother in law had a stroke on the operating table, she lingered till the following summer. The day after surgery my mother-in-laws surgery my father-in-law passed away from congestive heart failure. Numb with grief Dave and I headed back to FL to check on my mother-in-law and to collect my father-in-laws ashes. In the subsequent months she would be transferred to Beacon NY where she spent the remainder of her days in a nursing home passing away in June of 2006. In 2007 my uncle (my dad’s brother) who had worked 40 years at IBM and was one month from retiring had a heart attack while mowing his grass and passed away before enjoying all of his years of hard work.

This all led up to the “what are we waiting for” question, why not take some of the vacations/road trips we had talked about. Why wait till retirement. At this point Dave was getting close to 30 years at IBM and I was back in banking after spending years being self-employed a little after school care early on then my own house cleaning business for many years.

In 2008 we looked into Faye taking a leave of absence and in the fall we headed out for a 5 week road trip, we saw the Badlands, Glacier, Yellowstone, The Tetons, Bryce Canyon, the North Rim, Canyonlands and Arches finally ending in CO to see our son Tom and my brother Andy and his family. Then it was homeward with a brief stop in IL to see more family ending up in VT 5 weeks later. Hotels the whole way and we ready to keep going when we got home. During the following years we made 2-3 week jammed packed road trips, always staying in hotels and always wanting more.

 In 2011 we knew we were ready to take another long road trip, shoot the house was on the market, but we didn’t retain an agent until we left for our road trip that fall, Tom and Krystal had moved back to CO, we no longer had any four footed kids, we had gotten rid of lots of stuff already, we just hadn’t figured out what we were going to do once we sold the house, we just knew it was time. But it was also time to knock off the rest of the lower 48. So in September we went to WA, once we got to Grand Forks ND I don’t think we rode the interstate again for a number of weeks. After getting glimpses of many interesting places, state and national parks from ND to WA and down to northern CA we are ready to go back. Then it was off into the CA and AZ desert, Yosemite, Kings Canyon and again to Death Valley, a stop in Vegas (did the Bootleg Canyon Zip lines-the best, fastest, we’ve ridden yet) and then CO (family visit) and  TX with a stop in Houston (more family) and San Antonio, can’t wait to go back there. Finished the trip off with a ride along the gulf and a stop in Ocala FL to see some family and then back to VT to hunker down for the winter. Dave has SAD (seasonal affective disorder) which makes for some really tough winters and living in VT he won’t leave the house in the winter hence he can’t escape the season he dreads the most.

 In February of 2012 we made a quick getaway to the Florida Keys, it was a mild winter so Dave was okay leaving the house for a bit, on the way home our conversation turned to how can we travel and enjoy the country. Somehow the conversation turned to RV’s , we knew that it was not going to be a motorhome, didn’t want to have that much invested if it didn’t work out. Before too long we were the proud owners of a  2012 Keystone Montana Mountaineer 295RKD and a GMC 2500HD. We then spent 7 weeks locally at 4 different campgrounds (a month at one) commuting to work and doing periodic checks on the house that still hadn’t sold. In September I gave notice at work of our impending 6 week trip with our home on wheels. As a temp I couldn’t get a leave of absence so I said goodbye to IBM. Unfortunately our house hadn’t sold by the end of vacation so it was time to head north toward home.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time on the road and made friends we hope to see again one day, we got offered jobs, learned 1^st hand from some fulltimers and just thoroughly enjoyed the life. So for now our house on wheel sits in my parents yard and has snow covering it and we are living in a home we don’t want to be in anymore.  

Once we finally escape VT we hope to be able to spend a year traveling slowly and eventually start some workamping. We know we will have to do some sort of work for awhile until we reach the magical age where all those years of hard work and saving start paying.