The decision to take off on the road has not been easy.
October 30, 2008 was a sort of d-day for us. I was already out of work and looking for a job, when I got the dreaded phone call from John that started out with "It's me, I can't stay on long but I just wanted to tell you...I just got laid off. My last day is today" Wow! That was totally unexpected. I just wandered around the house for awhile, trying to let it sink in and to not go into complete panic mode. I knew he would be eligible for unemployment, which I was already on, and that we didn't have many bills, so we could survive. But for how long?
Well, fast forward 16 months and we are still surviving. I was lucky enough to find a job, but it was only a 3 month gig. I then found a full time job but years of working on my feet had finally taken it's toll. I went out for a bad knee in July '09 with surgery in October. Thanks to extensions in his unemployement and my disablity benefits, we have been able to get by. But these only last so long.
After alot of long sleepless nights and daily news reports of only more doom and gloom, we finally decided to sell the house while we had still some equity left in it. We know we are luckier than alot of people in our same situation. Our kids are grown and we have no bills other than our mortgage and general utilities. We have been able to keep our mortgage current and still eat at el pollo loco once in awhile. But we also know that disability and unemployment eventually ends. For me, my disability benefits ended 2 weeks ago. John's benefits are 3 months at a time.
Not wanting to blow through what bit of savings we have, we decided to sell the house. We looked at each other and said "then what?" Jokingly, I said "We can always get an rv and travel around." That comment led to surfing the web and eventually finding a whole world of fulltime rv'ers. There is a term - Workkamping. This is where you travel in your rv and work in all kind of places. One thing led to another and we decided to become workkampers.
We have discovered that making 1 decision just leads to having to make at least 3 more. Now it's "well, where do we want to work, what do we want to try to do, what will we buy, will it be a 5th wheel or a motorhome, blah, blah, blah"
Our house is close to being sold and we have jobs in the Grand Tetons, Wyoming. Hopefully, the house sells in time to make it to the jobs. We have a small window of time to sell the house, find an rv, clean out a house filled with many years of memories and things, (alot of things!) and get on the road.
This hasn't been easy. We know we can't stay here, but don't want to leave our family and friends. Being far away from Travis and Krystin especially is one of the worst results of all this. Hopefully, all the kids will be able to make it up to see us this summer. I would like to think that we will be responsible for them traveling to places they will love, but might not have gone to if it wasn't for us.
We try to keep the negative thoughts away and look to the future as a bit of an adventure. We get mixed reactions from people. Some think it's great, other's question it a bit, and a few make it clear that they think it's not one of the smartest things to do. It's hard, really really hard. Many tears have been cried and I'm sure many more are to come. For every step we have taken to get this show on the road, we have stumbled and bumbled. Making the call to the realtor was hard, signing the actual papers was harder, opening up our home so complete strangers can walk thru it while we are not there is very uncomfortable, finally accepting an offer and signing a binding contract to sell was even harder. I don't know what to expect when I see the SOLD sign or when we drive away for the last time.
But we make it thru the uneasy feelings. As hard as all this has been, we both know how lucky and blessed we are. We might be out of work and having to sell our house, but we are current in our payments, not upside down and have some equity. We have decent, but not high dollar jobs waiting for us. At the end of the season, we will be able to travel to washington, oregon, nevada, california, arizona and maybe even oklahoma, to see all our loved ones. We will be able to stay for as long as they will let us and then travel on to the next bunch of people (hopefully) waiting to see us.
If all goes as planned, we will be working again next summer. Maybe the Tetons again, maybe Yellowstone, maybe even Alaska.
Who knows.
That is why it's called an adventure.
So, now you know what got us on this road to somewhere.
You are welcome to follow along and see where we end up.
Go on this adventure with us.
Enough said ...
Let's get this circus on the road.
