Why I Moved My Family of 5 Into an RV Full Time

Like most journeys, mine didn’t begin instantaneously, but slowly over time. As my husband and I headed to our first ever getaway without our children, I was reading out loud pieces from the book The Fire Starter Sessions by Danielle LaPorte. One simple concept from the book became a catalyst for a whole new life.

Go deeper than your goals, she said. What were the feelings behind them? We’d never thought of it in that way before. We started listing off those “bucket list” items we hoped to “one day” do, and then we broke down the reasons we wanted to do them.

At the time, we had three kids, a dog, a house in the suburbs, and the benefit of a six-figure income. We were living the standard American Dream. We thought we were rocking it.

Yet, despite all that we had, we were hungry for more. Our life had become more riddled with obligations, to-dos and clutter. So much clutter. Our home, and schedule, was full. We were ready for change.

We had, after all, never been traditional. We had a “natural” cesarean section in the South, had launched businesses, raised the family vegan. Reevaluating our life and our place in it only seemed natural.

We came back from our trip on a mission to put a date on those “one-day” dreams we had, and look for how to add a bit of those feelings into our day-to-day.

What happened when we got back was a shift. It was gradual at first. We realized we no longer had to wait for freedom and adventure. We started scaling back our material possessions and considered adopting the minimalist lifestyle.

Plans formed. Those travel goals we dreamed of, those emotions we were now intentionally seeking out. We had to put some legs on it. Like Tony Robbins says, “you either make it happen, or you make an excuse.” We decided to make it happen. We were going to walk away from what tied us down and RV the states.

In the beginning, all we did was put our house on the rental market and committed to 90 days of RV-ing. We didn’t want to make a commitment when un-committing.

And then we let go of more obligations and material things. We made a permanent shift from a 1,450 square foot home to a 240 square foot travel trailer.

There were times we second guessed ourselves. What were we thinking — leaving family and friends in our sweet town to RV the States full time? How would we make this work and not go crazy in tiny quarters? But then…how could we not? We dreamed of travel, of minimalism, and focusing on the importance of just being together with our family.

Here we are, 15 months and 25 days into our travels. In those first 90 days, we tested the waters of what this felt like. And what we found is that home, to us, is not in a building any longer. That cliche statement, “home is where we park it”, has rung true for us.

We let go of those things which no longer served us and stressed us out. In place of our stress, we embraced ease, fun, and awareness of the present moment. We’ve been to 40 states so far, with plans to tackle the last 8 on this continent this summer.

And what we’ve found, what we’ve learned, is that this lifestyle, this family is what “home” looks like to us.