Why sell everything to live full-time in an RV?

After talking about it for years, we decided to sell everything, buy an RV, and travel full time. It's not the first time we did something bold, but it's the riskiest decision we've made in a long time.

Sometimes we ask people to take our photo, then strike an unexpected pose.

TL;DR: Denise and I miss the thrill of adventure when moving to a new place from time to time. Her travels for activism and our work-related moves across the country stoked our desire to live a nomadic life.

Chasing newspaper jobs
Denise and I met in San Antonio in 2004 while I was in journalism school at San Antonio College. During a 3-month Dow Jones Newspaper Fund business reporting internship at The Frederick News-Post, I was offered my first full-time reporting job in August 2006. While I worked, Denise packed up our 1920s bungalow, and moved a house full of belongings to western Maryland, car in tow behind the U-haul.

About a year later, we attended Denise's family near Seattle, where she was born. We fell in love with the area and made a six-month plan to move there. Less than three months later, I quit my job and we set out for Washington. We were so low on cash, we crossed the country without stopping to see anything. It's something we still regret.

I didn't have a job, but Denise's family in Port Orchard offered us a place to stay until we found our own place. I freelanced for the Puget Sound Business Journal and The Seattle Times for a couple of month before I was offered a job on the Web desk of The Seattle Times in September 2007.

Denise and I visited Mt. Rainier in Aug. 2008, what a great view!

We loved living in the Pacific Northwest, where the wet, mild weather and abundant and intensely green natural areas enchanted us. Denise's son, Ian, was entering his senior year in high school back in Texas. We had asked him to join us for a school year in Maryland, then again in Seattle, but he didn't want to leave home. It didn't take long before we started growing home sick.

We decided to aim for Austin, but the job market for newspaper jobs was growing increasingly tight. After a 6-month stay in Waco working the Web desk at the Waco Tribune Herald, I found a job writing for Community Impact Newspaper. We started making a life in Austin in April 2009.

Building community
Another year passed. We bought the first house we saw in June 2010, but not before seeing at least a dozen others. Our realtor, Kelley Menefee, did a wonderful job of helping us navigate the process and even catered our house warming party.

Denise and I dove head first into laying roots. Ian moved in with us after graduating high school. We decorated the house, adopted a pit bull mix Ian named Kimbo, and started gardening, composting, and keeping chickens.

Kimbo is our house ambassador. He'll have the same role on the road.

It didn't take long for me to begin plugging into the community. I began volunteering with Compost Coalition Austin in September 2011 to boost my home compost pile and help divert organic waste from the landfill. A few months later, I joined the planning committee of the Funky Chicken Coop Tour. In August 2012, I became a founding member and operations director of food rescue nonprofit Keep Austin Fed. I joined the steering committee of Gardens at Gus Garcia community garden in March 2013 and took on the role of garden manager and compost lead.

Meanwhile, Denise explored various ways to make art and started to pursue her longtime interest in activism. When the Occupy Movement began to sweep the nation, she traveled to Washington DC in October 2011 and set up camp at Freedom Plaza. Five months later, she became house manager of The Peace House, an activist community best known for the longest continuously running protest near the White House often called The Vigil. Denise returned home in August 2011.

Denise's activism soon intensified. In December 2012, we hosted Janet Wilson and the crew of Occupy The Roads for a few days. Janet was in the early stages of setting up an activist community in Pueblo, Colorado. Denise joined the crew on the road and eventually landed in Pueblo. In February 2013, I joined Denise in Pueblo to consider joining Pueblo House. Ultimately, we decided to stay in Austin. In March 2014 and again in August 2016, Denise attended week-long trainings with Greenpeace in Mayer, Arizona and Washington DC, respectively.

Hosting Janet Wilson and crew was a big influence on our decision to travel.

Denise's time with Occupy DC, Peace House, and Occupy the Roads, combined with our newspaper job moves across the country, planted a seed in our hearts for adventure.

Wanderlust lingers 
On our way back to Texas from Seattle, Denise and I vowed to take some time to enjoy the trip along the way. We followed the Pacific Coast Highway from Seattle to San Francisco. It was the most magical time we spent together.

We stopped along the way at several towns and scenic sea-side areas in Oregon, but skipped a motel stop to save money, napping at rest stops. That evening, we crossed the Oregon-California border to the darkest night I'd seen in a long time. We pulled over, turned out the lights, and marveled at the night sky. It was so beautiful, I was compelled to get out for an unobstructed view.

It was the first time I clearly saw the Milky Way. I couldn't help but grow emotional as I stared, lost in amazement. Realizing there could be mountain lions around quickly ushered me back to the car.

Later that day, we spent time exploring the Redwood Forest. Being among such wild beauty filled us with such a thrill. It was the unfiltered wonder and adoration so common in childhood, but too often absent from our adult lives.

We only saw a portion of the Redwood Forest. I predict we'll be back some day.

We soon arrived in San Francisco for a 2-night stay, taking a tourist bus to see sights and exploring Fisherman's Wharf the fist day, then visiting a museum the following day before preparing for the next leg of the trip. We hurried the rest of the way back to Texas, stopping only to rest at a motel before arriving with family in Houston.

It's one of my favorite memories of my life with Denise.

Downsizing begins
Earlier this month, I messaged Kelley to ask her if she'd help us sell the little beige and turquoise, single-car garage house on Dorset Drive. After freshening up the place, we plan to have our house on the market in early 2017. Now's a good time to figure out where we'll live between the time we sell the house and buy the RV.

We've accumulated a lot of stuff in 12 years. Giving away most of our knickknacks lightens the load, but there's so much to do: organize our clothing, clean out the garage and attic, tear down the swimming pool, install tile in the bathrooms, paint inside and out. And that's just selling the house; we have many preparations to make for life on the road. That's why we're reading about other people's experiences, and have been inspired to write about it.

We're in no hurry, so it could take closer to 9 months or longer for us to finish preparing.

One of the most difficult things to part with will be my yard. I've raised some of our own food, hosted gatherings, and played with Kimbo. These are among my favorite things to do, so I'm sure to find ways to get my hands dirty along the way.

Plans for the future
Denise and I both enjoy helping people and look forward to supporting in person causes we follow. We'll also find ways to make money. Workamping is one way we plan to supplement our income. I'll also seek writing and Web-related assignments if I'm unable to find a steady part-time employer that allows telecommuting.

We'll put an emphasis on touring landmarks, visiting people we know, and enjoying the ride. Our intention is to do this for as long as we can. If we simply paid for the trip outright, we expect to be able to do this for about 2 years. So it's key that we find ways to make the trip sustainable.

What if we can't make it after all the money is gone? Or what if we lose the thrill after a few months? We'll have lived a dream. Then, as we've done before, find a new city to live in and figure out how deep to plant roots.

In the meantime, we'll enjoy the sunsets.

This is actually a sunrise, taken on a morning when we camped on the beach near Bob Hall Pier near Corpus Christi, Texas.