RV Queens Podcast with Kate @midwesternersgonerogue

What was you/your family’s original WHY behind hitting the road and shedding the “normal” American life?

I have to take you on a journey to answer that question. I’m originally from Portland, Oregon and Trevor’s originally from Boise, Idaho. Once he finished college in Portland we moved to Boise for his carers and intentions of starting a family, working less, more time together and more time for travel. Initially, this was a great idea because we wouldn’t have to work as hard to pay the bills. I went from working 60+ hours/week to maxing out at 30 hours. I knew before even getting pregnant that once our baby was born I’d only work 1 day per week or not at all. But, cost of living followed us and because we moved closer to Trevor’s large family that evolved into us being more busy with family commitments and less available to travel. We also had moved away from an international airport and my parents who were previously our go to dog sitters in Oregon. In so many words, the American Dream was haunting us. We kept flexing and never felt satisfied. We moved yearly and kept upping our square footage. We had moved from 300>600>900>1200>2300 square feet with a 2 car garage but something just wasn’t clicking for us. After Lennon was born and we spent 10 days fighting for her life in the NICU in Boise with a group b strep infection and severe sepsis I was at my limit. I started searching the #vanlife hashtag because that to me felt like the next best solution. We weren’t thinking of fulltime travel in a van, just part time, but then I stumbled across the #rvlife hashtag. I instantly knew we’d be buying an rv and flipping our lives. 30 days later we had traded in both of our cars, moved what we could into a storage unit and donated or trashed everything that wasn’t worth keeping. We were officially rv dwellers. 2 dogs, one 18 month old baby and two bushy tailed late 20-something’s. We haven’t put an ounce of thought toward the American Dream again.

Describe yourself before RV life and you now with regard to schedule, career, family dynamic, etc. How has RV life changed you? How are you the same?

Well, I quit my job hahaha 🤣 and now I’m a fulltime content creator and route planner. I was very type A before with a rigid schedule and fully blocked out calendar. That’s still the same but everything on my calendar is travel focused or education focused for Lennon. We go to at least one museum and library every week and she does an Outschool class for 30 minutes first thing in the morning 5 days a week. I do a lot more on a whim and I’ve never been more at peace. I no longer go to Orangetheory Fitness (which I loved) but we’ve found a fabulous health, mind and fitness or in other words, a holistic personal trainer, to help Trevor and I both meet our goals. We move every 2-3 weeks on average and enjoy a lot more time together. Literally every meal shared. It’s spectacular! My appearance is actually VERY different as well and I get comments on it often from friends and family. I quite literally dumped my wardrobe when we moved into the rv. I felt that almost everything I had owned didn’t match who I felt I truly was. I’m not a shopper and my mom is so I had essentially given her a budget for new clothes for me for years and she was buying beautiful things but none of them represented who I saw myself as. They were clothes representing an outsiders point of view. My moms eyes. I felt this unspoken permission when we transitioned into the rv to represent myself as a new persona. I’ve never felt more myself. Oh, and I have dreadlocks now too. I started them as a part of my visual transition. They’re a beautiful reminder to me each day of the new beginning rv life gave to me.

What is your current definition of success? Has it always been this?

I honestly don’t measure this for myself at this point in my life beyond: am I happy? Yes. Is my partner happy? Yes. Is my child happy? Yes. Are my dogs happy? Yes. Those are the only questions I’m asking. If the answer to those questions is ever NOT yes then I need to make a change. How did I view this before? I honestly can’t remember. And I am totally at peace with that. I notice now more than ever that the present is the moment I am living in. I actually spend little time reflecting on the past. There is trauma there. And I’m really happy with right now.

Revenue streams: what money do you have coming in to maintain this life? What has changed before RV life to now?

This is actually the same for us, presently— for the most part. Trevor is a software engineer and oddly enough he was transitioning into a new role when I stumbled upon the #rvlife hashtag. He pitched remote to them and they said no problem. He’s upgraded positions 3 times in the past 4 years and we are so grateful his 9-5 allows us this lifestyle. He will never return to an in person role again. The one thing that did change was I left my job in real estate. I worked educating realtors on technology and community involvement and I was only working 1 day a week at the time we moved into the rv. I absolutely loved my job so I gave them a 1 year notice and we lived stationary in the rv in Boise for a year while I helped the company hire someone and train them for my position. I wasn’t making a ton of money but they were paying my health insurance so this was the biggest transition. I’ve been able to supplement that with content creation income over the last year and Trevor has our entire family on a health insurance plan through his employer. We are currently on a debt free journey and we hope to be 100% out of debt by our 5 year nomadiversary in June 2024. Looking to the future we would love to add additional revenue streams. Perhaps an Airbnb because I worked for many years in hotels and we’ve always enjoyed traveling that way. But not until the time is right.

What does day-to-day work + life look like for you? How do you incorporate your work and/or hobbies with the family schedule of homeschool, travel, grocery shopping, etc.?

We all like to sleep in! We don’t get up until 8:30. Lennon does her Outschool class at 9am Monday-Friday and then her and I do homework pages from that until about 10. Then we all eat breakfast together and Trevor gets to work. Trevor and I exercise at 3pm (eastern) and then we snack. We usually sneak lunch or adventures in- sometimes I miss the workout depending on the adventure. And then around 6pm Trevor finishes work and we eat dinner and play together as a family. Lennon goes to bed about 8:30 and I shoot for bed around 9:30-10. Sometimes I stay up late with Trevor but he usually is up until 1am or so. He’s our night owl.

What’s your homeschool approach?

Outschool, no curriculum, museums, libraries, farms, national and state parks and whatever else comes up. We are not super formal on this. Lennon also has taken some dance classes on Outschool and we will be adding on a weekly Outschool extracurricular of her choice after the summer. We are hoping to get her back into swim lessons this summer when we are in Idaho but waiting to schedule rv maintenance and repairs before I can get that scheduled as we will be houseless during that time.

What kind of community have you found on the road? Has this surprised you?

I don’t know that surprised is the right word. We didn’t have this real defined expectation of what the community would be. And I’m typically a VERY social human being. I will say that having Instagram and Fulltime Families memberships and things connecting us to other traveling families has been incredibly beneficial. Some of my very best friends in the world have been made over the last 4 years. We absolutely love the traveling community.

If we’re feeling spicy….. how do you keep your marriage fresh? Any tips for mommy/daddy time? (EVERYONE asks me this 😂)

I’m going to give you what seems like a very opposite answer to this question but I have to say it’s been one of the very best things for my marital relationship while traveling. Trevor and I each get a guaranteed “night off” every week. I get Mondays and he gets Thursdays. It allows us time to do whatever we want solo. We can do it at home. We can go somewhere. We can hangout in the clam. Go to a movie. Literally anything you want. We’ve been doing it for over a year and we both feel that when we are doing this each week we are so much more available to do the damn thing when the mood hits because we’ve prioritized our needs first! You can get touched out living in a tiny home for 4 years. That can happen in a big house too. My advice is to prioritize time alone first and you’ll be far more available during your time together.

What do you think is important for people to know before they go fulltime in an RV?

You don’t have to travel immediately! You can test the waters. We lived a year stationary and I think it was a fabulous decision for us, especially since we aren’t on a short timeline like 1-2 years like some families are. With Trevor’s job we have the flexibility to do this for however long we want. We kinda rushed into the rig mostly because our lease was renewing on our house rental but we really enjoyed living stationary. It surprised us. We found a lot of joy in minimalism and a slower life so once we got on the road it only got better. We also had never towed before so getting extra time to practice helped.

The show slogan is “A podcast about unexpected riches”. What unexpected richness have you uncovered in RV life?

I had to think on this one. For me, I feel I found unexpected richness in individuality. I have met the most amazing humans whom I never would have had an opportunity to meet had we not started this adventure and because of them I feel I’ve developed myself as a better human too. Learning from strangers who become fast friends is a super power. I also believe my daughter, my husband, my dogs are better too. I really feel like we just truly feel more permission to be exactly who we are then we ever felt before. The freedom in individuality for me has been an incredible unexpected richness.