In July 2016 we took a trip with our son Shaun to Badlands National Park and the Black Hills in South Dakota. We had an amazing time and experienced a part of our country we had never seen. I recall sitting on the porch at the Alpine Inn in Hill City waiting to be seated and watching a parade of HUGE RVs and trucks with campers driving by. Jane and I mused (Shaun had opted for pizza over filet mignon and was not with us) about how it would be fun and likely less expensive than our $225 per night hotel room to visit the wonderful places in our country with a nice camper. We didn’t wait very long to act on our musing. By October we had purchased our camper, Big Kitty (because it’s a Cougar), and traded in our half ton truck for a 3/4 ton truck we named Hershey (because it’s chocolate brown) and were planning our first trip. That first trip was over Christmas to see our moms in South Carolina and West Virginia. It went pretty well considering our first night we boondocked in a Walmart parking lot in southern Illinois in sub-30 degree weather. We learned a ton. At that time we only planned to take vacations in our camper; the idea of a full-time camper life never occurred to us.
After our first trip we planned two more trips for summer 2017. First we took a 3-week trip to West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Florida, which featured mountains, horses, and the beach. Next we went southwest for 5 weeks. Our southwest trip included Utah, Arizona, and Nevada during the heat of the summer. We loved it so much that we added a day to our trip on the way home to visit Wind Cave National Park. By then we were hooked and started talking about how much RV travel we could manage per year. By Christmas 2017 we had decided if possible we would sell our 3800-sq-ft home and move into our 34-ft-long camper and follow our whims and the weather. Living in northern Wisconsin, the decision to leave our lake home was a pretty easy call in December. It’s much harder as I write this in late May, considering the warming weather and the view from our dock below.
So now, our house is on the market, our furniture has been mostly given to our kids, and a neighbor is going to keep our boat for us. A few special pieces are in a small storage unit with other keepsakes we could not part with. We leave in about 3 weeks and are busy finishing some modifications to the camper and trying to make sure we have everything we need.
What was the most difficult part of this transition? …Health insurance. Narrow networks have made finding a nationwide plan very challenging. We settled on one in Florida sold by Anthem and will become Florida residents. (One does NOT have to live there for at least 6 months per year in order to qualify as a resident.)
This website started as a blog by Joe so our family could keep up with us on our journey. It has grown beyond that original intent to include friends and anybody who is interested. So feel free to share the name journeywithjoeandjane.com with others. All pictures will be taken by us, mostly me, but a few phone pictures from both of us will be used. Blog updates will occur as we have something new and we hope interesting to share. Comments and suggestions are welcome. Please remember, Jane and I most recently drove school bus and some of our school bus kids and our grandkids will read this so watch your word choice.
So, in early June 2018, off the three (Joe, Jane, and Spirit) of us go.