Follow our journey from selling our home of 17 years, giving away all our stuff, and traveling across the USA to find new adventures.
Our Story
The decision to jump into RV Living
Change Happens:
It was time for a major change. How did that translate to RV Living? The company that I had built with my brothers for the last 12 years came crumbling down at a pace that was not survivable.
Time to make a decision on what to do next. As I looked over my endeavors for the past 30+ years, I came to the conclusion that the best times that I had working was when I was in the cockpit flying.
The challenge was that I had not flown for 20 years and did not have a roadmap back into the Cockpit. What I did not know was that the Airlines are struggling with a pilot shortage.
As I began visiting the local flight schools to figure out the roadmap, I discovered that if you met the FAA’s requirements for time and certifications to become an Airline Transport Pilot, the opportunities were wide open.
I was offered a position in the two companies that I interviewed with. After lengthy discussions with my buddy airline pilots, I decided to go with Mesa Airlines.
The Airlines offer flexablility:
Everything moved so fast, I was in training within two weeks and flying passengers at month five. I never researched what the life of an Airline Pilot entailed.
In a nutshell: Each pilot is assigned to a base airport – mine is Houston. You are assigned 4-5 four day blocks per month. Each block starts in Houston and ends in Houston. The other nights are spent in hotel rooms that could be anywhere in the US, Mexico, Canada, Havana or Nassau.
If you live in Houston, you just drive to work. If you live anywhere else, you need to commute (fly) from your city to Houston in time to start your block and then fly home when finished.
During one of my blocks, I flew with a Captain that lives in Guadalajara and he commutes to Houston for work. I told Julie about this and we talked about living on an Island and commuting to work. That turned into we could live anywhere and commute into work.
Birth of an idea:
Julie and I have had many discussions in the past about what we would do when all the kids were out of the house.
Traveling the country by RV became the prevailing dream. Initially we had decided to move to Houston to avoid commuting but I hated the weather in Houston and started to go negative at the thought of moving there.
So, if I was going to commute anyway, why not live somewhere that we really liked. Somehow the discussion turned to let’s get an RV and live everywhere we really like. Julie quickly started researching the internet and found out that our kids could get their education online – BINGO.
Problem solved – realize our dream of RV living now instead of when we are old and crotchety and don’t have the stamina to explore new places.
But how are the kids going to take it? Totally in stride and onboard. Julie asked Kaylin “What about prom?” and Kaylin said “I’ll just fly there” (airline perk). Luke was initially worried about leaving his friends, but weighs the adventure heavier.
What Next?
Now comes the hard part: How do we make this happen in the next few months?
- Sell the house.
- Put only necessities in storage.
- Sell or donate everything else.
- Use our equity to purchase a truck and 5th wheeler
- Figure out where to go first.
Follow us as we start this new RV adventure...
