Where We Found Ourselves

Hi there, thanks for being here.

I had begged him to quit for years – the hours were long, and the environment there not so healthy if we’re being honest. The pay and the benefits were always too good to pass up in his opinion, but he had been casually bringing up/joking for a few weeks about selling our house, leaving our fully renovated and well loved home to live the camper life full time.

I brushed it off several times,.. how could he be serious? We had just completed a $25,000 renovation to our master bedroom and bath, resulting in a spa-like master bathroom and two walk in closets in our master bedroom.

After we both were tormented by the news of his workplace situation, I sat down one night and said, “Ok. Tell me. Pros, cons, etc.” (referring to the camper idea). We were exhausted from the rat race of working our jobs only be able to scrape by with our bills and debt. We had no real savings. We found ourselves questioning if any of it was even worth it. So, after many different conversations over several days, lots of pros, cons, and possible budgets run… we were decided. We would list our beautiful home in Greenville, SC. Christian would get the heck OUT of that job, we would pay off all of our debt (each of us with student loans, car payments, and credit card debt + a mortgage…), and move into… a camper.

When we told our families, they understood the wisdom behind such a move, but were also filled with worry and sentimentality over us ditching good income for the unknown.

(Here we are, sweaty and exhausted in the late July heat, making our final loads to our cars after already making 2 trips in our Uhaul…lol)

Over the last year, Christian has almost completely finished renovating a 76 Vintage Dodge Campervan (76 Dodge Brougham – the green and white one), and I completed my 7th year as a public school elementary teacher (my last one for a good long while). With the money we made off of our home, we paid off our student loans, our car loans, our mortgage of course, and bought a $26,000 renovated 2010 Keystone Montana + a Dodge Ram 3500.

As we worked over the last year, we began prepping for this road trip. Our big goal in this shift was to be able to travel as we had always wanted to, without being held back by approved days off or our debt to income ratio. Over the span of 10 months, we had losses as well. Christian’s soul dog, our precious Sarah, developed an aggressive mass on her liver, and as we finally got settled, we had to make the excruciating decision to allow her to pass peacefully and with dignity, through euthanasia. Early 2023, Christian’s grandmother experienced a severe stroke, and passed very suddenly after that. She was my own grandmother’s best friend, and the matriarch of her family.

Through grief and loss, we fervently worked to complete our projects on the vintage camper and at school, and finally completed a travel plan, including reservations for the popular spots, and a timeframe for when to be back. Our journey officially begins June 4th, as we make our way towards Yellowstone National Park and everywhere in between. Where we found ourselves in the last 10 months, and where we are going next, will continue to shape our lives forever, and we hope you enjoy the stories and updates along the way.

Thanks for coming along for the ride,

Samantha