In the fall of 2022, Curtis left the Navy and started a civilian job that required him to travel for over half the year. We thought it would be fun to try being nomadic and just travel everywhere together, since we could both work remote whenever he wasn’t traveling to jobs, and that way we’d save a little money by not renting. We put most of our stuff in storage and moved into our vehicle at the time, a Subaru Outback, along with our basset hound Charlotte. For the next 7 months, we went between camping in tents and in our vehicle, staying in hotels when traveling for work, visiting family and friends, and staying in Airbnbs. We looked at places to rent or buy in our hometown, but nothing really felt right, and the longer we continued with this lifestyle, the more we liked it and felt we could keep it up.
After 6 months on the road, Charlotte developed glaucoma and rapidly became blind. We found ourselves at a crossroad: do we continue this lifestyle, or do we settle down for her sake? After considering all our options, we realized that she still loved traveling and exploring new places with us every day, and with our help, she could still do so safely. So we decided it was time to really commit to road life by upgrading our vehicle to a van in May of 2023. We found a great deal on Ford Transit on the East Coast, and after driving it back to the Midwest, Curtis converted it into a tiny home on wheels within 3 weeks. With that finished, we moved in, and have been calling it home ever since!
If you’re interested, here are a list of posts related to our nomadic/van life journey!
Leaving the Navy & New Job & Future Plans – Fall 2022
We bought a Van
Building a Van
First Day of Vanlife
2023 in Review
2024 in Review
2025 in Review
Or just look through all posts from October 2022-Present!