The One Thing That’s Certain – Change

There would be a lot of changes that were headed our way once we arrived back home after our second cross-country trip. As I mentioned a few posts back, I was still looking for some way to bring in some income.

RV life can be an expensive venture, especially if you have a sticks and bricks to pay for too. I knew that from the moment I started the adventure and my goal was to earn some money that would allow me to travel. This blog I maintain and the book I wrote just wasn’t bringing in much of anything.

So the first order of business upon our return was looking for a job. And I managed to land two. The one that was the most lucrative and I’m still doing now is teaching ESL for a company called VIPKID. Currently I have taught 1,630 classes and have been with them for over 500 days, woohoo! If you have a bachelor’s degree, love kids and are interested, check them out at the link. I can help you with the interview process.

Okay, so jobs landed, check. I wasn’t sure what that would mean for our RV life. I wanted to keep exploring, especially on the east coast. Maine, Acadia Park, eastern Canada, the finger lakes in New York, etc, etc. I still had a mission.

September turned into October, then November and before I knew it, we were done with the holiday’s and January birthday’s. Then February came and we headed to Myrtle Beach for a week sans the RV.

It was becoming clearer and clearer to me that my ‘location independent’ job really wasn’t all that ‘location independent’ when it came to the way I like to travel in the RV. Sure, there are other VIPKID teachers who live in RV’s and teach. There are a ton more who travel all around the world and work. And I can see that working if I traveled to one destination and was certain there was a great internet connection and stayed for a while.

But I like to move every week or two at a minimum. And with clients at the other end of the computer waiting on me, I wasn’t comfortable taking this job on the road. Especially the amount of days and hours I needed to show up. I knew what had to be done but it was hard to bring myself to do it. I either had to find another means of income or sell the RV.

You see, a motorhome isn’t designed to sit forever. Sure, they can sit and wait for you but when month after month after month goes by and you haven’t taken it out to stretch it’s, errrr, rubber, things can deteriorate. Especially if they’re left outside in the elements. And it wasn’t looking like I would be taking her anywhere soon.

So with a heavy heart, I quit my job. Okay, okay, I did the right thing. I listed my girl on RV Trader, <sigh>. I kept telling myself she will get a good home and someone will love her as much as I did. And I believe in the end, she did.

I also reminded myself of how lucky I was to have ever had the opportunity to cross the country not once but twice in pursuit of boundless freedom. Many people never get that opportunity. Can I really be sad? Look to the bright side of things, right? This RV and the opportunities it afforded me changed my life forever and brought the crew and I so many great memories. It awakened something inside of me that I never knew existed.

sunset near the grand canyon

So I listed her and got a lot of inquiries but nothing seemed to pan out. It really wasn’t prime RV season yet either. So my free ad expired and I dawdled a bit, not all that anxious to list it again. Maybe I could keep her, maybe I could work something out.

But alas, a month or two later I got brave again and listed her once more. The inquiries poured in and before I knew it, someone was coming from Utah to meet my P.E.R.L. A deposit had already been secured and it was looking like we would be saying our goodbyes.

goodbye my lady

All went well and by mid-June it was clear she had found a new family. I waved goodbye as she did her RV wobble out of the storage facility and hit the open road once more. She had two girls who were waiting to occupy her bunks once more and mom and dad were pretty smitten too. It was a bittersweet moment but a necessary one.

She was my first but she won’t be my last.

So what does that mean for the future of this blog? I will continue to post out about once a week. I have some post ready to go such as “A day in the life of RVing”, my summer exploring Washington, DC, and more. I have also become serious about a YouTube channel and am currently digging in starting to get some footage rolling. I have a lot of video from the road that I was never able to get started on. It will all happen now.

I will also be condensing this blog and my RV journey’s into a book. It will be a smooth read from start to finish. I don’t have a release date but look for that in the future. I am hoping between YouTube, another book and one or two other ventures, I will be able to reduce my teaching hours and set a schedule of my own choosing that allows me to become truly location independent. My goal is by the end of September but it’s a loose goal.

Next spring may find me somewhere outside the U.S., maybe even a semi-permanent move. But that’s all yet to be seen. For now, all I can do is put one foot in front of the other and realize what ever will be, will be. I hope you will continue to follow along and see how lost RV Lost Yet? can get :-).

{HUGS} from the Crew!