Rootless Living

WELCOME TO OUR third year of Rootless Living. Winter is here! Every full-timer has a story about winter - whether you’re running away to chase warmer weather, got stranded in a freak Louisiana ice storm, or you stuck it out in the Northeast trapped i

EVERYONE HAS A prized recipe they think is the best, and some might even think their recipe is the only way to make that particular food. Why mess with perfection, right? Take chocolate chip cookies, for instance. Maybe your recipe has been passed do

WE HAVE BEEN traveling part time in our fully-restored 1968 camper for five years and recently added a new member to our family. Eric and I have wanted a dog for a while, but we struggled to decide what type of dog would be a good fit for us and our

CAMPING JUST WOULDN’T be the same without a warm, crackling fire to melt your shoes and burn your s’mores. But the method for building the perfect fire can be a much-debated topic around camp. The architecture of your wood pile, wood quality, and typ

WHAT WE REMEMBER of that day was “The Look.” It was a long look of shock and disbelief. We might have received the same look if we said we were making plans to walk to the moon. Colleen and I had just shared with her parents our plans of selling ever

LIVING ON THE road means something different for everyone. While some prefer the luxury of hooking up at RV parks, others enjoy straying far off the beaten path to enjoy the pleasures of boondocking. I definitely fall into the latter group. I’m encha

IT’S FUN TO stumble upon places that tickle the chakras and linger in the mind. As RVers, we have discovered many unique places we can recommend wholeheartedly. Some are more eccentric than others, and some have very intriguing histories. Lake Havasu

WHILE MORE PEOPLE than ever are interested in RVing, younger generations seem to be flocking to one type of RV most of all: campervans. So when my husband and I (both millennials) started to consider an RV, I had my heart set on the idea of #vanlife.

IS THERE A way to turn an RV into a functional living space? It’s a fair question—after all, RVs were built for weekend getaways and road trips, so most are not functional for full-time travel and living. After years on the road, we’ve figured out ho

ONE OF THE benefits of rootless living is the ability to take your real life on the road with you. This may mean homeschooling your children, bringing along elements of a personal gym, making space for pets, or setting up an office space where you ca

SAVING AND BUDGETING is hard no matter what, but it’s even harder when you don’t know exactly how much income to expect next month or the month after that. There are two main reasons budgeting on a variable income is harder. First, a good rule of thu

OUR RV LIVING journey started in the spring of 2020. The previous summer, Joy had quit her job to be a full-time mom to our new baby, and after four years of renting, we were nowhere close to having enough money for a house down payment. With our sav

ONE OF THE most common questions in the full-time travel community is, “How do you afford your lifestyle?” While making an income is incredibly important, many nomads choose to prioritize sticking to a strict budget. By actively managing how much the

JULIE CHICKERY TRAVELS with her husband, Sean, and their dog Toby. They live in a 30-foot Arctic Fox fifth wheel that they tow with a Chevy Silverado 3500. They started full-time travel in 2014 in a 44-foot toy hauler fifth wheel, then downsized to t

SHAREE HAS BEEN RVing full time for almost eight years with her husband, four kids, and dog. They currently live in a PUMA 295-BHSS fifth wheel. The Collier family didn’t have a big financial cushion when they moved into their RV. “To be honest, we h

KAREN AND HER HUSBAND, Sylvester, travel with their 8-year-old son, Aiden, in a Keystone Montana fifth wheel towed by a GMC truck. Living and traveling in their fifth wheel full time has helped them figure out how to manage their finances in a sustai

OUR STORY OF becoming full-time RVers started in the summer of 2020, in the middle of a crazy year. Chris started his flying career when he was 19 years old and has been through plenty of ups and downs in the airline industry. In 2018, he finally lan

I LOVE TO TRAVEL. I know it sounds like a bumper sticker, but it’s true! I’m at my best when I explore new places and cultures. That’s why I left my corporate job in 2017 to start my own business. Creative Travel Connections was born early that year

AFTER SERVING 20 years in the Air Force, I secured a position as a project manager for a government contracting firm—the kind of stable career many strive for after their military service. Then out of the blue, my husband, who was nearing his own 20-

WE WERE IN Minnesota, and my wife asked me, “Do you want to go work outside at the table?” Oh, did I say asked? It was more like, “You want to go outside and work, right? I need some space.” This is a fair sentiment when you work in the same place wh

WE’VE SPENT THE last two years living two weeks at a time as we meandered across 16 states. We pick a parcel of public land, stay until the rules say to move, then repeat the process a couple hundred miles down the road. It’s been an amazing way to s

WHEN IT COMES to living in an RV year-round, there are generally two groups of people: those who hunker down through the winter, and those who migrate to warmer weather. Many full-time nomads chase summer conditions by heading south to surf breaks in

HAVE YOU EVER wondered how people first found boondocking spots before apps like FreeRoam and Campedium became so popular? Many great spots are shared from traveler to traveler through word of mouth, but the best ones might be the ones you go out and

THERE ARE MANY trails and activities to consider when planning your time at Everglades National Park, but if you’re like us and have limited time, here are what we consider the best things to do in the park, split up by region. If you can only do one

EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK is the third-largest national park in the contiguous United States and is home to a variety of wildlife, including alligators, migratory birds, manatees, and Florida panthers. Its unique terrain combines swamps, grasslands, l

WHILE MOST FULL-TIME travelers chase warmer temperatures in the winter months, there is a group of folks with another agenda on their minds: making the pilgrimage to ski and snowboard the best powder throughout the winter. Sound wild? For some adrena

GPS 38.669965 - 108.32823 Solitude and serenity are abundant in the Western Colorado High Desert. The Dominguez Escalante NCA, located between Grand Junction and Montrose, is a boondocker’s paradise. Your adventure will begin when you turn off Hwy 50

39.387698, -106.086663 Blue Lakes Dispersed Camping in the White River National Forest of Colorado is one of my favorite boondocking spots. It’s nestled between Quandary Peak and North Star Mountain at an elevation of 11,300 feet. The summer temperat

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