About Us

Vern and Terri

What in the world possessed us to leave our secure jobs, home, friends, and all the certainties of our lives?

Wow, that’s a tough question to answer because there are many different reasons we decided to ‘pack it up and hit the road.’ And it wasn’t a decision we took lightly, or a decision that was made overnight.

Actually, believe it or not, we were into tent camping for years and endured the cold nights, unexpected storms, and the worst part – ‘no facilities’ in the middle of the night. Well, as we loaded the jeep one Friday afternoon many years ago for our weekend camping getaway - we looked at each other and burst into laughter. We realized we could no longer fit all the camping gear and added comforts we had purchased over the years inside the jeep any longer – that’d we’d now need to strap all the extra ‘stuff’ to the top of the jeep. What to do now, we asked ourselves.

We’re confessing that camping in comfort was important as we headed out to the wilderness. Although it was just the two of us, we had an 8-person tent, end tables, lamps, queen-sized air mattresses (not one, but two), firewood, food, dishes, chairs, bikes, etc. When we look back and remember that day we realize it was the moment we decided it was time to get an RV. We dreamed about what it would be like to be able to take a shower (indoors!), have a real mattress to sleep on, etc. That was it – it was time to rob our piggy-bank and purchase our first ‘affordable’ RV.

We’ll spare you the details on our first RV purchase for now because it’d take about 100 pages to write about our experiences with it (especially all the labor and money Vern put into it), but it was a learning experience to say the least.

We were stoked when we drove away in it after only paying $1,000. It was a 1971 Pace Arrow, which was 21' long. It’d never win “RV of the year" but boy were we excited to finally have something on wheels. Anyway, we decided it was a good buy and without spending much money we’d be able to determine whether we really enjoyed RVing versus tent camping.

We were hooked from that point on. Even though we were working then, we’d start planning our next weekend getaway as soon as we could. We’d try really hard to be gone at least three weekends each month. Unfortunately, we were forced to leave one weekend open for yard work and the ‘not so fun jobs’ around the house.

We enjoyed our Pace Arrow for a couple of years and then decided we needed a little more room. Since the dinette also served as our bed – it was tough in the mornings. Vern's always been an early-morning riser (must relate back to when he lived on a farm!), while Terri enjoys sleeping in a bit.

So, the search was on for our second RV. It seemed much easier the second time around since we knew a little more about what was important to us in an RV. We searched until we found a good deal on a 1997 Rexhall Aerbus. We fell in love with the floor-plan and all the extra storage compartments. Once we got it home Terri thought she was in heaven with all the extra storage and kitchen counter space. And it even had a separate bedroom. We no longer had to convert the dining table to the bed. We were living the good life now!

We continued working and RVing as much as possible and dreamed about the possibility of becoming “full-time Rvers” someday. Although we talked about the possibilities, we honestly couldn’t imagine ‘taking the plunge.’

Sadly, one day Terri received a phone call from her mother with bad news. She said she had been diagnosed with an aggressive-type of breast cancer and the outlook was not good. Terri’s mother had recently retired from the State of Florida (after working 40+ years) as a Social Worker and had just bought her dream home. She hadn’t been retired more than six months when she was diagnosed with this rare cancer. Terri immediately quit her job and headed to Florida in order to help her mom during this time. Although Terri’s mom was a fighter and had so much hope, she passed away less than two years later.

We hesitated to write about this, but it is probably one of the main reasons we decided it was time to follow our dream of touring this beautiful country of ours with no other commitments. Without question – it was a scary decision to sell the house, quit our jobs, venture off into all the unknowns, leave our friends and family, etc., but deep in our heart and soul we knew it was the right thing to do and it was the right time in our lives. We decided if we waited until ‘everything was perfect’ we might miss the window of opportunity. We were young, healthy, and full of adventure and anticipation. We both agreed we didn’t want to wait until it was too late due to potential health issues, etc. It was time to LIVE TODAY! After all, if it didn’t work out as planned we could always go back to living in a house, working the 8:00 – 5:00 grind, etc. What was there to lose?

Enough about us. That's where our journey began. We sold the house and all the junk and bought a 2003 Alfa See Ya. We’ve been on the road since and it was the best decision we’ve ever made. We have memories to last a lifetime and we have so many more to look forward in the coming years.

Thanks for reading the story on our humble RV beginnings. If you’d like to share your comments and/or have any questions, contact us when you have time. We'd love to hear from you.

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