While I will be writing a blog about the incredible experience we had in Charleston and Hilton Head Island, South Carolina next week, I wanted to celebrate that we have been on the road for six weeks having exceeded the time we spent during our first test run of five weeks last summer.
In that time I have done deep personal work, have shifted the schedule, we have changed the route, and now find ourselves hanging out in Atlanta, GA staying with my best friend from high school while our RV – Andi – is being serviced. Turns out that the issue with the leveling jack I wrote about in one of my first blogs is more difficult to fix than originally thought. Stay tuned…
In the meantime, it has become clear that there are a few key questions we have been asked repeatedly in our short time living full time in an RV so I decided to answer these in this and upcoming blogs.
So, first…
Do you work, how do you work, and how is the internet? While we have met a small handful of people who do work remotely while on the road, thus far we have found that most of our RV peeps are in their 60’s or older and are retired. The other night as we took a long walk after dinner in the RV Resort we were staying at in Hilton Head, Jeremy and I took a few minutes to celebrate that we decided not to wait until ‘someday’ to start living life on our terms.
For the record, I am working. Over the past two years, I have been transitioning as much as possible to an advisory role in my company and recently hired a COO from within the organization. That said, we have also been through some big changes and challenges so while I have a lot of freedom and flexibility, I am still very much focused on work and expanding the business to be able to help more women live a life beyond their wildest dreams. We mostly travel on Mondays so that we can enjoy weekends in whichever location we are staying. We also believe that there is less traffic on Mondays and generally it seems easier to be able to book campsites from Monday-Monday rather than on weekends. So far, the Monday thing is working, especially since we are now staying in one location for more than a week. While I hope to eventually have Mondays completely off-line, right now I have organized my Mondays to be writing days and limit meetings to one per day on Zoom and hold any other meetings I have to have on the phone. I do not work on Fridays and have been using the extra day to explore!
Jeremy arranged amazing internet service so I can Zoom and work online easily while sitting in the passenger seat of the RV while we are traveling. For those of you who are curious, the internet is not my jam, but I do know that we have a device that can pick up WIFI through AT & T, Verizon, and T-Mobile so wherever we are there is a way to get connected online.
The RV we purchased came with a little desk thing attached to the front passenger seat, but after testing it we decided to have it removed. It was mostly just in the way. So, on travel days, I have my laptop on my lap, and like when I fly, I am finding it very productive to work while Jeremy drives. I also bought a car seat organizer which was a huge help for long travel days. (The RV is short on cupholders lol) I typically put some healthy snacks in it, my laptop, charging cord, giant water bottle and my knitting bag so that I minimize my time walking through the RV while we are driving. I also purchased a mini-trash which also made a huge difference in keeping the car clutter-free and making clean up after a road trip very quick. For those of you who know Jeremy, he is now making a giant thermos of coffee to get him through the travel days. And, the cats, Simon and Fergus, aka known as the Katz Brothers, have found a spot behind one of the recliners to call their own when Andi is on the move.
On days we are not traveling, I most often work at the kitchen table inside and when the weather is temperate I am loving that I can work outside. I put my podcast equipment on an easy-to- reach-shelf when we travel and leave it assembled during the times we are set up in one spot. And, of course, I podcast inside. Jeremy is spending his Monday- Friday organizing trip logistics like itinerary, routes, and campsite procurement, buying tickets, making reservations, taking care of life admin, and making videos for our Radical Living Challenge vlog. And, for the Katz Brothers, they are very busy bird and squirrel watching, napping, and discovering nooks and crannies to explore inside their new home.
Most of all, as part of the work Jeremy and I did in designing the Radical Living Challenge, I created a new view of work that supports my deepest purpose. I am stretching into thinking of work in a new way, one that is not attached to the old paradigm of success I was carrying inside of me. I am thinking about freedom as not needing to be free from anything. I am slowing down and exploring the concept of work with a new lens, and as something I don’t want to retire from, necessarily. Rather, I’m exploring how the work I do in the world can simply be a natural expression of who I am and, in that, realizing that will look differently as my journey through life continues!