One Year of Location Independence

Today - August 15, 2015 - marks the 1 year anniversary of my location independence! I’ve been living in my Class B motorhome and haven’t missed living in a sticks-n-bricks home one single iota¹.

Never before have I experienced the freedom that comes with living a completely location independent life. It’s amazing how selling (practically) everything you own and downsizing your life can have such a profound impact on virtually everything.

You learn to live with less.

You learn to appreciate the things you do have.

Multi-functional items become a necessity… anything that has only one function not used on a weekly basis is just taking up space and contributing to lower fuel mileage.

Most people thought this would be an experiment. I’d do it for a bit, see the country, find a place I really liked (or meet someone I really liked), and settle back down. Now that I’ve been on the road for a year, I really see no signs of stopping. It would take something radically changing my life or desires to get me to stay in one place. Perhaps I’ll meet that aforementioned soulmate… but I’m not actively searching anyone out.

Serendipity is a way of life. Minimal planning (only a few months in advance for most things) and leaving myself open to new experiences and saying “yes” to almost everything has truly transformed my life. It’s taken me to places I’ve never thought about going and I’ve met some pretty amazing people along the way.

• Hiking in National Parks all over the country.
• Countless skydiving events I’d never heard about.
• Gazing at the Milky Way in all its glory from the deserts of the South West United States.
• Crazy detours to really cool places just because I saw a road sign that looked interesting.
• 4 wheeling with my brother and sister.
• Being able to experience family events I might not otherwise be able to attend: Christmas with my parents, the birth of a niece, a nephew’s wedding, a niece’s high school graduation, & a nephew’s rock concert.
• Speaking to a group of Computer Science students about career preparations.

Some fun things about my first year on the road:

1. 30,430 miles driven.
2. 2,065 gallons of gas consumed.
3. 81 fuel stops (average of 375 miles per tank).
4. $5,720 spent on gas (average of $2.77/gallon).
5. 1 job quit.
6. $67,065 net worth increase (I’m a software engineer with an expensive hobby and almost no bills working about half time).
7. 35 states visited or driven through.
8. 3 foreign countries visited.
9. 8 nights spent in paid campgrounds (here’s now I find places to camp for free).
10. 1 Night spent in a hotel while repairs to my vehicle were being done.
11. 328 skydives (2 cutaways).
12. 7/7 siblings visited.
13. Countless new friends made.

The future:

Who knows what the future holds? Certainly not me.

I have no plans on changing this lifestyle. That being said, I’m fully open to change. I’m having the time of my life right now add I’m happy. Once that changes I’ll change something about my life so I continue to have amazing adventures and my happiness meter is off the scale!

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¹ The one thing I’d change If I could: the ability to use two-ply toilet paper. It’s not compatible with the RV’s black tank, so I live with 1-ply. It’s the simple things, folks.