Sold the House and bought Freedom!

Happy Anniversary to RV Lifestyle! It's hard to believe two years have already passed. Time has flown since we got our Keystone RV (Model Fuzion 373) and embarked on this incredible journey. We've traveled approximately 14,000 km across 7 states and 2 provinces, staying in countless towns and cities along the way.

In 2023, we took a bold step: selling our house, leaving our jobs, retiring, purchasing a toy hauler, loading up our motorcycles, and splitting our time between living and traveling in our RV and staying at our summer home.

Planning and executing everything required time and patience. We needed to prepare, list, and sell the house, which happened just before Christmas. This meant packing and purging during the holidays was exhausting., as we had an early January closing date. Not only did we sell and downsize to live in the RV part-time, but we also moved across the province to a family home Bill inherited, making it our permanent residence. There were many moving parts, checklists, and tasks to coordinate, making it a hectic year leading up to the move. We had ordered our RV new, but unfortunately, it arrived six weeks later than expected, forcing us to rent a storage locker and temporarily store everything we planned to keep in the RV. We said goodbye to an empty house one last time, and we left Victoria, where we sold our home, and traveled in the dead of winter to our new homebase across BC. We arrived to a massive blanket of snow and had to shovel the driveways for the moving trucks arrival. After days of unpacking, we drove back to Victoria, where we had booked an RV spot and lived in our old 5th wheel until the new one arrived. We felt quite displaced for a while. Our new RV finally arrived, and then came another move from our old RV and the items in our storage unit moved over into the new RV. There was so much that needed to align and happen simultaneously. We also had to order a new truck capable of towing our new RV and take a commercial driving course to get licensed for towing it, as our province required additional licensing. Not everything went as planned, but we rolled with the punches, such as having to arrange a licensed friend to assist us in towing the RV to Kelowna to do our driver training and road tests because we could not find a driving school in the Victoria area to pick us up at the RV park and teach us. Our lives were definitely chaotic for a while, but looking back now, all the planning, chaos, and hard work were worth it.

We've encountered numerous amazing people and formed lasting friendships. We've enjoyed countless wonderful experiences and have seen and done a great deal including slaying some bucket list destinations.

Living in an RV has given us a flexible, mobile lifestyle centered around freedom, travel, and adventure. We can reside in our recreational vehicle either full-time or seasonally, whether in hot or cold weather, as our model is designed for all four seasons. We've experienced much colder climates, where using the furnace was necessary, and naturally, the AC on hot days. We opted for a rig equipped with solar panels and a generator, and we thoroughly enjoy this unconventional way of living. We have the option to go boondocking (off-grid camping) or stay at campgrounds with RV hookups. We can move as often as we wish, changing our surroundings frequently, or settle in one place for months.

Here are some benefits we find traveling with our RV: avoid crowded planes, cramped seats, noisy children, and heavily scented passengers. There's no risk of catching travel-related illnesses or losing your luggage. You won't need to book hotels or arrange transportation. Enjoy the comforts of home wherever you go and bring more personal items. You won't have to live out of a suitcase. Save money on entertainment and food. It's a pet-friendly environment without extra deposits for accommodations and bookings. Less rooms/ surface area to clean. You'll also have the chance to make friends within the RV community. Experience the flexibility and freedom to change plans as needed. Initially, We thought downsizing from our home to RV life would involve many sacrifices, but we haven't felt that at all. Our RV is like a condo on wheels, and our truck and RV together cost less than a condo would have cost us had we opted to downsize and stay living in our city. We even have a washer and dryer. Our RV has all the amenities we need and more. Selling our home and choosing this path afforded us the ultimate freedom of being debt-free, along with a new lifestyle and days filled with relaxation and adventure, or what ever we choose that day!

It was a pretty scary thought back then, but now that we've been living this way for a couple of years, we have no regrets, and in fact, it's been a more amazing experience than I expected it to be. We travel back to Vancouver Island at least twice a year to visit our kids, family, and friends where we once called home, and this winter we had the luxury of overwintering on the Island and made more friends along the way.

I think in life it's easy to grow comfortable with being uncomfortable and get caught in a cycle. A big house, a never-ending to-do list, and bills that felt constant. We traded that for the open road. If you are like us and have considered this life but are also nervous to make the move... JUST GO DO IT! We personally couldn't do the rat race anymore and knew there was more life had to offer, especially if you have the means to retire or work remotely.

Our original plan was to sell and downsize...if we had done that, we'd both still be working, taking out another mortgage, and still in debt. I was working crazy and long hours as a Realtor and Strata Manager, and Bill was about to retire, having put in 39 and a half years with the Canadian Navy. I'm now so glad we decided to sell, use the equity from our home, and make it work for us by investing and drawing income from our investment and combining it with pension income, which has allowed us to hit the road and make this new life with time to do the things that bring us joy. As empty nesters, we no longer felt the need to have the security of a steady fixed address/home in a city known for its high cost of living. Strategic thinking and planning have allowed us to live our best lives sooner than we had anticipated, and we still have a place on Vancouver Island to stay at when we want to visit... our home just now has wheels and home is where we park it!

Two years later, we are now into our second winter on the road. We have had a wonderful and relaxing four months wintering on southern Vancouver Island, BC, and we will soon hit the road again, changing locations for our next adventure to visit and explore more of northern Vancouver Island.

"The road ahead is better than the roof above."

Bill & Cat