April 20, 2024 • 20 mins
Where has Camille been? Did you think she disappeared? Au contraire good listener. She is back and ready to continue the saga of her journey to the sun.
In episode 97, we join Camille, and her husband Bryce, as they travel the 2nd leg of their road trip to the event of a lifetime – the solar eclipse.
In episode 96, we left them in Holbrook, AZ. Now, they are on their way to the vastness that is known as Texas where the adventure continues. There are technical glitches, rough roads, unhappy cats, short order cooking – what? Keep listening, you’re gonna love this one!
You're listening to the remote work retirement show. I'm your host, Camille Attell. And this is the only show that helps semi-retirees figure out their remote work options.
I believe the remote work is the new retirement plan and that many retirees have both the ability and desire to work how they want so they can live how they want. Let's dig into today's episode....
If you want to learn more about how to leverage your digital products or service visit:
www.camilleattell.com/remoteworkschool
You can also take her FREE training at:
www.camilleattell.com/remote-training
If you have suggestions for the show, you can contact Camille via Instagram: @camille.attell
**DISCLAIMER: This podcast is not a substitute for professional consultation. For any retirement or income-related matters, it is best to work with a professional advisor.**
Welcome to The Remote Work Retirement Show, the only show that is dedicated to remote work for semi-retirees, people leaving the workforce, and people working in retirement to help them have the peace of mind that they can live how they want without the fear of running out of money.
· Instagram: @camille.attell
· Linkedin: Camille Attell, MA
· Check out the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaeS5wa0iAdD3C_cDLyj-Pg
· RV Blog:
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
In episode 97, we pick up withpart two.
(00:04):
Of road trip with me to thesolar eclipse.
You're listening to the remotework retirement show.
I'm your host, Camille Attell.
And this is the only show thathelps semi retirees figure out
the remote work options.
I believe the remote work is thenew retirement plan and that
(00:25):
many retirees have both theability and desire to work, how
they want so they can live howthey want.
Let's dig into today'sepisode....
Well, welcome back to part two.
If you are just picking up thisseries and you haven't heard
part one of road trip with me tothe solar eclipse.
(00:47):
I would encourage you to go backand start with episode 96.
So that you can follow alongwith this very adventurous
journey.
Or just stay here and pick it upwherever you pick it up.
I can almost barely rememberwhere I left off from the last
episode, because.
It has been at least two or moreweeks since I've actually
(01:10):
recorded the podcast.
And so I will explain why thatis and what's been going on.
It's, uh, hopefully not onlyinteresting, but maybe somewhat
educational, but here's where Ithink we left off.
I think I was in Holbrook,Arizona.
And at the time that I recordedthe podcast, I had some pretty
(01:31):
good internet.
And what I thought would happenis because I had that good
internet.
I was going to get a lot of workdone.
And then later that day I had acoaching circle.
Inside of remote work school.
Now, if you're not familiar withremote work school or the
coaching circles, this is myonline coaching and a course
(01:52):
program where people have theopportunity to do both a self
study on their own.
As well as get support frommyself as well as other coaches.
And our community manager.
So we had one of those scheduledthat day.
And funny enough, the new coach,his name is mark, who I'm in the
(02:13):
process of training.
It is an absolute miracle thathe was available that day
because my internet stoppedworking.
Uh, that same day and I wasn'table to do the coaching circle
the way I normally would.
Now, most of the time, 95 pluspercent of the time, I have
absolutely no trouble withinternet.
(02:36):
And even when I'm on the road, Iknow how to find really good
internet.
You know, When it's notavailable, or if it's spotty, I
have a few different things thatI do.
I'll talk about that in theepisode.
But thank goodness mark wasthere because he was able to
just pick right up.
And when I got bumped off theinternet, at least seven times.
(02:58):
He was able to just slot rightin and the.
There was really no impact toour customers.
And I'm really, really gratefulfor that.
Because if mark had not beenthere.
It would have been a disasterand it would have impacted our
customers.
So if mark is listening, shoutout to him.
So before I go on in the storyand tell you about the remainder
(03:22):
of the road trip to get toTexas.
I want to pause and I do want totalk about internet on the road
for just a moment.
So this is perhaps the point inthe story where we go from
somewhat interesting toeducational.
If you're someone who.
Dreams of working from the road.
You want to do remote work?
You want to travel and work.
(03:43):
But you're not sure how to getgood internet or you're worried
about it, which I think by now,most people have figured this
out because you know, in thelast three or four years, people
were really forced into remotework and a lot of people went on
the road.
But there are still some folksout there who feel a little
confused or overwhelmed by this.
I will tell you that the waythat I carry internet with me or
(04:08):
how I had been carrying internetwith me.
Back in my early nomadic daysdoesn't really work anymore.
And so this is really important.
Now when I was on the road, backin 20 16, 17, 18, all the way up
to 2020.
And even 2021, because we weretraveling part-time.
We were able to get away withusing.
(04:31):
Um, what's called a hotspot.
We have this, this very oldVerizon hotspot that we bought a
million years ago, it feelslike.
And so we've kept that deviceand that plan, because it's so
good.
I think we get unlimited datafor maybe like$60 a month.
I know.
It's not available anymore.
(04:52):
Um, but that's why we've heldonto it.
And we've decided we're notgoing to let go of that thing,
even though there's times wedon't need it.
It's just a nice insurance,right?
And then we have this otherthing.
I can't remember what it'scalled.
It's like a little kind ofrectangular, flat.
Kind of booster looking thingand we can plug it into that
device.
(05:12):
And then that strengthens thesignal.
And we've been able to get awaywith using internet like that
for years, almost everywhere inthe country.
I would say 90% of the placesthat we've traveled and we've
traveled a lot of places.
We've been able to get adequateinternet sometimes faster than
others.
But always we've been able towork well.
(05:34):
That is just not the caseanymore.
We found that almost everywherewe went was terrible.
And, and another thing I'll sayis that the RV parks.
That advertise, having freewifi.
There's still just as bad asthey always were.
That definitely has notimproved.
So I never depend on Parkway.
(05:56):
Wi-Fi.
In less your going to an RV parkwhere that's something they
specialize in.
And so I do want to give a shoutout to the park that I'm at
right now.
It's called gather.
It is in, uh, Texas.
Belmont Texas to be exact.
And their whole business modelis catering to the digital
(06:17):
nomad.
And the travelers at work fromthe road.
It's such a fantastic park.
It has so many cool amenities.
It's got a beautiful pool.
It's got an amazing, uh, Jimactually, which has unusual.
It has a really the best partabout it is it has this massive
coworking.
Room that has fantasticinternet.
(06:39):
And it also has wifi that youcould use from your RV as well.
They've got fire pits andoutdoor areas.
The owners are really nice.
The spots are really big.
It's just a really nice part.
So a park like this.
Does have reliable internet.
But most parks do not.
So you can't rely on the RVparks.
(07:01):
And I'll say one other thing.
Starlink and I'm pretty sureyou've heard of it, especially
again, if you're someone who'sinterested in traveling and
working from the road.
Everybody.
I know.
Who works from the road.
And even who doesn't work fromthe road is using Starlink.
And it's not like, I didn't knowthis.
I've known this for years.
It's just that I didn't want tobuy it.
(07:22):
Because I wasn't traveling fulltime.
I thought I could get away withusing the devices we got away
with using for five years,basically.
And, uh, it didn't seem likeStarlink was going to be the
best investment for me at thetime, but I am really, really
wrong.
I mean, it, it comes down to ifI want to continue working from
the road.
(07:43):
And have true reliable internet.
Anywhere.
And I'm talking in very remoteplaces.
Uh, where I could go off grid, Icould go into the forest.
I could go into the desert andknow that I could work.
Then I'm likely going to need toget Starlink.
And so that's.
This is the big lesson of theday in this episode is I wish I
(08:07):
could tell you that there were,you know, other solutions and
approaches and there are.
You know, there are other folksout there who have their
specific setups and their ownrouters and backups to backups
and all of that, but that'snever been me.
And so I can't.
Explain to you, what thealternative to Starlink is at
somehow better.
(08:28):
Uh, and I would say equallyaffordable, although it's not
affordable.
Starlink is expensive, in myopinion.
But you get what you pay for.
So there you go.
That's what I have to say aboutthat.
Uh, which brings me to, this iswhy I haven't recorded an
episode in so long on this roadtrip.
Every time I went to go recordthe episode.
(08:48):
The internet was a problem.
Or we had a travel day.
It's very hard to work on traveldays for me.
I do it, but it's not going torecord a podcast while I'm
driving down the road.
That's going to be distractingfor you.
And it's hard for me to focus.
I also have big visions.
I'm someone who I can neverhave.
Like a simple vision.
(09:10):
I was thinking, Ooh.
The podcast I want to recordwould be one where I interviewed
Bryce.
My husband.
And I get him to talk.
Talk in the podcast about whatdrive days were like for him,
how he planned the route, whatthe eclipse was like for him and
all that.
I think that would be superinteresting.
But, you know, my husband, he'snot so excited about recording a
(09:34):
podcast with me either becauseit's a lot of work.
So I delayed and I delayed and Ithought, you know what?
This is not getting any easier.
I'm not as well.
Just jump on.
And, and record this episodewhile I have good internet and
I'm not driving.
So here you go.
Here we are.
So now I'll tell you a bit moreabout the journey.
(09:55):
After we left Holbrook Arizona,and, and really the rest of this
episode is going to be.
Up to the point of the solareclipse.
So stay tuned.
If you want to hear about thatnow, maybe you saw it yourself.
Perhaps you traveled to a placewhere you were in the path of
totality and you have yourexperience of the eclipse.
(10:17):
And so I don't know, maybe yoursis similar to mine or perhaps
it's very different.
We decided to choose Paris,Texas as the place to view.
The eclipse, because not onlywas it in the path of totality,
which means total darkness.
But we were meeting up with theescapees and Escapers, which is
(10:40):
an RV community that we'vebelonged to for many, many
years.
And this was our opportunity toget back to that community.
We haven't done anything.
Together with them in a reallylong time.
It's really since 2021.
Uh, actually I take that back.
Bryce.
And I did go to what's calledthe Escapers bash in lake Havasu
(11:02):
in January of 2022.
And then I went alone to theEscapers bash in January of
2024, but I had to leave early.
But together Bryce and I reallyhaven't seen a lot of these
people in a really long time.
So we decided, yes, let's drive.
You know, practically, well, itis across the country because I
(11:23):
mean, Texas is its own country.
Let's get real.
Once you reach Texas.
You still have a lot of miles togo.
So it just felt like we werecrossing the whole country.
It really did.
So after Holbrook, Arizona,which I believe might've been
our second day on the road.
We still had four more days.
(11:44):
To get to our destination.
And I got to tell ya, it wasfor.
Long grueling, exhausting days,both physically and in some
ways, mentally.
And if you don't know my story.
In 2016, I left reallyeverything behind.
(12:05):
My husband Bryce and I jumpedinto a class, a motor home, and
we started traveling thecountry.
We had never RV before that.
And we did 44 states, 44,000miles in roughly four years.
I think because we lived thatway, we just got used to all the
travel.
We also learned as we went alongin that journey to just slow
(12:26):
down and not travel so much.
And we had at one point gonefrom California to Texas in six
consecutive days.
But for some reason, This time,it felt.
Much harder.
And here's why I think that is.
We are a little bit older.
Our bodies are a littledifferent now.
(12:47):
I won't get into that, but Iwould say we've both Bryce and I
lost maybe a bit of strength.
Maybe a little bit of vigor.
I don't know.
But here's what I think the realreason is.
We now have a travel trailerinstead of our nice class a that
felt like.
I know this is naive, but itjust felt like we were so big
going down the road that almostnothing could get us.
(13:09):
Right.
Like cars get out of our way.
People don't jump out in frontof you in a crosswalk.
I mean the big rigs don't carethat's for sure.
But you just feel safe and solidand secure in a class, a motor
home.
Well, a travel trailer feelscompletely different.
And we have a car that isprobably a little bit
(13:30):
underpowered.
I talked about this in episode96.
It is technically supposed to beable to pull the travel trailer.
But we're getting real close toour max weight.
And so when we hit weather andwe hit weather every day, if you
have crossed west Texas, youknow what I need the wind.
(13:50):
The gusts.
Our intense, we had, you know,wind.
Rain.
Hail.
Every type of weather, you canimagine.
Now in, in, when we werecrossing through Arizona, I
mentioned.
Um, we had gone through it.
I mentioned in the episode 96,we had gone through a bonafide
snowstorm twice.
(14:11):
So we didn't hit that on any ofthe other days, but every type
of weather we did hit felt justas difficult.
Also, those are some of longstretches where there's nothing
out there.
And it's just.
I don't know, it's just, theroad feels long.
Some of the pavement on the roadis not even, so you feel all of
(14:33):
that and you just feel thattravel trailer kind of jerking
back and forth, back and forth.
It just it's a lot.
We also travel with two cats andour poor cats and just hate it.
The hate drive days.
They didn't love the class, amotor home, but at least they
could like lay around and findnice hiding places.
And now we have them in the carand I do let them out of their,
(14:57):
their cat carriers so they canfind their places in the car.
They like, but boy, they justdon't like it at all.
So, you know, nobody likes theroad trips.
I'm not loving it.
My husband's not loving it.
The cats don't love it.
So.
I don't know what we'll do withthis travel trailer.
When we get home.
I don't think I'm ever going tocome this far in it again.
I just think it's too much.
(15:19):
Maybe we'll use it for morelocal events.
I don't know.
Uh, maybe I'll rent it out.
That's an option.
Maybe I'll sell it.
I don't know.
We'll see what happens.
So anyway, if you're someonewho's thinking about shopping
for an RV or motor home, I wouldsay based on my experience,
which is limited, because allI've had is a class a, that was
(15:39):
thought at 34 feet.
The one with the big, you know,the big windshield.
And a small 21, well, small ish,21 foot travel trailer.
From those two experiencesalone.
I will say that.
Um, A travel trailer just feelsa lot harder.
So there you go.
There's my 2 cents on that.
Okay.
Now we did make it to Paris,Texas.
(16:01):
Uh, Yahoo.
And it was so exciting to seeour friends.
It was so awesome to be a partof the community.
And feel like we were back withour people.
I really miss our people.
It was validation that I don'tthink that living in a house in
one place is for me.
And I also don't think living ina house in one place and having
(16:24):
that place be California is forme anymore, born and raised
there.
I live there almost my wholelife.
And I think it's time to go.
So Bryce and I, while we're onthis journey are checking out
places in Texas, because we arethinking about.
Moving to Texas.
I don't know.
We're very open at this point,which is exciting.
(16:46):
So we make it to Paris.
And, uh, what's kind of funny ison the first night they had two
food trucks.
To food trucks for about 350people.
I think there was like 200 rigsthere to 250 rigs maybe, but
like 350 people.
Now a lot of people will cook orhave their own food in their RV
(17:07):
or go to dinner, but they didhave food trucks on site.
For the people who just thoughtthat would be easier.
Well, one of the food trucks, Iwas one of the first people in
line.
Because I know, I know whatlines are like at food trucks at
a big event.
Right?
So I'm bee lining for the line.
I'm probably maybe the seventhperson in line.
And I see one person working thefood truck.
(17:28):
And there were like 30 people inline.
And the only thing that personcould do was take orders.
He hadn't even started cooking.
And I'm like, oh no, this isgoing to be a disaster.
This poor guy.
So get up to the window.
I put in my order and I say tohim, Hey, um, Do you need some
help?
Because it looks like you're theonly one.
(17:49):
And I think you're going to getoverwhelmed real quickly.
And of course his pride, youknow, he's like, no, no, no, I'm
going to be fine.
I've called my cousin, mycousin's on the way.
So I said to him, well, okay.
How about this?
Why don't I come in and help youuntil your cousin gets here and
then, you know, you won't needme anymore.
Right?
Tried to really just make itseem helpful.
(18:11):
And like, he wasn't desperate.
So he, he looked at me and hewas hesitating and he said,
okay, okay, come on in.
So I'm not kidding you.
I jumped into that food truck.
I have never worked in a foodtruck before.
I have worked in restaurants.
So how hard can it be?
Right.
I love fast paced environments.
And I love helping out.
(18:31):
And it was hard.
Cause I had to learn his, uh,point of sale system very
quickly, which was on his phone.
Uh, I had to learn how to takethe orders.
I had to learn how to give outthe beepers that buzz people.
It was insane.
It was so crazy and so fun atthe same time.
(18:51):
That I don't know.
It made me want to open a foodtruck.
I swear, but if I open a foodtruck, It's not going to be one
where I actually cook any food.
It would be something like whereI have shrimp cocktail or Or
something cold or somethingthat's like snacks because the
grill was, was crazy.
It was hot.
(19:11):
There are too many things on it.
And the guy got so backed up.
People were waiting for food forlike an hour.
I mean, it was, it was a mess,but I had fun and I got to talk
to so many people.
Who came to the window?
Couple people did double takes.
They came up to me and they werelike, Camille, what are you
doing in the food truck?
You know, so it was really cooland really fun.
(19:32):
And, um, that's really how myevent started.
Now, I'm looking at the time onthis podcast, I've gone over my,
I usually target like 20, 22 ishminutes on the podcast.
And I haven't even talked aboutthe eclipse yet.
Which by the time you'relistening to this we're was
weeks ago almost.
(19:52):
So I hate to postpone it, but Ithink I'm going to, because I do
want to share with you theexperience of the eclipse.
And I want to tell you moreabout the event itself.
So why don't you join me for thethird installment in this series
where we'll dig much more intothat, and then I'll pick up
with.
Uh, what happened after theevent on the rest of the road
(20:13):
trip?
So I hope you found thisinteresting.
Maybe a little bit educationaland thank you so much for
listening.
Join me next time.
If you're looking to get backinto the workforce, change jobs,
work remotely, or learnartificial intelligence, check
out my free remote work trainingso you can get ahead of the
(20:35):
trends and stay ahead of thepack.
Click the link in the shownotes, or go to
www.camilahealth.com and pressthe free training button.
In episode 97, we pick up withpart two.
(00:04):
Of road trip with me to thesolar eclipse.
You're listening to the remotework retirement show.
I'm your host, Camille Attell.
And this is the only show thathelps semi retirees figure out
the remote work options.
I believe the remote work is thenew retirement plan and that
(00:25):
many retirees have both theability and desire to work, how
they want so they can live howthey want.
Let's dig into today'sepisode....
Well, welcome back to part two.
If you are just picking up thisseries and you haven't heard
part one of road trip with me tothe solar eclipse.
(00:47):
I would encourage you to go backand start with episode 96.
So that you can follow alongwith this very adventurous
journey.
Or just stay here and pick it upwherever you pick it up.
I can almost barely rememberwhere I left off from the last
episode, because.
It has been at least two or moreweeks since I've actually
(01:10):
recorded the podcast.
And so I will explain why thatis and what's been going on.
It's, uh, hopefully not onlyinteresting, but maybe somewhat
educational, but here's where Ithink we left off.
I think I was in Holbrook,Arizona.
And at the time that I recordedthe podcast, I had some pretty
(01:31):
good internet.
And what I thought would happenis because I had that good
internet.
I was going to get a lot of workdone.
And then later that day I had acoaching circle.
Inside of remote work school.
Now, if you're not familiar withremote work school or the
coaching circles, this is myonline coaching and a course
(01:52):
program where people have theopportunity to do both a self
study on their own.
As well as get support frommyself as well as other coaches.
And our community manager.
So we had one of those scheduledthat day.
And funny enough, the new coach,his name is mark, who I'm in the
(02:13):
process of training.
It is an absolute miracle thathe was available that day
because my internet stoppedworking.
Uh, that same day and I wasn'table to do the coaching circle
the way I normally would.
Now, most of the time, 95 pluspercent of the time, I have
absolutely no trouble withinternet.
(02:36):
And even when I'm on the road, Iknow how to find really good
internet.
You know, When it's notavailable, or if it's spotty, I
have a few different things thatI do.
I'll talk about that in theepisode.
But thank goodness mark wasthere because he was able to
just pick right up.
And when I got bumped off theinternet, at least seven times.
(02:58):
He was able to just slot rightin and the.
There was really no impact toour customers.
And I'm really, really gratefulfor that.
Because if mark had not beenthere.
It would have been a disasterand it would have impacted our
customers.
So if mark is listening, shoutout to him.
So before I go on in the storyand tell you about the remainder
(03:22):
of the road trip to get toTexas.
I want to pause and I do want totalk about internet on the road
for just a moment.
So this is perhaps the point inthe story where we go from
somewhat interesting toeducational.
If you're someone who.
Dreams of working from the road.
You want to do remote work?
You want to travel and work.
(03:43):
But you're not sure how to getgood internet or you're worried
about it, which I think by now,most people have figured this
out because you know, in thelast three or four years, people
were really forced into remotework and a lot of people went on
the road.
But there are still some folksout there who feel a little
confused or overwhelmed by this.
I will tell you that the waythat I carry internet with me or
(04:08):
how I had been carrying internetwith me.
Back in my early nomadic daysdoesn't really work anymore.
And so this is really important.
Now when I was on the road, backin 20 16, 17, 18, all the way up
to 2020.
And even 2021, because we weretraveling part-time.
We were able to get away withusing.
(04:31):
Um, what's called a hotspot.
We have this, this very oldVerizon hotspot that we bought a
million years ago, it feelslike.
And so we've kept that deviceand that plan, because it's so
good.
I think we get unlimited datafor maybe like$60 a month.
I know.
It's not available anymore.
(04:52):
Um, but that's why we've heldonto it.
And we've decided we're notgoing to let go of that thing,
even though there's times wedon't need it.
It's just a nice insurance,right?
And then we have this otherthing.
I can't remember what it'scalled.
It's like a little kind ofrectangular, flat.
Kind of booster looking thingand we can plug it into that
device.
(05:12):
And then that strengthens thesignal.
And we've been able to get awaywith using internet like that
for years, almost everywhere inthe country.
I would say 90% of the placesthat we've traveled and we've
traveled a lot of places.
We've been able to get adequateinternet sometimes faster than
others.
But always we've been able towork well.
(05:34):
That is just not the caseanymore.
We found that almost everywherewe went was terrible.
And, and another thing I'll sayis that the RV parks.
That advertise, having freewifi.
There's still just as bad asthey always were.
That definitely has notimproved.
So I never depend on Parkway.
(05:56):
Wi-Fi.
In less your going to an RV parkwhere that's something they
specialize in.
And so I do want to give a shoutout to the park that I'm at
right now.
It's called gather.
It is in, uh, Texas.
Belmont Texas to be exact.
And their whole business modelis catering to the digital
(06:17):
nomad.
And the travelers at work fromthe road.
It's such a fantastic park.
It has so many cool amenities.
It's got a beautiful pool.
It's got an amazing, uh, Jimactually, which has unusual.
It has a really the best partabout it is it has this massive
coworking.
Room that has fantasticinternet.
(06:39):
And it also has wifi that youcould use from your RV as well.
They've got fire pits andoutdoor areas.
The owners are really nice.
The spots are really big.
It's just a really nice part.
So a park like this.
Does have reliable internet.
But most parks do not.
So you can't rely on the RVparks.
(07:01):
And I'll say one other thing.
Starlink and I'm pretty sureyou've heard of it, especially
again, if you're someone who'sinterested in traveling and
working from the road.
Everybody.
I know.
Who works from the road.
And even who doesn't work fromthe road is using Starlink.
And it's not like, I didn't knowthis.
I've known this for years.
It's just that I didn't want tobuy it.
(07:22):
Because I wasn't traveling fulltime.
I thought I could get away withusing the devices we got away
with using for five years,basically.
And, uh, it didn't seem likeStarlink was going to be the
best investment for me at thetime, but I am really, really
wrong.
I mean, it, it comes down to ifI want to continue working from
the road.
(07:43):
And have true reliable internet.
Anywhere.
And I'm talking in very remoteplaces.
Uh, where I could go off grid, Icould go into the forest.
I could go into the desert andknow that I could work.
Then I'm likely going to need toget Starlink.
And so that's.
This is the big lesson of theday in this episode is I wish I
(08:07):
could tell you that there were,you know, other solutions and
approaches and there are.
You know, there are other folksout there who have their
specific setups and their ownrouters and backups to backups
and all of that, but that'snever been me.
And so I can't.
Explain to you, what thealternative to Starlink is at
somehow better.
(08:28):
Uh, and I would say equallyaffordable, although it's not
affordable.
Starlink is expensive, in myopinion.
But you get what you pay for.
So there you go.
That's what I have to say aboutthat.
Uh, which brings me to, this iswhy I haven't recorded an
episode in so long on this roadtrip.
Every time I went to go recordthe episode.
(08:48):
The internet was a problem.
Or we had a travel day.
It's very hard to work on traveldays for me.
I do it, but it's not going torecord a podcast while I'm
driving down the road.
That's going to be distractingfor you.
And it's hard for me to focus.
I also have big visions.
I'm someone who I can neverhave.
Like a simple vision.
(09:10):
I was thinking, Ooh.
The podcast I want to recordwould be one where I interviewed
Bryce.
My husband.
And I get him to talk.
Talk in the podcast about whatdrive days were like for him,
how he planned the route, whatthe eclipse was like for him and
all that.
I think that would be superinteresting.
But, you know, my husband, he'snot so excited about recording a
(09:34):
podcast with me either becauseit's a lot of work.
So I delayed and I delayed and Ithought, you know what?
This is not getting any easier.
I'm not as well.
Just jump on.
And, and record this episodewhile I have good internet and
I'm not driving.
So here you go.
Here we are.
So now I'll tell you a bit moreabout the journey.
(09:55):
After we left Holbrook Arizona,and, and really the rest of this
episode is going to be.
Up to the point of the solareclipse.
So stay tuned.
If you want to hear about thatnow, maybe you saw it yourself.
Perhaps you traveled to a placewhere you were in the path of
totality and you have yourexperience of the eclipse.
(10:17):
And so I don't know, maybe yoursis similar to mine or perhaps
it's very different.
We decided to choose Paris,Texas as the place to view.
The eclipse, because not onlywas it in the path of totality,
which means total darkness.
But we were meeting up with theescapees and Escapers, which is
(10:40):
an RV community that we'vebelonged to for many, many
years.
And this was our opportunity toget back to that community.
We haven't done anything.
Together with them in a reallylong time.
It's really since 2021.
Uh, actually I take that back.
Bryce.
And I did go to what's calledthe Escapers bash in lake Havasu
(11:02):
in January of 2022.
And then I went alone to theEscapers bash in January of
2024, but I had to leave early.
But together Bryce and I reallyhaven't seen a lot of these
people in a really long time.
So we decided, yes, let's drive.
You know, practically, well, itis across the country because I
(11:23):
mean, Texas is its own country.
Let's get real.
Once you reach Texas.
You still have a lot of miles togo.
So it just felt like we werecrossing the whole country.
It really did.
So after Holbrook, Arizona,which I believe might've been
our second day on the road.
We still had four more days.
(11:44):
To get to our destination.
And I got to tell ya, it wasfor.
Long grueling, exhausting days,both physically and in some
ways, mentally.
And if you don't know my story.
In 2016, I left reallyeverything behind.
(12:05):
My husband Bryce and I jumpedinto a class, a motor home, and
we started traveling thecountry.
We had never RV before that.
And we did 44 states, 44,000miles in roughly four years.
I think because we lived thatway, we just got used to all the
travel.
We also learned as we went alongin that journey to just slow
(12:26):
down and not travel so much.
And we had at one point gonefrom California to Texas in six
consecutive days.
But for some reason, This time,it felt.
Much harder.
And here's why I think that is.
We are a little bit older.
Our bodies are a littledifferent now.
(12:47):
I won't get into that, but Iwould say we've both Bryce and I
lost maybe a bit of strength.
Maybe a little bit of vigor.
I don't know.
But here's what I think the realreason is.
We now have a travel trailerinstead of our nice class a that
felt like.
I know this is naive, but itjust felt like we were so big
going down the road that almostnothing could get us.
(13:09):
Right.
Like cars get out of our way.
People don't jump out in frontof you in a crosswalk.
I mean the big rigs don't carethat's for sure.
But you just feel safe and solidand secure in a class, a motor
home.
Well, a travel trailer feelscompletely different.
And we have a car that isprobably a little bit
(13:30):
underpowered.
I talked about this in episode96.
It is technically supposed to beable to pull the travel trailer.
But we're getting real close toour max weight.
And so when we hit weather andwe hit weather every day, if you
have crossed west Texas, youknow what I need the wind.
(13:50):
The gusts.
Our intense, we had, you know,wind.
Rain.
Hail.
Every type of weather, you canimagine.
Now in, in, when we werecrossing through Arizona, I
mentioned.
Um, we had gone through it.
I mentioned in the episode 96,we had gone through a bonafide
snowstorm twice.
(14:11):
So we didn't hit that on any ofthe other days, but every type
of weather we did hit felt justas difficult.
Also, those are some of longstretches where there's nothing
out there.
And it's just.
I don't know, it's just, theroad feels long.
Some of the pavement on the roadis not even, so you feel all of
(14:33):
that and you just feel thattravel trailer kind of jerking
back and forth, back and forth.
It just it's a lot.
We also travel with two cats andour poor cats and just hate it.
The hate drive days.
They didn't love the class, amotor home, but at least they
could like lay around and findnice hiding places.
And now we have them in the carand I do let them out of their,
(14:57):
their cat carriers so they canfind their places in the car.
They like, but boy, they justdon't like it at all.
So, you know, nobody likes theroad trips.
I'm not loving it.
My husband's not loving it.
The cats don't love it.
So.
I don't know what we'll do withthis travel trailer.
When we get home.
I don't think I'm ever going tocome this far in it again.
I just think it's too much.
(15:19):
Maybe we'll use it for morelocal events.
I don't know.
Uh, maybe I'll rent it out.
That's an option.
Maybe I'll sell it.
I don't know.
We'll see what happens.
So anyway, if you're someonewho's thinking about shopping
for an RV or motor home, I wouldsay based on my experience,
which is limited, because allI've had is a class a, that was
(15:39):
thought at 34 feet.
The one with the big, you know,the big windshield.
And a small 21, well, small ish,21 foot travel trailer.
From those two experiencesalone.
I will say that.
Um, A travel trailer just feelsa lot harder.
So there you go.
There's my 2 cents on that.
Okay.
Now we did make it to Paris,Texas.
(16:01):
Uh, Yahoo.
And it was so exciting to seeour friends.
It was so awesome to be a partof the community.
And feel like we were back withour people.
I really miss our people.
It was validation that I don'tthink that living in a house in
one place is for me.
And I also don't think living ina house in one place and having
(16:24):
that place be California is forme anymore, born and raised
there.
I live there almost my wholelife.
And I think it's time to go.
So Bryce and I, while we're onthis journey are checking out
places in Texas, because we arethinking about.
Moving to Texas.
I don't know.
We're very open at this point,which is exciting.
(16:46):
So we make it to Paris.
And, uh, what's kind of funny ison the first night they had two
food trucks.
To food trucks for about 350people.
I think there was like 200 rigsthere to 250 rigs maybe, but
like 350 people.
Now a lot of people will cook orhave their own food in their RV
(17:07):
or go to dinner, but they didhave food trucks on site.
For the people who just thoughtthat would be easier.
Well, one of the food trucks, Iwas one of the first people in
line.
Because I know, I know whatlines are like at food trucks at
a big event.
Right?
So I'm bee lining for the line.
I'm probably maybe the seventhperson in line.
And I see one person working thefood truck.
(17:28):
And there were like 30 people inline.
And the only thing that personcould do was take orders.
He hadn't even started cooking.
And I'm like, oh no, this isgoing to be a disaster.
This poor guy.
So get up to the window.
I put in my order and I say tohim, Hey, um, Do you need some
help?
Because it looks like you're theonly one.
(17:49):
And I think you're going to getoverwhelmed real quickly.
And of course his pride, youknow, he's like, no, no, no, I'm
going to be fine.
I've called my cousin, mycousin's on the way.
So I said to him, well, okay.
How about this?
Why don't I come in and help youuntil your cousin gets here and
then, you know, you won't needme anymore.
Right?
Tried to really just make itseem helpful.
(18:11):
And like, he wasn't desperate.
So he, he looked at me and hewas hesitating and he said,
okay, okay, come on in.
So I'm not kidding you.
I jumped into that food truck.
I have never worked in a foodtruck before.
I have worked in restaurants.
So how hard can it be?
Right.
I love fast paced environments.
And I love helping out.
(18:31):
And it was hard.
Cause I had to learn his, uh,point of sale system very
quickly, which was on his phone.
Uh, I had to learn how to takethe orders.
I had to learn how to give outthe beepers that buzz people.
It was insane.
It was so crazy and so fun atthe same time.
(18:51):
That I don't know.
It made me want to open a foodtruck.
I swear, but if I open a foodtruck, It's not going to be one
where I actually cook any food.
It would be something like whereI have shrimp cocktail or Or
something cold or somethingthat's like snacks because the
grill was, was crazy.
It was hot.
(19:11):
There are too many things on it.
And the guy got so backed up.
People were waiting for food forlike an hour.
I mean, it was, it was a mess,but I had fun and I got to talk
to so many people.
Who came to the window?
Couple people did double takes.
They came up to me and they werelike, Camille, what are you
doing in the food truck?
You know, so it was really cooland really fun.
(19:32):
And, um, that's really how myevent started.
Now, I'm looking at the time onthis podcast, I've gone over my,
I usually target like 20, 22 ishminutes on the podcast.
And I haven't even talked aboutthe eclipse yet.
Which by the time you'relistening to this we're was
weeks ago almost.
(19:52):
So I hate to postpone it, but Ithink I'm going to, because I do
want to share with you theexperience of the eclipse.
And I want to tell you moreabout the event itself.
So why don't you join me for thethird installment in this series
where we'll dig much more intothat, and then I'll pick up
with.
Uh, what happened after theevent on the rest of the road
(20:13):
trip?
So I hope you found thisinteresting.
Maybe a little bit educationaland thank you so much for
listening.
Join me next time.
If you're looking to get backinto the workforce, change jobs,
work remotely, or learnartificial intelligence, check
out my free remote work trainingso you can get ahead of the
(20:35):
trends and stay ahead of thepack.
Click the link in the shownotes, or go to
www.camilahealth.com and pressthe free training button.
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