September 20, 2023 • 34 mins
Ever dreamt of selling everything and hitting the open road? Digital nomad and travel blogger Deborah Dennis did just that. This fearless world traveler decided it was time to explore her home country so she packed up her life, her two dogs, and her Airstream travel trailer, and started a journey across the country.
Our conversation with Deborah is a deep dive into the realities of solo travel. Deborah candidly discusses everything from the fear of towing a trailer to the joys and challenges of traveling with dogs. She also breaks down her preferred places to camp as a solo traveler, how to find the best boondocking spots, state and county campgrounds, and Harvest Hosts, a membership that provides free stays at charming farms, wineries, and breweries.
But Deborah's journey doesn't stop at travel. She ventured into the online world, started a travel blog, enrolled herself in classes to expand her knowledge, and explored varied opportunities in the digital sphere. From full-time travel to intermittent travel, from online side hustles to full-time endeavors, Deborah's story is truly inspiring. Whether you're a seasoned traveler, a digital nomad, or just someone with a dream, this conversation with Deborah is sure to get your wheels turning.
Follow Deborah:
Travelswithwally.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So picture this you get rid of all your stuff,
purchase an airstream traveltrailer when you've never even
towed anything before, and youset off on a cross-country road
trip by yourself.
Sounds overwhelming, right, butthat's exactly what this
episode of the Wayward Homepodcast is all about.
Deborah Dennis took the leapand traveled full time with her
two dogs and her tow behindtrailer, all on her own.
(00:21):
She has tons of interestingtips and lessons about how to do
this by yourself, what it waslike as a single woman, and what
her lifestyle looks like today.
Let's go.
Welcome to the Wayward Homepodcast, all about van life,
boat life and nomadic living.
We'll bring you tips,interviews and stories from the
road and on the water.
Now here's your host, KristenHaynes.
Hey there, I'm Kristen Hayneswith thewaywardhomecom and I
(00:43):
spend half the year in my campervan and half on my sailboat in
Mexico.
I hope to inspire you to livenomatically too.
So before we jump into thisepisode, I just wanted to ask
you this have you triedboondocking before?
If you don't know whatboondocking is, that's totally
fine.
It's finding beautiful and freecampsites on public lands like
Bureau of Land Management and onForest Service lands.
(01:04):
It's our favorite way to campin our sprinter van, but you
might be a little nervous aboutboondocking.
How do you find campsites?
Can your rig really go safelydown those dirt roads?
How do you find food and water?
How do you take a shower?
Well, in my boondocking 101guide I answer all these
questions and even show you thebest and my most favorite ways
to find these free campsites.
(01:26):
You'll also get a logbook andtrackers.
You can keep records of yourfavorite sites.
Are you interested?
Well, you can head tothewaywardhomecom forward slash
boondocking to grab the ultimateboondocking guide with the
logbook and tracker.
Again, head tothewaywardhomecom forward slash
boondocking.
So in this episode of theWayward Home podcast, I talked
to Deborah Dennis, who's atravel blogger, photographer and
(01:48):
designer, about her solo tripacross the United States in her
Airstream travel trailer.
When she decided to take thistrip, Deborah had never even
told anything before.
But Deborah isn't a stranger tosolo travel.
She's tracked black rhinos inZimbabwe, sailed in Tonga,
photographed lions in Africa,hiked Machu Picchu and scuba
(02:09):
dived the Great White Wall inFiji.
She's quite the adventurer andhas a blog called
travelswithwallycom.
It's such an inspiring episodeto hear more about Deborah's
journey, so let's get into it.
Hey, Deborah, thanks so muchfor joining the Wayward Home
podcast.
I'm so happy you're here today.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
I'm so happy to be here.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Awesome.
So first of all, let's just gointo a little bit about your
travels.
I know that you have anAirstream and you travel in that
, and you took a cross countrytrip in your Airstream by
yourself.
So let's just go back to thebeginning.
What made you decide to getthat Airstream and take this
trip in the first place?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Well, I've traveled all over the world and I just
always wanted to come back homeand see more of the country and
see family and friends and bringmy dogs along.
And so I just researched it abit and I decided I wanted to
have an Airstream travel trailer, and so I went off and bought
(03:06):
one and decided to go crosscountry on my first trip, which
was kind of, you know,industrious.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah, very much so.
And what was it like because Ihave a little bit of a fear even
driving the Sprinter Van I'm in.
It's a big van, I got used toit.
But what was it like for you inthe beginning, you know,
learning how to tow somethingthat's a whole other animal to
learn how to deal with.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Absolutely.
I have to say, I was terrifiedand there's a funny story about
it because a friend of minefound this Airstream used, but
it was in Texas and I'm inNorthern California and there
just wasn't a lot used.
I would have had to wait sixmonths to buy a new one, and so
I just called the guy up and Isaid, you know, would I just
(03:49):
drive there and pick it up?
And so you know, that'sbasically what I did.
We arranged the whole thing.
The unfortunate part was it wasFebruary 2021.
And I drove down there and theTexas Ice Storm hit and I was in
West Texas and if you've everbeen to West Texas, it's a crazy
(04:10):
, huge expanse of land and Ijust got stuck in a hotel for
five days on my way to pick upmy Airstream.
So well, that's a bummer.
It was a bummer.
It was a bummer, but I gotthere and he gave me a two hour
tour and he gave me a 20 minute.
This is how you tow a trailerand off I went.
(04:32):
And, yes, I was terrified, Iactually was.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Hey, and how did you eventually get used to that?
Did you have to watch likevideos, or did you just jump
into it and start driving it?
Speaker 2 (04:41):
and practice makes perfect, I watched a few videos
on how to back it up.
So that helped a lot.
But it was trial and error.
I mean, it was just.
You know they tell you just doeverything slow, do it
incrementally until you canreally, you know, get the feel
of it.
But you do, you feel veryunwieldy on the road.
(05:03):
My Airstream is tiny, it's only22 feet long and you know big
tractor trailers and other bigRVs go by you and I'm not very
big on the road, very true.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
And so, eventually, you learn to drive it, and as a
you know, solo traveler, singlewoman, like, what was it like
for you to embark on thisjourney?
What was that like at first?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
I know it was.
It was kind of.
It was interesting.
You know I'm very intrepid.
I've been lots of places on myown doing solo travel, so that
wasn't the hardest part.
The hardest part was justnavigating a new world of RV
parks and understanding you knowhow to do trip planning and
making reservations that's hard.
(05:50):
And driving and taking care ofmy dogs All that stuff was
difficult, more difficult than Ithought it was going to be.
Actually, it just took a lot.
Plus, I work on the road.
I'm a digital nomad.
I work and have to go to placeswhere I have Wi-Fi to upload,
you know Zoom calls, and so thatwas yeah, that was hard.
(06:11):
I mean it's funny.
Though, when I get to RV parksand I drive in and I park, you
know people come over and youknow guys will come over and
they're like so you buy yourselfand I'm like no, I've got my
two dogs with me, because theyjust look at me like did you
just do?
You know, like you're doing usall alone?
(06:33):
And women come over and they'relike oh yeah, I want to do what
you're doing.
I want to leave my husband athome.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
That is so funny.
I was.
Yeah, I was wondering howpeople would react, because I
think it's a little less commonto see a solo female on the road
.
I still think people just take,do a double take.
They're like how is she doingthat alone?
Did you get a lot of that, youknow, as you were traveling
across the country?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Oh, all the time, all the time.
Yeah, and you know, like I said, it was very curious.
People were just so curious.
I was like I don't know.
The thing in the zoo that yougo look at right is like we got
to go talk to her.
What was she doing this?
What is she doing?
Why is she doing this?
So yeah, oh funny.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
And were people always friendly?
Or did you ever get any weirdkind of vibes about that from
people?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
You know what I thought I would have more
interesting experiences ordifficulties or something,
especially on the wholecross-country tour, you know,
going to different states,different people, because people
, you know people just say, oh,you know, aren't you scared,
aren't you this?
(07:40):
And I have to say everyone wasso helpful, so friendly and I
had like zero weird experiences.
I mean I camped in lots ofdifferent places, nothing ever
unsafe or scary.
But to some people I think theywould feel you know a little
more, you know, not comfortable.
(08:02):
I mean I have a group offriends on Facebook and you know
acquaintances and stuff, andthere was lots of questions of
you're so brave, you're so thisand I don't know.
I'm not sure I feel that brave,but I definitely think it's
inspiring to see someone like meyou know I'm older, I've done a
lot of things, but stilltotally new experience for me
(08:25):
like you know, taking on a newchallenge.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
I think it's really cool to hear that you've had
such a good experience on theroad as a solo female traveler
solo traveler because I get alot of people writing to me
asking like, can I do this, isit safe?
And it sounds like, from yourperspective, you had a really
great time and continue to havea positive experience out there
by yourself.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I have and I, you know, I think there's a level of
a mindset right.
I mean, I have a veryadventurous mindset and I think
just being open and flexible and, you know, being open and kind
to other people seems to bringthat kind of response back right
(09:05):
.
You know, I'm grateful to beout there and living this life
and do want to share it withpeople and kind of, you know,
help people do that.
And one question I get all thetime is oh, I'll do it someday.
And you know it's like anything.
You know we're just gettingolder, the world's changing.
It's like I just tell peoplejust do it now, you're never
(09:28):
going to be ready, you're nevergoing to be totally ready,
you're never going to be.
Oh, I've got everything youknow figured out, because I
certainly didn't.
You know, I just kind of flungmyself out there.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
So yeah, that's so cool and encouraging to hear and
, yeah, and that makes me thinkabout you know, the next thing
for us to talk about is parkingyour Airstream and figuring out
the trip planning, Because Iknow when I travel around, it's
me and my partner, Tom, and he'sdriving and I'm doing all the
Googling and the research andthe bookings and he's.
So we have this kind of youknow we share, but you are
(10:00):
saying you're doing this all byyourself, as a digital nomad
while driving.
Tell me a little about yourplanning, especially with the
trailer, and how you do this byyourself.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Yeah, absolutely Well , I was.
I was.
I was very nervous about nothaving a place to stay because
with a, you know, with a trailer, you can't just pull off the
road like with a van, right?
You kind of have to besomewhere.
And so I always, before I goton the road in the mornings, and
I would plan three or four daysin advance, if I could, just
(10:29):
where I was going to camp, right, and usually I would stay two
or three or four days because,you know, I had a trailer so I
could make camp, which is why Iwanted a trailer.
I looked at vans I want to makecamp and then I can take,
detach my trailer, take my dogs,we get in the truck and we go
hike, explore, kayak, whateverwe wanted to do, right, and so
(10:53):
that was my thinking.
So I would get to places and Iwould figure out these cool
places.
And again, I found Really coolplaces because I did a lot of
research.
You know, I didn't want to juststay at rv parks with, you know
, side by side and your, youknow, cramped in and all that
kind of stuff.
(11:13):
So I paid a lot of attention toall kinds of different sites
and apps and learned a lot Aboutfinding either remote sites or,
if you want to go to thenational park, in you somebody.
I asked some friends and theysaid stay at henry's lake, which
is outside, and it's just a somuch better experience, you know
, because you're not dealingwith crowd, you're not so.
(11:35):
So that was my way of wantingto travel right, to be more in
nature but still see a lot ofdifferent things.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah, and what types of facilities to do typically
stay at.
I'm sure it was a combination,but over some of your favorites.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Yeah, it was definitely combination.
I would say county parks, stateparks Are fabulous in a lot of
different states, or again,california, iowa, they're just
amazing.
Probably underutilized research, I don't know.
You know we stayed going to thegrand tea times.
I mean just amazing.
(12:10):
But another thing I foundsomebody turned me on to was a
thing called harvests host, andso in between I would call, you
know, find a harvests host, andharvests host is Usually one
night stay.
You join this membership thingfor less than a hundred dollars
a month or a year and then youget access to I think now it's
(12:32):
forty five hundred differentplaces all across the country.
And I remember I started on mytrip and I love farms, I've
worked on farms, I love to eatwell, and so I went to this
first place.
I think it was outside a craternational monument, someplace in
I'd a hoe, and it was thisbeautiful farm and you on the,
(12:55):
on the, when you sign up.
You know, once you sign up it'sfree, you just request access
and basically they say, okay,park over in the horse pasture
and then you can come to thegreenhouses or the, you know the
farm, and buy whatever we have.
And I was like this is thefricking coolest thing Because,
for one, most of the places I'vestayed because their farms in
(13:19):
the middle of nowhere.
Sometimes there's nobody elsethere and you can have the run
of these places and you neverget to see these things
otherwise.
You know, they're kind ofsharing their livelihood with
you and we're at the same time,I felt great supporting small
business, especially a farm.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Yes, true.
And so when you go to one ofthese places a farm, a winery, a
brewery and others, lots ofdifferent venues what kinds of
things would you purchase fromthese farms, for example?
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Anything they're growing.
I mean, I went to three or fouralpaca farms a ranch in Wyoming
and she actually needed fromthe alpaca will and she had this
whole store inside a ranch whenshe sold socks and everything.
So it's great to buy gifts forpeople, which is what I did, and
then, you know, I stayed on aplace of blueberries or buy any
(14:12):
kinds of things they made, youknow, or had harvested,
depending on the season applefarms, maple, sugar farms, all
kinds of different stuff.
Yeah, the wineries are scared alittle more challenging because
you tend to spend a lot more atthose.
So I haven't gone too many ofthose up your budget.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
That's very true.
If you go to a farm and you'rejust buying some vegetables,
that is way cheaper than bottlesof wine or dinners out and
stuff like that Exactly.
I heard some people say oh, Iwant to do harvest host, but I
have to buy something and thatseems expensive.
So it's good to hear that youdon't have to buy super
expensive things when you stayat these places.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
No, absolutely not.
But you know, in my case Iwould buy that food anyway.
So why not buy it from the farm?
And you only have to, you know,as a courtesy, only have to
spend twenty dollars.
And so you know.
Again, it was stuff I was gonnabuy anyway.
And then the gifts and thesedifferent places were fabulous.
I mean even a winery.
If you didn't even drink, youcould go to a winery and just
(15:17):
buy gifts for people.
So I like that whole smallbusiness, entrepreneurial stuff,
because I've been doing thatall my life as well.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Right, yeah, yeah, it is really cool to support small
businesses and it's reallyaffordable when you think about
it.
For a hundred dollars for ayear.
When I've seen our view parks,that are like sixty five bucks a
night.
That's pretty economical, doyou think?
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Oh yeah, our view parks are getting very expensive
, I think, and full.
They're very full, especiallyduring the summer.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Right and have you had experience also staying in
our view parks?
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Yeah, I think I mean our view parks are fine, you
know.
I mean definitely if you wantto stay, you know, close to a
national park, for instance, oryou know just traveling in
different places, maybe closerto cities.
I mean I have stayed in plentyof Our view parks and and
they're fine.
I mean I again, with my tripplanning, I use google maps and
(16:13):
I see what they look like andhow the terrain is, and do I
have to make any, you know,different driving directions
because I have to plan that outbefore getting the truck right.
Nobody's in my copilot seatexcept my dogs and they're not
giving me directions so true,and how?
Speaker 1 (16:31):
how far in advance do you plan out your campsites?
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Yeah, not too far, because I like to be flexible.
I actually just went up tovancouver island from northern
california for a couple monthsI'm just may, june, july and I
did plan some things I had toplan, like the ferry crossing,
taking the art, you know, the rv, the air stream over on the
ferry, so stuff like that youhave to plan.
(16:57):
But I think I only called weekin advance and you know I tend
to, you know, just like I said,park the rv somewhere for three
days, four days a week, and thenI can do, you know, trips and
driving around and hiking andstuff while I'm there.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah, and I interesting thing about harvests
host is you can probably getone fairly easily.
I'm guessing, depending onwhere you are in the country,
that you don't have to plan thatout many months in advance.
Is that was at your experiencewith harvests?
Speaker 2 (17:29):
and some have same day, like I stayed at the
telemark cheesery in oregon thatliterally I think they could.
They had a field just outsidethe you know the greenery, where
probably fifty are these goodpark and people just came in and
left so they always had spaceand they had a restaurant there.
(17:49):
So you just park and you knowit's just great transition from
you know driving, cause lots oftimes like I went all the way up
to vancouver island so I hadyou know three or four days, I
think I spent two weeks gettingup to vancouver island, right,
so it's kind of that tripplanning and I have to say, or
(18:10):
again, state parks rock.
I mean they are just frickingfabulous right yeah, yeah, they
are.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
I've stated a lot of organ state parks I'm from, or
again, and I love them incalifornia has good state parks
and you know my mom travels in abig class a and they love state
parks, is their preferred placeto camp and you're right that
it's kind of overlooked.
You know the state.
We stated a county park lastnight in san diego and those are
often overlooked so there are alot of places to stay that
people you know you don't haveto book out.
(18:38):
I hear from a lot of peoplelike I have to book the six
months in advance.
All these campsites are gonnabe gone but really they're not
and you and I are just to yeahwell, and you have to be
flexible, like I'm flexible, tobe off grid.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
I have solar.
I can be off grid three, four,five days and you know I have
enough water capacity right, andso you know you go to camp
handiom or any of these otherbigger sites where you know
where can you boondock next tosome place where you want to go.
Another option and I've donethat a bit arizona and colorado
(19:12):
and different places, so youknow there's always alternative.
I think it's just harder toresearch and that's what stumble
people stumble on.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Yeah, true, so you have boondocked with the air
stream.
I was gonna ask you about that.
What was that like?
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Yeah, a little bit.
You know, and I'd like toboondock more.
I'm just I'm actually going upto the eastern seara is in a
couple weeks with a friend andyou know we're going up to
monolake area and stuff and youknow I think it'll be really fun
experience.
Sometimes it's nice, like Itend to now what to camp with
other people who have fans orwho have, you know, an rv and
(19:48):
that's.
You know more of a building, acommunity, and when I went
across country I stopped at alot of different friends, places
and Experience.
Do you know parts of their life, like in the upper peninsula,
michigan and places like thatwhere I'd never been before?
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Yeah, that's.
That's interesting, becauseanother thing people ask me all
the time is I want to go rv in avan, but I'm going to be so
lonely and by myself, and whatwould you say to people that are
worried about that?
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Sometimes I am, I have to say, but you know
there's always people aroundthere's, oh, and people are just
so friendly.
Everybody's out Playing partyand have a good time.
Having the dogs is always agood conversation starter with
people.
Lots of people travel with dogsand so you know I'm I am really
(20:37):
an introvert, but when I'm onthe road I just feel the need
sometimes to want to have youknow experiences or find out
what they've experienced thatyou know I wouldn't find out
otherwise, or I wouldn't, Iwouldn't see otherwise.
So I think there's a lot ofthat sharing and Conversation
that goes on about what did you,where did you go?
(20:57):
You know.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Yeah, for sure.
So when you're at a campgroundand you're walking your dogs,
it's fairly easy to meet othercampers.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Yeah yeah, I think.
Well, you know, you gotta makean effort.
I mean, as a solo person.
I mean I don't know if youtravel solo anywhere in the
world.
If you travel solo, your, yourtendency is to want to connect
to people, no matter what.
You know, I was in africatraveling solo and again, I just
would have conversations withpeople.
Can you watch my bags?
(21:26):
You know for us a while?
Can you Give me directions?
Or I think you're just moreoutgoing when you travel solo.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Yeah, yeah, very true , and you travel with your dogs
and that probably helps withcompanionship and just you know,
having the ability to travelwith pets has probably been
something wonderful for you.
And what kind of stories oradvice do you have about
traveling with dogs?
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Yeah, I think you know a lot of our viewers travel
with dogs and I think you knowthe important things are.
I'm just really conscious ofstopping every couple hours,
right, get out, or allstretching our legs, having to
pee, and you know other andother things is just weather
like one time I wanted to go tothe bad land.
We're driving through to iowaand I want to stop in the bad
(22:16):
land and there was this boondockplace that the national park
said is one of the best.
Well, I get there and it's ahundred and five degrees and my
air conditioning doesn't workwith just my solar and so
literally the dogs and I mean itwas gonna be a hundred degrees
at night so it was not.
(22:39):
You know I stopped and I talk tosome van people and they were
gonna stay, but they didn't havedogs.
You know you have to payattention to that kind of stuff.
You know we ended up going toan RV park down the road that
had a pool that I immediatelyjumped in.
The dogs can go, but you know,second stuff, extreme weather
events are, you know, more of achallenge.
(23:00):
You know, driving throughKansas when there's a hurricane
warnings, that's always a littlecrazy thing to do.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Oh yeah, that's right , but it's kind of cool, given
that the RV you have.
You can go to an RV park andyou can plug in and then you can
run your air conditioner, rightoh?
Totally that's so.
That's amazing.
That's definitely something wedon't have in the van.
So when it's hot we just freakout.
We're like, where are we gonnago?
So we end up driving.
We have to go to the coast, themountain, so we're extra
Cognizant of weather because wedon't have a way to cool off the
(23:30):
van and so that's hard yes, yes, they're making portable a c
units now.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
So, you might try that, because you know, I think
the world's just heating up,isn't it?
Speaker 1 (23:43):
yeah, really is, and it's horrible to be stuck in a
van or an RV without a way tocool off.
It's really like one of theworst things that we've ever
experienced.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Yeah yeah yeah, is the biggest thing you know for
sure.
Yeah, we have to pay attentionto.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
So, yeah, true, yeah, so I wanted to talk a little
bit about your digital nomadstuff because people are
wondering you know how to makemoney on the road and you and I
are both digital nomads.
So I'm curious if you couldtalk to people a little bit
about what you do to make moneyso you can travel throughout the
year.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Yeah, well, I've been in silicon valley for a long
time and so I've been a uxdesigner and I managed to always
get out of the office and workat home for the last, you know,
up to fifteen years, and sobeing a remote worker was not a
new experience for me and I'vealways enjoyed that.
(24:38):
So that was one of my reasonsto really go on the road is I
could just take my job anywhere.
I'm a, you know, freelanceconsultant and you know I zoom
meetings and then I do my workat home and upload my
information, like you probablydo.
But there's lots of other waysto make money on the road, as
(25:00):
you know.
Like you know, there's allkinds of less online stuff and
more stuff like camp workcamping, I think, and you know,
being the park rangers or the.
I think that job would be kindof fun because you go in and
you're, you know, the camp hostfor a summer and then you could
just move around to differentyou know camp grounds and I
(25:24):
thought that was really cool.
So I talked to a lot of camphosts about their jobs.
But the online world, I think,just makes it more flexible,
right?
You could either sell productsor, you know, do freelance work
in lots of different venues andyou know, figure it out and I
think it's just trial and errorfor people.
You know, I think it's somework getting it going, but I
(25:46):
think it's all doable.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Yeah, same.
There's so many options outthere now, especially if you
want to do your own businesslike freelance, right?
I did that quite a bit beforemy blog started making a good
income, so I was just piecing ittogether and it's possible.
There's so many opportunitiesout there and I think it's
inspiring for people to hearabout it and know that you know
you can make it work.
Anybody can really do it.
There's something for everyone,I think and I know you've done
(26:08):
articles on this on your travelsite and there's a lot of ways
there are and I think what's?
Speaker 2 (26:14):
I think what it is is overwhelming to people and they
don't stick with one thing,like you.
Probably.
Stuck with writing, got good atwriting, sold articles and then
you're going right, and so I'mstarting this travel blog and
learning.
There's so much to it, rightand and, but you have to stick
with it, you have to learn aboutit, you have to get a community
around it, you have to gettraining and teaching and you
(26:35):
know just all I mean.
I tell my friends about thisand they're like why are you
doing this?
Speaker 1 (26:39):
You know you're.
You're totally right abouthaving to stick with some things
.
I know when I started blogging,I knew nothing about it.
You know, as a journalist, thatwas my background.
I'm like, what is this onlinebusiness stuff?
And I took just tons of classes.
I'm still taking classes and Itreat it like another degree.
So I think for people you'reright they need to stick to it,
learn all they can, and there'sa lot of community out there
with whatever you're trying todo.
(27:01):
I think there's so much onlinesupport, so that's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Yeah, and I think you can either treat it as a side
hustle, as I call, where youjust want to make some hobby
money, you know, or you can turnit into a business like we're
doing right, you know we'rewe're doing more.
It more on a business levelwhere you know you, you can
sustain yourself, you can make aliving doing it.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Yeah for sure, so cool.
So you did this six month, youknow RV trip across the country
and tell us a little bit aboutwhat is your current travel
style like?
Cause I think it's neat forpeople to hear about a variety
of different travel styles.
They don't have to do one thing, which they don't have to be
full time all the time, you know.
I think it's good for people toknow there are ways to balance
it with other types of living.
(27:43):
So if you could tell us aboutwhat you're currently up to?
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Yeah, absolutely.
I tend to go on two or threemonth trips.
Now I just got back from Canada, as I said and so that you know
was more of a big trip, andthen the summer is is more
difficult to travel, you know,just with heat and you know all
kinds of people out there on theroads, and so now it's after
Labor Day and I'm ready to getback on the road again.
(28:09):
So when I come back to the BayArea I have a tiny house, I have
a 425 square foot cottage andthat's where I reside.
So I like my small living.
I downsized several years ago,got rid of all my crap and, you
know, find you don't need much.
The first time I got in my airstream and went across country I
(28:29):
had so much stuff and now it'sjust kind of empty, like even
clothes.
Like you know, you just don'tneed a lot of stuff.
So, yeah, I like, I like theintermittent.
I'm not sure I would want to goon the road full time, but I
could.
You know I might eventuallysell this place and you know, go
(28:50):
on the road for a while and seewhere else I want to live.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Yeah, yeah, so true, and I think one day I would love
to have a tiny home on aproperty as well, because we
split our time between the vanand the boat and even that's a
nice change, because the boat isway bigger, it feels more like
a home.
You know, the van is small andnimble, but I like having that
diversity in the lifestyle andnot just being in the van or
just being in the vote, whereyou have, you know, your, your
small home and your RV, so youget to do a combination as well.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Yeah Well, I stopped by tiny communities any place I
can.
I stopped by one in Oregon andthey're they're fabulous.
As a matter of fact, manyfriends are talking about, okay,
how are we going to have thistiny community when we retire
and then you know how is thisgoing to work?
And I think that's going to bea huge, huge thing, right?
People want a small footprint.
(29:38):
Maybe they want to live inCanada in the summer and then
live in Arizona in the winter.
I think there's all thesedifferent ideas and options out
there now, which is kind of funand it's it's more doable.
You see people doing it.
You see these littlecommunities coming up too.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Yeah, and I really hope that does become more of a
thing, because you know, as allof us you know, get older and
retire, like maybe we don't wantto go live in like a home per
se, maybe we want to live inthese tiny communities that have
activities and, you know,support, and I think that's just
a really neat idea for peopleof all ages, you know, to have
that, and so I hope that we dosee that more.
I think it's a cool model, youknow.
(30:16):
I'm hopeful that that happens.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Yeah, and, and you know, I don't think it has to be
just when you retire, because Iwould want diversity, I would
want all kinds of ages, becauseyou know if we're gonna have,
you know, grow our own food, say, you know you kind of want the
young people in there to help dothat.
No, seriously, like you know,be as self-sustaining as
(30:40):
possible because I think, again,I think there's lots of changes
in the world that are makingthat Kind of something we all
need to think about.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Very true.
And yeah, the multi-dimensionor the multi-generational stuff
is important.
To have people of all agesinteracting and helping each
other out, I think, is an idealsituation.
So, yeah, let's, let's hope weend up in a community like that
one day.
I think that'd be lovely.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, you know, maybe they'llbecome something like a harvest
host.
I've been thinking about thiswhere there is a Whole
communities of tiny homes andyou can just, you know, be a
member.
Come and join them, you know,pull up your van for a month or
something and be part of thiscommunity, because People are
really craving that.
(31:25):
I crave that, I want I've toldall my friends, I want to bring
them along all the time, butthey need, you know, they need
some place to stay and be, andyou know how does that all work.
So I think we're all just kindof brainstorming and trying to
figure that out.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Yeah, very true, we could be seeing some fun changes
coming up on the horizon, whichI'm hopeful.
So yeah, we'll just see whathappens.
Cool, so tell me a little bitabout your site.
I know you have tons of helpfularticles on there.
So, yeah, tell us about yoursite, how people can find you
and what types of articles youhave up there.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Yeah, you know I I didn't start it too long ago so
it's still work in progress, butit's called travels with Wally
calm and wallies, my, my little,you know, rescue dog.
I have Lottie da too, who'sanother little rescue dog, and
they're just, you know, kind ofmy inspiration.
For you know, starting thissite and you know I just have
(32:20):
articles on all of my tripexperiences.
I, I'm a photographer, so Ishare lots of Photography and
images on Facebook and Instagramand you know, just all these
beautiful places that are in theworld that you know other
people want to see, I getinspired by other people, so I
go, you know, look, you know,visit them.
(32:42):
And you know I think there's alot of cool stuff in this
country.
I haven't been in a plane for awhile and it kind of feels good
to be more terrestrial and, youknow, just discover things.
I mean, my backpacking days, Ithink, are over, but you know
it's nice to bring your little,you know, world, even small as
(33:03):
it is, and, you know, go out inthe wilderness and be closer to
nature.
That was, that was always myimpetus for for doing this.
But, yeah, but my friendsencouraged me to start this blog
and you know, tell all mystories and you know, inspire
other people to kind of be outthere.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Totally, and I think it is really cool to travel
around with your own little tinyhome.
I know I love having the vanand it's just.
I have everything I need righthere, and I think that's really
cool.
I don't have to get used to ahotel room or an Airbnb.
I always sleep poorly when I'minside a new place, and so
having my boat or my van isreally cool.
And, of course, when we don'tfly as much, we cut back on.
(33:41):
You know the environmentalimpact of flying.
I am flying somewhere laterthis month.
I hardly ever do, but it's truethat I read that that's one of
the main ways that we can helpthe planet is to reduce the
amount we fly, and so that's agood thing to think about as
well, I think, for people.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Yeah, I think so, and you know just the hassle and
the crowded and getting on aplane and how long it takes, and
you know all that kind of stuffyou know, it's nice to bring
your little, you know RV alongand having my own bed every
night, that you're sleeping inyour own Stuff and you know you
have to pack your bags everynight Very fun.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Yeah, I think it's inspiring for people to hear so
yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Thank you so much for asking me to join you.
My blog has all my links toInstagram and Facebook and all
that, and, yeah, this was veryfun.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Well, thanks so much for listening to this episode of
the wayward home podcast.
As always, I'm really thankfulfor you, the listener, for
showing up and listening tothese episodes.
If you have a minute and youlisten over on Apple podcasts,
remember to just give me arating over there, and if you
want also a review, that reallyhelps other people find this
podcast as well.
Or if you have a friend thatyou think would really enjoy the
(34:49):
wayward home podcast, just sendover an episode you think
they'd like.
I really appreciate it.
Thanks so much and I'll see younext time.
So picture this you get rid of all your stuff,
purchase an airstream traveltrailer when you've never even
towed anything before, and youset off on a cross-country road
trip by yourself.
Sounds overwhelming, right, butthat's exactly what this
episode of the Wayward Homepodcast is all about.
Deborah Dennis took the leapand traveled full time with her
two dogs and her tow behindtrailer, all on her own.
(00:21):
She has tons of interestingtips and lessons about how to do
this by yourself, what it waslike as a single woman, and what
her lifestyle looks like today.
Let's go.
Welcome to the Wayward Homepodcast, all about van life,
boat life and nomadic living.
We'll bring you tips,interviews and stories from the
road and on the water.
Now here's your host, KristenHaynes.
Hey there, I'm Kristen Hayneswith thewaywardhomecom and I
(00:43):
spend half the year in my campervan and half on my sailboat in
Mexico.
I hope to inspire you to livenomatically too.
So before we jump into thisepisode, I just wanted to ask
you this have you triedboondocking before?
If you don't know whatboondocking is, that's totally
fine.
It's finding beautiful and freecampsites on public lands like
Bureau of Land Management and onForest Service lands.
(01:04):
It's our favorite way to campin our sprinter van, but you
might be a little nervous aboutboondocking.
How do you find campsites?
Can your rig really go safelydown those dirt roads?
How do you find food and water?
How do you take a shower?
Well, in my boondocking 101guide I answer all these
questions and even show you thebest and my most favorite ways
to find these free campsites.
(01:26):
You'll also get a logbook andtrackers.
You can keep records of yourfavorite sites.
Are you interested?
Well, you can head tothewaywardhomecom forward slash
boondocking to grab the ultimateboondocking guide with the
logbook and tracker.
Again, head tothewaywardhomecom forward slash
boondocking.
So in this episode of theWayward Home podcast, I talked
to Deborah Dennis, who's atravel blogger, photographer and
(01:48):
designer, about her solo tripacross the United States in her
Airstream travel trailer.
When she decided to take thistrip, Deborah had never even
told anything before.
But Deborah isn't a stranger tosolo travel.
She's tracked black rhinos inZimbabwe, sailed in Tonga,
photographed lions in Africa,hiked Machu Picchu and scuba
(02:09):
dived the Great White Wall inFiji.
She's quite the adventurer andhas a blog called
travelswithwallycom.
It's such an inspiring episodeto hear more about Deborah's
journey, so let's get into it.
Hey, Deborah, thanks so muchfor joining the Wayward Home
podcast.
I'm so happy you're here today.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
I'm so happy to be here.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Awesome.
So first of all, let's just gointo a little bit about your
travels.
I know that you have anAirstream and you travel in that
, and you took a cross countrytrip in your Airstream by
yourself.
So let's just go back to thebeginning.
What made you decide to getthat Airstream and take this
trip in the first place?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Well, I've traveled all over the world and I just
always wanted to come back homeand see more of the country and
see family and friends and bringmy dogs along.
And so I just researched it abit and I decided I wanted to
have an Airstream travel trailer, and so I went off and bought
(03:06):
one and decided to go crosscountry on my first trip, which
was kind of, you know,industrious.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah, very much so.
And what was it like because Ihave a little bit of a fear even
driving the Sprinter Van I'm in.
It's a big van, I got used toit.
But what was it like for you inthe beginning, you know,
learning how to tow somethingthat's a whole other animal to
learn how to deal with.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Absolutely.
I have to say, I was terrifiedand there's a funny story about
it because a friend of minefound this Airstream used, but
it was in Texas and I'm inNorthern California and there
just wasn't a lot used.
I would have had to wait sixmonths to buy a new one, and so
I just called the guy up and Isaid, you know, would I just
(03:49):
drive there and pick it up?
And so you know, that'sbasically what I did.
We arranged the whole thing.
The unfortunate part was it wasFebruary 2021.
And I drove down there and theTexas Ice Storm hit and I was in
West Texas and if you've everbeen to West Texas, it's a crazy
(04:10):
, huge expanse of land and Ijust got stuck in a hotel for
five days on my way to pick upmy Airstream.
So well, that's a bummer.
It was a bummer.
It was a bummer, but I gotthere and he gave me a two hour
tour and he gave me a 20 minute.
This is how you tow a trailerand off I went.
(04:32):
And, yes, I was terrified, Iactually was.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Hey, and how did you eventually get used to that?
Did you have to watch likevideos, or did you just jump
into it and start driving it?
Speaker 2 (04:41):
and practice makes perfect, I watched a few videos
on how to back it up.
So that helped a lot.
But it was trial and error.
I mean, it was just.
You know they tell you just doeverything slow, do it
incrementally until you canreally, you know, get the feel
of it.
But you do, you feel veryunwieldy on the road.
(05:03):
My Airstream is tiny, it's only22 feet long and you know big
tractor trailers and other bigRVs go by you and I'm not very
big on the road, very true.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
And so, eventually, you learn to drive it, and as a
you know, solo traveler, singlewoman, like, what was it like
for you to embark on thisjourney?
What was that like at first?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
I know it was.
It was kind of.
It was interesting.
You know I'm very intrepid.
I've been lots of places on myown doing solo travel, so that
wasn't the hardest part.
The hardest part was justnavigating a new world of RV
parks and understanding you knowhow to do trip planning and
making reservations that's hard.
(05:50):
And driving and taking care ofmy dogs All that stuff was
difficult, more difficult than Ithought it was going to be.
Actually, it just took a lot.
Plus, I work on the road.
I'm a digital nomad.
I work and have to go to placeswhere I have Wi-Fi to upload,
you know Zoom calls, and so thatwas yeah, that was hard.
(06:11):
I mean it's funny.
Though, when I get to RV parksand I drive in and I park, you
know people come over and youknow guys will come over and
they're like so you buy yourselfand I'm like no, I've got my
two dogs with me, because theyjust look at me like did you
just do?
You know, like you're doing usall alone?
(06:33):
And women come over and they'relike oh yeah, I want to do what
you're doing.
I want to leave my husband athome.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
That is so funny.
I was.
Yeah, I was wondering howpeople would react, because I
think it's a little less commonto see a solo female on the road
.
I still think people just take,do a double take.
They're like how is she doingthat alone?
Did you get a lot of that, youknow, as you were traveling
across the country?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Oh, all the time, all the time.
Yeah, and you know, like I said, it was very curious.
People were just so curious.
I was like I don't know.
The thing in the zoo that yougo look at right is like we got
to go talk to her.
What was she doing this?
What is she doing?
Why is she doing this?
So yeah, oh funny.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
And were people always friendly?
Or did you ever get any weirdkind of vibes about that from
people?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
You know what I thought I would have more
interesting experiences ordifficulties or something,
especially on the wholecross-country tour, you know,
going to different states,different people, because people
, you know people just say, oh,you know, aren't you scared,
aren't you this?
(07:40):
And I have to say everyone wasso helpful, so friendly and I
had like zero weird experiences.
I mean I camped in lots ofdifferent places, nothing ever
unsafe or scary.
But to some people I think theywould feel you know a little
more, you know, not comfortable.
(08:02):
I mean I have a group offriends on Facebook and you know
acquaintances and stuff, andthere was lots of questions of
you're so brave, you're so thisand I don't know.
I'm not sure I feel that brave,but I definitely think it's
inspiring to see someone like meyou know I'm older, I've done a
lot of things, but stilltotally new experience for me
(08:25):
like you know, taking on a newchallenge.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
I think it's really cool to hear that you've had
such a good experience on theroad as a solo female traveler
solo traveler because I get alot of people writing to me
asking like, can I do this, isit safe?
And it sounds like, from yourperspective, you had a really
great time and continue to havea positive experience out there
by yourself.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I have and I, you know, I think there's a level of
a mindset right.
I mean, I have a veryadventurous mindset and I think
just being open and flexible and, you know, being open and kind
to other people seems to bringthat kind of response back right
(09:05):
.
You know, I'm grateful to beout there and living this life
and do want to share it withpeople and kind of, you know,
help people do that.
And one question I get all thetime is oh, I'll do it someday.
And you know it's like anything.
You know we're just gettingolder, the world's changing.
It's like I just tell peoplejust do it now, you're never
(09:28):
going to be ready, you're nevergoing to be totally ready,
you're never going to be.
Oh, I've got everything youknow figured out, because I
certainly didn't.
You know, I just kind of flungmyself out there.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
So yeah, that's so cool and encouraging to hear and
, yeah, and that makes me thinkabout you know, the next thing
for us to talk about is parkingyour Airstream and figuring out
the trip planning, Because Iknow when I travel around, it's
me and my partner, Tom, and he'sdriving and I'm doing all the
Googling and the research andthe bookings and he's.
So we have this kind of youknow we share, but you are
(10:00):
saying you're doing this all byyourself, as a digital nomad
while driving.
Tell me a little about yourplanning, especially with the
trailer, and how you do this byyourself.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Yeah, absolutely Well , I was.
I was.
I was very nervous about nothaving a place to stay because
with a, you know, with a trailer, you can't just pull off the
road like with a van, right?
You kind of have to besomewhere.
And so I always, before I goton the road in the mornings, and
I would plan three or four daysin advance, if I could, just
(10:29):
where I was going to camp, right, and usually I would stay two
or three or four days because,you know, I had a trailer so I
could make camp, which is why Iwanted a trailer.
I looked at vans I want to makecamp and then I can take,
detach my trailer, take my dogs,we get in the truck and we go
hike, explore, kayak, whateverwe wanted to do, right, and so
(10:53):
that was my thinking.
So I would get to places and Iwould figure out these cool
places.
And again, I found Really coolplaces because I did a lot of
research.
You know, I didn't want to juststay at rv parks with, you know
, side by side and your, youknow, cramped in and all that
kind of stuff.
(11:13):
So I paid a lot of attention toall kinds of different sites
and apps and learned a lot Aboutfinding either remote sites or,
if you want to go to thenational park, in you somebody.
I asked some friends and theysaid stay at henry's lake, which
is outside, and it's just a somuch better experience, you know
, because you're not dealingwith crowd, you're not so.
(11:35):
So that was my way of wantingto travel right, to be more in
nature but still see a lot ofdifferent things.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah, and what types of facilities to do typically
stay at.
I'm sure it was a combination,but over some of your favorites.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Yeah, it was definitely combination.
I would say county parks, stateparks Are fabulous in a lot of
different states, or again,california, iowa, they're just
amazing.
Probably underutilized research, I don't know.
You know we stayed going to thegrand tea times.
I mean just amazing.
(12:10):
But another thing I foundsomebody turned me on to was a
thing called harvests host, andso in between I would call, you
know, find a harvests host, andharvests host is Usually one
night stay.
You join this membership thingfor less than a hundred dollars
a month or a year and then youget access to I think now it's
(12:32):
forty five hundred differentplaces all across the country.
And I remember I started on mytrip and I love farms, I've
worked on farms, I love to eatwell, and so I went to this
first place.
I think it was outside a craternational monument, someplace in
I'd a hoe, and it was thisbeautiful farm and you on the,
(12:55):
on the, when you sign up.
You know, once you sign up it'sfree, you just request access
and basically they say, okay,park over in the horse pasture
and then you can come to thegreenhouses or the, you know the
farm, and buy whatever we have.
And I was like this is thefricking coolest thing Because,
for one, most of the places I'vestayed because their farms in
(13:19):
the middle of nowhere.
Sometimes there's nobody elsethere and you can have the run
of these places and you neverget to see these things
otherwise.
You know, they're kind ofsharing their livelihood with
you and we're at the same time,I felt great supporting small
business, especially a farm.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Yes, true.
And so when you go to one ofthese places a farm, a winery, a
brewery and others, lots ofdifferent venues what kinds of
things would you purchase fromthese farms, for example?
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Anything they're growing.
I mean, I went to three or fouralpaca farms a ranch in Wyoming
and she actually needed fromthe alpaca will and she had this
whole store inside a ranch whenshe sold socks and everything.
So it's great to buy gifts forpeople, which is what I did, and
then, you know, I stayed on aplace of blueberries or buy any
(14:12):
kinds of things they made, youknow, or had harvested,
depending on the season applefarms, maple, sugar farms, all
kinds of different stuff.
Yeah, the wineries are scared alittle more challenging because
you tend to spend a lot more atthose.
So I haven't gone too many ofthose up your budget.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
That's very true.
If you go to a farm and you'rejust buying some vegetables,
that is way cheaper than bottlesof wine or dinners out and
stuff like that Exactly.
I heard some people say oh, Iwant to do harvest host, but I
have to buy something and thatseems expensive.
So it's good to hear that youdon't have to buy super
expensive things when you stayat these places.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
No, absolutely not.
But you know, in my case Iwould buy that food anyway.
So why not buy it from the farm?
And you only have to, you know,as a courtesy, only have to
spend twenty dollars.
And so you know.
Again, it was stuff I was gonnabuy anyway.
And then the gifts and thesedifferent places were fabulous.
I mean even a winery.
If you didn't even drink, youcould go to a winery and just
(15:17):
buy gifts for people.
So I like that whole smallbusiness, entrepreneurial stuff,
because I've been doing thatall my life as well.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Right, yeah, yeah, it is really cool to support small
businesses and it's reallyaffordable when you think about
it.
For a hundred dollars for ayear.
When I've seen our view parks,that are like sixty five bucks a
night.
That's pretty economical, doyou think?
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Oh yeah, our view parks are getting very expensive
, I think, and full.
They're very full, especiallyduring the summer.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Right and have you had experience also staying in
our view parks?
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Yeah, I think I mean our view parks are fine, you
know.
I mean definitely if you wantto stay, you know, close to a
national park, for instance, oryou know just traveling in
different places, maybe closerto cities.
I mean I have stayed in plentyof Our view parks and and
they're fine.
I mean I again, with my tripplanning, I use google maps and
(16:13):
I see what they look like andhow the terrain is, and do I
have to make any, you know,different driving directions
because I have to plan that outbefore getting the truck right.
Nobody's in my copilot seatexcept my dogs and they're not
giving me directions so true,and how?
Speaker 1 (16:31):
how far in advance do you plan out your campsites?
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Yeah, not too far, because I like to be flexible.
I actually just went up tovancouver island from northern
california for a couple monthsI'm just may, june, july and I
did plan some things I had toplan, like the ferry crossing,
taking the art, you know, the rv, the air stream over on the
ferry, so stuff like that youhave to plan.
(16:57):
But I think I only called weekin advance and you know I tend
to, you know, just like I said,park the rv somewhere for three
days, four days a week, and thenI can do, you know, trips and
driving around and hiking andstuff while I'm there.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah, and I interesting thing about harvests
host is you can probably getone fairly easily.
I'm guessing, depending onwhere you are in the country,
that you don't have to plan thatout many months in advance.
Is that was at your experiencewith harvests?
Speaker 2 (17:29):
and some have same day, like I stayed at the
telemark cheesery in oregon thatliterally I think they could.
They had a field just outsidethe you know the greenery, where
probably fifty are these goodpark and people just came in and
left so they always had spaceand they had a restaurant there.
(17:49):
So you just park and you knowit's just great transition from
you know driving, cause lots oftimes like I went all the way up
to vancouver island so I hadyou know three or four days, I
think I spent two weeks gettingup to vancouver island, right,
so it's kind of that tripplanning and I have to say, or
(18:10):
again, state parks rock.
I mean they are just frickingfabulous right yeah, yeah, they
are.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
I've stated a lot of organ state parks I'm from, or
again, and I love them incalifornia has good state parks
and you know my mom travels in abig class a and they love state
parks, is their preferred placeto camp and you're right that
it's kind of overlooked.
You know the state.
We stated a county park lastnight in san diego and those are
often overlooked so there are alot of places to stay that
people you know you don't haveto book out.
(18:38):
I hear from a lot of peoplelike I have to book the six
months in advance.
All these campsites are gonnabe gone but really they're not
and you and I are just to yeahwell, and you have to be
flexible, like I'm flexible, tobe off grid.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
I have solar.
I can be off grid three, four,five days and you know I have
enough water capacity right, andso you know you go to camp
handiom or any of these otherbigger sites where you know
where can you boondock next tosome place where you want to go.
Another option and I've donethat a bit arizona and colorado
(19:12):
and different places, so youknow there's always alternative.
I think it's just harder toresearch and that's what stumble
people stumble on.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Yeah, true, so you have boondocked with the air
stream.
I was gonna ask you about that.
What was that like?
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Yeah, a little bit.
You know, and I'd like toboondock more.
I'm just I'm actually going upto the eastern seara is in a
couple weeks with a friend andyou know we're going up to
monolake area and stuff and youknow I think it'll be really fun
experience.
Sometimes it's nice, like Itend to now what to camp with
other people who have fans orwho have, you know, an rv and
(19:48):
that's.
You know more of a building, acommunity, and when I went
across country I stopped at alot of different friends, places
and Experience.
Do you know parts of their life, like in the upper peninsula,
michigan and places like thatwhere I'd never been before?
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Yeah, that's.
That's interesting, becauseanother thing people ask me all
the time is I want to go rv in avan, but I'm going to be so
lonely and by myself, and whatwould you say to people that are
worried about that?
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Sometimes I am, I have to say, but you know
there's always people aroundthere's, oh, and people are just
so friendly.
Everybody's out Playing partyand have a good time.
Having the dogs is always agood conversation starter with
people.
Lots of people travel with dogsand so you know I'm I am really
(20:37):
an introvert, but when I'm onthe road I just feel the need
sometimes to want to have youknow experiences or find out
what they've experienced thatyou know I wouldn't find out
otherwise, or I wouldn't, Iwouldn't see otherwise.
So I think there's a lot ofthat sharing and Conversation
that goes on about what did you,where did you go?
(20:57):
You know.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Yeah, for sure.
So when you're at a campgroundand you're walking your dogs,
it's fairly easy to meet othercampers.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Yeah yeah, I think.
Well, you know, you gotta makean effort.
I mean, as a solo person.
I mean I don't know if youtravel solo anywhere in the
world.
If you travel solo, your, yourtendency is to want to connect
to people, no matter what.
You know, I was in africatraveling solo and again, I just
would have conversations withpeople.
Can you watch my bags?
(21:26):
You know for us a while?
Can you Give me directions?
Or I think you're just moreoutgoing when you travel solo.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Yeah, yeah, very true , and you travel with your dogs
and that probably helps withcompanionship and just you know,
having the ability to travelwith pets has probably been
something wonderful for you.
And what kind of stories oradvice do you have about
traveling with dogs?
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Yeah, I think you know a lot of our viewers travel
with dogs and I think you knowthe important things are.
I'm just really conscious ofstopping every couple hours,
right, get out, or allstretching our legs, having to
pee, and you know other andother things is just weather
like one time I wanted to go tothe bad land.
We're driving through to iowaand I want to stop in the bad
(22:16):
land and there was this boondockplace that the national park
said is one of the best.
Well, I get there and it's ahundred and five degrees and my
air conditioning doesn't workwith just my solar and so
literally the dogs and I mean itwas gonna be a hundred degrees
at night so it was not.
(22:39):
You know I stopped and I talk tosome van people and they were
gonna stay, but they didn't havedogs.
You know you have to payattention to that kind of stuff.
You know we ended up going toan RV park down the road that
had a pool that I immediatelyjumped in.
The dogs can go, but you know,second stuff, extreme weather
events are, you know, more of achallenge.
(23:00):
You know, driving throughKansas when there's a hurricane
warnings, that's always a littlecrazy thing to do.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Oh yeah, that's right , but it's kind of cool, given
that the RV you have.
You can go to an RV park andyou can plug in and then you can
run your air conditioner, rightoh?
Totally that's so.
That's amazing.
That's definitely something wedon't have in the van.
So when it's hot we just freakout.
We're like, where are we gonnago?
So we end up driving.
We have to go to the coast, themountain, so we're extra
Cognizant of weather because wedon't have a way to cool off the
(23:30):
van and so that's hard yes, yes, they're making portable a c
units now.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
So, you might try that, because you know, I think
the world's just heating up,isn't it?
Speaker 1 (23:43):
yeah, really is, and it's horrible to be stuck in a
van or an RV without a way tocool off.
It's really like one of theworst things that we've ever
experienced.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Yeah yeah yeah, is the biggest thing you know for
sure.
Yeah, we have to pay attentionto.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
So, yeah, true, yeah, so I wanted to talk a little
bit about your digital nomadstuff because people are
wondering you know how to makemoney on the road and you and I
are both digital nomads.
So I'm curious if you couldtalk to people a little bit
about what you do to make moneyso you can travel throughout the
year.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Yeah, well, I've been in silicon valley for a long
time and so I've been a uxdesigner and I managed to always
get out of the office and workat home for the last, you know,
up to fifteen years, and sobeing a remote worker was not a
new experience for me and I'vealways enjoyed that.
(24:38):
So that was one of my reasonsto really go on the road is I
could just take my job anywhere.
I'm a, you know, freelanceconsultant and you know I zoom
meetings and then I do my workat home and upload my
information, like you probablydo.
But there's lots of other waysto make money on the road, as
(25:00):
you know.
Like you know, there's allkinds of less online stuff and
more stuff like camp workcamping, I think, and you know,
being the park rangers or the.
I think that job would be kindof fun because you go in and
you're, you know, the camp hostfor a summer and then you could
just move around to differentyou know camp grounds and I
(25:24):
thought that was really cool.
So I talked to a lot of camphosts about their jobs.
But the online world, I think,just makes it more flexible,
right?
You could either sell productsor, you know, do freelance work
in lots of different venues andyou know, figure it out and I
think it's just trial and errorfor people.
You know, I think it's somework getting it going, but I
(25:46):
think it's all doable.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Yeah, same.
There's so many options outthere now, especially if you
want to do your own businesslike freelance, right?
I did that quite a bit beforemy blog started making a good
income, so I was just piecing ittogether and it's possible.
There's so many opportunitiesout there and I think it's
inspiring for people to hearabout it and know that you know
you can make it work.
Anybody can really do it.
There's something for everyone,I think and I know you've done
(26:08):
articles on this on your travelsite and there's a lot of ways
there are and I think what's?
Speaker 2 (26:14):
I think what it is is overwhelming to people and they
don't stick with one thing,like you.
Probably.
Stuck with writing, got good atwriting, sold articles and then
you're going right, and so I'mstarting this travel blog and
learning.
There's so much to it, rightand and, but you have to stick
with it, you have to learn aboutit, you have to get a community
around it, you have to gettraining and teaching and you
(26:35):
know just all I mean.
I tell my friends about thisand they're like why are you
doing this?
Speaker 1 (26:39):
You know you're.
You're totally right abouthaving to stick with some things
.
I know when I started blogging,I knew nothing about it.
You know, as a journalist, thatwas my background.
I'm like, what is this onlinebusiness stuff?
And I took just tons of classes.
I'm still taking classes and Itreat it like another degree.
So I think for people you'reright they need to stick to it,
learn all they can, and there'sa lot of community out there
with whatever you're trying todo.
(27:01):
I think there's so much onlinesupport, so that's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Yeah, and I think you can either treat it as a side
hustle, as I call, where youjust want to make some hobby
money, you know, or you can turnit into a business like we're
doing right, you know we'rewe're doing more.
It more on a business levelwhere you know you, you can
sustain yourself, you can make aliving doing it.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Yeah for sure, so cool.
So you did this six month, youknow RV trip across the country
and tell us a little bit aboutwhat is your current travel
style like?
Cause I think it's neat forpeople to hear about a variety
of different travel styles.
They don't have to do one thing, which they don't have to be
full time all the time, you know.
I think it's good for people toknow there are ways to balance
it with other types of living.
(27:43):
So if you could tell us aboutwhat you're currently up to?
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Yeah, absolutely.
I tend to go on two or threemonth trips.
Now I just got back from Canada, as I said and so that you know
was more of a big trip, andthen the summer is is more
difficult to travel, you know,just with heat and you know all
kinds of people out there on theroads, and so now it's after
Labor Day and I'm ready to getback on the road again.
(28:09):
So when I come back to the BayArea I have a tiny house, I have
a 425 square foot cottage andthat's where I reside.
So I like my small living.
I downsized several years ago,got rid of all my crap and, you
know, find you don't need much.
The first time I got in my airstream and went across country I
(28:29):
had so much stuff and now it'sjust kind of empty, like even
clothes.
Like you know, you just don'tneed a lot of stuff.
So, yeah, I like, I like theintermittent.
I'm not sure I would want to goon the road full time, but I
could.
You know I might eventuallysell this place and you know, go
(28:50):
on the road for a while and seewhere else I want to live.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Yeah, yeah, so true, and I think one day I would love
to have a tiny home on aproperty as well, because we
split our time between the vanand the boat and even that's a
nice change, because the boat isway bigger, it feels more like
a home.
You know, the van is small andnimble, but I like having that
diversity in the lifestyle andnot just being in the van or
just being in the vote, whereyou have, you know, your, your
small home and your RV, so youget to do a combination as well.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Yeah Well, I stopped by tiny communities any place I
can.
I stopped by one in Oregon andthey're they're fabulous.
As a matter of fact, manyfriends are talking about, okay,
how are we going to have thistiny community when we retire
and then you know how is thisgoing to work?
And I think that's going to bea huge, huge thing, right?
People want a small footprint.
(29:38):
Maybe they want to live inCanada in the summer and then
live in Arizona in the winter.
I think there's all thesedifferent ideas and options out
there now, which is kind of funand it's it's more doable.
You see people doing it.
You see these littlecommunities coming up too.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Yeah, and I really hope that does become more of a
thing, because you know, as allof us you know, get older and
retire, like maybe we don't wantto go live in like a home per
se, maybe we want to live inthese tiny communities that have
activities and, you know,support, and I think that's just
a really neat idea for peopleof all ages, you know, to have
that, and so I hope that we dosee that more.
I think it's a cool model, youknow.
(30:16):
I'm hopeful that that happens.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Yeah, and, and you know, I don't think it has to be
just when you retire, because Iwould want diversity, I would
want all kinds of ages, becauseyou know if we're gonna have,
you know, grow our own food, say, you know you kind of want the
young people in there to help dothat.
No, seriously, like you know,be as self-sustaining as
(30:40):
possible because I think, again,I think there's lots of changes
in the world that are makingthat Kind of something we all
need to think about.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Very true.
And yeah, the multi-dimensionor the multi-generational stuff
is important.
To have people of all agesinteracting and helping each
other out, I think, is an idealsituation.
So, yeah, let's, let's hope weend up in a community like that
one day.
I think that'd be lovely.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, you know, maybe they'llbecome something like a harvest
host.
I've been thinking about thiswhere there is a Whole
communities of tiny homes andyou can just, you know, be a
member.
Come and join them, you know,pull up your van for a month or
something and be part of thiscommunity, because People are
really craving that.
(31:25):
I crave that, I want I've toldall my friends, I want to bring
them along all the time, butthey need, you know, they need
some place to stay and be, andyou know how does that all work.
So I think we're all just kindof brainstorming and trying to
figure that out.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Yeah, very true, we could be seeing some fun changes
coming up on the horizon, whichI'm hopeful.
So yeah, we'll just see whathappens.
Cool, so tell me a little bitabout your site.
I know you have tons of helpfularticles on there.
So, yeah, tell us about yoursite, how people can find you
and what types of articles youhave up there.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Yeah, you know I I didn't start it too long ago so
it's still work in progress, butit's called travels with Wally
calm and wallies, my, my little,you know, rescue dog.
I have Lottie da too, who'sanother little rescue dog, and
they're just, you know, kind ofmy inspiration.
For you know, starting thissite and you know I just have
(32:20):
articles on all of my tripexperiences.
I, I'm a photographer, so Ishare lots of Photography and
images on Facebook and Instagramand you know, just all these
beautiful places that are in theworld that you know other
people want to see, I getinspired by other people, so I
go, you know, look, you know,visit them.
(32:42):
And you know I think there's alot of cool stuff in this
country.
I haven't been in a plane for awhile and it kind of feels good
to be more terrestrial and, youknow, just discover things.
I mean, my backpacking days, Ithink, are over, but you know
it's nice to bring your little,you know, world, even small as
(33:03):
it is, and, you know, go out inthe wilderness and be closer to
nature.
That was, that was always myimpetus for for doing this.
But, yeah, but my friendsencouraged me to start this blog
and you know, tell all mystories and you know, inspire
other people to kind of be outthere.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Totally, and I think it is really cool to travel
around with your own little tinyhome.
I know I love having the vanand it's just.
I have everything I need righthere, and I think that's really
cool.
I don't have to get used to ahotel room or an Airbnb.
I always sleep poorly when I'minside a new place, and so
having my boat or my van isreally cool.
And, of course, when we don'tfly as much, we cut back on.
(33:41):
You know the environmentalimpact of flying.
I am flying somewhere laterthis month.
I hardly ever do, but it's truethat I read that that's one of
the main ways that we can helpthe planet is to reduce the
amount we fly, and so that's agood thing to think about as
well, I think, for people.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Yeah, I think so, and you know just the hassle and
the crowded and getting on aplane and how long it takes, and
you know all that kind of stuffyou know, it's nice to bring
your little, you know RV alongand having my own bed every
night, that you're sleeping inyour own Stuff and you know you
have to pack your bags everynight Very fun.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Yeah, I think it's inspiring for people to hear so
yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Thank you so much for asking me to join you.
My blog has all my links toInstagram and Facebook and all
that, and, yeah, this was veryfun.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Well, thanks so much for listening to this episode of
the wayward home podcast.
As always, I'm really thankfulfor you, the listener, for
showing up and listening tothese episodes.
If you have a minute and youlisten over on Apple podcasts,
remember to just give me arating over there, and if you
want also a review, that reallyhelps other people find this
podcast as well.
Or if you have a friend thatyou think would really enjoy the
(34:49):
wayward home podcast, just sendover an episode you think
they'd like.
I really appreciate it.
Thanks so much and I'll see younext time.
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