Matt's New Mexico (Formerly Airstream) Adventure
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About 2 years ago I was having a hard time, both at work and at home. My job as an insurance adjuster is highly dependent upon the weather and if you know anything about Maryland or the mid-Atlantic region of the US, you know the weather is usually awful. It's too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter and too wet the rest of the time. I've never found a professional "calling" and at 41 I resigned myself to likely not finding one ever. I was not much fun to be around.
My wife did her best to keep my spirits up but I couldn't help feeling like I was missing something. I started resenting working for a big company doing a job that wasn't meaningful to me. I resented living in a house filled with stuff I didn't really need. I seriously resented that everyone around me seemed like they were exactly where they wanted to be, and I wanted to be anywhere else.
Then one evening my wife said something to the effect of, "Let's sell all our shit, quit our jobs, buy a tiny house on wheels and get out of here…"
:o
I didn't hesitate or question her suggestion. It didn't occur to me that she might be joking. I told her it was the greatest idea I'd ever heard and if she was into it, it had to be right.
We have been saving money instead of spending it, we've been selling all the junk that lived permanently in our basement, we've been slowly but systematically preparing the kids emotionally for such a huge change. People either roll their eyes at us or tell us how jealous they are when we explain our plan. There's no in between reaction.
Fast forward to present day. The house is under contract, our Airstream is parked at my father in law's awaiting the arrival of a composting toilet and I'm on the lookout for a gently used Ford F-250.
It's really happening.
So I'd like to formally introduce you to this thread that I'll update as often as is practical. It will be a sort of journal chronicling the adventures my wife Katie, my 8 and 6 year old daughters and our Airstream, The Tin Palace are about to embark on as we try a slightly different approach to achieving family happiness.
We won't leave until July and the COVID-19 drama may or may not push our timeline up a bit but we brought The Tin Palace home today so I felt like this was a good place to start. Enjoy!
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Where in md are you at? For now…
We’re in Bowie.
I can’t wait to hear your stories. My wife and I have entertained this idea but honestly I’m more hot on it that she is
33’ airstream?
We're in Parkville in Baltimore Co. My wife's a teacher and is really excited at the idea of a 2:1 student teacher ratio. It definitely requires a certain "minimalist" philosophy to make this type of thing seem attractive. I understand that's not for everyone. We have totally embraced the purge. If it's not bolted down I'm trying to sell it on Facebook Marketplace.
The AS is 30'. It's a 2017 Flying Cloud 30FB Bunk. Of all their models in every size range, this is the only length and model that had bunk beds so finding a used one 2 hours away for a great price was a miracle.
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Where in md are you at? For now…
We’re in Bowie.
I can’t wait to hear your stories. My wife and I have entertained this idea but honestly I’m more hot on it that she is
33’ airstream?
We're in Parkville in Baltimore Co. My wife's a teacher and is really excited at the idea of a 2:1 student teacher ratio. It definitely requires a certain "minimalist" philosophy to make this type of thing seem attractive. I understand that's not for everyone. We have totally embraced the purge. If it's not bolted down I'm trying to sell it on Facebook Marketplace.
The AS is 30'. It's a 2017 Flying Cloud 30FB Bunk. Of all their models in every size range, this is the only length and model that had bunk beds so finding a used one 2 hours away for a great price was a miracle.
I’m really happy for you.
Growing up in NYC I’m used to small living spaces…my wife...not so much
I was floating the idea of the airstream interstate...the class b on the sprinter chassis
She threw out an Earthroamer
I changed the subject [emoji23]
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The Earthroamer should cover everything from State Park camping to fleeing zombie hordes. I'll bet there's even an option for an armory closet, like Punisher van style. There's definitely a machete holder somewhere on it.
The Airstream became the obvious choice after spending much of the 1st phase of planning trying to figure out what to live in. We looked at tiny houses, 5th wheels, converted school buses… we eventually settled on the AS due to it's light weight, value retention, coolness factor and how amazingly well constructed they are. We read lots of reviews on forums and the consensus was overwhelming, get an Airstream or don't bother with trailers unless you want leaks and frequent visits to the service department. They're just so simple and elegant, I read a figure somewhere that like 70% of Airstreams are still in use.
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UPDATE:
I have nothing to report…
I'm not anticipating doing much travel prep this week so it will be quiet. Next week however, we were planning on taking a non-Airstream, tent/cabin camping trip to a few parks in VA. We were going to do a few nights in a cabin at a State Park and few nights in a tent in Shenandoah National Park. We even had a couple nights booked at a swanky tiny house resort...
Well, we aren't doing any of those things now so we'll likely head out to my father in law's for the week and get to know our Airstream a little better.
Be sure the check in for lots of pictures and stories about me breaking shit and yelling at my kids! You won't want to miss it.
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Have you ever watched the YouTube channels that document living on the road full time? They’re kind of interesting.
There’s one channel that’s kind of weird where a couple live out of the back of a van for a year. She documents her bathing with baby wipes…and you can see her increasing in diameter week after week.
We’re the Russos on YT is kind of interesting too.
I’d love to have an earthroamer right now. I’d park it in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming until all this blows over. You’re right, it’s basically the Punishers rv. They have some interesting storage options...the “ski” compartment looks remarkably like rifle storage, the window on the roof you can pop out of for “photography” looks like something out of Resident Evil...the wine rack looks like machete/gun storage.
Considering each unit is bespoke, I don’t see why you can’t ask for custom firearm storage, but when their clientele includes Jason Momoa and John Mayer...might be a little spendy.
There’s a Tiffin we really liked but it’s literally the size of a bus. I’d prefer something smaller where we could just load the pups and go.
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Yeah, I hear John Mayer rolls pretty hard so I'm not surprised to hear he's an owner. My wife has done the lion's share of the research and has immersed herself in the full time RV communities online. I don't think she's checked out any of the YT families as I'm pretty sure she wanted some resources for tips and tricks and to also make some connections so our kids can have some friends once we get started. I'll ask her about it though in case there's some content there that we can take advantage of. Thanks!
When we landed on the Airstream our major considerations were quality to cut down on failures and maintenance, flexibility at locations (some parks can be a picky as to what kinds of vehicles they allow in) and obviously price. We know the Airstreams weren't cheap but we also knew they'd hold their value and would be worth the expense. Like I mentioned before we got ours used but it's only 3 years old and we got it for a great price thanks to a motivated seller.
Another consideration was not having to take it everywhere. We want to leave it at camp and be able to drive around but we didn't want to tow a separate vehicle so that cut out things like the Earthroamer or traditional self powered motor homes. I couldn't be happier with what we got. I'm really excited to try to fit 10 IH button downs, 7 IH pants, 2 IH jackets, one IH sweatshirt and all my shoes and boots into about 10 SF of storage space. Don't even talk to me about t-shirts and socks. I may be separated from my wife before we even pull up stakes.
Have a great time! I am jealous…
