Our story begins like most others, you go to school, go to college, or learn a trade, work very hard for the CEO of a company. We worked long and unrewarding hours. Meanwhile, trying to raise a family, buy a house, and go on vacation, all within our means. We didn’t do so well! We, like so many others, our expenses often exceeded our income.
Our Training
In 2010, we enrolled in Rich Dad Education to learn how to buy real estate with no money down. Although at first, very doubtful this will work for us, But, Tony made it happen. We started buying properties to flip, Yes, with no money down! We learned the system, and made it happen. In 2011 we flipped over 14 properties, and in 2012, another 18 properties, then we started buying rental properties. Our original model was to flip three, and buy 1, but now we just buy and sell as we can to optimize cash flow.
In 2012, Rich Dad Education recognized our efforts and we were inducted into Robert Kiyosaki’s Hall of Fame. This was an incredible moment for us, and we made the most of that opportunity.
Leaving the Corporate world
Tony left his corporate job in 2011, Laura left hers in 2012. Tony continued to flip homes, purchase rentals, sell them when needed, and started accumulating passive income through rentals. He also started a coaching business that encouraged others to do the same.
Laura, a former corporate controller, started an accounting and tax business that was designed to help real estate investors to grow their business. It was a very successful and rewarding business, she loved what she did, and loved helping clients save on taxes.
We dipped into several other business ventures along the way as well, some worked well, others, no so much. But we certainly learned plenty during those years!
The Entrepreneurial Spirit
By 2018, we were running businesses successfully, we were achieving our goals, and our businesses were growing each year. We loved all the wonderful people we met along the way. However, it was also running us down. We had no life, we only worked. Tony in his office and Laura in hers. We’d pass each other in the hall, and when we got home, we both were too tired to talk about our “wonderful” days!
Laura’s accounting business grew substantially over the 8 years in business, but Laura was working over 70 hours per week, rarely taking time to enjoy life.
Our family rarely saw us, and when they’d get together, Laura would need to fight to stay awake.
We both were working long hours and rarely seeing one another. Laura’s health was not doing well with large weight gain due to stress eating and no time to workout and take care of herself. Tony had some other medical issues which caused great concern, ( we don’t want to talk about it ) . But we realized life is short, so very short.
Laura was starting to fall in to depression, and one day while visiting with family, just out of the blue Laura stated “ I don’t like my life “ … My son, Eric, ( we must have taught him well?? ) said to her, “ Well then, Change it “ These simple words of wisdom made the thinking process begin!
The thought process
In 2018, we did some soul searching, went on a couple “get away” vacations using “AirBnB’s”. We researched, and discovered full time RVing was a thing for entrepreneurs, not just for retired seniors!
We CAN live our Freedom Life.
We wanted to LIVE life, we wanted to spend more quality time with each other and family, and we realized we could do this living a Full time RV lifestyle and work while traveling around the country!
Both Tony and Laura had done some camping before, but just on weekends, or once a year vacations, in a 5th Wheel, so we knew some things about how to live in a camper…. But now we dream about leaving our existing crazy life, and find adventure through full time RV’ing
We will revise our life style, while still being entrepreneurs, its our blood, and live free while finding adventure along the way.
OUR Plan
We crunched the numbers, and realized if we made a few modifications, we could be FINANCIALLY FREE!! This is what we had been striving for years, and we have made it!! Being financial free meant that our passive income exceeded our monthly living expenses.
Over the years, through real estate, we have acquired rental homes and apartments with the income created from the flips we did, plus some other creative investment opportunities. If we made a few changes, like not paying rent for the office space, not paying employees, stop the marketing strategies that didn’t work, only continue to acquire new properties.
In order to go full time RVing, Laura needed to sell her business, which was the best decision ever. By doing so, it paid off most debt and relieved her of the long hours, and high stress days.
Our Transition Plan
After Laura’s business sells, and all debts paid off, now comes the need to “purge” our house.
We have lived in our home for over 18 years, and have accumulated so much “STUFF” and now its time to get rid of as much as we possibly can, and then rest goes into storage. This is going to be tough as there are so many memories that we can’t just throw away, but we must!
Our First RV
In April 2019 we purchased our first RV. We looked at what seemed hundreds and hundreds, of RV’s , both new and used. We knew we wanted either a travel trailer or a Fifth Wheel, as we like the idea of dropping the RV and then touring around an area. We attempted to find a floor plan that would accommodate a place for an office setup as we knew we would be working from the road. One salesman recommended we look at “Bunkhouse” models and convert the space to an office area. That may just work! The criteria we looked for was:
No more than 30 feet
Bunkhouse style that would work for us
At least 1 slide out
A “decent” size bathroom
Not more than 7500 pound towing capacity.
Either a 5th Wheel, or travel trailer, as it fit our travel needs. ( park it, and adventure out )
Not a big requirement… but we had an issue, Tony’s truck was a 1500 Dodge Ram Pickup. After doing research, we couldn’t pull more than 6500 (safely) with that. We then searched for a “light” weight camper, but it often meant smaller in size and less quality.
This gave Tony the excuse to look for a bigger truck, ( he wanted this all along anyway! ) He found a 2017 Dodge Ram 2500, one with the right “torque” and towing package, but it had a cover over the bed. We could have taken it out to be able to use it for a 5th Wheel, but then again, we can use the bed for storage.
We finally decided upon a new 2018 Tracer, 29 foot, bunkhouse travel trailer, made by Forest River. At the time, we didn’t realize this was a very low end trailer, but it’s a great place for us to start. We need to determine if this lifestyle is going to work for us before spending more.
Tony believes that Laura will only like this lifestyle for a couple years, Laura thinks we will be doing this for many years to come! So we invite you to join us in our adventure. See what our life will be like, IF we like it, where the road will take us and what adventure awaits!
We have decided to step out of the rat race for a sense of freedom and adventure …. Join us as we live our freedom while encouraging you to live yours!
Summer 2019
1st Trip – Pueblo / Trinidad, CO
Our first adventures out were fairly close to home and close to cities where we can go to the stores get something if we need to!
Needless to say, we DID have to go get some groceries during our first trip! Forgot the salt & pepper, and butter, and cookies! ( ya can’t go camping without cookies! ) .. more on this later!
Pueblo State Park is where we first stayed. It was ok, nothing fascinating about the area, except the lake! Tony went fishing and I kayaked around a bay area very near the campsite. It was nice. We stayed 2 days and 3 nights here.
On this very first trip, Tony was just recovering from a surgery he had, so he had a lot of down time, and Laura learned very quickly what needed to be done to hook up and unhook the trailer, plug in the lights, level the trailer., etc. Laura needed to do the heavy lifting of things.. but it was not really all that bad!
The second day here we drove to Royal Gorge and visited the highest suspension bridge. It had been about 15 years since we have been there.
Since we wanted to “practice” the setting up and packing up we added another place to go on this trip out, so we reserved a spot at Trinidad State Park in southern Colorado. This campground was much more impressive. We had trees all around us so it felt very secluded and private. There was a 1 mile guided hiking trail out the front door of our camper. At this time we were both very much out of shape and Tony was still recovering from his surgery. The first day, he made it about a quarter of the way, while Laura walked the loop. The second day, we both did it, as there were several bench seats overlooking beautiful scenery along the way, so we could take our time!
We stayed 3 nights. Then back home to go back home to go work! Although our first trip out, we are anxiously awaiting the time we don’t have to go back home because we ARE home!
July 2019 — 2nd trip out
We booked a site at 11 Mile State Park near Salida, CO. On this trip we decided to stay 6 days in one place and then travel around the area to see the sights ..and that we did!
We went to Florissant National Monument where we was fossilized redwood trees and learned about the volcano that wiped out the area over 35 million years ago.
We toured an old homestead in the area, and went on a guided Gold Mine Tour in the nearby town of Victor. It was very interesting, and we are now beginning to form ideas of how to film these events and publish them to show others all the wonderful places to go and see and experience! It’s amazing how many things are here in our own backyard, but we were just too busy to discover them. … Until now.
One of the days there, we drove to Salida and Buena Vista to see the towns, have a nice lunch, oh, and catch up on some work we needed to do. We found a park in downtown Buena Vista where we sat on a picnic table in the shade!
Then took a scenic railroad trip just above Salida and saw all the abandon mining tours and some beautiful scenery too!
August 2019 – Glen Haven/ Estes Park
Lets try “Boondocking”
Before we head out full time, we wanted to attempt to go to a campsite with out any hookups .. no electric, no water, no sewer, not even a picnic table.
Again, not knowing our full capacity, we found a place through an app called “Boondockers Welcome” only about an hour from our home, just in case we couldn’t do this. However, upon arriving to this site, we were so in awe of the pure natural beauty of this place. It was a little spot by a stream between two large mountains. We thought we were in heaven here, it was so beautiful. The only downside here is there was no cell coverage, but then again , that may have been one of the benefits!
The second day of our stay, we drove into Estes Park and took a long walk along the creek through the park, and had a nice lunch while in town. One of the mornings, we walked down the road to Glen Haven and had one of their famous delicious cinnamon rolls. Later that day, we hiked off the calories through a long hike through one of the numerous mountain trails in the area.
Full Time RV Travel Adventure 