In this video we are going to share with you how we got started with the RV and travel lifestyle,
plus share some tips on how you too can get started so stay tuned. We are Charity Ben
Dakota and Trinity we decided we didn't want to wait for a life of adventure so in 2017
we bought our first rv and set off to live a life of travel in the USA we've visited over
38 states in three years and have many more to go follow along to learn all the best places to see
RV and travel tips and much more so how exactly did we get started in the whole RV lifestyle and
and travel kind of thing we're going to talk about that a little bit in this video but before we get
into the meat of today's video i want to say a huge thank you to those of you that have jumped in
and are supporting us on Patreon it really truly makes all of the difference and it really frees
us up to keep bringing great videos like this to you week in and week out so thank you so much for
your support and if you're interested in jumping over into Patreon we've got some great monthly
giveaways going exclusive behind the scenes videos that aren't on youtube you can check that out at
the link below part of the reason that we've chosen to live this lifestyle is really about
experiences over things you know if you ask me what i got for Christmas when i was 10 years old i
probably couldn't tell you that but what i could tell you are the experiences that i had with my
family growing up and some of the different things that we did now i didn't grow up in a family that
had a ton of resources it was a one working parent type of family and my family was
awesome but we live this lifestyle to be able to give our kids some of the experiences that
we never had when we were growing up just due to limited resources and really working remote
wasn't a thing when i was growing up like it is now and so that has opened up the world to be
able to have more experiences in just choosing experiences and travel over having all of the
play toys or the material possessions we also just had this desire to be able to
see new places and meet new faces and i know that sounds kind of cliche but the relationships that
we have been able to forge and the people we have met out here on the road you would not get
that just living day-to-day life in a residential neighborhood if you didn't just step out of those
neighborhood boundaries and that is really what we wanted and that is why that we have chosen this
lifestyle of rving and traveling with our family is to be able to have those types of opportunities
So let's talk a little bit about how we got started one of the first things that we did
was we created a vision board so to speak so we had some really great mentors in our lives that
gave us a recommendation to go down to the local RV dealership and start shopping for the RV we
wanted now we were in no position to buy and had no plans to buy that day but what we did is we
found a class a RV that we thought would be super fun and we took our picture in front of that RV
and then printed it out and stuck it on our refrigerator where we could see it
every single day and we said this is our goal
next thing that we started doing was just researching rvs so i would jump onto rv trader
we had the rv trader app on our phones we were checking at things like facebook marketplace
and craigslist listings which was more of a thing at that particular time but we just
started doing our research and another super fun thing that we did was visiting rv shows
this was a great way to be able to get an idea of what is out there what floor plans look
like just starting the research phase so research research research was the next step in our journey
so something that we did find in this particular research period was that used was more affordable
than new so now that we've fit out living the rv lifestyle for a little while we kind of have this
game that we call about my rv is better than yours and you've probably seen this where you pull in to
stop somewhere and there's other rvs that are parked there you pull into a campground and
you look at the fancy schmancy setup and you're like oh my gosh like my rv is crap compared to
this but that's not what it's about it's about what is the vehicle that's going to get you
where you need to go so don't fall into the my rv is better than yours game
as you're starting to do your research and as you start to look at different rvs
the next step in our journey was the actual purchase of our very first rv now this was like
a super exciting day and we were just so overjoyed to be able to purchase our first rv but let me
tell you something about that first rv it was a 17 year old rv we bought it in 2017 and it was a 2000
Fleetwood pace arrow gas engine class a motorhome and we were overjoyed to have it and it was
the vehicle that got us jump-started into this lifestyle of travel and it was a great first rv
but it didn't cost us an arm and a leg it was very reasonable on insurance and
registration because we did purchase something that was 17 years old and it wasn't the newest
fancy schmancy rv that was out there so it made this lifestyle
feasible for us now versus waiting until that we were in our retirement years
so of course after buying that new to us rv we were super excited and we just wanted to take
off and so at that time we were not set up to be able to just work remotely or to be able to just
move into it full time so we did our first shakedown trip and this is something that we
highly recommend is to always have that shakedown trip all righty so we've got it all set up
and now we are going to start the grill and make some bacon and eggs and really what that should
look like is it should look like a trip that's not across the united states but is within maybe a day
drive from where you live so that if you need to get back to where you live or
something happens you're not way across the country so our first shakedown trip
was about an eight-hour drive and where it was was to an area of the country where we had some family
that was also there that we could go visit but we had some people that were knowledgeable about rvs
and so they were able to come alongside us and walk us through our whole rv and teach us how
that the systems work and how do you look at your holding tanks how do you dump your holding tanks
what does it look like to have a fridge that runs on propane and electricity and all of these
nuances that as a brand new rver you need to learn and we were rookies and needed to learn and so
it was invaluable to have that resource of somebody else that knew this life to be able
to come in and kind of teach us the ropes about rv and how systems inside of rvs work now if you're
wanting to explore that more we have a great resource over on the channel called all about rvs
Jared Gillis is very very knowledgeable about rvs and has tons of videos in his video library over
there about rv systems and how they work so we'll put a link in the description below to the "all
about rv's" channel which is a great resource when you're first getting started in the rv lifestyle
Kind of the last and final step that we needed to take was to start venturing out
further and to really set ourselves up to be able to travel on a full-time basis so
what that looks like for us was making sure that we had
sources of income that were completely portable meaning that we could take this show on the road
and so that is what we begin to work towards and we transition into being full-time entrepreneurs
and owning our own businesses that we could work from anywhere that we had an internet connection
and started traveling across the country and truly living a lifestyle of travel
so let's talk about some steps that you can take if you're ready to jump out there and get started
with a lifestyle of travel number one start dreaming what is it that you want to do where do
you want to go what do you want life to look like in five years in 10 years what do you want to say
that you have done that you have seen or who are the people you want to say that you have met five
years from now start dreaming and then write it down take a picture create a vision board of sorts
and put it somewhere where you're going to see it every single day
maybe that's on your refrigerator like it was for us or maybe that's on your bathroom mirror where
every day when you brush your teeth and you comb your hair you see that and you
say that is my vision and that is what i'm working towards visualize every single day what it is
that you want and how you want life to look like for you in the next five years
so the next step is to start researching what is it going to take for you to make
that next step do you need to purchase an rv do you need to set yourself up to be able to
work on the road what is the next step that you take and then start the research towards
that next step that you need to take to get you started with a lifestyle of travel something to
remember is you want to make sure that purchasing that rv doesn't put you in a bad spot financially
you want to make sure that that rv is a blessing and not a curse plus you need to consider the fact
that as you go out and as you travel you're going to want to have some resources financially to be
able to do things like excursions or maybe you'd like to do that zipline that you've always thought
of or go on that kayaking or canoe trip down the river you need to make sure that you've got enough
resources from a financial perspective to be able to go do those things while you're out on the road
and not just driving from place to place to sit in a campground the whole time that you're there
something to remember is to start now while you can but living a lifestyle of travel or just an
rv lifestyle doesn't mean that you have to just up and leave your job and travel across the country
there are so many things that you can do in an extended weekend or a one or two week trip out
we meet so many families out here on the road that they do one week every summer or they try to add a
week on as they go every year so maybe that first summer it's one week out and then the next summer
they go out for two weeks or three weeks at a time not everybody has a job that's portable we've met
people that are out here living this lifestyle that do it on a part-time basis that have jobs
that you just can't pick up and take with you on the road like law enforcement or working for the
city or maybe people that are business owners that have a small business that you just can't
abandon necessarily you have to kind of stay there and make sure that things are
running smoothly on a day-to-day basis and so that doesn't mean that you can't live a lifestyle
of travel it just means that you're going to do it on a part-time basis and not a full-time basis
and there's still so much to see and so much to do on that part-time basis that don't discount small
beginnings and say it's not going to work just because maybe i don't have a job that's portable
you can still get out there and you can live that lifestyle that you're dreaming of
i guess kind of one of the big things that i'm getting at is don't wait don't wait until you're
retired don't wait until that you have a job that's portable don't say when this happens
then i'll get started get started now do what you can now none of us are promised tomorrow
the age that we are now why we're not quite gray yet at least i hope i'm not turning too grave
found a few what we've learned and we've seen we've had deaths in the family we've seen our
friends have health crisis we've seen financial crisis hit families that we know that are young
families we're not promised tomorrow and you never know what's going to happen so get started now and
make those memories now while you can whether that's with your kids or maybe your grandkids or
maybe you're ready to just go out there and be a solo rver there's so many that are doing that too
so whatever that looks like get started now visit your state park visit your local beach
if that's the extent for now but take that step and then watch that thing grow so you'll have
to let us know where you're currently at in your journey are you out here living a life of travel
are you still in that dreaming phase maybe you're in the researching phase let us know in the
comments below because we would love to hear from you and know where you're at in your journey and
let us know if there's any questions that we can help answer for you as you are researching or as
you're considering this lifestyle or maybe where you're already out living this lifestyle we have
a ton of videos here on our channel about fun places to go we always share about the
campgrounds that we're at so make sure that you check out our playlist which i'll put a link above
to all of our travel videos this is just going to give you some fun ideas of places to go
and things to see out there thank you so much for watching make sure that you give this a thumbs up
if you found this content helpful and maybe share it with somebody that needs to hear this message
about not waiting but getting started now if you'd like to see more videos about that travel
check those out right over here and if you'd like to see more videos with
rv tips tricks storage check those out right over here and until next time we'll see on the road