Life changes

One week. That’s how long I have until my life totally and radically changes. In one week, I start on a brand new journey, start a brand new life, and leave my old one behind. In one week, I am hooking my travel trailer up to my truck, and pulling away from my house for the last time.

I try to think of myself as a reasonable, normal, compassionate, and kind human. I have my issues, but hell, by the time you get to your late 40s, who doesn’t? I’ve lived a pretty standard life; born in the early 70s, grew up, had kids, husband, house, job, the typical American Dream. I got divorced 7 years ago, the kids grew up and out of the house, and I’ve found myself getting increasingly bitter about the corporate life.

I subscribe to the notion that life is meant to be lived. Unfortunately, the corporate world says otherwise: life is meant to be worked, find your fun 2 days a week and 2ish weeks a year. Trying to fit a life rich in experiences doesn’t fit well with working in the same location, 5+ days a week, 50+ weeks a year. Sure, one could wait until their mid-to-late 60s to retire and then go fill your life with rich experiences, but well, both my parents died at age 70, with lots of plans left undone. This doesn’t bode well for my life-expectancy. I don’t want to wait until I’m 67 years old, and then end up dying 3 years later with so much left to do.

So how does one figure out how to accomplish this? In my case, I have a house to maintain and no partner to share expenses with, so in order to maintain this level of living, I need to keep working my job in the corporate world. How do I escape that? Well, the easiest way is to reduce expenses. No house to maintain cuts expenses drastically! I have a beautiful 33 foot travel trailer, and a great truck to pull it with. Perfect to live in, and be able to cut expenses. Of course, expenses won’t be zero. There is insurance to maintain, cell phone to pay for, food to buy, etc, but none of this requires a soul-sucking job at the same tired location. And since the new home is on wheels, there is no need to stay in the same location!

I am going to become what’s called a Workamper. That’s the term for the people who live in their RV’s (trailers, motorhomes, vans, tents, etc), and find RV friendly jobs, most of which provide an RV site for the employee. Some examples are campground hosts, oil gate guards, amusement park workers, and for some of us, national park (or their concessionaire’s) employees.

On Monday, April 26th, I will be pulling out of the driveway of the home I just sold, and heading east to Yellowstone National Park. There I will be spending the summer living in my trailer, and working for a concessionaire inside the most beautiful place on earth. I am both excited and nervous. There is a huge unknown looming over me. Will I like it? Will I be ok in my trailer, with very little of what I’ve accumulated over the years? Will my pets be happy? But I balance those thoughts with the fact that I will be living inside my most favorite place in the entire world. I get to wake up every morning and say to myself “I LIVE at Yellowstone!” How can it get any better than that?