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Before we hit the road in 2014, we had enough savings to buy an RV, but we had zero clue how to make full-time travel financially possible.
Since jumping into the RV was our honeymoon, we included a link on our wedding invitations for guests to donate to our honeymoon fund to help us travel.
Tacky, but effective.
We needed the money if we wanted to make it to all fifty states and we wouldn’t have room to bring a bunch of wedding gifts in the RV anyway. Why not skip the middle man and just ask for cash?
We were really counting on Heath’s salary for the two months leading up to our wedding to pad our savings and cover our travel costs.
Instead, his boss let him go when she heard our travel plans.
(This is a story that didn’t make it into the final draft of my upcoming book on our 50 state honeymoon RV road trip.)
I sat in traffic just a few blocks from Heath’s office downtown to pick him up for a weekend getaway to test our camping skills before our honeymoon.
Our wedding was two months away and we had waited as long as we could before sending out invitations. Heath couldn’t not invite his coworkers, and as soon as he did, they would see our honeymoon fund link and find out about our honeymoon plan. I sent him into the office this morning with a stack of invites—the savings on stamps could probably get an extra gallon of gas in the RV. We were both nervous to hear everyone’s reaction to our unorthodox plan.
Heath told the CEO yesterday. Best not to just surprise your boss with the whole “I’m leaving in two months to spend a year RVing to all fifty states” idea. He said she took it well when he said he planned on leaving the company the week of the wedding. She even guaranteed him that he would still get the commissions for his sales that closed after he left—a grand estimated $10,000 that we sorely needed if we wanted our 1994 motorhome to make it all the way across the country.
I heard my phone vibrate in the cupholder and saw Heath’s face pop up. I hit speakerphone.
“I’m literally four blocks away. I totally forgot that it’s South-by this weekend. At this rate, it will be ten minutes before I get to your office. There are people everywhere!”
“Babe. My last day of work is next week.”
I hit the brakes harder than I needed to at the bomb Heath dropped. “Wait, what? You told your boss yesterday that you were planning on leaving in May! That’s two months away! She sounded fine with it, didn’t she?”
“Apparently she already found someone to take my job and he starts next week. So I’m now out of a job.”
I paused. I didn’t know what to say. We’ll figure it out? We didn’t need the thousands of dollars you would’ve earned in the next five paychecks anyway?! I’m sorry and I want to be supportive but there are 100 people crossing the road right now preventing me from turning left and I need to focus on the road?
“I’m going to drive home now,” he said with gravity to his voice. “I don’t think we should go out of town this weekend. We have a lot to figure out.”
Our families thought we were crazy.
We didn’t have any income.
Had our adventure really ended before it even began?
We had already searched for remote jobs, but there wasn’t anything we could do from the RV as we hopped from state to state. Plus they all needed good internet, and we hadn’t figured that out yet. I felt our dream crumbling to pieces. Our savings couldn’t get us all the way across the country. We weren’t even sure how much it would cost to RV full-time.
I passed Heath’s office building in my car and turned back toward downtown and its increasing traffic. Traffic aside, Heath and I did like Austin. It was exploding with growth, a new tech scene, and everyone seemed to be starting their own business. Everyone here was doing something.
Maybe this setback was a sign. Maybe staying here wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe visiting all fifty states for our honeymoon was just a dream that would stay a dream.
Getting on the road for the first time wasn’t easy and Heath losing his job after he shared our plans didn’t make it any easier. More than once, it felt like the universe was sending us a sign that we were not meant to RV the country. (I’ll share the story of the crazy Craigslist guy who cussed out Heath right before we bought his RV in a couple of weeks. 🙊)
But we wanted to start our marriage off accomplishing one goal together: visit all fifty states.
Getting fired and being completely broke 23-year-olds wasn’t going to stop us.
❤️
PS We started RVIng because we wanted to start our marriage off with a grand adventure that would force us to grow together. Why did you start RVing? (Or why are you wanting to RV? 😊 )
Comment and let me know. I’ll share your answers next week 🙂
