Step 1: I quit.

Readers Digest version: I quit my job and started a business. My wife and I bought a used hard side pop-up camper, because we’re regular people on a budget, who still want to hit the road as often as we can. Keep reading if you want the full story...

Like many Americans, I got on the Big Quit bandwagon and left my job at age 31. Because I HATED it. I immediately began building a business from scratch in order to gain some freedom and control over my life. Freedom to travel and have experiences that I had previously been forced to confine to two weeks out of each year for the last 10 years.

My then girlfriend - now wife - was happy to hear that I had chosen sanity and quality of life over money and being a bit of a material girl. So, we sold our respective homes and moved to a quaint coastal area where the cost of living was significantly cheaper than what we were used to. I started a humble business, she transferred with her employer to a new area and just like that, we were finally making the dream happen!

Well, not exactly… All of a sudden money was tight!

Initially, we continued to travel the conventional way - airfare, accommodations, car rentals, etc. But it was clear very early on that this wasn’t going to work in the constraints of our new life. The old way had to be scrapped and a more budget-friendly formula had to replace it. Van life wasn’t an option; it’s not like we had retired or something. But buying an RV or a travel van was out of the question.

Enter the a-frame camper! The very much used a-frame camper! A 2016 Rockwood A122s, which would be towed to anywhere we pleased by our beloved Tacoma, affectionately named Tom.

:)