SPIRITUAL GROWTH ON THE ROAD

 

I have been very fortunate and feel very blessed to be able to live this lifestyle on the road.

A very important part of my life on the road is my connection with God.  

I stay in contact with God throughout the day. First thing in the morning I say a prayer of thanks and ask for His protection for the day.  During the day I pray for friends and family that are in need or could use a little boost in their life.  I pray for healing for my friends that are sick or going through a particularly tough time. Many times I’ll stop somewhere along the way and sit for a little bit and do some meditation.  That’s my time to be quiet and listen to God.

I met a group called Your Jesus Journey (YJJ) in Quartzsite last year and they have been a huge part of my life and my spiritual growth. Thad Debuhr and his wife Kaila started this ministry about 2 years ago and they too live full-time in their RV.  Thad does a morning devotional everyday at 6am Pacific time.  It’s a great way to start my morning, listening to the Word and being part of a wonderful community. We do a monthly ‘all church’ meeting where we share testimonies, talk about upcoming gatherings, and share time of prayer.  

Earlier this month we held the 1st Pig-Out, Play & Praise gathering in Northern Idaho. We had about 100 people attend and it was an awesome long weekend.  Meeting new friends, worship time, baptisms, conversations around the fire pit and a pig roast!  What an amazing time had by all. The event was supposed to end on Sunday after we all attended the local church in town, but a few of us didn’t want to leave and extended it until Tuesday! I was eating leftovers for a week.

I am so glad to be a part of this wonderful church family.

yourjesusjourney.com

My home church, Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg VA, where I was baptized in 2015 and have learned so much is still a big part of my spiritual life. I watch online on Sundays and Wednesdays, when I have internet connectivity. Cornerstone is part of Calvary Chapel and I have visited several of their affiliated churches across the country including the place it was started in Costa Mesa, CA.  (The movie Jesus Revolution was based on Calvary Chapel).

The Senior Pastor at Cornerstone, Gary Hamrick, is an amazing teacher.  He teaches the Bible, chapter by chapter and verse by verse. I’ve never met a better teacher and pastor.  I have learned so much from him and the other pastors at Cornerstone, especially Matt Denby and Jimmy Mullen. My walk with the Lord is so much better and clearer because of them.

cornerstonechapel.net

The first year on the road I did a weekly bible study with Gail, my brother and sister-in-law, Glenn and Kandi, and my favorite niece, Sarah. We used an app called ‘WordGo’ for readings and questions that we would answer and share about the impact these readings had or are having on our lives. Unfortunately due to life, kids and grandkids and work schedules, our time getting together for these bible studies came to an end. Hopefully we can work on fitting this back into the weekly schedule.  Beyond the study, it was just really nice to spend time with family, laughing and learning!

wordgo.org

I’ve had so many wonderful experiences on the road, but the most spiritual experience I’ve experienced so far has to be the time I spent at White Sands NM.  I took a few hikes out in the dunes and then found a beautiful spot away from everything and spent a couple of hours praying and meditating. I can’t explain the experience other than to say I felt closer to God than any other time in my life.  What an amazing place!

I would be remiss if I didn't mention my friend Chris when writing about my spiritual growth. She is an incredible friend and has taught me so much. Whenever I have a question about the Bible, religious differences or need an explanation/clarification on something, she is my go to person (actually on any topic). She is incredibly smart and has an awesome way of explaining things. I am very lucky to have such a great friend!

I look forward to continuing to grow in my faith and share my experience, strength and hope with others.

Thanks for reading my ramblings!

ALONE, NEVER LONELY - LIVING SOLO ON THE ROAD

Since I live solo on the road in my RV, people ask me if it gets lonely out ‘there’.

The short answer is no.  I rarely feel lonely in my travels. First and foremost I have God with me guiding me and I go to Him often for guidance, comfort, and companionship.  I start the morning with prayer and usually a morning devotional with my friends from Your Jesus Journey, more about YJJ in another blog entry. You can check them out at www.yourjesusjourney.com

I also have my ‘co-pilots’, I travel with Marley’s ashes, she was our 15 year old black lab, that was and is always looking out for me. I also know my buddy Bill is always looking out for me too. Whenever I see a sunbeam show up in one of my pictures I know that is Bill watching over me.  RIP Bill, I love you pal

I do a great deal of reading in the evenings that helps me stay occupied.  It seems like I always have 3-4 books I’m reading at the same time.  I have my Bible and my Big Book that are always close by on my Kindle.  I also have a couple of other books in progress at the same time, some novels and some ‘learning’ books.

I do a lot of hiking/walking in the late mornings/early afternoons on trails I find in the area. I seem to always find someone to chat with on the trail or after my hikes. 

My RV seems to attract a lot of attention when I pull over to check out an overlook, park in the grocery store parking lot or just in random spots.  I have a Pleasure Way XLTS RV and there are not too many models like mine on the road so people ask about it all the time. 

I rarely stay in campgrounds but on the occasion that I do pull into a campground, I always make a loop around the campground to say hello to people and that usually strikes up a good conversation or two.  

For the last 2 winters I have stayed in the desert near Quartzsite, Arizona on Bureau of Land Management land.  This area is huge and many thousands of RVers call this home for the winter months.  I have a great group of friends I’ve met there and we stay in touch during the ‘off season’. They have become part of my family in many ways, I learn from them, grow with them and just enjoy hanging out with them when our paths cross as we travel around the country.

Because of my posts on social media, I have reconnected with old high school friends, college friends and former work friends/colleagues.  While all these visits have been wonderful, one in particular stands out. I was in the desert south of Tucson, AZ and got a message from one of my high school friends, Diane, asking me what my plans were for Thanksgiving.  I said I didn’t really have any plans so she insisted that I spend Thanksgiving with her and her husband and family.  What an unexpected joy.  We had a wonderful time catching up and had an amazing Thanksgiving celebration. Thanks Diane and Joe!

The first new friend I met on the road is my buddy Greg. We met in Joshua Tree NP in California in November 2022. We ended up meeting again in Quartzsite in December and really had a great time getting to know each other.  We talked about everything from religion to politics, the Vietnam War (he is a veteran of Vietnam), to living life on life’s terms.  Nothing was out of bounds. One morning in particular stands out, we made our coffee and grabbed our chairs and Greg’s first words were ‘What do you think about Cannibalism’?  Wow, what a question first thing in the morning!  Should I be worried? Haha.  I think we spent about an hour on that topic.

He and I stayed in touch after leaving Quartzsite and made plans to meet there for the 23/24 Winter Season.

After returning to Quartzsite for the 23/24 season, Greg and I found a nice spot to post up.  Across the wash from us was a lone nomad, Karen, in her trailer with her dog Boo Boo.  We dog sat for her a couple of times which was nice.  A friend of her’s, Deanna, showed up about 2 weeks later and we decided to move over near them and formed a compound of sorts.  Shortly after that, Mary and Ed and their friend Tim joined us and to compound grew.  A few others joined us and we had about 11-14 rigs at one point.  We had a community tent where we met for coffee, conversation and card games, and lots of laughs.  The core group of 7 have stayed in touch and have become great friends!

Last spring after leaving Quartzsite, I traveled along the southern border of the US into Texas.  There I met up with one of my new friends I met in Quartzsite, Tim and his dog Keegan.  We traveled together from Del Rio, Texas to Tampa, Florida. We had some awesome conversations and adventures. Hanging out for 3 nights on the bayous in Louisiana watching some of the most amazing sunsets I’ve seen on my journey, almost getting stuck on the beach in Padre Island, ‘ducking’ gunshots outside of New Orleans, and almost stepping on a huge alligator in Florida.  The only disappointing part of that leg of the drive was missing out on the Worm Grunting Festival in Sopchoppy FL.  I’m still not sure what Worm Grunting is but it sure sounded interesting.

I’ve met many other people on the road that have had an impact on my life and journey. Some I stay in touch with via calls and  social media and others that are just a fond memory.

My life is fuller because of the people I’ve met on my journey.  Thanks for being a part of my journey!

HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT - THE BEGINNING

Two years ago today I started my journey as a RV Full-timer/Nomad. I’ve been asked many times why I decided to live this lifestyle.  Well here is the 'short 'story of how it came about.

I enjoyed watching Youtube videos about RVing and Sailing for several years. I enjoyed seeing the places people were visiting and how they managed living on the road or on the water.  I also enjoyed learning about the systems/mechanical/technical side of that lifestyle.

I thought maybe someday I would like to do that…but I was still working and living in the DC metro area. The time wasn’t right.  When would it be the right time…maybe someday.

Well a series of events took place that helped me make my decision to become a nomad.

I had a serious injury at work that ended up requiring two neck surgeries (my neck is now fused top to bottom) and shoulder surgery (torn rotator cuff and torn tendon). While I was recovering from the surgeries my company decided to eliminate my position for financial reasons…I was making too much money in their opinion.  My team was breaking all kinds of sales records for the region and company. Apparently they didn’t’ like that I was ‘costing them too much money in commission overrides and therefore costing them too much money. I offered to renegotiate my compensation plan but they were set on forgoing having a regional sales manager and managing the team from the headquarters in Illinois.  I was really upset as I loved what I was doing and really enjoyed the people I was working with.  But it was what it was. I figured I’d be ok and find something else. (I understand their plan failed and revenues went down significantly but that was not my problem).  

While I was trying to decide what to do next, my best buddy called me from Jacksonville Florida and let me know that his doctors informed him he had cancer.  He was like a brother to me.  We talked several times a week since we met in 2015. We shared a lot of laughs together and shared tears too.  We never ended our calls without telling each other ‘I love you pal’.

Bill passed away August 21, 2022. 

The combination of these two events pushed me to make some changes in my life. 

The day I made the decision to live full-time on the road, I found the perfect rig that checked all the boxes and it was only 10 miles away from where I was living.  It was way over my budget and after some prayer and budgeting I knew it was the right thing!

I sold and/or donated most everything I owned and left Virginia on October 10, 2022 and haven’t once regretted my decision.

It has been an amazing journey! I’ve met some incredible people on my travels and have seen some amazing sights!  If you believe the news, we have a horrible country with horrible people.  That is absolutely ‘fake news’. We have an amazing country with awesome people.

Everyday has been a blessing and a real joy. I have met some great new friends and have definitely grown in my faith. 

I miss Bill and think about him daily.  When I was in the Tampa Florida area last year I got the chance to meet his sisters Nancy and Karen. We had dinner together and talked for hours.  It was awesome.  I never had any sisters growing up but now I have two amazing ‘sisters’ in my life!  

One particular day of my journey really stands out to me.  I was in Nova Scotia in the summer of 2023 and was having a ‘bad’ day.  The weather was crappy and I was feeling depressed and sorry for myself.  I called Gail and told her how I was feeling and probably hoping to get some sympathy.  Gail wasn’t having any of that!  She responded…’you’ve been on the road for about a year and how many times have you called saying you were having a tough/bad day?  ZERO.  

So suck it up buttercup!’  Not the response I expected but the response I needed.  I haven’t had a ‘bad’ day since.  I’ve had some challenges..medical, mechanical, etc. but I just suck it up buttercup and am grateful for the life I have!

I love life!  I appreciate the beauty of our country (and Canada). I have learned so much about myself as I travel around and have grown so much.  I appreciate my new friends and my old friends. 

I am grateful and appreciate every day!