Six Months' In

An introspective on half a year of full-time RV living

Jan 18, 2026

I know some of you are anxious to hear all about South Padre Island… but that will have to wait.

We have been on the road for 6 months now as full-timers. This all started on July 14th, written up here. Here’s some thoughts from Melissa and I as we cross this milestone.

Melissa’s Thoughts

I love this adventure!

It has its challenges, but also its rewards.

Challenges first, because it’s a smaller list. I miss having a garbage disposal. I don’t, interestingly enough, miss having a dishwasher. I am super thankful that we have our own washer/dryer! I do miss family, but we’ve been able to see our kids at regular intervals, so that’s good.

I am enjoying the reward of a small home without property to care for and a big space to clean. I’ve been delighted to discover how easy it is to cook in a small kitchen, provided that it’s well-organized and that everything is in its place. “A place for everything and everything in its place” is one of our new mottos! The patio on our trailer, especially with the new tent that fits onto it, has been a game-changer as it provides a place to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine but still feels a bit more private than sitting at the picnic table.

Experiencing new places is super exciting!

We’re realizing that most of our favorite places so far have been near the water.

Oceans, lakes, and rivers, oh my! The beach is fun because you can walk on the sand all the time during the entire time you’re visiting, outdoors and indoors! Ha-ha. It’s been great to discover new routes for our morning walk in each new place. It’s especially advantageous that undiscovered territory generally encourages us to walk further than usual.

When we started this adventure, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with all my spare time. I’m happy to report that I find there’s plenty to fill my days! I’m enjoying spending more time in prayer, talking to the Lord about challenges and requests that I know about. Increasingly more often, the Lord also alerts me to ways to pray for others. I’m also learning more about the Bible and Jesus from The Bible Project, which is a treasure trove of material for studying and understanding the Bible! It’s a free resource and is accessible to everyone, regardless of level of Bible knowledge - you should check it out! And I love reading, both for learning and for leisure.

I have so much to be thankful for!

I’m so grateful for Dan. A loving and compassionate husband, Dan is also a true engineer, gifted at figuring out solutions to whatever problems we’re facing with Brinkley (the trailer) or Clifford (our F-450 truck). I’m thankful that Dan and I have a strong marriage that’s only getting stronger in this new season! The Lord is so good and so faithful to protect us and provide for us in every situation. We’ve been blessed with health and strength and protection in every situation - even when we’ve faced challenges.

Dan’s Thoughts

I can’t believe it’s been six months already!

It continues to be a crazy, fun adventure for sure! Every week or two there’s the pack-up routine, the hook up routine, the drive somewhere routine, the get there and unhook routine, and then wring out of that place all we can in the short time we are there. Oh and work a full-time job in the midst of it all.

There are stressful moments for sure, but overall it’s truly been as blessed an adventure as I could have hoped for!

Jack of all trades… Master of none

Living life on the road means having to be good at everything… or competent enough to get by. I think the fact that I have an engineer mind really helps. I find that I enjoy solving problems. I don’t like the “oh no! we have a problem!” moment, but the “that’ll solve that” moment is very very good!

Thankfully, Brinkley is a great company and they’ve made a great RV. There are really good materials online about all things Brinkley, including good videos and documentation. I’m thankful that I’ve been able to figure out everything that needed figuring out and fix everything that needed fixing, mostly on my own but sometimes with RV tech help. There are still some minor issues here and there, but nothing major and nothing that stops us from loving this traveling life!

Six months of all kinds of travel and camping means I’m pretty competent now… or at least “all things RV”-wise. I’m no expert, but I’m definitely way past newbie stage now.

An Earthquake Every Week

Someone wise told me: “Remember, every week you travel to a new place, it’s the equivalent of a full earthquake for your RV”. It boggles the mind to think that we intentionally subject Brinkley to this and just expect that she’ll be fine.

We had some tough calls early on as we figured out how to properly secure everything. For example, our first few days we learned (the hard way) that you have to deadbolt the exterior doors, not just latch them… otherwise they swing open on the highway! And you have to secure the fridge doors just right, or they might pop open and strew your stuff all over the floor.

It’s a totally different mindset to think through how to stow and secure things when traveling every week or two. But that same thought process is good. It helps keep important things front and center. Where do you store your plants, for example? Good question. You need a strategy for that. What about glassware? Or tools? Or chairs? Etc. We’ve managed to finally dial it all in and have a strategy for everything that works.

Friendly Connections

Perhaps one of the biggest epiphanies was learning how connections happen or don’t happen when on the road. It’s really hard to get to know people when you only say hi briefly or share some tidbits or road stories… then poof… it’s off to the next place! We were supremely blessed to make friends with Kathy and Tom early on in our travels! (Hi Kathy! Hi Tom!) And we’ve met other wonderful people along the way!

I find that you have to just be bold and approach people. There’s always something worth talking about (especially if they are a fellow Brinkley owner!)

I do miss the depth of long-term, in-person relationships, but we are learning how to lean into technology to stay connected to friends and family, and how to lean into our relationship with each other, and how to lean into our relationship with God.

Daily Rhythms… Weekly Rhythms

When your house is in a different place every week, you need something else that’s consistent and grounding. We have found that in our morning routine, which we will only rarely deviate from.

I’m up first and my “job” is to make the lattes. YUM! I love that Brinkley can power the Breville espresso machine, even when dry camping. We then sit and enjoy our lattes while we work through the Bible in a year. We did that in 2025 and kept it up while on the road and really enjoy the rhythm of it, so here we go again! Some time in the morning to read the Bible, pray, be still and quiet, is a critical rhythm to center us and set the day right.

We also have some regular rhythms because of having a dog. Penny likes her walks in the morning and evening and knows that she gets fed at 5pm. Somehow she knows… right when it’s 5pm. So walks around the campground become a nice rhythm and nice time to process life and everything.

We do love longer hikes on weekends when the weather is amenable (and often when it’s not amenable). It’s a great way to explore new places, especially state parks.

Longer Stays

We spent 3 full weeks in South Padre Island, TX (post coming soon!) as the longest stretch yet. It's still early to say whether we would move to longer stays. I think we both love the adventure of new places and new experiences. Also, we can go about a week or slightly more before we need dumping + refilling, so that creates a natural rhythm around weekly stays.

I could maybe see a month-long stay somewhere, but nothing much more than that. Even if it’s a beautiful place, I know that I’d get antsy to get back on the road and try something else. That’s what comes of having a house with wheels… ya wanna get them wheels turnin’ and start a’rollin’ on down the road. Sounds like the start of a good country song.

Just The Two Of Us

I can’t imagine doing this if you don’t have a solid relationship with your spouse. The space is just too small, and the challenges too unpredictable. But we have a rock solid marriage (thank you, Lord!) and it makes all the difference!

I love that it’s just the two of us, adventuring and having crazy fun together!

I do miss our kids (Hi Caleb! Hi Emma!) and other family and all our friends, but day in, day out, it’s Melissa and I, and that’s more than enough!

We’ve learned how to communicate well and how to enjoy time together in a variety of ways, and how to share in adventure of all kinds. My work days offer time for Melissa to take it slow, which she loves.

Campgrounds

I love state parks!

For reasons I don’t understand (but am not going to complain about), state parks tend to spread way out, so spots tend to be quite roomy! I love being able to set up and not feel like I can reach out and touch the RVs next to me.

Too many RV parks are just that type. We call that the “Rack ‘em Stack ‘em” parks (thanks Dad for coining that term!). I guess some people don’t mind but it’s really hard to look out your main RV window right at the back side of the next RV.

What’s been really cool is finding State Parks that are cheap with big-sized campsites and still offer full hookups! A lot in the south seem to do this.

We have found that mixing between nicer campgrounds (like KOAs) and state parks and private campgrounds and the occasional Harvest Host makes for a nice mix. We even have enjoyed parking next to people’s houses and mooching off their water/power (officially called “moochdocking” apparently!)

Working

I still work full time for WorkBright.

What an incredible blessing! I love my job, I love the company and it’s mission, and I love my co-workers! I get to do cool stuff day in and day out and bring the best of my skills and expertise to bear. And the time is flexible enough so that an occasional travel day during the week has been fine. I try not to abuse that flexibility, though, but it’s nice to know it’s there.

I am blessed to be living at a time when fast internet is available via satellite (thanks Starlink!) and so as long as the Northern sky is clear, I’m good to go. I don’t have to try and make cell service work or trust campground wifi (which is notoriously bad).

I think that’s a true game-changer. Without that consistent, trustworthy internet, I don’t think I could do what I do. Often, my job requires working on servers so I need a steady, strong, fast internet connection.

BTW, if you are thinking of getting Starlink, feel free to use my referral code so we both save some $$: https://starlink.com/residential?referral=RC-3664721-78373-72

When Will We Stop?

I think some people wonder how long we’ll keep this up. Honestly, I don’t know. We made a commitment to each other to give it at least 2 years, but life can be messy and so we will just trust in the Lord and see how things unfold.

I can say this: we love it and have no desire to stop. And there’s still TONS of the U.S. we want to see! So who knows? Maybe we’ll still be doing this in 10+ years. That would be awesome!

I will tell you this: I don’t miss having to shovel snow, or mow a lawn or pay a mortgage or deal with a commute.

What’s Next For Us?

So 2026… what’s next for the Crazy Fun Adventure Crew?

Good question. It’s not all planned, but roughly it looks like it will be:

Southwest until spring
Colorado until summer
?? during summer (not planned yet… some other decisions affecting this)
Probably New England in the fall again
Probably work our way down south again in late fall
But then winter 2026-2027? Maybe Florida? Maybe California? Maybe back to Texas? TBD.

That’s the beauty of this crazy fun ride. In the words of Indiana Jones: “I don’t know… I’m making this up as I go.”

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26

Cheers!

Dan & Melissa & Penny & Clifford & Brinkley