The Evolution Of Our Nomadic Life


Everything Changes.

Think back to 2009, what were you doing then? How much has life changed in 5 years? Go ahead, recount the last five years. Weddings, babies, funerals, new jobs, new homes, new places, new loves, more birthdays…  For us, our ideas about travel, about work, where we call ‘home’ and certainly our ages… *throat clear* our ’maturity’ (Dennis turned 40 in 2014) have all changed.

So in an attempt to reflect on our changes and share our experiences we’ve put together a three part blog post about how our life has developed from the day we started this nomadic life until now.  Below is the first part and it focuses on our evolving travel style, next we’ll be talking about the evolution of our personal life, and last we’ll share about the evolution in our work life.

The Evolution Of Our Nomadic Life: Part 1 of 3
8 Confessions About The Evolution Of Our Personal Nomadic Life: Part 2 of 3
The Evolution Of Our Working Nomadic Life: Part 3 of 3

Our Past Year of Travels

We haven’t stopped. Last summer we took our awesome van on its last hoorah before selling it on eBay to the highest bidder – in Amsterdam. Van camping up the California coast through Big Sur, to San Francisco and then to Shasta.

PacificaCAintheVan
pacificaCARoadtrip

Due to the Cheddar Yeti II (the 1978 Blue Bird Wanderlodge bus), being under construction for almost the whole year, we were forced to change our RVing lifestyle. We chose to house sit locally in the San Diego area and room-surf with family.

moonrisePoolDulzura

We also squeezed in a trip to Mexico for some much needed R&R. The adventure in relaxation did back fire though. Dennis ended up bringing back a serious case of Montezuma’s revenge.

lunchMexico

By late fall we prepared for a trip to Rhode Island.  Flying was a fraction of the cost of driving so we bought two one way tickets. Enjoying the fall back east, especially with family, is always a highlight. Yes we ate plenty of pizza, coffee ice cream, and cider donuts!

ciderDonutRoadtrip
peacedaleRIFallColors

On our return trip back to California in January, our flight out of Boston Logan was on the eve of the “great blizzard of 2015.” That one actually shut down Boston and Manhattan for a day.

This storm brought the greatest snowfall on record to Worcester, Massachusetts, with 34.5 inches.
-accuweather.com

JamestownRISnow

A Few Things We’ve Discovered Along Our Way

“We travel light because our pockets are empty.” – Jeanette

The actual cost of RV travel continues to blow us away. Fuel along with campground fees are about as expensive as a mortgage or rent when you’re constantly driving around the country.

Weekend van camping is our absolute favorite RVing style. Hands down. Driving on the coast highway road in a camper van is enjoyable. Crank the music and pull off the road anytime a photo opportunity strikes. When we’re ready for full relaxation, we pull into a campground or anywhere we find parking.  On occasion we book a hotel or AirBnB. It always feels like a vacation even when we’re working.

What We Love About Our Nomadic Life

Discovering parts of ourselves while traveling. We credit our stumbling into Bisbee, Arizona as the beginning of our nomadic obsession. A place that changed our lives forever, but prior to us rounding that old highway bend, we never knew existed.

Staying as long as we like and becoming sorta locals. The longer we stay the more we get to know the town’s local vibe. If we can stay beyond a short visit, most places leave an impression on us. When we return, it feels like we’ve returned home – sorta.

Experiencing art, history, culture, nature – first hand. The forests and salty air in Big Sur to the elevation on Mammoth Mountain. Walking in crunchy morning snow on the atlantic coast to witnessing the most saturated purples and oranges as the sun rises from that crater in Maui. Experiencing history in Washington D.C., and being a part of art in Philly, then experiencing pure heaven-in-a-casing in Louisiana.

We can’t help but to keep dreaming up more destinations.

Why Our Future Travel Plans Don’t Include RVing.

Time. We’ve found that our life is out of balance.

We have new destinations in mind. We’d like to travel further distances and live temporarily in an urban destination.

RV driving wasn’t the type of adventure we were seeking. Being behind the wheel of a 27′ or 35′ RV is not our idea of a relaxing drive. Gasping at the sight of an oncoming bridge while barreling down the highway at 55 MPH, finding accessible fuel stations in a town we don’t know how to navigate in, blowing a tire on highway, or catching our secondary break on fire while descending on a steep mountain grade, sucked.

The white knuckle driving was a fair price to pay for all of the cool stuff we got to experience and the people and family we connected with along the way. But now, we’re ready for a new adventure.

The Status Of Us & The Bus

Having our own dwelling to come back to is priceless. Since we returned from New England in late January 2015, we moved back into the bus for the first time in since March 2014.  It’s small and cozy, its got cool vintage style, we love it. It’s still our home.

YetiII-Inside

HOWEVER, for now we don’t plan on traveling full time in the bus. It’s our part time apartment in the Southern California desert. We’ll continue to fix and upgrade it, too.

The bus is settling down. We’re not however.

TheYetiPad

Upcoming Travel Plans

Spring & Summer 2015

Car Road Trip up the 395, to Lake Tahoe, SF and Shasta Lake. Visiting friends and family along the way.

Fall 2015

TBD (Ideas: Fly somewhere South or East for a months visit)

Winter 2015

San Diego in the bus. Holiday in Las Vegas.

And in 2016:

We’re searching for an urban apartment for about… 6 months or so. Somewhere either East or Far East… TBD.

We’ll simply shut down the bus systems and go…


The New CheddarYeti.com & Our Evolution in Travel Blogging

Blogging.

It started out fun then something changed. We found ourselves feeling guilty for not sharing every trip, place, upgrade, or nuance in our daily lives. So we paused until it felt right again.

*Kudos to those who document their experiences in great length. The RVing how to’s, the nomadic tech tips, every epic scenic view, and the best places to go RVing. We’re watching! Your blogs are awesome, thank you for your dedication.

The NEW CheddarYeti.com design

Simplifying our travels meant simplifying our blog. No stores, google ads, affiliate links, etc. And we geeked out a bit by using the TwentyFifteen WordPress theme – bare bones!

You can expect that we will blog when we have something to share. Mingle with us on Facebook and Instagram if you want to see more. We’ll stay in touch and share our story here.

Thank you for being apart of it.

Share your changes, your discoveries, or your thoughts on our evolution in the comment section below. We’d love to hear them.


10 responses to “The Evolution Of Our Nomadic Life”

  1. I admire you two for taking action to change something that is not working for you anymore. Here’s to evolution. Hope we can catch up with you this winter.

    • Hi guys! We love watching your Alaska travels! Seems the drive was much more eventful then you thought? From what it looks like you probably didn’t have the time to watch the Breaking Bad series? Or did you squeeze it in? We’ll be around this coming winter… you know you have a spot to visit! Cheers.

  2. Woooaaaah! Wow haven’t caught up with you guys in a while and what an update this is! So freekin cool you’ll keep being nomadic but in a different way. As long as your heart is open to adventure and shaking things up however you see fit, your life will always be incredible. Do you guys know about Overyonderlust? They’re a fab couple who have never been RVers but they’re traveling the world doing what they love. Sam intro’d us to them a few weeks ago, look ’em up!

    Meanwhile, we’ll be in CA in July/August, then back again in Dec/Jan. Hope to hook up with you two!

    P.S. Jim is really concerned about Maxine. What will happen to her? We have a fab home for her in our new rig if you need to dump her. She’s such a freeloader eh?

    xoxo

    • Maxine is with my Dad. He LOVES her and invites her to all his parties. Still, she misses Jim terribly.
      Stay in touch and we’ll have you over when you’re near SD and we’re in town too. Cheers!

  3. Hi Cheddar Yeti’s,
    My family bought our Class C three years ago. I followed so many RV blogs enthustiastically as I learned about this interesting lifestyle. I decided to launch my own blog to record my experiences, but also because it’s just something I am very interested in. I am still learning about what I want my blog to look/feel like, and how much time I want to invest in it. For me, blogging is extremely satisfying, but ridiculously time consuming. So, as I’m re-examining my own goals for my blog, I came across this article on FB. So much of what I read about in blogs is related to people getting into the RV lifestyle. I am interested in your process of stepping away from RVing, and the evolution of your blog. You put into words some of the things I’m thinking/feeling about simplifying things. I hope that you will continue to write (when you are inspired). I enjoy your writing style and fun vibe. I wish you all the best as you continue down your path. -Chris http://www.cuontheroad.net

  4. We’re there too – although your driving experiences seem a bit more terrifying! Were thinking of selling crush and getting a house and something smaller. We’ve always known rving was expensive and sitting still in the RV makes Trish ansety. Hope to hear more from you as you change up the adventure, no pressure though!

    • Funny – we talked about the way you two do it with a bit of envy. Living in cities, in apartments, mixing it up!
      Once we started asking ourselves, “Where do we want to be?” and when our answers kept bringing up bigger cities… the RV seemed more like an anchor then a nomadic advantage. Still, we’re not totally ready to let it go… keeping the bus parked and having it as a retreat or getaway destination is awesome. (PS – if you’re ever this way, and still have Crush we have guest parking!) Talk to you both soon! Take Care and keep US posted too.

  5. Hey you two Ky Baker and I were just talking about you and how we never know when you are in town and it sure would be nice to see you again. Ky and I along with some other Ex Adio/PE folks are here in Oceanside working at C1RCA

    I run the office and write checks hahahaha……… good stuff

    Miss You Both
    Franhalen

    • HI Frannie!!!
      Oh my god YES! We’d love to see you guys. Keep us posted to any gatherings We’ll be around SD on and off quite a bit throughout the year. You still have our digits right?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.