Full Time RVer

Their friends thought they were nuts: The young couple with two little ones went from a 6,000 square foot, six bedroom home to a motorhome with slideouts. Jim and Debbie Ward were like a lot of “climbers.” If you didn’t ‘trade up for a bigger place,’ every few years, well there must be something wrong with you.

Then Jim had a job crisis: Awarded a grant to travel throughout the US publicizing disability rights issues, what would the family do? Would it be Mom and Kids at home while dad traveled pillar-to-post from motel to motel, suffering loneliness and jet lag? They took the jump, sold their 6,000 square feet of sticks and bricks, stored 19 crates of household items, and moved into an RV.

That was two years ago.

While the family recently ‘put down roots’ in a permanently moored home, their thinking about what you really “need,” has been run through the ringer. “I’d always thought a big house was what you should get, especially if you’re paying a decent price for it—that’s the right way to live,” Jim says. “This had taught me a lot about downsizing and simplicity.” While Debbie admits missing her dishwasher, she says, “Everything we need is right here, and we’re within arm’s reach of each other.”

Was going from 6,000 feet to a bit over 300 feet too much closeness? As opposed to driving everyone nuts, the family now says that living in an RV brought them closer together–not just physically but emotionally. Life in the RV “just helped define what a home is and what a home means to you,” Jim says. “It isn’t necessarily more space or more money.”

A fascinating story, and one you might want to share with relatives who think you’re taking leave of your senses when you speak about a life on the road. Check it out in Newsweek magazine. 

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