For the past four years, my husband, Jeff, and I have been living our dream—exploring the open road in our RV, capturing stunning landscapes, and meeting incredible people.

As a branding photographer, this lifestyle has fueled my creativity and enriched my perspective on life and work. People often ask us when we plan to settle down, but we do not intend to give up our nomadic life anytime soon. Here’s why.

Since late 2020, we’ve been embarking on a journey across the United States in our RV. It's not just about seeing the sights; it's about immersing oneself in the diverse tapestry of landscapes, wildlife, and people that make up this vast and beautiful country. Here are six profound lessons learned while traversing the byways of America.

Last summer, we signed up for another summer of Workamping in Estes Park, Colorado. It’s absolutely beautiful and right next to Rocky Mountain National Park. Workamping is when you volunteer (usually between 16-24 hours/weekly) to help the National Park, State Park, Municipal Park, or Private Park run their domain/campground efficiently in exchange for a free spot that includes water, electricity, and sewer hookups. We do this primarily to get to coveted locations in nature. 

We had Workamped three summers before and had enjoyed Estes Park immensely, so we decided to go back. We contacted the manager, Zelda, and she was thrilled to have us return, especially since we were already trained and familiar with the area. We signed a contract with her, committing from May 15 to September 15. 

On November 3, 2020, we left most of what we knew on the Presidential Election Day to live the RV Life full-time. 

We sold close to everything and ‘burned the boat’ as they say. In hindsight, we wished we would have rented our house because of the home values and the interest rates have increased substantially.

We had two RV’s before we ventured out into full-time RV Life. We knew partly what we were getting into. Truth be told, we definitely got caught up in the romanticism of the RV Life: the freedom and the ability to see the diverse beauty of our country. We thought we would jump and the net would appear.

As with everything, it’s usually harder than you think it is, AND it’s more glorious than expected. 

I thought I’d share what I’ve learned since making this choice about two years ago for this final installment. Just like with anything, there’s good and bad, and it’s all there to teach me.

I enjoy sharing the ins and outs (and ups and downs) with you this month in this blog series on my RV life. During the first few posts, I talked about why we chose this life and the logistics of making it work for us. Today, let’s look at some of the realities of living full-time in an RV (the good and the not-so-good).

This week, I thought I’d answer some questions about the logistics of living life on wheels. It’s definitely different, and we’ve learned a lot in the two years we’ve been doing it.

I love sharing with you through this blog. I usually write helpful articles about how to get the most out of your next photo shoot or how to use your professional photos to their maximum benefit on social media. But I’m also a fairly unique photographer because I live full-time in an RV with my husband. While I’ve referenced that occasionally here, I’ve never really shared many details, and people always ask me about it.

I thought I’d take a whole month and write a series sharing some of what I love (and don’t) about living the RV life. I’ll start with the basics this week and then delve more deeply into some of the details in the coming weeks.

Here are some of the questions I get about our RV life.

This is my 87-year-old neighbor, Gloria. We lived next door when we were wintering over in Apache Junction, AZ (near Phoenix). She loves to dance and makes her own dance clothes. She is whip-smart, quick-witted and we really enjoy her as our neighbor. I try to join her at 3:30 pm on her porch every day where she has a glass of wine, and I have a cool glass of water.

We’re really glad we spent a few days in Fruita, Colorado. It had a 26-mile bike trail along the Colorado River, which we rode and then ate at the infamous Hot Tomato Cafe. We had delicious pizza for dinner.

We checked out the Colorado National Monument for our evening drive and Dinosaur Hill where Elmer Riggs excavated big, huge dino bones in the early 1900s. They’re still admired at the Chicago Field Museum today. I probably saw them as a teenager.

Happy February! It’s been an awesome few weeks down here in the Arizona desert. In between working with new clients, my husband and I found time to attend “Quartzsite RV Show” a few weeks ago. If you saw the movie “Nomadland” this should ring a bell.

Every January, as many as 750,000 to 1,000,000 people (mostly in RV’s) converge on the sleepy little desert town of Quartzsite, located just 20 miles east of the California border on Interstate 10, for the rock, gem, and mineral shows and numerous flea markets. The main attraction, though, is the Quartzsite Sports, Vacation & RV Show. This phenomenon started over 40 years ago and is now billed as “The Largest Gathering Of RVers in the World.”

Making It a National Park

The effort to designate the Grand Canyon as a national park started in the 1880s, but at first, Congress kept failing to pass a bill that would do that. But President Teddy Roosevelt loved the area so much that he finally declared it a national monument in 1908. The bill that finally made it a national park was signed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1919. The Grand Canyon is cared for by the National Park Service, the Hualapai Tribal Nation, and the Havasupai Tribe.

We checked out Zion National Park which is absolutely gorgeous! More red rock, varied plants and trees, and there ARE fall colors even in the desert. We went on a short hike and came across a Jerusalem Cricket that is described as a Frankenstein-like insect with a nasty bite.

The thing that cracks me up is the cow grates you pass as you enter or exit a freeway. They are designed to make the cows think they’ll fall if they walk on them. Very effective barriers.

Moab is in eastern Utah, near Arches National Park with its red rock formations. It has a rich history that includes uranium mines, World War II internment camps, being used as a movie set, and rock art created by indigenous people.

We stayed in Thompson Springs which was about 45 minutes away from Moab. Next time, we promised ourselves to stay closer. Driving back and forth got old quickly. We stayed a week at Moab and wished we had two weeks to explore and enjoy it. We enjoyed it so much, that we promised ourselves to come back in the Spring of 2022.

Elk mating season lasts from the end of August through October and the official name for elk mating is rutting. We were excited to be at Estes Park for their big elk rut.

The male elk are called bulls, the females are cows and their young are calves. When a big herd breaks up into smaller groups of cows and calves, they’re called harems. The cows come into estrus (heat) only every 20 days, so as soon as a cow is ready to mate, the bull has to be ready. Cows can have up to four estrus cycles each season, but most cows become pregnant during the first or second cycle.

In May 2021, we made it to Estes Park, CO! Estes Park is 10 minutes outside Rocky Mountain National Park, which has timed entries until 6:00p. We’ll be here from May through the end of September and we’re able to stay this long in a resort town because of Workamping.

In May 2021, we made it to Estes Park, CO! Estes Park is 10 minutes outside Rocky Mountain National Park, which has timed entries until 6:00p. We’ll be here from May through the end of September and we’re able to stay this long in a resort town because of Workamping.

I have always wanted to visit Santa Fe, so after it warmed up, we went there to explore. I’ve read Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way and she has written about Santa Fe and Taos, so going there was a dream come true. In fact, there are many famous artists who have lived there and still do. See interesting facts about Santa Fe.

We signed up for a North American Reciprocal Museum (NARM) membership which got us into a lot of museums for free. Love that! I wanted to see the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, but we weren’t able to because they offered a timed entry and I didn’t get our pass in time. We checked out the New Mexico History Museum and the New Mexico Art Museum. It was delightful, from the paintings to the wonderful sculptures to the turquoise jewelry.

Our friend Robyn told us we must enjoy Silver Springs State Park and take a Kayak trip. We decided that was the perfect way to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

The Silver River flows five miles from the head spring to its confluence with the Ocklawaha River, completely within the confines and protection of Silver Springs State Park. The river offers a wide, wild, and scenic paddle through Florida’s heartland. There have been movies filmed here.