We’re officially announcing the countdown to the launch of our full-time Airstreaming adventure!
On May 1st, 2015, our lives will take a radical departure from the comfort of suburbia and the 9 to 5 grind. We’re giving up our home, most of our possessions and packing ourselves into a 185q ft Airstream. All of this to search out adventure and a simpler life where we can grow as a family and as individuals.
But before that happens, there are some checkpoints we have to cross; things we still need to accomplish. It’s a lot of work, and at times, we’ve both felt overwhelmed. We’d wish for a magic wand to wave or default to putting things off for “tomorrow”.
But there is no magic wand. There’s just hard work – words easily written and said, but it takes grit and willpower to follow through.
In the end, we plan to come out as better individuals and a family, with a better understanding of what it takes to make dreams a reality.
So what needs to be accomplished?
Well, we’ve divided our war plan into 3 areas:
The Airstream, Our Stuff, and “Coverages” (for lack of a better term).
The Airstream:
When it comes to getting on the road in under a year, I’ve had to reprioritize some needs vs wants. The fact is with a full-time job and a kid at home, I don’t have the time to tackle some of my “ideas” in the next 100 days, like installing a 400 watt solar setup. So that’s off the plate for now. Instead I’ve decided to focus on what will get us on the road and worry about other projects when we are on the road.
The Airstream ToDo List right now… (not in any specific order)
- 4 new tires + 1 spare
- Repack Axles
- New brakes
- Finish resealing Airstream & check for leaks
- New Fan Covers
- 2 New batteries
- Wire TV
- Fix hole in floor under dinette
- Lay down new flooring
- Complete installation of LTE/Antenna and Wifi Setup
And might as well include the few things left on our Tow Vehicle.
- Transmission fluid change
- Front Diff fluid change
- Front transfer case fluid change
- Antenna for LTE/Mifi
Our Stuff:
Oh boy, we try to practice a lifestyle of minimalism and yet…. where does all this stuff come from?
We’re in go mode now. We’ve begun organizing all our stuff by “packing for the Airstream”. Everything we’re not bringing with us is being sold, donated, or thrown away.
We need to clear out the entire house by March 30th.
Coverages:
Coverages covers all the boring life stuff you need to take care of as an adult. We need to figure out our mailing and domicile address. I need to move my LLC’s. We need to figure out mail forwarding, insurance for full-timers, cancel services, check investments, get banks in order, blah blah blah. Boring adult stuff.
Seriously, no one gets excited about insurance, but it all needs to be done.
What also goes along with that is the depressing tasks of will planning and end of life assurances. Like in the event I fall off a cliff, I don’t want to leave my wife and children without. More adult stuff.
Our intention is to have 99% of this accomplished by April 1st, which is around the time our second daughter will be born. That should make life infinitely easier to enjoy her arrival without to-do lists weighing us down.
So this is our public declaration, we’re making a run for the goal post.
Over the next 100 days we’ll be posting regular updates to this site about our progress. We’ll be detailing as much as possible to hold ourselves accountable. We also want to share what we learn with others, and maybe, just maybe, inspire someone else who might wondering if they can do this too.