Hi, we’re Josh and Kali, and we’re travelers. Nomads, you might say. We started traveling in 2015, but the story of how it came about begins in 2014. Allow us to explain.
2014 was an interesting year for us. Some of it was really good but a lot of it was really bad.
We started it with my (Josh’s) Dad having to have emergency double bypass surgery in March, on the other side of the country. Thankfully he came through it OK. That part was good. Not just good–great.
After that things went downhill. Kali had been experiencing decreased energy, and it came to a head in April and May. After visiting several doctors she eventually was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s–an autoimmune disease that causes your body to attack your thyroid. Thus began a long visit to general practitioners, endocrinologists and various other specialists, with a few visits to the ER thrown in.
Shortly after that, in June, I was hired by a Fortune 50 company that I had done several interviews with. It was a great moment–a dream come true–and it also meant that Kali finally had access to excellent health insurance.
Unfortunately, by July I had developed a health issue of my own. I started having shortness of breath, tachycardia (fast, irregular heartbeat) and extreme tiredness. It was very frightening for both of us, especially considering what had just happened to my Dad. Thus began a long visit to more general practitioners, pulmonologists, cardiologists and various other specialists, with a few visits to the ER thrown in.
By the end of 2014 we were on a path to recovery. Medications were still being adjusted, but our life was on an upward trajectory again. And this time it would last.
In November we moved out of our 1,400 square foot apartment and into a 1,000 square foot condo that was closer to our jobs. It was the first step in simplifying our lives, although we didn’t know that yet. It wasn’t quite minimalism, but we were on that path.
Then, at the end of December, we took our annual vacation to Orcas Island, in the San Juan islands off the coast of Washington. We always used that time to reflect on what had happened in the previous year and what we wanted to happen in the next one. On January 1st, 2015, we were talking about our plans, and they went something like this:
Buy a house
Travel to Disney World
Travel to Las Vegas
Do our normal camping trips
Travel to Europe
Those were all things that had been on our agenda since we got married in 2012, and we wanted to do them before having kids.
There was just one small problem: We’re not rich.
We discussed our options. I could work a second job, even though I was already working 60 hours a week. Kali could work a second job. We could both work second jobs. We could both work second jobs and eat and drink nothing but air and water for a year.
That’s when I had an epiphany: We were trying to live our lives the way that society expected us to, not the way that we wanted to. We wanted to travel, so why not travel? Why not move into an RV instead of a house? I could keep my job since I worked remotely and Kali could quit her job since our living expenses would be much less and we wouldn’t be saving for a house anymore. Best of all, we could still eat real food! I mulled it over for a few hours, thinking Kali would never agree to it. After all, we had just moved, and going down to 1000 square feet had been hard enough!
For several hours I thought about how to present my idea. I decided that simple and to the point was best, so, after a few hours, I looked up at her and said, “What if we moved into an RV and traveled?” She said, “I’m down.” No arguing, no debating, no persuasion. Just, “I’m down.”
Those two words changed our lives. Thus, the following chain of events happened:
15 days later we had an RV
16 days later we had a truck
31 days later we bought out of our condo lease
32 days later we moved into our RV
For the next 5 months we renovated, repaired water damage, sold stuff, bought stuff, gave stuff away, experimented with different ways of organizing our RV, learned how to tow, learned how to back up, and, on June 14, 2015, we hit the road full-time.
We haven’t regretted the decision for a moment. We’re now living the life we dreamed of. We’ve found freedom. We’re happy. And we want you to be happy too.
We decided to name our YouTube channel and blog “The Freedom Theory” because we’re testing a different way of being free. Instead of spending a lot of money buying the stuff that society says we should have, like houses and cars, and then working really hard to pay off the stuff that society told us to get, all so we can sell our houses and cars and retire and travel, we’re skipping straight to the end and traveling (except for the retirement part; that hasn’t happened yet!). Our goal is to inspire others to follow their dreams and find their freedom–to take a leap of faith and just go for it.
We hope that this blog inspires you. We really do. That’s our goal. We want you to know that you can do it. Whatever your dreams are, go for it. We want you to not be afraid to fail, and instead realize that you’ll never succeed if you don’t try.
Thank you for stopping by, and, whatever you do, don’t forget to “Live Simply, Dream Differently, and Find Your Freedom.”
