Full Time Travel with Boundless Bakers

My name is Jessica, and I am 1/4th (or 1/8th if you count the cats) of the Boundless Bakers. I travel fulltime with my husband Ross, son Finnegan (4 years old), daughter Hazel (2), and yes, four cats. We have been living and traveling in our Crossroads Cruiser 5th wheel since November 2018. We launched from Heber City, UT where we worked and occasionally got the chance to live. We had a beautiful 2400 square foot home that Ross and I worked 90+ hours a week to live in. We had a fulltime nanny that spent more time with the kids then we did. Life was exactly as it was supposed to be. Right?

Well, we finally got fed up enough with missing out on what truly matters in life and decided to change everything and hit the road! Living this fulltime RV lifestyle meant we’d be able to go from a two income family to one, get rid of the “things” that really weren’t bringing us joy, spend WAY more quality time together as a family, and see this beautiful country of ours!

Even though Ross and I had been toying with the idea of fulltime travel for about a year, we didn’t pull any of the necessary triggers until August 2018, only three months before our intended departure date! First, we traded in my mom-mobile (aka Penny the Honda Pilot) for a 3500 Dodge Ram. This is when I knew things were really going to happen! We purchased our rig a few weeks later after only looking at a handful of options. I knew I wanted to renovate so we went with an older model, 2010 to be exact. What drew us to our tiny home on wheels was the mid-bunkhouse and how spacious 5th wheels feel with the higher ceiling.

August through mid-November was spent renovating the RV and downsizing our belongings. We donated 99% of our things, sold a few more, and kept some items at our stick and bricks home for our renters. As for the renovation, our biggest projects were painting the entire interior white and redoing the floors. With Ross and I still both working fulltime, we knew our reno time was limited and wanted just to get the necessities taken care of. My biggest piece of advice for anyone renovating an RV is to take your time! Spending a little extra time properly sanding the walls or applying an extra layer of primer will make all the difference in the end.

Because we had literally NO RV experience, we turned to the internet a lot through our transition and into the early days of fulltiming. Heck, I just watched a YouTube video yesterday on how to fix our broken antenna crank! A lot of our RV advice comes from YouTube. Some of our favorites include Keep Your Day Dream and Two Tired Teachers. Now that we are old RVing pros ;) we mostly look for advice on traveling, route planning, etc. We use Facebook groups such as Fulltime Families and Thousand Trails (Outdoor World) & Encore -- The Good AND The Bad, and apps such as Campendium.

We are so happy to be living this lifestyle. We are honestly healthier and happier than we’ve ever been before. The amount of time we are able to spend together is priceless, and the experiences we are having are life-changing. I was worried about how this lifestyle would affect two toddlers, but I am happy to report they are thriving! They are more outgoing, adventurous, loving, and affectionate than they’ve ever been before. I have been so impressed by how well they’ve adapted to this change.

So in closing, if you are considering changing your life and traveling full time, we hope we can inspire you, let you learn from our mistakes, and maybe even meet up with you someday on the open road. In the meantime, I dare you to live the life you’ve always wanted.

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WEBSITE : https://www.boundlessbakers.com

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/boundlessbakers/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/boundlessbakers/

Motorhome Life with @wilsongrandadventures

Can’t wait for you to read Aaron & Mandy’s story! Their renovation is one of my top favorite motorhome renovations! They have two adorable kids and are rocking this full time travel gig!

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We're the Wilson's- Aaron, Mandy, Israel, and Elery. Aaron and I are originally from Indiana and then moved to Tampa, FL after we got married. 

Back in 2014, we decided to start traveling part-time. We were gone anywhere from 10 to 20 nights per month. We had a blast and the kids loved it too! Then we started to talk about buying a small travel trailer and using it to travel instead of hotels and the constant packing and unpacking. 

After shopping around, we decided just to go full-time and buy something bigger. We ended up with a Damon Challenger Class A motorhome and immediately took it home to start renovating it. 

Our goal with our renovation was to remove anything that "felt like a RV"! A few of the projects we have done: We turned a closet into bunk beds for the kids, painted everything white, built 2 couches, transformed our bathroom, and got all new bedding and decor. 

We sold all our stuff and rented our house back in September 2018 and love having less stuff! We are excited to start marking off things on our bucket list! 

To check them out on IG click HERE

Website click HERE

Pursuing Adoption While Living Nomadically

How about a bit of an informal introduction for those who don’t know us. We are the McCloud’s, my husband Casey is our fearless leader, head bread winner and my favorite forever and always. Our daughters Taylan (9) and Chole (6) keep this unschooling mama on her toes. Colton and Mackie are our loyal road dawgs (see what I did there) and then there’s me. I am Raquel, the wordsmith behind https://www.instagram.com/mccloudlife/. I can’t say that I have a niche unless life is a niche. I love to write and share raw and authentic life and for us that includes a few big topics that fit within specific communities. One of those communities is nomadic tiny home dwellers, we sold our acre of land and 1,200 sq ft brick house to call our 38’ pull behind home. Unlike a majority of this community though we are attached to my husband’s job. As a union laborer (hopeful welder) we set up camp wherever they send us. Nearly 2 years in and we have called Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan home, as well as a campground in our hometown of Cookeville, TN. So, while tiny living is one aspect of our adventure it isn’t the only or our most important. I think my voice shouts loudest for choosing hope despite poor circumstances and adoption.

I have a very unique perspective of adoption and before we talk about our current journey I want to share what got us here. For those unfamiliar with the adoption community we have a symbol called the adoption triad. It’s a triangle with each side representing a piece of that relationship- adoptee, adoptive family and birth family. A heart encompasses the triad representing the love woven throughout. Although adoption was not the chosen word it describes the relationship between my grandparents and I. My parents were a little self absorbed and struggled with addiction and as a result my pa and granny stepped in to raise me. After they gained custody at two years old my mother walked away, I’ve not seen her since. To make a long story shorter I will cut through the details to say my teenage years found me filling voids with alcohol, drugs and boys. My wild lifestyle came to an abrupt halt at 14 when a pregnancy test read positive. I share frequently about my adoption journey as a birthmother and how that decision was the hardest choice I’ve ever made. I share about our amazing relationship, her incredible parents and my own joys and struggles as I’ve navigated these somewhat uncharted waters. It’s the least talked about side of the triad, followed by the adoptees and then adoptive parents being the most celebrated. It’s a personal calling to both expose and celebrate this title, what led me here and be a voice of relatability for those who need it. So at this point that leaves one side of the triad and yes, I’ve experienced it as well. Adoptive mom. Our littlest blessing was adopted. Nothing about our life has been conventional and her adoption story is no different. We had physical responsibility of her by 4 weeks, legal custody by 4 months and finalized her adoption at 4 years old, just 3 months shy of her 5th birthday.

This was all before selling our traditional home and packing our life, all of our belongings, 2 big humans, 2 tiny humans and 2 furry companions in a camper. This was before we ditched a stationary address, before we pulled away from the only town our kids have ever lived in and before we walked away from the “American dream” to pursue our own. I can say that adding to our family through adoption was not on our radar. Casey and I have struggled with infertility for nearly 9 years now and were making peace with our inability to grow our family. His career isn’t slowing down anytime soon and while many choose to travel for a set time this is our plan for the foreseeable future.

How? When? Where? Why? Casey and I lost religion and found God early in our relationship so our faith has been an important factor for most of our married life. It’s what guided us into taking in our youngest. Had we stopped to count the cost, both mentally and financially we would have likely declined. My faith is what gives me a bold voice to share my story as a survivor of sexual abuse, verbal abuse, addiction, promiscuity and redemption. Our faith is what led us here.

Casey took a winter layoff and we headed to our hometown to visit with friends and family that we hadn’t seen in months. Shortly after arriving I caught wind of the news. A friend I had spoke to years prior about opening an adoption center in town had finally seen her prayer materialize. I immediately secured a meeting with her to offer my story and my time. I was willing to speak on adoption, talk to birth mothers, hopeful adoptive moms, whatever I could do to help advocate for all sides of the adoption triad. I left that meeting feeling a tug. When I got home Casey and I discussed it and nearly instantly felt the same thing placed on our hearts … we were being called to adopt again. 

Every state has different adoption laws so the first thing we did was contact the adoption agency to ask if our nomadic lifestyle would put up an immediate roadblock. After what seemed like an eternity we were given the green light. They had spent nearly 2 weeks pouring through law books and found NOTHING that said a traveling family couldn’t adopt. So honestly and truly, thats the BIG secret … ask! I think so often we seal our own fate before we ever take the first step because we are afraid the answer will be no. And perhaps in some cases it will be, but a “no” leaves you no worse off than wondering what the answer could have been for the rest of your life. If I’m being honest, we wholeheartedly expected the answer to be no. We were hopeful yet reserved and completely surprised by a strong and hearty ‘YES!”

The next steps looked like they would have for any hopeful adoptive family with one exception. We had to stay stationary until our home study, finger prints and the other mountains of paperwork were complete. A ridiculous amount of paperwork, like an INSANE amount of paperwork ya’ll! I think we were most nervous about our home study though. We knew this would look different to our caseworker and was unsure how she would perceive this tiny space that we so lovingly call home. I think the most important part of this journey is transparency and honesty. We didn’t try to overcomplicate or paint an unrealistic picture of what our tiny home and lifestyle looks like. Our kids do share a small space. We don’t value an abundance of toys. We co sleep and cuddle, baby wear and cloth diaper. We do not believe we need a 2,000 sq foot house for a toddler to take his first steps in when we can give him a whole wide world of open expanses, soft grass and gritty sand. We don’t need space for a high chair, changing table, crib or swing. We live fully and love wholly within this space and that is all we need. Materialistically there is a checklist but it isn’t as strict as you might think. Our kids bunk room has 2 beds and a table that converts into a third bed. That third bed option was key. To pass a home study, at least in Tennessee every child needs to have their our bed, not bedroom thank God, just their own bed. We have that. We also have two kids that are happy and healthy and have flourished in this lifestyle for nearly two years now. At the end of the visit it was confirmed that we passed!

Since sharing our current adoption journey I have had so many people ask HOW we could possibly pursue adoption while living nomadically and in a camper. There are so many families who have left suburbia to experience a more intentional life. Less things do not mean less dreams and for many, adoption is one of their dreams. I am no expert in the legalities and cannot possibly advise you on what is best for you and your family but if you feel called to adopt while living a non traditional life I urge you to contact an adoption agency within your home state and start the conversation. Whether the answer is yes or no it is far better than living the rest of your life wondering, “what if?”

P.s. If you would like to support our adoption we have a t-shirt fundraiser running through March and have set a crazy goal to sell 1000 shirts! The design was created by a sweet friend in response to our vision of what this new chapter of life means to us. We view life as a grand adventure and this is another chapter for our epic quest to live fully, intentionally, and embracing every simple moment. 

https://halotn.com/products/its-time-for-a-new-advenure-adopting-baby-mccloud-fundraiser

Living Tiny with @tincanramblers

So excited to share J & Brit today from @TinCanRamblers. I started following them when they lived in a cute renovated Airstream & now they live in an RV they totally remodeled. Wait until you see how beautiful it is!

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Hey there! We wanted to share a little about our journey to living tiny in hopes for you to get to know us a bit more and to help anyone out there who may be considering the lifestyle. =)

Way back when (or at least it feels like it)…

Three years ago you could find my husband (J) and I (Brit) living in a 3 bedroom house in the suburbs of Nashville, TN. We loved our house at the time and honestly when we bought it we thought we would live there for decades but that plan changed.  We started to feel stuck in the daily routine and wanted more adventure out of life.  Our journey into this lifestyle started when I was obsessing over tiny houses and sending my husband absolutely everything I could find on tiny living. I was 110% sold on the idea and the thought of selling everything we owned sounded so freeing. I found so much inspiration from others who had already taken the leap and shared their stories through social media/blogs/youtube channels.  I could just picture us rolling down the road with everything we owned in the home being pulled behind us! It took a while for me to convince my husband (he wasn’t sold on a tiny house) - but finally he came around and instead of building a tiny house he pitched the idea of an RV…..and the rest is history.

Our main intentions in living tiny were to pay off debt, have financial freedom, and to be able to travel.  We started downsizing immediately and sold/donated pretty much everything we owned - except a small amount of clothing. This process was so eye-opening, to go through the stuff we had been carrying around for years for no reason at all other than we thought we “needed” it. We put our house on the market, luckily it sold very quickly and we moved into an apartment while we renovated a 1980 Airstream Excella. We spent the winter completely gutting and rebuilding our new home on wheels, from flooring, to plumbing, to electrical, etc.. Luckily, we had family along the way to help us build our dream and we learned so much from the experience. We poured so much love into our little home and it was finally happening right before us. It definitely wasn’t easy though, we had challenges along the way and things would go wrong - at times it felt like we would never finish. Through this process we learned to not dwell on the problems - just fix them and move forward, it’s all part of the journey.

The following spring we finished the build and moved into our airstream. We were living stationary in Nashville at the time at an RV park. Adjusting to the smaller space took some time, but we quickly fell in love with living tiny.  We lived in our airstream for about a year until we decided we wanted a little more space. We decided to sell the airstream and buy a travel trailer with slides. We ended up purchasing a Forest River Wildwood 27REI which we live in currently. Even though this rv was much newer than our airstream and didn’t need a complete remodel, we knew we wanted to make our new camper feel like home. So the first project on our list was to paint. We painted pretty much everything, the walls, the cabinets, the doors… The paint made such a big difference in the space and it felt so much bigger inside! From there we continued to do projects here and there to update the space and it started feeling like home in no time! I love decor and am always coming up with a new project around the camper or changing something up. =)

What our life looks like currently...We’ve been mostly stationary in Nashville for the majority of the past 2 years, but we’ve been parked in southern Alabama for a couple months now and are looking forward to traveling more soon! If you are considering living stationary for any amount of time, a lot of rv parks offer a discount for monthly stays, and even seasonal rates if you plan to stay the entire season. J works remotely and my job is based out of Nashville. If you are looking for remote work, a great resource that we’ve found to be helpful is www.flexjobs.com. We also have two pups, Rocky is our 5 year old Yorkie/Pom mix and Charlie is our 2 year old Merle Long Haired Chihuahua. They have adjusted so well to RV life and we spend so much more time outdoors than we used to! 
We quickly fell in love with living tiny and don’t foresee stopping anytime soon! We stop and think about our purchases now and whether we actually need an item, because let’s be honest - we just don’t have room for non-essential items. One day when we are done with life on the road, we hope to build a small house in the mountains somewhere and maybe build a camper van for adventures. 
All this to say, if you are considering tiny living we encourage you to take the leap! It may seem scary at first, but the journey will be so rewarding!
If you would like to follow along with our journey we’d love to get to know you - come say hi on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tincanramblers/ . =)

A Life Change with @aly.tracy

I’m so excited to share Aly on the blog today. What I love about this space is we get to share friends we meet from all over & share the journey we’re on.

Aly Tracy is a wife and a mama (to Avery - 1), and she and her family are full-time RVers. They are currently stationary near Houston, Texas and hope to begin full-time travel just as soon as they can get their debt paid off.  Aly has recently become a life coach and mentor after years of informally coaching friends, family, and colleagues. She’s most passionate about working with people who feel “stuck” in one or more areas of their lives.

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Can I be honest from the get-go here?

Talking about myself is hard. 

When Colleen reached out and asked if I could share some about the recent journey the Lord has put me on with my new career path, I felt honored, but then I quickly felt panic. What in the actual heck am I going to say? 

After a bit of brainstorming and thinking it over (plus a little more panic) I realized I needed to talk about this exact thing... how I feel about myself... how we feel about ourselves. 

Why is it so hard to share about myself? Am I worried I’ll sound like I LIKE to talk about myself? Well, yeah. But also, who would want to read a story about ME? I’m nothing special. Also, I’m probably not too great of a writer... so even if they want to read, they’ll probably get a few paragraphs down and be over it. What if they think I think I’m an expert on all of this? Dang it. I should’ve said no to this whole thing. I should’ve waited until I had something really good to say. 

I know I’m not the only one with inner dialogue like this. I know I’m not the only one who creates her own roadblocks, worries about what other people think, and “shoulds” on herself way too much.

And I know I’m not the only one who forgets her worth comes from God alone.

We

all have this inner struggle... we like ourselves, but only sometimes, or we like some parts of ourselves but not others. And for most of us, this struggle comes from thinking we have to look, think, believe, talk, act, etc a certain way to be liked and loved. It’s our human nature to desire acceptance. We were created for relationship. But relationship shouldn’t come at the cost of tearing ourselves down.

I realized not too long ago that so much of the person I had “grown up” to be was built on expectations of others, societal pressures, false beliefs, shoulds, and pure comfort. No wonder it was hard to love that person! That person wasn’t really me.

So, I decided it was time to get to know Aly... no holding back. I was going to love me for me. And what I found is a much freer, more joyful and alive Aly. When I let go of the shoulds, when I stopped worrying so much  about what people might think, when I began to embrace that I am fearfully and wonderfully made, that I am unique and the world needs me to show up as me (that’s why I’m here!!); when I began lifting up gratitude for being the exact person I am here and now, my whole life began to change.

I’m not kidding...

We literally sold our whole house worth of stuff and moved into an RV.

I left the company I had been with for 4 years.

I started writing a book. 

I began pursuing a brand new career.

I began really dreaming for the first time in my adult life. 

When we get in tune with who we really are, and ultimately, who God is calling us to be, crazy (and also totally amazing) things happen.

Now obviously, I still struggle with inner dialogue issues (aka the catalyst for writing this blog post). I probably always will. The thing about it is: I’m more aware now. I know to listen for the voice of truth over all the noise. I know my default mode is worry. But I’m working on it. I’m working on being a better version of me (the real me) every day. And that’s what I encourage each of you to do, too.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself as you work to get to know you better:

Who do I truly want to be?

What things matter most to me?

What is holding unnecessary space in my life because I don’t really care about it?

What kinds of things make me come alive?

How can I do more/enjoy more of those things?

What kinds of things do I believe make a person brave? Successful? Worthy?

Am I truly open to God’s work in my life? 

Oh, one last thing!

Regardless of your answers to these questions, regardless of your past, your struggles, regardless of anything you’ve ever done “wrong” or things people didn’t approve of, know that you are so loved right here, right now. Yes, by me and the Cashios (aren’t they the sweetest?), but also by the God of the Universe. And He has declared you’re already enough just as you are. Don’t forget He has you here for a reason. The world needs you to show up and be YOU ️

Thanks so much to the Cashios for allowing me to share my heart and a chapter of my journey with all of you. I’m honored, humbled, and crazy-grateful. 

Blessings & Love,

Aly

Connect with her via Instagram: @aly.tracy