It’s hard to believe that it’s been since 2011 since we began our work from anywhere journey. We were in Florida. The company I was working for was going to be closing in a few months.
There was no way that we wanted to stay in Florida after that work gig was over. Robert was already looking at RVs for little weekend trips. One day, in a daze of wishful thinking, I mentioned to Robert, “Hey, wouldn’t it be great if we could sell everything and live in an RV?”
That was all the nudge that Robert needed to seriously, and I mean seriously, shop for our next home. This home will be on wheels.
We ended up thinking that a 38-foot diesel pusher was going to be our perfect home. We purchased a 2003 Alfa See-Ya motor home from Lazy Days in Tampa, FL. I still had a full-time day job and it was easy to get financing for the new rig.
Been There Doing That Was Born
With the purchase of our new RV, we proceeded to move out of our rental house in St. Petersberg, FL. We did have that massive yard sale and moved into the Alfa full-time.
We were full-time in the RV as my job was winding down. We needed to be in Alabama, Georgia, and Colorado to close down offices for my boss. I really didn’t know what my next job would be. All I knew is that I wanted to figure out how to work from anywhere.
We had some great first travels in the Alfa and our ’98 Jeep Wrangler in tow. We were able to travel up the outer banks of the Carolinas, then up into Vermont. All the while, we were figuring out a different way to live and a different cadence to work. I will admit that internet coverage was a stress point, but being in the big beast of a 38-foot diesel pusher motor home, we ended up staying at regular campgrounds. Most campgrounds we stayed at had internet that we could adequately work with.
Creating Work From Anywhere
It wasn’t long and the day job was nonexistent. What next? The direction wasn’t clear, but all I knew is that I didn’t want to find another traditional job. I wanted to have the freedom to work and live from anywhere. How? We had no idea.
Where we started was to migrate back to be close to family in southwest Missouri. We began creating Scrivener Solutions. Our business first started as a general virtual assistance business, freelancing to get any gig we could get.
We also did a bit of work-camping in mid-Missouri, hoping to supplement expenses while we were trying to find steady clients. Needless to say, that particular work-camping experience doesn’t have the best of memories. But, we live and learn.
We Decided to Travel Smaller
Once we settled back in Missouri and stayed put for a couple of years growing our business, we became interested in overlanding. Robert ordered a CVT roof-top tent so we could travel smaller. We weren’t interested in traveling in the big RV any longer. We wanted to go to places the RV simply couldn’t go.
In 2016, we slapped that rooftop tent onto our newly acquired ’99 Subaru Outback Legacy and attended our very first Overland Expo.
We were hooked. We had fun at the event, but most importantly, we were able to be a bit nomadic and work from the road. Sometimes it was stressful because we seemed to be on the move too fast. We were trying to cram in so much sightseeing with equal work time.
Regardless of the stress, we continued to talk about how we can be nomadic even longer and move at a slower rate.
We ended up putting the rooftop tent on the Jeep and attended more Overland Expo events. For the most part, the biggest complaint of our trips was moving too fast and trying to cram in too much in such a short amount of time. We would be gone three to four weeks at a time, which for many, is plenty of time. For us, it wasn’t.
We needed to keep our trips fairly short because, well…we have three weiner dogs. My parents are so generous to dog sit for weeks at a time. They never complain about dog sitting. But honestly, we just didn’t feel right being gone for many more weeks than we had.
Things Were Fun…Then They Weren’t
We created this website to be our playground. Then it became a chore. We stopped producing content on the Been There Doing That platform.
In my quest for freedom and simple life, I found myself even busier than ever. I decided to give things up. BTDT web presence was halted.
We changed the subtitle to our website to “A year in transition.” It’s been two years!
We’ve had some wonderful adventures in that time. I just let go of documenting them.
Covid came. We could have traveled more, but we didn’t. We stayed put in southwest Missouri and focused on growing our business. We had some pretty big changes in our business operations, who we serve, and our systems for Scrivener Solutions in 2020.
Robert concentrated on refining his leatherwork skills. He started getting a name for himself in the contemporary longrifle artisan community.
Although we had a few good adventures during 2020 and 2021, we didn’t post much about them.
Someone at a marketing conference asked me recently about the goal of our travel blog. She wanted to understand the purpose of BTDT. Of course, she was looking for ways to suggest how to grow it and be profitable at it. After all, we were at a marketing conference…marketers are geared that way.
I’m speaking from experience. Content marketing is what we do to support our work from anywhere lifestyle. We have created a business around implementing content plans.
Well…I told this marketer that there were absolutely no goals for the BTDT site. She became silent.
Here’s the thing…I lied.
The truth was that the whole purpose of this website, the podcast, and the videos, was to have fun and to share our adventures. It was supposed to be FUN!
But it turned into work. Work that I didn’t find fun. Mainly the act of producing a podcast or writing and publishing blogs is what I do for our day job and to do it for BTDT, well, like I said before, just seemed like a chore. When we’re doing our thing, I like to just experience the places we’re at, see all the things, and just be in the moment.
It began to annoy me to feel obligated to pick up my phone or the camera and take a video for the next YouTube publication. Traveling became work and like a job instead of just enjoying the moment.
It’s Time for Fun Again
I came to realize recently that the whole purpose of this site is to be a way to document our journey. It’s our life journal on a public forum. Don’t make it work. Let creativity lead the way. This site is for Robert and me. If you like reading about our adventures…great! We hope to inspire some adventures in your life.
It’s time to make it fun again. It’s time to use the site for how we intended…have jun and document our life’s journey in a fun way.
Here’s to the rebirth of BTDT!
What’s Next?
If you don’t know by now, we no longer have our Subaru or our Jeep. We sold both. We got rid of the Subaru in lieu of a VW Passat for a commuter car. Robert had picked up several music gigs that required at least a 50-mile commute. We opted for fuel economy.
By November 2020, we sold our Jeep and replaced it with a ’94 Suburban. The plan was to build the Suburban to be our next overland vehicle where we could sleep inside and take the dogs.
Beginning in 2020, we practically moved out of the RV, which is parked on our family farm. We’ve been helping my parents by housesitting and maintaining their Springfield home while they enjoyed retirement in their farmhouse.
We will continue to grow our business. Longer overlanding travel is on the calendar…slower…and with the dogs.
We will sell the Alfa in 2023 and look for the next vehicle for our Alaska trip coming before 2025.
We will begin filling our travel journal again because we want to, not because we feel like we have to.
P.S. I renamed my podcast “Live Full Work Fun.” That’s our motto that we’re living by. 🙂
