Rene | Live Work Dream

Plan Early, Stay Focused and Tell Everyone About Your Road Trip Sabbatical

August 31, 2007August 31, 2007 by Rene

Since launching our blog, we continue to find individuals who also want to hit the road and travel. Some, like Sara and Matt, are doing it in a truly eco-groovy way, by treading lightly across America in a veggie oil powered RV. And the couple that inspired us, Phil and Carol White, continue to live their Road Trip Dream across America, while sharing the benefits of travel with others at conferences and events. Our Blog Roll, over on your right, has links to theirs and other RV travelers websites.

Recently, Rudy and Irene Tenorio of Atlanta, GA, contacted us, asking more details about our trip. This adventurous couple wants to take early retirement, starting in December, 2010. Because they’re smart and starting to plan now, and contacting others who are doing it, they’ll definitely be on the road to making it happen in ’10.

Live / Work Report One

August 31, 2007August 30, 2007 by Rene

Whenever we find locals willing to chat (of which there are many in the rural places we visit), we ask loads of questions about the area, their work, the weather, you name it. They think we’re playing “20 Questions,” but what we’re really doing is trying to figure out:

where the heck we might move to, permanently
and what on earth we’ll do for a living

As summer winds down, the locals have more time to talk. Information is getting thrown at us as quickly as the summer days are going by. The following is a summary of what we’ve learned recently, so we can look back on it a year from now — if we do decide to settle down somewhere . . . or start to run out of money, whichever comes first!

Do What You Love, Rewards Will Follow

February 5, 2020August 28, 2007 by Rene

Do what you love, the rewards will follow. Listen to intuition. Changing your career path in life leads to greater rewards. Bruce Minard of Hifive Kennels trains and breeds champion wild bird dogs in Traverse City, Michigan.

Look Out, Here Come the Localvores

September 4, 2023August 23, 2007 by Rene

About 4 states ago, I whined about how I was stunned find out that people in North Dakota didn’t have fresh local lettuce all year long. Silly, spoiled native Californian. Getting out and into the real U.S. has opened my eyes.

As a lacto-ovo vegetarian since 1989, I always tried to live by the creed “Eat / Buy / Act Locally.” And when living in California, abiding by it was easy. I never gave much thought to those organic hearts of Romaine I’d buy in December. Even though I was paying as much as $3.00 a bunch, the lettuce was organic, and it was “local” because it grew in my own state, so it didn’t travel that far. During summer, as I bought salad greens at the Farmer’s Market each week, I was mentally adding up my bonus karma points. Score! How much more local and hippy dippy could I get? My, did I feel righteous at the checkout line!

Living the Good Life in Belgium, Wisconsin

August 21, 2007August 21, 2007 by Rene

Wisconsin has turned out to be a favorite state, and by the time we arrived in Belgium WI, about 40 minutes north of Milwaukee, lakeside, we thought, “hey, we could really live here.” The area is gorgeous. Rolling hillsides and farmland, quaint towns, roadside farmer’s markets, trees, and quiet county roads winding through the countryside.

My brother-in-law grew up in this old farming community (pop. 2000), and almost all 9 of his siblings, and parents, still live in the area today. Sherry, my brother-in-law’s sister, and her husband Dave generously let us set up our rig on their property. They have an incredible block of land out in the countryside, 40-acres that have been in the family for years, complete with horses, a pond, a garden, beautiful landscaping that the two have done all themselves, and trails in a forested area. It’s the perfect example of what Jim and I are looking for when we land somewhere.

Ideal Live/Work Retreat Available in Amador City, CA; What a Deal!

August 15, 2007August 15, 2007 by Rene

Part of our mission with this site is to help others find their ideal live / work situation, and we think that a home renovated by our good friends Mark and Kathy Johnson, of Jackson CA, is perfect for those looking to escape the rat race. This historic Arts and Crafts home is in pretty Amador City, CA. We saw it when we visited them …

Our Short List of Liveable Communities

August 15, 2007August 14, 2007 by Rene

We have now traveled more than halfway across the country. Some people say we’re going way too fast. But wait — hold on, there is a method to our madness. Not too long ago, we decided to haul butt through states that we knew that we probably wouldn’t end up living in, and hurry up to get to places that might better meet our relocation criteria. During the first visit, we’ll spend four or five days in an area. Then, if we feel it’s a contender, we’ll return for ideally at least a month, once we’ve traveled the U.S.

With this in mind, here are the top contenders for us, based on what we’ve seen so far. We plan on revisiting the following areas next year:

The Amish Have Got it Right

March 6, 2013August 13, 2007 by Rene

Travel to the Upper Midwest, and once you get off the interstate, you’ll find long, winding county roads that can take you through miles of gorgeous farmland and forests without ever seeing more than a few other vehicles. Traffic? Stoplights? Nope. Just plenty of cows, corn and water.

Last Friday, we’re cruising along on Wisconsin’s backroads, going from our campsite at Harstad County Park, (about 20 miles south of Eau Claire) , up to Chippewa Falls to go on a Leinenkuegel Beer brewery tour and check out the towns. We’re driving along, and spot a “Farm Fresh Eggs: $1” hand painted sign outside of a homestead. I had to stop; what a deal! Then, as we approach Cadott, (whose claim to fame is that the town’s exactly halfway between the North Pole and the Equator), Jim spots another sign: “Bake Sale Ahead.” Below that, it says “Scratch and Dent Corner Store.” Our two favorite things; sweets, and bargains!

We pull over. Out back, goats and chickens roamed the grounds. We swung open the squeaky screen door, and realized that an Amish family runs the store. Neither one of us were expecting it; we’d never met an Amish person, and the closest we’d ever been to anything Amish is when Jim used to bake Amish Friendship Bread every week. Both of us wrongly assumed that most Amish lived in Pennsylvania. Turns out that in this area of Wisconsin, there is a large, Amish community.

Campground Review: River’s Edge Camping Resort, Somerset WI

September 4, 2023August 9, 2007 by Rene

In the book, The Complete Guide to Full-Time RVing: Life on the Open Road, by Bill and Jan Moeller, it is recommended that you stay away from any RV parks with the word “Resort” in the name. Should you see that word, rest assured, you will pay a lot more money than any nearby campground, just for some amenities.

But yesterday, my birthday, was a long driving day, full of wrong turns, close calls with construction barricades, backtracking, and hot sweaty weather. So after about 4.5 hours of driving, we caved in and parked for the night in Somerset, just inside the Wisconsin border across from the Twin Cities, where stripmalls meet farmland, and sports bars are the only entertainment.

No Tolerance for Lactose Intolerance in Wisconsin

October 30, 2007August 9, 2007 by Rene

Yesterday, I forgot what day of the week it was. I honestly couldn’t remember if it was my birth DAY or not! Or maybe I was in denial. But once I realized that it was the 8th, and I was another year wiser, I committed to celebrating the big day.

So, we indulged on awesome grub. On my birthday, I was going to eat and drink whatever I wanted and enjoy it without guilt! We were in Wisconsin, so what else could we eat, but dairy! Lots of it!

Which Shall It Be: Bankruptcy of Purse or Bankruptcy of Life?

September 4, 2023August 4, 2007 by Rene

Finally, I have our budget numbers for our first month out. But keep in mind, there’s no such thing as a “budget” when you’re on the road; it’s in reality, a “spending plan.” As the super frugal CFO of this family, these circumstances are difficult for me at times. Maybe this is why many people who want to do this kind of trip never do, because spending money while not working is terrifying.

When we decided to take the gamble and go on this trip, we put the following passage from the Sterling Hayden book Voyage: A Novel of 1896 in our bathroom medicine cabinet, for daily inspiration;

Living and Eating in a West Coast Bubble

September 4, 2023August 1, 2007 by Rene

Yesterday in Grand Forks, ND, I found another health food store. They’re becoming less than a few hundred miles apart now, a good sign that we are getting closer to larger populations where healthy food & environmental consciousness matter. The stores we’ve encountered are reminiscent of what health food stores were like on the West Coast many years ago; small and hippie-ish, with a focus on supplements and little, if any groceries and produce. This one in Grand Forks did have some local produce, but no lettuce or greens.

I noticed a sign-in sheet for a local CSA Farm on the counter. The farm was about 50 miles from Grand Forks, and it turns out, is the nearest local vegetable farm for the area, but they only produce for CSA members. For anyone else who wants organic produce, they can take a gamble and go to the nearest supermarket, but chances are that the produce came from hundreds of miles away. Huh? No local produce in stores during summer? Barbara Kingsolver would be appalled.

Fargo: It’s Not What You’d Expect

July 31, 2007July 30, 2007 by Rene

You’ve seen The Movie, and like us, if you’ve never been there, you’ve probably always assumed that Fargo was this tiny, backwater place with a few strange people, dive bars, a barren landscape, and bad weather. Don’t believe it. The movie “Fargo” wasn’t even filmed here; it was filmed in Minnesota!

Good RV Eats

July 25, 2007July 24, 2007 by Rene

One of the biggest fears I had about taking this trip, was that I wouldn’t find any good produce in small towns between coasts. Well, the good produce IS there, only it’s in people’s backyards. Otherwise, I was told by a local in South Dakota today, don’t count on organic produce or farmer’s markets unless we hit big cities. On the prairie, everyone grows their ow, you won’t find organic or super fresh produce in grocery stores. So, my solution; either get to know the locals, or make do when we aren’t around any.

Today we received this lovely farm fresh produce from a wonderful couple in Hoven, South Dakota. This is the best produce we’ve seen. Otherwise, we’ve been making do with so-so eats. The food we’ve been eating is good, and 95% of the time, we are cooking our own meals. I’ve always been a tightwad about going out to eat, and just as expert RV’ers predicted, our eating out habits are mostly the same as they were when we had a stick house. By seldom dining out, it helps our budget and makes our nights out truly special.

One of the best things about eating on the road, is that the view from the dinner table is always different. We also get to eat outside. And when it’s too hot, we have the AC vent right above our dining room table.

Some big lessons we’ve learned about meals on the road include:

You never realize how much you depend on a toaster until you don’t have one.
Loose tea is a hassle when you don’t have a garbage disposal
Cast iron is the answer.
Life on the road requires extreme flexibility—sometimes, boxed meals are the best solution.
Use what you’ve got until it’s all gone, or else your produce will turn to mush and spoil in hot weather (as coastal people, we weren’t used to food spoiling due to heat).
Read more

This Small Town Versus That Small Town

July 23, 2007July 20, 2007 by Rene

One of the reasons why I wanted to leave Humboldt County was because in the nearly 10 years that we lived there, many of the great ideas that people have about improving the area, never get off the ground. With the exception of the Redwood Technology Consortium who won the fight to connect Humboldt to the real world with fiber optic cable a few years ago, it seems that most great ideas never go anywhere.

Every improvement from the badly needed pedestrian / bike trail connecting Eureka and Arcata, to the fabulous Bay Trail, to the Marina Center Project, requires 10 consultants and 100 studies, and 10 years later, guess what? Nothing. Now, that definitely isn’t the fault of great residents like my friend Jen Rice who are so dedicated and try to get things like the Bay Trail to happen. No, not at all. It’s just that there are so many darn factions and infighting in Humboldt, that nobody can agree on anything. Every great idea that comes up will have a fight on its hands by some group claiming to know what’s best, guaranteed.

So as we head out into the rest of Small Town U.S.A., we are taking note of which towns have leaders and citizens that can work together and get things done.