Mar 10, 2025 – What We Value Most

“At its core, minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of everything that distracts us from it.” – author Joshua Becker. The RV lifestyle can be described as minimalism. When Vivian and I began living full time in an RV, we promoted the things we value most and removed whatever distracted us from them.

Recently, I said to Vivian, “The most important decision you’ll make is what clothes to bring”. We were sitting outside our RV as we often do around 5 PM. The cooler-than-normal 65 degrees warranted an additional layer of clothing, which prompted me to think of the challenges that will come with our upcoming travels.

I thought I had given Vivian logical advice because the way I figured we’ll spend two thirds of our time outside during our 5 months of traveling. And we will be in environments where 65 degrees might be considered unusual– unusually warm that is. So, if we plan to be outside twice as much as inside, then yes – the clothes we bring will be the most important decision we make in preparation for our 2025 travels.

When we walked away from our 1800-ft home for a 33-ft fifth wheel, the sudden sixfold shrinkage of space caused no disruption whatsoever in our day-to-day life – it was a seamless transition. All told, our 300-sq-ft home has a lot of space. That’s because it is not about how much space you have, but how you use it. While space for some furniture and kitchen/bathroom counter tops are important, it is storage space that is a precious commodity in an RV. We quickly discovered that everything, including furniture has multiple purposes.

Over the years, we perfected our lifestyle, got more creative with space and shed unnecessary content. We live comfortably and it is this fact that has always been our greatest joy while traveling. To explore some of the most amazingly beautiful parks only to come home at the end of each day is truly the best experience we’ve had. Never mind that we often had to stay at a campground several miles away from a park, we could still go home at night.

But there is a price for comfort. We began paying attention to others who travel easier in much smaller campers, going into places we could never go with our fifth wheel, setting up at campsites near a beautiful river or lake, or having an ocean or mountain window view, being able to pull off the highway more easily to sight see, to back into a small space with ease, and to simply have less maintenance and repairs. We looked on with envy.

Sure, we often noticed that people in small campers do everything outside – cook, eat, lounge, wash dishes, work, and who knows what else. I always wondered if they envied us for having more space and comfort, especially on a rainy day. But here’s the thing – we’ve talked to many of these people and have even toured their tiny campers which was nothing more than standing in the middle and turning around 360 degrees to get the full experience. Interestingly, not one person (out of 3 or 4 dozen people) ever told us they wished they had a bigger camper. Not one.

After a year or so of researching, touring RV factories, spending time inside so many types of small RV units (truck campers, vans, trailers, smaller fifth wheels), and talking to many, many people, we finally came to a decision.

Our love for RV traveling has not waned, in fact, it has deepened, so much so that we have a 3-year plan that includes Alaska and other rugged parts of North America we haven’t fully explored yet. And that is why we find ourselves at a crossroad – the fifth wheel cannot feasibly get us to where we want to go. We’ve considered downsizing to 26 feet for full time living, but even that size will not make a great difference in how we travel.

We’re going to simplify our travels with a camper small enough to get inside a national park, seashore or forest while avoiding large-rig campgrounds. We want to wake up to the sound of a river, a great lake or an ocean. I want to step outside and be where I can photograph, and Vivian wants to fish a river or lake within feet of our travel home. With a camper shorter than 20 feet we’ll fit into 98% of national park campgrounds and we can back in to the tiniest of sites.

No more booking all our campsites in advance because a small camper will give us flexibility and more choices. We’ll maneuver more easily down narrow backcountry roads that lead to a coveted remote campsite. Campgrounds will no longer be a ‘basecamp’ from which we drive several miles to places we want to explore. We’ll already be where we want to be!

We’ll cover more territory by not lingering for more than a few days in one place. We’ll be nimble and if we wish, make stops (sight seeing, laundry, groceries) along the way to the next destination. We’ll do more boondocking as well and visit more friends with driveway space for parking. Overall, campground and fuel costs will be lower.

More freedom. More fun.

Here’s the million dollar question – can we travel and live for 5-6 months in a space that is less than a third of our current 300-sq-ft RV? Skeptical? Stayed tuned, we’re about to find out.