One Year Anniversary of RV Life

Posted on August 12, 2019 by Dan+Yi

On August 12th last year, we moved into Samwise the Brave to embark on a journey around the 50 states. Throughout this year, we’ve spent considerable time soaking in where we are and planning where to go next. The places we explored, the borders we crossed, and the long travel days we kept each other company with our thoughts and anxieties and ideas — we never imagined one year of life could be this fulfilling and this energizing.

During a recent drive, we discussed a piece in Medium that said the cure to burnout is experiencing “profound and utter awe.” The most compelling example is the perspective shift astronauts gain after seeing the earth from space and feeling a “universal connectedness” that transforms how they think about their lives. Having just left the jaw-dropping scenery of Niagara Falls and Toronto and finding ourselves perched above the great blue strait between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan on the Mackinac Bridge, we couldn’t help but breathe a collective breath of awe.

This sense of awe has fed us and fueled us this year. Every mountain, canyon, and roaring waterfall. Every sunset, skyline, and capitol dome. Every week had something in store that amazed and renewed us. String 52 of those weeks together, and you get the opposite of burnout — a year of burnin.

Jockey’s Ridge, Outer Banks, NC (July 4, 2019)

In place of complacency, we now know the empowering feeling of taking deliberate steps toward goals we set ourselves. In place of spectating others or wishing to have done something, we now push each other to do it and not feel shame if it turns out it’s not something we enjoy doing. In place of seeking external validation, we try to keep the fire of what truly matters lit on the inside.

There are so many ways full-time RVing has strengthened us as people, as a married couple, and as citizens of this country. Looking forward to the next chapter of our life in Denver after we wrap up our journey next month, we’re grateful and excited to carry the fire into the future!

Seven Points Campground on Percy Priest Lake, TN

Preferred RV Resort Review: Camping in Pahrump, NV

Posted on March 21, 2019 by Dan+Yi

We really enjoyed our stay at the Preferred RV Resort! Here’s a look at why:

Camp Name	Preferred RV Resort
Location	Pahrump, NV
Club (GS, PA, KOA)	Passport America (2 weeks), Good Sam
Price	$475/month normal rate; PA $20/night
Site Type	Large gravel back-in, full hookups, space for car, mature tree
Bathrooms	Separate mens/womens, shower+ toilet stalls
Amenities	Heated indoor/outdoor pool with activities, indoor hot tub, common kitchen, entertainment room, pool, wood shop, sewing room, stained glass workshop, small fitness room Grounds: playground, horseshoes, cactus garden, koi ponds
Wi-Fi Quality	Medium speeds download/upload, enough to stream
Verizon Coverage	2-3 bars LTE, medium speeds
TV	Antenna, Las Vegas channels
Local Attractions	Pahrump Winery, Johnny’s (diner), Casinos Red Rock Canyon (45min), Las Vegas (1hr)
Bottom Line	Best value RV camp we’ve stayed at!

Day 200: What Does it Mean to Love our Country?

Posted on February 27, 2019 by Dan+Yi

What does it mean to love our country? – a recurring question over the course of our many road trips and now 200 days of living full-time on the road.

To us, love is rooted in understanding. When we set out with a goal to explore all 50 states together, we hoped to grow our love of this country with a deeper and more complete understanding of all that it holds – its natural landscapes and manmade monuments, its bustling cities and quaint small towns, its native history and immigrant cultures, its roadside attractions and local flavors.

Everywhere we’ve been has shown us something far-flung and something familiar, and always a connecting road in between. Each time we cross a state border, most recently the Nevada/California one on this quiet stretch of US Route 95, we get a renewed sense of this connection.

We often hash out current issues and political debates during our long drives – of which there are many – and at the core is our mutual desire to understand our country and to recognize not only its complicated history but also the prevailing march of progress.

For us, to love America is to never tire of exploring its land, immersing in its communities, and questioning how it can be greater tomorrow than it is today.

6 Months/Half-Year of Full-Time Travel

Posted on February 12, 2019 by Dan+Yi

Today marks 6 months since our “one day” became “day one,” as we set off in Samwise the Brave to fulfill our full-time RV dream years in the making. Coincidentally, it’s also “Winnebago Day” – 61 years since the iconic company began enabling families to venture outside and explore more, and we couldn’t find a more fitting occasion to cross this milestone.

We’ll never forget the sense of freedom and endless possibility that buoyed us as we started our journey westward. In these 6 months, we’ve crossed the country, traveled 20 states, visited 11 national parks, explored national monuments and public lands that we’d never heard of, celebrated friends’ weddings, and luxuriated in some of the best camp pools. Add to those adventures many other new experiences—creating a website, editing and sharing YouTube videos, blogging, learning how to use a DSLR camera, and setting up and working from a mobile home office—there’s no doubt that we’ve learned deeply about this digital nomad lifestyle, our country, and most of all ourselves.

Thousands of miles later, driving our home down the road still feels novel, and setting up camp in a new location brings a fresh sense of adventure. And while our living space has shrunk considerably, our appreciation and love for each other has grown. Above all, we’ve gained a real sense of being at home anywhere we are.

Today, we find ourselves under the Orlando sun for the HIMSS conference, but we can’t wait to be back in a week with Samwise, who is awaiting our return in Las Vegas. Here’s to the first 6 months of freedom, growth, and adventure, and what’s to come in the next!

Tell Us Tigers: Sharing our Story with the Princeton Community

Posted on December 2, 2018 by Dan+Yi

Our alma mater invited us to share our story as part of their “Tell Us Tigers” series. We were honored to be able to take part and hope that our story might inspire others to chase their dreams. The post can be viewed on Princeton’s official Instagram or Facebook, and the content is included below.

When Yi invited me to watch the X-Men trilogy in the theater of Colonial Club in 2011, we had no idea that one day we’d be newlyweds traveling the country in a Winnebago RV. But a simple common interest led to more movie nights, shared meals and conversations that saw the sun rise.

A year later, we took our first road trip to Mt. Rushmore to commemorate Yi’s naturalization and our anniversary. On that trip and each after, we fell in love with each other and the road, and our road trip romance came full circle when I proposed at Colonial during Reunions 2015 and we celebrated our wedding at Mt. Rushmore in 2017.

By then, we’d already started researching RVs and full-time travel, but most days it felt like a pipe dream. We’d followed traditional paths, me through law school and Yi through business school, and attained the success and stability our parents worked so hard for after migrating to the States from Puerto Rico and China. Moving into an RV meant big changes — downsizing, leaving my law firm, setting up a remote office and more — but we were committed to turning our ‘one day’ into ‘day one.’

In September, on day 29, we celebrated our first wedding anniversary as full-time RVers. We hit day 100 last week. This photo was taken on day 91, hiking the Baldwin Trail in Sedona, with Cathedral Rock in the background. In these months, we have traveled to 19 states and 11 national parks (bringing us to 45 and 20 total). Our goal? Visit all 50 states and as many national parks as possible to witness history across their diverse cultures and landscapes.

We call ourselves @rvleaguers and nomad nerds because Princeton taught us that learning doesn’t stop once you walk out of FitzRandolph Gate — it’s a lifelong journey. On the road, we challenge ourselves to explore the unfamiliar and truly taste freedom. We have a marriage founded at the best damn place of all (Princeton!), unfolded over thousands of miles and growing every day. The road can be long and unpredictable, but RV life has shown us that if we face it together with love and curiosity, there’s no limit to what we can do.