Brenda and I have known each other for a long time, having met through a writer’s organization we belonged to Years ago, when I mentioned to her that I always wanted to own an RV one day, she shared that so did she! Fast forward and Brenda fulfilled her dream and has been RV traveling in ‘Rover’ for a few years now. Brenda turns 65 in January and I asked her to share her inspiring story with me.
If you don’t mind me asking, how old are you? Many readers of my site are starting to RV travel later in life, but they have fears of doing so. Did you have any apprehensions about being older and starting to RV travel solo? How did you overcome them? And if you didn’t have apprehensions, what makes you so confident?
I don’t mind. I’m 64…65 this January. Since I’ve always been a camper and have traveled alone a lot, I had no fears about getting into the RV and taking off. Oh, sure, just before every trip, I wonder what I’m doing, but that disappears within the first day or two on the road, where I feel so free! I love traveling alone, too, so my choices are not dependent on another’s whims. I go where I want, when I want, and stay as long as I want. Seriously, I know it can be a little scary, but just get out there and do it. You will learn a lot and grow and have wonderful experiences and meet amazing people.
You RV travel for most of the year. What attracted you to this lifestyle?
I have wanted to travel around the country in a campervan for at least 15 years. Family circumstances kept me from doing that, but owning an RV of some sort and traveling all over was always a dream in the back of my mind.
I’ve been a camper all my life, probably since about age 2! I’ve camped in tents and various RVs, and still tent camp at least once every summer, in one of my favorite places, Provincetown, Massachusettes.
I finally was able to purchase my RV—a 1997 Born Free Built-for-Two—in May 2022. That fall, I took my maiden voyage (after sprucing her up a bit over the summer) in “Rover.” We explored Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, and a bit of Delaware before heading home—about two months in all.
In spring 2023, I took off again, with the West Coast as a destination, but fate intervened. I tore the meniscus in my left knee in Roswell, New Mexico, (were the aliens out to get me?!). A friend flew out from her home in South Carolina and drove me back to New Jersey where I recovered after surgery and worked to regain my RV-ing moxie.
I again went north to New England last fall (the leaves were gorgeous!) and was able to get a site inside Acadia National Park for a full week. In the spring of 2024, I made it all the way to San Diego, California, and back (with lots of time spent tooling around the southwest) about 8,500 miles in three months. I traveled alone, except for a week spent caravaning with a friend in northern New Mexico and visiting with a few friends.
I think that RV “lifestyle” is a misnomer. I’ve met so many people in my two years of travel, and everyone is out there for a different reason. Although there ARE categories to their travel (solo women, solo men, long-distance, short-term, full-timers, retired couples, those still working, etc.), I’d say there are as many different approaches and styles as those who live in “regular” houses year-round, with their unique lifestyles.
Can you talk a little about hurting your leg and what you would recommend to others who might be afraid that this will happen to them?
Many things are out of our control, such as my leg situation. I was fortunate that I was only a couple hours from a friend in Albuquerque who picked me up and drove my RV to her house, where I stayed for several days, while another friend flew in from South Carolina and drove me home to New Jersey. I will be everlastingly grateful to them. The night it happened was one of the scariest of my life, but I gradually worked through it, in a lot of pain, true, and I feel now that I can face just about anything. I have always believed that you can’t walk through life afraid, and I’ve tried to live that belief. I hope the fear of what “might” happen doesn’t keep anyone from following their dream. Because, you know, it very well might NOT happen, and then you would have missed an amazing adventure!
What mistakes did you learn on your first trip that you tried to fix going forward?
So many mistakes…haha…the worst was not “exercising” Rover’s generator. She has a propane gas generator built into the RV and it powers the heat, fridge (when not on shore power), and stove. She is not a spring chicken and needs to be babied a bit, including running the generator regularly so that it will work flawlessly when I need it.
In the beginning, I felt that I needed to have campground reservations nailed down for each stop, but now, I know that’s not the case, and I have discovered a love of boondocking—staying in a free site somewhere, such as on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land mostly in the west, where I have no hookups, but also no campsite fees!
How often do you RV travel now and how do you plan where you’re going next?
I would like to RV travel for longer periods of time, but for now, I limit myself to 2-3 months at a time. I just choose a spot based on my availability and that of my kids/grandkids (I don’t like to be away from them over the holidays, for example) and what I feel like seeing next. I have friends, family, and acquaintances around the country, so I have also planned trips that include visits with them. My next trip will be south to Florida in mid-January to visit a cousin, then west toward Arizona, where I think I will spend February and March.
How do you finance this or work while you’re traveling?
I’m a working freelance writer/editor, which is how I support myself. And I’m quite frugal.
Do you document your trip anywhere?
When I’m on the road, I post photos and narrate my travel on Facebook. I have some vague plans to create a photo-essay book in the next year. I’m also tossing around ideas for a memoir based on my last five years…from the day I turned 60 and chose to completely upend my life, to now…age 65 and what I’ve experienced, how I’ve changed and grown, and how you can too!
What’s your website?
Brendalange.com
Brendalangephotos.com
Brenda, you’re awesome, thank you!
