The purpose of this site is to show possibilities for alternative lifestyles. I have talked a bit before about how I left the typical corporate workforce to start traditional businesses, then transitioned that into a mobile lifestyle which allows me to work wherever I have an internet connection.

One of the lifestyles that has always fascinated me is RV travel. I’ve always known people whose dream it was to see the U.S. at their own pace in their RV once they retired. My grandparents were such an example. He was a business owner in a small town in California. Kind of a big fish in a little pond sort of thing where they still have a street named after him though he died 30 years ago.

Some of my earliest memories were of camping out of my parents’s VW bus they bought brand new when I was on the way. My grandpa had an in-bed camper truck that we used to take short weekend trips in when I could barely talk. My sister & I loved camping in their backyard where they kept that camper truck parked. We were even more excited when he got a newer Class-C RV where we used to almost exclusively “camp” in the yard whenever we stayed there during the summer.

It represented waking up in a new place every day while exploring this vast country of ours, and beyond. All of the things my grandpa always told me about. One of my many dreams is to restore an old Airstream. The classic look just brings back something nostalgic and adventurous for me, like it does so many others.

I remember him regaling me with tales of all the places he was going to go when he retired. He just never got around to retiring before he died.

Life for me has always been very nomadic. I have never held the same address for longer than 4 years: once in grade school, and once as an adult (I’m 40). I’ve explored only small areas of the country, with only quick trips outside it’s borders. I’ve moved a lot, camped quite a bit, lived in my SUV for short periods of time when I felt like it, and always thought about making a move to a mobile RV life.

(Interestingly, about a year ago my dad told me that we lived in a parked Airstream when I was born. I had no idea.)

Most people think of RV life as something like my grandpa thought of it: something for weekend trips, family vacations, or retirement. While there may be plenty of good times to be had limiting it to just those activities, there are a lot of people of all ages living full lives in their RVs all over the world. Whether in full-sized RV’s, converted buses or cargo trucks, towing Airstreams or other trailers, and even stealth camping in vans.

Tales From Technomadia

If you’ve been to this site before, you’ve heard me talk about Chris Dunphy & Cherie Ve Ard. They have been traveling around the U.S. for several years now living in their towed Oliver travel trailer, along with their cat Kiki. They are not old and retired, but they enjoy working and living from wherever they happen to travel to at any given point. They are Digital Nomads who run several businesses from wherever they have internet access.

They’ve become very well-known in various RV and Location Independent circles here on the internet, and are experts at every aspect of life as a modern Technomad. I met them for a shuttle launch earlier this year, and use their handy State Lines iPhone app whenever I am about to cross into another state. They are always friendly and helpful, despite constantly answering the same questions over and over from people like me who are curious about or want to live their wandering experience.

They were recently selected to present on Technomadism at SXSW Interactive, and have recently settled in to explore the U.S. Virgin Islands for a few months over the winter.

Over the years, they’ve documented all of the various questions and obstacles people throw at them for why they can’t also live this life of freedom. Like with anyone else doing things outside the mainstream way we are taught to live in the default world, they get a lot of praise about their amazing life, almost always followed up with some variation of the “I wish I could do that” excuse.

They wrote an extensive series of posts on their blog about overcoming these obstacles to full-time travel, but they got several requests for a book form. They have now compiled this 15-part series into an ebook. I thought it was going to just be the posts sewn up quickly into a pdf, but it’s a 78-page, 25,000 word book.

They added a ton of stuff to it!

Chris & Cherie don’t use their blog to make a living, but to share information. They make enough money from their software development and consulting businesses to afford their travels. They’re working on some extra travel expenses to get to SXSW, but are generously offering this book for whatever you want to pay.

They’re not putting a price tag on this eBook – it’s offered to you on a ‘Pay-as-You-Wish’ basis. Pay what it’s worth to you. Heck, even download it for free, and come back later and pay what it’s worth to you.

Just change the suggested price of $15 in the shopping cart to whatever you want to contribute.

If you’re looking to live a mobile lifestyle or even just curious, it’s a great resource. I don’t say that because they are friends, because they quote this blog in the book, or because I’m an affiliate for it. It’s just a fantastic resource you should check out, and pay what you think it’s worth to you.

UPDATE 2-3-2011: They’ve added another chapter to the book! If you signed up for updates, you should have already received a notification. The book is still pay-as-you-wish, so you can buy the updated version at the same link.

Check out Answers to the Most Common Excuses to not Travel Full-Time

Don’t Die Waiting for Retirement to Travel the Open Road is a post from: Live Collar Free

I wanted to give an update on some of the people previously featured on the site. Some of the things we’ve featured here have changed, and people ask me how some others are doing. While going through previous posts, I thought I’d update you on some of them here.

Lemonade

One of the stories we’ve mentioned several times both here and on the Facebook Page is Erik Proulx’s Lemonade Movie. After a successful run being featured on Hulu, it is still available for sale.

Erik has been hard at work trying to get together funding for the “sequel” of sorts, Lemonade: Detroit. He has made a trailer for the basic premise and is seeking grass roots funding for the project. You can be listed in the credits for sponsoring a frame of the film (or 10,000 – I’m sure he wouldn’t mind).

Adventure Photographer Trevor Clark

Since Trevor did a two-part interview with us, he is still making fantastic pictures, traveling all over the U.S. in his Sportsmobile van.

After spending much of the summer in Alaska, he ended up with a home base in Tahoe to operate from when not on the road in El Guapo. He spends plenty of time there, so it made sense for him to have an operations center to help him take his photography business to the next level.

Crush It!

Gary Vaynerchuk is still going on and on about the Jets, can occasionally be found on Twitter, and has a new book coming out, called “The Thank You Economy” as a follow-up to his best-selling Crush It! I have not read it yet, but I plan on it. I will put up my copy of Crush It! for a contest prize if there are enough people interested who haven’t already read the book. If only one person emails me, you’ll be the winner!

Nine Lives Vintage Wears

Readers will remember the story of Kristi Coyne, who was downsized from her government healthcare job a while back.

She decided to take the opportunity to not spend the rest of her life unhappily working in a field she did not thoroughly enjoy, and decided to open a vintage clothing store in Tacoma. Yes, she decided to kick fear in the nuts, turn away from the field she’d acquired several University Degrees to attain, and open a retail store at the peak of the worst financial climate in American history.

I’m happy to report that Nine Lives Vintage Wears is doing well, and has recently celebrated it’s first anniversary! Go Kristi!

Tales from Technomadia

Everyone knows Cherie and Chris from Tales From Technomadia. I was fortunate enough to be able to meet up with them earlier this year to watch the Space Shuttle Launch. They happened to be out here in Florida with the Oliver Travel Trailer they call home, along with another couple from Our Odyssey. None of us had met in meatspace before that day, but since they were so close, and it was the last scheduled night launch, I had to go!

We had a great time, and they so graciously let us otherwise total strangers use the warmth of their home on that cold February night as we waited for the 5am launch (that got scrubbed).

Being the Technomads that they are, they are always willing to wander and explore, as they work entrely online, and are not tied to any one place. They’ve long thought of trading in their RV for a sailboat at some point, but they recently came upon an opportunity to spend the winter in the U.S. Virgin Islands!

They only arrived on the island of St. John a few days ago as of this writing, but be sure to follow along on their adventures there. They take lots of pictures and are great at reporting the details of what life is like in whatever nomadic situation they live!

Way Below Status Quo Meetup

Over the summer, I met with a few other people I only knew from the online world. They were on a trip around the U.S. to meet people from the blog world. They passed through town and were stopping to meet Andrew Norcross while they were here. I just happened to see a tweet and invited myself out with them.

Colin Wright moved to Thailand shortly after the trip ended, and is working on several businesses from there. I don’t know if his readers have decided where he is going to live next, but it is always fun to watch.

Norcross is still in town and I am pretty sure he has fixed every WordPress site of every person on Twitter.

Ashley Ambirge is having a presale of her new book “Why You Don’t Need a Job: You Need GUTS!” If I was on the ball, I would have told you about it earlier, but there is still a short time to get it at 50% off until tomorrow (Nov 12, 2010).

She just got to Chile a few days ago, so I don’t know what hour she will cut off the discount.

Andi is still doing her 30-day challenges at Instigationology. She is running (mostly) online businesses without the crutch of social media this month. I don’t think she ever sleeps, and has done harder things than that, but it’s fun to watch.

The Future

I’ll be bringing more people to you through the site in the coming weeks. There are so many more people out living and working way outside the default life we are trained to live. I want to share them all with you, so subscribe to the updates through RSS, email, Facebook, or Twitter to be notified when we have new stuff here for you.

“What Happened to Them?” Updates on 6 LiveCollarFree Stories is a post from: Live Collar Free

photo credit: Matthew Simantov

One of the many nice things about being based in central Florida is being so close to Kennedy Space Center. Even though I live on the other side of the state, it is only 100 miles or so to the East coast, and with clear skies, I can see the launch from my front patio.

The Shuttle program is ending soon. There are only four remaining daylight launches scheduled. NASA had set the last scheduled night launch of the Space Shuttle (STS-130) for Sunday, February 7, at just after 4 AM EST.

On the Friday night before, we talked about it for all of two minutes before deciding to head out to the Space Coast to watch the launch. We tend to “plan” our trips and adventures at the last minute, and stay flexible on details and trivial nonsense like where we might sleep, if at all.

Not only was this the last scheduled night launch, but we heard that also in the area were at least two different couples I stalk follow through their blog travels and on Twitter. Chris and Cherie from Tales from Technomadia live in a custom Oliver Travel Trailer they had built last year. I knew they were in town visiting family, and I suspected they would be watching the launch. They were already in touch with Louise and Sean, who live in a beautiful German tour bus converted into their rolling luxury home. They write about their adventures at Our Odyssey.

I sent a message off to Chris & Cherie, and we set about getting together Saturday evening. Louise & Sean had already found a perfect viewing site directly across the water from the launch site. By Saturday afternoon, the Technomads had parked Orion next to them, with room for us to park behind when we arrived.

None of us had met in person prior to that night, but we had a great evening. A documentary crew from Motherboard.tv was out to get footage of the shuttle launch and the viewers. They discovered the story of our Nomadic convergence and shot additional interviews with the nomadic couples during tours of their homes. We ate across the street at El Leoncito and talked there for hours. After dinner Louise & Sean decided to sleep and wake up early, while the rest of us stayed up late in the Oliver to learn about our different projects and to keep Kiki entertained.

The launch ended up being scrubbed at the last minute due to low clouds that moved in during the night. There were many disappointed people leaving that morning after coming out to watch. We were not upset in the least. We had a great time with new friends that were old friends from the internet. We got tours of 2 versions of nomadic homes we’d only seen online, giving us ideas on how we might want to hit the road. We each had old friends come up to watch the launch, as well. We car-camped for a few hours before heading back to the gulf coast Sunday morning.

We had a fantastic time, and the two Nomadic couples were able to stay another night to see the launch Monday morning (they were home already). They each posted about their experiences with accompanying videos: (Technomadia & Our Odyssey).

We were up at 4:14am Monday morning to watch the launch from our front patio. We may not have been there at camp to watch from up close, but we were still there.

Nomadic Serendipity and the Space Shuttle Launch is a post from: Live Collar Free