RV Journeys
Modern-day nomads
An adventurous family takes to the road for a year of travelling in their RV
Nathan Swartz, his wife, Olivia Meiring, and their son, Tristan, don’t live anywhere in particular and they wouldn’t have it any other way. Over the next year or so they will live, work, sleep and travel the country in their 29-foot Dutchman Classic C. Seven-year-old Tristan will be what they like to call “road-schooled,” and using laptops, iPhones and wireless cards, Swartz and Meiring will work as freelance web designers.
Happy wanderers: Olivia, Tristan and Nathan enjoy exploring and spending time together. —Nathan Swartz photos
Wanderlust runs in the family. Meiring is originally from South Africa and has lived in England and travelled throughout Europe. Swartz has always loved a good cross-country road trip and young Tristan joined his parents on a road trip from Pittsburgh to Portland last year and loved the experience. It made sense for the family to combine their freelance careers and ability to home-school with their love of travelling.
“It seemed like a good way to take advantage of our jobs and a lifestyle we can have,” said Swartz. “We aren’t tied to an office anywhere and we just wanted to go and see what’s out there.”
So, how does the family find living, working, sleeping and travelling all within the confines of an RV? Swartz admits that they were a bit worried about being squeezed into an RV, but so far it has gone well.
“We don’t spend a whole lot of time in the RV, to be honest,” he said. “We are always trying to explore…there are all these other things to do and life is changing every day; you don’t really have a whole lot of time to get bored with what’s going on in your home. And if you are bored in the house, just step outside and take a walk and see what happens.”
Their travel blog says it best: “The U.S. has an area of 3.5 million square miles, while our RV is approximately 115 square feet. That leaves a lot of room for the backyard.”
The family lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, until they found their RV on Craigslist, put their things in storage and set off on their journey in August. They’ve had to overcome a few obstacles—the RV’s transmission catching fire and Olivia̱s back giving out on her (requiring her to take a break from travelling), but as this article is being written, the Swartz family are back on the road and currently enjoying a month or so in Austin, Texas.
“It’s probably the best city I’ve ever been to,” said Swartz. “The people are so friendly and there’s just a lot of really cool stuff to do and a lot of green space and all kinds of events happening every day, everywhere you go.”
Swartz said that they are heading in the general direction of west, with a goal of Flagstaff, Arizona, and then eventually north.
“Once it warms up, we’ll head up towards Tahoe and Portland…and we want to go and check out some parts of Canada too,” he said.
During the week the couple take turns home-schooling Tristan and so they like to try to stay in one place during the week and then hit the road on the weekends. Swartz admitted to some trepidation at first, but Tristan’s home-schooling is going great.
“We are both enjoying it and he’s getting into it really hard core,” said Swartz. “He’s starting to learn to read.”
Besides learning his numbers and letters, Swartz said that Tristan is also learning so much about the world around him. He loves to ride his bike, ask lots of questions and make new friends.
Swartz is also pleased with how work is going for himself and Meiring. He finds that clients are understanding of their situation.
“Once they find out you are doing something cool (being an adventurer), they are like, ‘Oh, let me know when you have a minute,’ almost like they are bothering you instead of you not being available to them,” he said.
He also finds that working less—about half the time he did in Pittsburgh—and exploring more are his priorities and the lower cost of living allows for that flexibility.
“(RVing) is incredibly affordable,” said Swartz, “and all the money that you probably would have spent on bills and a house, you get to spend on going to amusement parks or state parks or just walking around checking things out.”
Swartz feels lucky that while many Americans are dealing with mortgages and jobs in a struggling economy, he and his family are spending less money and having richer life experiences.
“It just feels a lot more like we’re living,” said Swartz. “Doing this just gives more time for experiencing life and hanging out with your family rather than always worrying about how the next bill is going to be paid.”
