Wild Gratitude: Stories of Thanks from the Open Road
Traveling in an RV is a unique experience for every person. The reasons we do it, and the meaning it has for each of us is singular and individual. No snowflake is alike in the flurry of wandering souls. But one common thread that weaves an underlying theme is gratitude. Life on the road changes our perception. We are more vulnerable and out of our comfort zones. The path we walk is unpredictable. Being in that rugged place has a way of opening our eyes to subtle moments of sweetness. Small comforts become luxury, while deep connections propel us onward.
So, since we’re in the season for giving thanks, we wanted to share a couple stories from the open road that fill us with gratitude — for the RV life and the people we meet along the way.
Let’s start with Tammy and Donny.
Tammy and Donny: Experiences and Relationships
Tammy and her partner Donny — @2benedicts on Instagram — are full time RVers in a 2021 Keystone Cougar 316 RLS. They enjoy a slower pace of travel, full of deep connections with fellow RVers and locals.
A year and a half ago, Tammy and Donny lost their son, Jacob. Today, they hold gratitude for the opportunity RVing allows them to honor the memory of their son. They share, “We’re getting to travel and see some of the things that we know he would have wanted to see. So we’re doing that in his honor … to take a piece of him with us.”
Remarkably, Tammy and Donny are transforming moments of tremendous grief into a journey of appreciation. In talking with me, Tammy shared how traveling in an RV slows things down and makes her more at ease and comfortable in our own skin?
”You just get lasered-in more on the things that are most important to you,” Tammy says.
Preparing for full-time life in an RV requires a complete downsize. Tammy and Donny took a head first dive into a less-is-more approach to life as they prepared to embark on their journey.
“If you’re living in your RV, you’ve downsized every part of your life … Your things, your time commitment, everything gets declutterred, I guess. And so, it helps you focus in on what’s really important to you and where you really value spending your time.”
Doing so enables her to focus on what is really important —family, friends, and relationships that she makes with people who are pursuing the same pattern of life. In fact, the more she cut away, the clearer it became what she actually cared about: “Experiences. And,” she clarifies, “Relationships are experiences too.”
Living in the Present
Further, living in an RV has brought her closer to the world that’s always been around her. Pondering aloud, Tammy says, “There’s a whole nature aspect.”
Earlier in her life, working and raising kids in a residential house, Tammy recalls, “I spent my time in my car and Target and Kroger.” But now, living in an RV surrounded by the natural world, she notices “What’s important to you becomes so clear … with that connection to nature.”
It’s a lot easier to feel grateful for what’s in front of us when we’re actually present with the natural world. When we’re not distracted, gratitude is everywhere. And it brings a clarity. A sweetness. The glimmer of perfection all around if we allow ourselves to look.
Sasha’s Family Story: No Risk, No Fun!
Sasha is no stranger to rugged travel. He works for an organization doing research and advocacy in African countries experiencing conflict and corruption. In 2020, he founded the Grass Roots Reonciliation Group that helps rehabilitate former child soldiers in Uganda. Right now, Sasha and his family are traveling full time (and working remotely) across Europe in their 24-foot Class C Hymer. His family has a saying, “No risk, no fun!” And quite frankly, they aren’t wasting any time. They’ve covered 6,000 miles in three months and visited 13 countries!
Amid their busy schedule, every evening Sasha and his family make time for an exercise of gratitude. At the dinner table they share three things they are grateful for. This practice is simple but deeply meaningful. Gratitude is like a muscle, it weakens when we don’t use it. When we forget to flex it, we can get swept up in stress, discontent, and the endless chase for more.
While COVID was in full swing, Sasha and his family first entertained the idea of traveling full-time by RV thanks to a podcast called Zero to Travel. They bought a used 27-foot Lazy Daze RV. Lazy Daze is known for its reliability built in a handcraft factory in California (which has sadly since closed). With a budget of #35,000 for the year, they set out across the American countryside.
An Unexpected Stop
On their American road trip across the American countryside, Sasha and his family were driving from the Grand Canyon to Flagstaff, Arizona. At this point, Sasha was working one day a month for the African Human Rights Advocacy. The following day just happened to be his one day a month to work. He needed to be available, with Wi-Fi and service. His mother was traveling with them briefly and was scheduled to fly out of Flagstaff the next day.
They were in the Valley of the Gods in the Grand Canyon, right next to Monument Valley. From there they headed to Flagstaff, Arizona. Somewhere around Tuba City, on the Navajo Reservation, they got a flat tire.
Sasha recalls, “The tire pressure monitors started beeping off, and I was like, oh, God! So we pulled over.”
Sasha got his 84-year-old mom and his kid, who had just turned four at the time, out of the RV. It was a vivid scene. “There is trash blowing everywhere,” Sasha remembers, “The wind is blowing across a sort of endless plain, and the — what do you call those — tumbleweeds are flying around. And so we tried to call, you know, a tow truck company. We were members of some society, which is like AAA for RVing.”
He called with what little service he had, he got ahold of someone on the phone, and was told, “Well, we’ll get back to you.” Which was not particularly encouraging.
“And so we’re waiting, you know, an hour or two pass and, like, nothing’s happening. The sun is setting, and it’s about to get cold. My mom is supposed to fly out the next day, and tomorrow was my one day a month to work — at like 8’ o’clock in the morning.” And, of course, he was in an area that barely had any cell phone reception.
Help from a Stranger
It was starting to get pretty real for Sasha and his family. Just siting sitting, they were helpless on the side of the road near a reservation. And good news wasn’t coming from the towing call center, who called back and said, “Well, you know, we can’t find anybody right now, but we’ll keep looking.’” Sasha pressed them. This moment was the exact reason he was paying them. But all they could offer was an apology.
Then a truck pulled up next to him. And a Native American stepped out.
“I’m from here. No one is coming for you.”
When Sasha responded, “No, no, no… I pay for this service,” the man reassured him, “No one is coming. Trust me.” As Sasha stood in disbelief, the man continued, “I’m a truck driver, and I have the kind of jack you need.”At home, the man had one of those really large jacks that are impossible to carry around in an RV.
“I have the jack. We can jack it up and put your spare tire on.”
Reflexively, Sasha still resisted, holding onto his hope in the tow company. Meanwhile, the stranger drove 40 minutes back to his home to get the jack. During that time, the towing call center called Sasha back and confirmed no one was coming because they were on reservation land, and no one wanted to go there.
But the stranger did come back. And he had the jack. Sweating profusely, the man jacked up the RV till it was nearly tipping. But he got the tire changed. And Sasha and his family were free to go on their way. So Sasha made it work the next morning. And his mother made her flight back home from Flagstaff.
They had made it. All because of a Navajo truck driver.
Sasha was blown away by his kindness, “I was just like, why would someone go out of his way to do that- especially when we weren’t even Navajo ourselves? It was very inspiring that, you know, despite all the troubles that the Navajo have been through all these years, the people are still resilient enough to go way out of their way and help people.”
Local Mercy Goes a Long Way
There are so many RV stories, my own included, that leave helpless travelers at the foot of mercifullocals. Whether you are traveling by boat, RV, bicycle, or on foot, more than likely you will find yourself at the mercy of the local population at one point or another. More often than not, the human spirit prevails with boundless generosity and compassion. Living a nomadic life leaves us vulnerable to the elements, and often to the humans around us. But being vulnerable also leaves us open to the beauty in others, and able to see the little blessings blooming all around us.
Marketplace Inventory
Olivia de Soria
You might also like
