One of the best parts of the Workamping community is getting to know the people behind the wheels of those RVs. Every Workamper brings their own story, goals, and countdowns to the road ahead. In this profile, Chris and Kimberly Travaglino share their journey as they prepare to trade their traditional life for a new adventure on the road – with just 133 days to go.
By Chris & Kimberly Travaglino
About 2 years ago as we were traveling back from Oklahoma and my wife turns to me and says
“What if we just sold everything and traveled the country to all the places we always wanted to go to and share with our daughter?”
Immediately I remembered a childhood in which I spent summers traveling around the country with Grandparents who owned a 28 foot Alpenlite. After a quick trip down memory lane I said: sounds great, let’s go! It’s been a non-stop whirlwind ever since.
Upon arriving home and after giving it much thought I said “I think it will take about 2 years for us to get ready but I think it’s doable. Let’s write down a timeline and get going!”
Looking back that was the easiest thing we did. We have been around the world so to speak on the decisions we have made, unmade and then made again.
How do we make money to survive on as we are not quite at retirement age?
I am a business coach and can pretty much coach from anywhere as long as I have a good internet connection and cell service. My wife and I had also committed to living a healthier lifestyle and one of the ways we do that is through Plexus. They have great health and wellness benefits as well as a way to build residual income.
So I thought I had two decent revenue streams but would feel more confident if I had a third. While doing research on the interwebs I stumbled across Workamping. I started reading everything I could find out about it and said “This is it!”
One of the things we did was to sign up for a membership with Workamper News. This was a real stepping stone to see what jobs were out there and if there was anything out there we would enjoy doing. After joining I set up our resume and started receiving views almost immediately. To my surprise we still get about one resume view per day.
By nature Kimberly is a planner and was very stressed out about where we were going to go and where we would work. About 8 months ago we were contacted by a place in the panhandle of Florida about working for them and we accepted those positions.
One thing we learned is that really we should only be booked out about 6 months in advance as the employers are only looking to make decisions a season ahead. We have turned down some really good job offers since signing our contract in Florida but wouldn’t change that decision for the world.
One of the other things we saw and were interested in was the opportunity to work for Amazon doing seasonal work. We just replied today before I wrote this so we should be hearing from them soon and can’t wait to experience that.
So now what?
As I write this today we have decided on and bought our 5th wheel trailer. We have our Dodge Diesel to tow it with. Our daughter will be completing high school online through a program that Texas Tech makes available. Early on we decided we wanted to do this full time and most likely forever! We are currently selling just about everything we own and I will be calling the realtor after I write this.
One of the hardest parts so far has been telling friends and family. More often than not, we tell someone and they go “That is awesome!”
Our family on the other hand has not been quite so receptive. I guess the wandering nomad gene skipped a generation. Mostly blank stares and you’re doing what? We have as a family though decided to live our lives on our terms and we think this is the way to go. Is it? Only time will tell.
Either way we should have some great stories to tell and so many memories of time spent together as a family that no matter what the outcome is it will be great! Did I mention that we only have 133 days left before we hit the road?!
Stories like Chris and Kimberly’s remind us that Workamping isn’t just about jobs – it’s about people, dreams, and the courage to start something new. If you’re counting down to your own departure, we’d love to feature your story in a future Workamper Profile.
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