The year before we got married, “The Man” and I bought our first RV and started our journey into full-time RV living with a 2019 Prime Time Crusader 315RSK fifth-wheel camper.

Just a little over 35 feet long, it featured a spacious shower, a residential-sized fridge, and a massive bed designed to perfectly fit his large frame. It was the beginning of a massive lifestyle shift for both of us.

From the Corporate World to Central Florida

My journey to the Sunshine State began shortly after my 21st birthday, when I moved from the Chicagoland area to South Florida. I stayed with my grandparents for the rest of 1999 before moving into my first apartment. Not long after, I met my first husband. We wed in 2001, spent 15 years together, and eventually divorced in 2014.

Needing a fresh start, I packed up and moved north to Orlando.

Before making that move, I lived in a small South Florida beach town, working as a paralegal and secretary before earning an associate degree in accounting. Armed with my degree, I stepped into a role as the Office Administrator for the Orlando branch of one of the largest Certified Public Accounting (CPA) firms in the country.

Then, everything changed when I met “The Man.”

Seventeen Years, Five Deployments, One New Direction

“The Man” is a disabled combat veteran who enlisted in the United States Army in 1997. Over the next 17 years, he served as a diesel mechanic and was deployed overseas five times.

His first deployment was to Bosnia during the late 1990s. His second was to Korea, where he found himself on September 11, 2001. Later, he was deployed to Iraq twice—the first time coinciding with the arrest of Saddam Hussein, and the second during his execution. Finally, he deployed to Afghanistan right around the time Osama bin Laden was captured. He wasn’t directly involved in those major events; that is simply how he anchors his timeline and remembers exactly where he was in the world.

Eventually, he submitted his medical history to the Medical Evaluation Board and separated from the Army in 2014.

Once out of the service, he spent a few years working in the oil industry before deciding to return to his home state of Florida. He enrolled in specialized training, completing both a motorcycle mechanics program and a marine mechanics program. While working his way through school, he requested a re-evaluation of his disability rating with the Veterans Administration (VA). In 2018, his rating officially increased from 90% to 100% permanent and totally disabled.

Swapping Disney Traffic for the Open Road

We connected through an online dating site in early 2017 and met for our first date at a bar in Kissimmee. We hit it off right away, and it wasn’t long before we were living together.

Residing just six and a half miles from Disney World, we both quickly tired of the gridlock traffic, the endless crowds of tourists, and the oppressive summer heat. Enamored by tales of full-time RVers traveling the country, I started heavily researching the cost of campers, campground site fees, and recurring expenses.

Because “The Man” receives steady compensation from his VA disability, we had a solid baseline budget to work with. After crunching the numbers on our recurring payments, I determined that living and traveling in an RV full-time was entirely feasible.

With the ultimate goal of seeing all 48 contiguous states, we started planning our escape.

Planning the Ultimate Cross-Country Escape

Six months before we even owned a rig, we had:

• Winter reservations secured at a resort in eastern California on the shores of the Colorado River
• A highly detailed itinerary mapping out our entire route west
• A massive bucket list of places we wanted to see
• Campground reservations locked in along the way

We spent the summer of 2019 traversing central Florida, scouring RV dealerships. “The Man” traded his pickup truck in for a heavy-duty model capable of towing a massive trailer, while we researched the distinct pros and cons of Class A motorhomes, travel trailers, and fifth wheels. I am pretty sure we looked at every single camper for sale in central Florida!

Initially, we intended to purchase a traditional travel trailer, but our minds completely flipped after touring a fifth wheel. While travel trailers are lighter and less expensive, fifth-wheel campers offer so much more. The vast storage capacity, larger holding tanks, taller ceilings, and spacious kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom configurations suited our specific needs perfectly.

Moving In and Moving Out

“The Man” located our dream camper at a nationwide dealership outside Tampa. It checked off all our preferences, and we purchased it over Labor Day weekend. Because we didn’t have a dedicated lot to store it yet, we arranged to pick it up in mid-September.

To give ourselves a trial run, we planned to practice camping locally before making the long haul to California. We booked a two-week stay at a campground in Sanford, about 45 minutes from our rental house in Kissimmee.

The big day arrived on September 16, 2019. We took official possession of our new home, the Crusader, and began final preparations. We drove the rig to the house, packed it with the supplies we spent all summer acquiring, and set out for Lake Louisa State Park. After spending the first few days unpacking and setting up camp, we officially moved in on September 19th.

We loaded the cat, the dogs, and Bones into the truck and introduced them to their brand-new home on wheels.

We spent the rest of September cleaning out our rental house, transferring our remaining belongings into a secure storage unit, and settling into the unpredictable rhythm of RV life.

Follow Our Travels!

This is just the prologue to our grand adventure. Follow along as I share the ongoing story of my travels with “The Man.”

Stay tuned to hear how two adults, two dogs, a 20-year-old cat, and Bones settled into our compact space and set out to explore the country.