How We Quit Our Jobs to Travel the Country Full Time

July 30, 2018February 14, 2019

How We Quit Our Jobs to Travel the Country Full Time

Updated February 2019
We orignially posted this while traveling full-time and living 99% off of savings. Some things have changed and we have updated this post with the changes. New information after nearly a year of travel will be in italics.

We did it! We quit our desk jobs and took off across the country in our converted school bus. A nomadic lifestyle has proven to be tricky and challenging in all sorts of ways and we have tried to document how we made the switch from full-time, white picket fence, 9-5’ers to full-time, skoolie living, nomads!

A Little Background

Rachael worked with the local university in the business office taking care of students that needed financial guidance to remain enrolled and in good standing with the university. She really thrives in an environment where she can help people every day and use her exceptional customer service skills.

I worked in a similar field, managing the accounting and compliance for a job training center that works with at risk youth. I never particularly cared for the work, but getting to interact with young people and trying to make a difference in their lives was meaningful enough to stay there for 4 years.

However, as of March 15th, 2018 we were unemployed and shortly thereafter, became houseless. See, a big component of this plan was to make sure that we could liquidate the assets or liabilities that were holding us in one place and the biggest asset that we owned as a couple was our home. I purchased a house several years ago and had always planned on upgrading it and flipping it or turning it into a rental property. Fast forward to now and the house is rented to a lovely couple and the rent amount more than covers the mortgage and repairs.

So how have we transitioned from a house full of stuff and a driveway full of cars and projects, to a couple that can fit most everything that they own in a short bus and a shed? How we did it is outlined below:

Sell Everything

START WITH THE SMALL STUFF

This is dramatic and over-simplified, but seriously, sell everything. We found so much stuff that we don’t use and that doesn’t bring us any kind of joy. Did I really need six (yes, 6) fishing poles? I fished once in 2017. I sold all but two rods and they will be going in the bus with us. We had several garage sales and facebook posts that sold everything from duplicate things that we both had when we got married to things that simply sat on a shelf and never got used. Start analyzing what clothes you enjoy wearing and which clothes sit in your closet and never get worn. Start making a pile of clothes you don’t want and put them up for sale. SMALL STUFF– ~$2000

MAKE A PLAN TO SELL THE BIG STUFF

After you have sold a lot of the little things that you don’t enjoy, move on the big stuff. In 2015, I purchased a two year old Honda Accord that was cleaner, faster, and nicer than anything I had ever owned. I loved that car. I loved the efficiency and status that came with having a nice car. However, I quickly realized that the price tag was not worth the comfort. We sold the car and Rachael’s pickup truck and are now a one vehicle family, a bus! Not having a car payment and having dirt cheap insurance is one of the most freeing feelings that I have ever felt.

Another big ticket item that needed to go was my project 4×4. This was the first car that I purchased outright after completing college and there was a ton of sentimental value attached to it. It had been on many adventures and hauled most of the gear that I owned to the trailhead or the riverside. It had issues however, and cost several thousand dollars to get it running after the head gasket blew a couple of years back. Once repaired, we sold it and cut our losses. Keep in mind that you will rarely make back the amount of money invested in a project car.

ACCORD SAVINGS- $385/mo

4X4- $3750

Make a Budget and Stick to It

One of the most difficult things for us to do is to stick to a budget and most of that revolves around food and fuel. We have opted to maintain a simple budget and track our expenses as we travel. We encourage anyone trying to live this lifestyle to keep detailed records and copies of receipts for potential tax purposes. Below is the outline of our weekly budget:

Food	125
Gas	125
Gear	20
Supplies	20
Laundry	10
Fun	50
Misc	50
Weekly Total	400
Monthly	1600

As expected, we have overshot our fuel budget significantly while traveling through California and Oregon. We have seen diesel prices exceed $5.00/gal. Below is a more accurate budget breakdown for our travels after four months on the road:

Food	150
Gas	175
Gear	10
Repairs	50
Laundry	5
Fun	25
Misc	25
Weekly Total	440
Monthly	1760

COUNT ON NEEDING A FEW REPAIRS

Our bus is a 2000 Chevy that had 107,000 miles on it when we started the build process, which would lead one to expect a relatively trouble free 20,000 miles or so traveling around the country. Well in four months we have had to replace the brake pads on the front and rear as well as the rear axle oil seal ($700), replaced the Pump Manual Drive ($300), and replaced a broken bike rack ($500) and a bent DIY trailer hitch ($250).

Since then, we have spent another couple of hundred dollars on miscellaneous parts such as fuel filters, fuel pump, and a serpentine belt. All are regular maintenance items that would come up during the regular course of ownership.

If you are planning to travel the country and rack up hard miles on your school bus or van, consider having a pot set aside for repairs and new parts. It helps to be able to replace parts and do some of the work yourself, but count on having to pay a shop to do more of the heavy duty jobs.

LIVE YOUR CONVERSION BUDGET BEFORE YOU MOVE IN

If you are still working on your bus, start using your “full-time” budget as soon as possible even if you are living in the driveway. Accustom yourself to not getting the $5 cup of coffee and start conditioning yourself to ride your bike to work when your weekly fuel budget is spent.

We have continued to use this philosophy as we find housesitting gigs around North America. We use the time to recharge, save some more money, and see a new area more intimately. Likewise, we still live like we are in the bus even though we are in a big house in a beautiful location. This keeps costs relatively stable and sometimes it’s much cheaper.

SAVE, SAVE, SAVE

The only way that a full-time nomadic lifestyle was possible for us was through savings. We began early in our relationship with a fair amount saved up already and once we were married we were able to reduce our expenses and save a lot of our expendable cash for travel.

SAVE FOR THE “END GAME”

What happens when you run out of money? What if your freelance gigs dry up? What do you do if your company doesn’t want to pay you to work remotely any more? Be smart and have a pot of money sitting aside, ideally in a fluid investment (think high-yield savings account), and be prepared to settle down somewhere for a while until you have enough money saved up to have another go at it. At minimum you will need some money to park your rig and job hunt in a new area. Don’t be caught off-guard by not being prepared.

PLAN FOR FUTURE TRAVEL

Where do you want to go on your next adventure? Knowing where you are going will make plans much easier while you travel. For example, we want to eventually travel the Baja Peninsula, so we are making plans to brush up on our Spanish and reach out to businesses that hire ex-pats in the Baja area for work over the winter. Most organizations and businesses don’t look for last minute employees. Reach out and make connections before they are needed.

If you are making income while traveling, consider setting aside $25-$50/month to your “Baja Fund” and keep it separate from your other savings. This will allow you to save toward a goal and have a good chunk of cash to start from when you are ready to make the jump again.

Live Simply

The longer you spend working on this lifestyle, the quicker you will learn what you need or don’t need in a given week. For example, we have found that we can wear a shirt a few times before it starts to smell (and that’s why we do laundry right?). We have also found that if we aren’t working up a sweat, we can skip a shower for a couple of days. Our camp shower gets used regularly for “rinse offs”.

One of the most obvious ways that we have embraced the “bus life” is through using objects for more than one purpose. Recently we bought a huge tray of strawberries at the market and after we were finished, turned the container into a box for our granola bars in the cabinet. For more ideas on reducing your environmental impact while living a nomadic life or a normal 9-5 life, check out our article HERE!

5 STEPS TO SAVE THE PLANET EVERY DAY

Pick Up a Side Hustle

While we traveled the U.S. in 2018, we tried to pick up odd-jobs along the way that could supplement our budget a bit and allow us to experience new things. From working as parking attendants for a massive music festival to shooting residential drone footage in Idaho, there are options out there to make a little side money to keep going.

A lot of folks that we have met on the road have a side hustle like selling essential oils or making handcrafted goods that they sell online. Other folks that we have met maintain real jobs from their vehicles. One of our friends works for a non-profit full-time from his sprinter conversion which allows his wife to pursue her dreams of becoming a nutrition expert.

In September, we reached out to a group that we had volunteered with earlier in the year about volunteering with them again. When we chatted with them, we were suprised that they offered us part time jobs working remotely. We are able to set our own hours within reason, collaborate with people on our team all across the U.S. and save up for more travel. Can you say Alaska 2020?

Are you living life on the road as a nomad? If so, how did you do it? We would love to hear from anyone that has found other ways to make it on the road and avoid the 9-5 at all costs!

As always, thank you for reading along on our travels and adventures. Hopefully you were entertained, enlightened, or otherwise felt like the last few minutes reading this post was a worthwhile investment of your time. If you enjoyed our content, there are a few ways that you can help promote what we do and keep us on the road a little longer:

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July 16, 2018July 16, 2018

When Nothing Works in a Bear Encounter

Our legs were tired, our feet blistered and our skin sunburned after hiking 170-miles around Lake Tahoe on the Tahoe Rim Trail. My wife Rachael and I had decided to take it easy and enjoy some small day hikes in the less-traveled region of Lassen National Park, the Warner Valley Trailhead.

We started out on the trail early and reached a geothermal feature called Devil’s Kitchen before most people had woken up in their tents. We enjoyed a quick stroll through the creekside pockets of 100◦F+ water that reeked of sulfur.

We followed the ultra-easy and well-marked trail back the way we had hiked to find the geothermal pools and soon found ourselves face-to-face with something that we hadn’t yet experienced in over 3-months of spending nearly every day outside in the forests and deserts of the American West, a bear.

Rachael stopped first. She reached across my chest, like Kramer from Seinfeld and halted our traffic down the trail. She thought it was a large dog that had escaped it’s owners in the nearby campground, it wasn’t. It was a juvenile brown bear that was too old to be a cub and too young to be a mature bear. My pulse quickened as the bear approached slowly, but directly toward us. I snapped a couple of very quick photos from a good distance then began to execute standard procedure for handling a bear encounter, outlined below. SPOILER ALERT: standard procedure didn’t work.

We ensured that the bear was not a cub- This is really important step in deciding what you are going to do next. If a juvenile bear is alone, it should be afraid of you and run away fairly quickly after you do steps 2 & 3 below. If the bear is a cub with a near by momma-bear, it might run away, but you should be prepared for an angry and aggressive adult bear to follow close-behind the cub. In this case, the bear was a juvenile but not a cub, however, this bear was very intent on walking toward us on the trail.

We made ourselves BIG- In previous encounters with non-grizzly bears, at 6′ 3″ tall, I have had success with standing tall, raising my arms, and jumping in the air to scare off an approaching bear. If you have trekking poles or in our case, nearby sticks, pick them up and bang them together over your head.The idea is to get as big as you can and present yourself as a bigger predator than the bear. After getting big, the bear approaching us was not fazed by our attempts to scare it back into the woods with our size.

We made a lot of noise- Additionally, after we got big, we made a lot of racket. I normally start with a stern and deep “Hey Bear” and gradually make myself louder and more aggressive. We continued to have a fairly aggressive and loud conversation with this bear and it did not react at all. If anything, our words seemed to invite further investigation from the bear. After exhausting all of our options, we resorted to a last resort when dealing with bears, get out of the way.

We got out of the way- After making all attempts to reinforce fear of humans into this small bear’s world, we simply did the only option we had left, get out of the way. We stepped nearly 20-feet off of the trail and away from the bear’s path. He continued to advance uncomfortably close to our position, but passed us with no aggression. Once the bear had passed us, he lingered and seemed interested to see if we would stick around. We walked quickly with our eyes never leaving the bear for more than a couple of seconds. We cleared the next hill and the bear continued on the path away from the trailhead.

After a few minutes had passed, our collective blood pressures dropped and we reflected on what had just happened. This bear, being a young bear and living so close to a campground has probably associated humans with food. This is the unfortunate result of people spending a lot of time in bear-country and not properly storing their food and other scented items. This is a perfect example of why hanging a bear bag or using bear boxes is essential in the wilderness.

Keep in mind that these suggestions are sufficient for black and brown bears, not grizzlies. Grizzly bears are aggressive carnivores and if you encounter one, make yourself as small as possible and play dead. Acting aggressive toward a grizzly is dumb and will get your face ripped off if you are lucky, and killed if you’re not.

Have you ever experienced a bear in the wild? What was it like? We want to hear about your story and share it on our blog. Send us an e-mail at okienomads@gmail.com and tell us all about it.

July 15, 2018

5 Steps to Save the Planet Every Day

Since transitioning to a nomadic lifestyle, we have found more and more ways to reduce our environmental impact. Below are five ways that we have changed our lifestyle to do a little more for our planet.

Stop with the Plastic Sacks Already!

There are very few instances when plastic sacks at the clothing, grocery, or convenience stores makes any logical sense. Around 5,000,000,000,000 plastic bags are produced YEARLY and most of the trash in our oceans is plastic.

Alternative: Use canvas shopping bags instead of plastic. Leave a few canvas bags in your vehicle and remember to take them into the store with you when you shop. Some stores will even give you credit for using canvas bags.

Avoid Using Plastic Drink Bottles

On the many miles of trail that we have hiked and biked across our country we have seen and picked up hundreds of plastic bottles. Some sources claim that a PET bottle takes around 1,000 years to biodegrade naturally.

Alternative: Use a reusable cup such as an Ozark Trail, Yeti, or another of the many different brands that make stainless steel cups. Although the process to produce a stainless cup is less than environmentally friendly, if you use it regularly over a long period of time it is a step in the right direction.

Recycle or Reuse Everything You Can

Did you leave your reusable bags at home and drive across town to the grocery store? No worries, use your plastic bags as trash bags around your house several times if possible. When building our bus, we used old cut up bike tubes as rubber grommets to run cable and PEX tubing throughout the bus. When a t-shirt gets beyond an acceptable state of ragged, tear it up into garage or kitchen rags.

Conserve Electricity & Use Solar Power if Available

Besides our engine, our entire bus is powered by solar power. We have 300 watts of solar mounted on the roof that powers LED lights, a high-efficiency refrigerator, and a small inverter. We have found that when we rely on the sun for our electronics, we waste less and use less altogether. 300 watts has been more than enough to support all of our electronics with some to spare.

Do you have a light on at home while you are at work? Is there weather-stripping around one of your windows that lets in outside air? All of these things can require more electricity and cost the environment and your wallet.

Conserve Water

Perhaps the easiest and most time-honored way to save the planet is to consume less water. The average person uses 80-100 gallons of water per day. In our bus with a simple 12V water pump and small storage tanks as well as our re-usable water bottles, we use less than 80 gallons every two weeks! Here are some ways to reduce your water consumption at home:

-Don’t run the water while brushing your teeth

-Skip watering the lawn

-Ensure that all plumbing and fixtures operate as they should and don’t leak

-Replace inefficient appliances with High Efficiency units that use less water and electricity

-Take shorter showers

We hope this list has been helpful and that you have found new ways to help the environment. If you have different ways that you reduce, reuse, or recycle, please send us an e-mail! We would love to learn some new tactics to reduce our footprint.

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October 27, 2017November 22, 2017

Travel on the Cheap: FAQ and Review of Renting an RV to tour the Canadian Rockies

When we started brainstorming options for our Honeymoon, Rachael and I were both unaware of how much adventure we could cram into two weeks by renting an RV and road-tripping through the Canadian Rockies.

Why Cruise America (Canada)?

We researched a few other RV rental companies (Canada Dream mostly) and they were more expensive and not nearly as flexible with dates and costs. We got a seasonal deal with Cruise Canada (same company as Cruise America) and it cost us almost half as much with CC as it would have with Canada Dream.

Why an RV?

Cost. One alternative is to camp, but campsites are around $12-20/night not to mention the cost of renting camping equipment that could withstand the cold of October in Alberta which ranged anywhere from $20-100/night which isn’t any cheaper than the RV. The RV cost us just under $1000 CAD after renting pots and pans for the 8 nights. Hotels in Banff and Jasper averaged around $150/night not to mention the cost of a rental car or shuttle to drive us to cool places. In the RV it was one cost for the whole trip and we only had to worry about one reservation.

Convenience. Everything was in the RV! Just like when we travel in the bus, all of the things that we needed were tucked away in the RV, ready for any hike or adventure that arose. We could go from sleeping to hiking in a couple of minutes and the RV was secure and safe anywhere that we visited in Alberta and British Columbia. All we had to pack was a sleeping bag and we were set!

How terrible was living in an RV for over a week?

You are asking a couple who want to live full-time in a school bus, but past that, the RV was great! Everything worked and was clean when we picked up the unit. We used the propane stove and heater throughout the whole time we were in the rig and it worked flawlessly. The refrigerator ran off of electric and propane and we only refilled the propane tank once to the effect of about $25CAD.

The RV only had 100k miles on it and appeared to be basically new. It drove fine for as large of a vehicle as it was and we only had to put air in 1 tire on one occasion. We literally just drove it, slept in it, and took it back.

How brutal was dealing with Cruise Canada (America)?

I too have read some of the reviews online about Cruise Canada and I was initially very skeptic. I had planned to walk around the whole rig with a GoPro filming all of the little problems and blemishes, similar to the experience of renting a cheap apartment in a college town. However, our experience with CC was very good. Customer service was right on and we spent a total of about 20 minutes at their location, total. The check-in was fast and painless. Below are a couple of tips to help your process go smoothly:

Don’t plan on starting your rental on a weekend. We started and ended our rental on a weekday and we hardly saw anyone else at the location.
Have all of your paperwork in order. Make sure that you watch the safety video that they send to you ahead of time. And provide all of the needed licenses and agreements when you get to the counter.
Be familiar with the general operation of a Recreation Vehicle before you rent someone else’s $60,000+ rig. Understand how propane, electric, and water systems work. It’s simple.

Do you have to stay in Campgrounds?

Yes and no. To use the 110V appliances like the AC unit and the microwave, you must be connected to shore power in a campground or driveway. The rest of the appliances/lights/etc are 2-way, meaning they can run on the “house” battery for a short period of time. We only paid for camping 2 nights out of the 9 that we stayed in the RV.

Look for highway turnoffs, abandoned parking lots, and free RV parking signs and eat your heart out. One of our favorite nights of the trip was in a “Free RV Parking” area at the Crossing Gas Station/Motel/Pub.

Where did you poop?

This is a super common question that we often get with the bus life and the answer is the same, public restrooms and the woods are everywhere, especially in Canada. We did not use the RV washroom for #2 once. We utilized the always present forest or public restrooms when were near a city or town. Just think of how many trailhead, coffee shop, visitor center bathrooms that you see every day of a trip. Now just plan your day a little bit ahead of time and you too will not let the poo control your adventures.

Bonus tip: Always bring TP. An extra roll of toilet paper can save the day. We bought a small 4 pack when we landed and donated what was left to our AirBnB host in Calgary before we flew out…A small price to pay for comfortable BM’s.

If you have ever rented an RV and had a hack or suggestion that could help us the next time we rent, please drop a comment or e-mail us at okienomads@gmail.com. As always, keep up to date with our adventures on Instagram and YouTube @okienomads.

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Next Article: Canadian Road Trip: Getting to Canada

October 24, 2017November 1, 2017

7 Tips for an Overnight Paddling Trip

We recently took off on a 2 night, 3 day trip on the Scenic Illinois River in Northeast Oklahoma. We floated from the Arkansas border to Tahlequah, OK. Check out the VLOG episode here! One of the most challenging aspects of an overnight trip is packing. I am going to show you 7 tips for how to pack your boat for a great trip on the river. This article will include how to’s, gear recommendations, and more so check it out.

1. Start with a Reliable Vessel

Insure that your boat is in good working order and that if you are going to experience large rapids that you have the necessary equipment like a spray skirt and a throw bag. The river that we floated has very few rapids and none of them are over class-1, so the throw bag can stay at home. We brought our spray skirts simply because we were expecting rain.

A trip can go awry very quickly if you have a boat failure. A boat that takes on water or doesn’t navigate properly can mean capsizing or getting pinned on riprap. Pay attention to the weight limit of your vessel as well. I do not hold manufacturer recommended weights as the final decider, but I was about 25 pounds over my recommended weight and that was about as far as I am willing to push it. I was sitting pretty low.

*Craigslist is a great place to find a gently used kayak for a much cheaper price than buying new. Good touring yaks can be had for under $1000. That is a steal!

2. Remember the Basics

The basic needs for survival are food, water and shelter, not necessarily in that order. A human can survive over 3 weeks without food, but will perish without water in 3-5 days. Shelter is important to maintain body temperature and protect from exposure and the elements.

Water- We always bring plenty of water in addition to a means of purifying freshwater. We use the STERIPEN and it has never let us down in harsh environments. A helpful tip when harvesting water from a stagnant source, use a bandana or buff to filter out floaties before treating with the UV light.

Due to the river having fairly clean water, I normally carry 2-32 ounce Nalgene bottles. These bottles are nearly indestructible and make using the STERIPEN super easy. Each bottles takes 1 minute of UV exposure to produce drinkable water.

*If a precarious situation such as a thunderstorm keeps you in your tent, the Nalgene makes for an effective pee bottle too.

Food- Pack extra food. Even if you are a super-ultra-lightweight hiker and you carry a scale to the trailhead to make sure you’re not carrying too much, an extra couple of CLIF bars could be the difference in you having enough energy to swim, run, or hike to a nearby road or home for help.

For a river trip, we normally stick with a small ice chest or cooler bag for items like chicken breasts, bacon, and other easily packable perishables. This time, we brought along eggs, bacon, and hash-browns for breakfast. For lunch we brought bread, lunch meat, and trail mix. For dinner we did fish, chicken, sausage and veggies.

*Helpful Tip- Make Hobo-style meals ahead of time in aluminum foil and store them in freezer baggies in the cooler. Once you get to camp, throw them on the coals and enjoy. Once you’re done, put the cooled aluminum back in the freezer bag for easy disposal.

Shelter-Always carry some kind of shelter, regardless of the length of your trip. A simple solar blanket and fire bag can keep you warm and dry in a bad situation.

The last time that we didn’t pack shelter on a trip was Land Run 100 in April of this year. We assumed that since it was a bike race, shelter would not be needed. FALSE. We found ourselves completely exhausted and borderline hypothermic at mile 34 in the middle of rural Logan County Oklahoma with nothing but soaked clothes and spotty cell reception. Had we packed a simple lighter and 2 space blankets (minimal weight), we would have been much more pleasant in the root cellar that we hunkered down in for 45 minutes waiting on help to arrive.

On this trip, due to the chance of rain and the unavoidable onslaught of mosquitos, we opted to pack a backpacking tent sans stakes. The same coverage could be achieved for one person with a hammock and a bug net/tarp setup. Stakes are imperative when the chance for rain exists. Fancy backpacking tent flies aren’t designed to be used without stakes. We know, because we left ours at home and paid for it with soggy tent walls.

*An ultralight tarp such as the Hennessy Hex can be used as a shelter in a pinch with just a couple of stakes and some tracking poles or paddles.

3. Stay Dry

This one seems obvious, but most floaters don’t take precautions to stay dry. Even some that know better, can get caught with their pants down. It is imperative that all of your dry gear and supplies (warmth, fire, and food) stay dry. If you are traveling with camera gear, it obviously needs to stay dry too.

On this trip, I took every precaution advised and secured all dry goods in dry bags, properly closed and stored in the water-tight hatch on the rear of my boat. After paddling most of the first day, I was told that my boat was riding low in the water. I pulled into our campsite and found my rear hatch completely full of water. I later found out that the skeg cable sheath had come undone and was leaking water into the hatch. My dry bags weren’t all that dry. Especially the bag with my DSLR camera, lenses, and memory card in it. I pulled the dry bag out of the hull to find water visibly inside the bag. I released the dry bag only to find the camera bag completely soaked. When I opened the Lowepro Camera bag the contents were dry as a bone. I received that bag when I bought my camera and the seller didn’t have anything else to send it in. Thanks Lowepro! The cheap dry bag has been moved to “mostly dry” duty for items like a tarp or rain jacket.

*Hypothermia can occur in very warm temperatures with the quick arrival of a summer storm, or prolonged periods without the ability to make a fire.

4. Pack Small

Most kayaks come equipped with small watertight hatches, so it is important to pack a lot of small dry bags instead of big ones. For a sit-in like my Jackson Rogue or Rachael’s Pyrahna Fusion, the biggest dry bag I would suggest is a 10L bag. If you have a sit-on kayak or a canoe, you can probably get away with bigger bags, however, you will wast a considerable amount of space.

*If you must pack a large dry bag in a small kayak, place the half-packed bag in the spot where you want to pack it first, then fill items in until it fills the space, then roll it shut.

5. Pack Smart

I mentioned total weight earlier. Where you place the weight is extremely important as well. Too much weight in the bow or stern and the boat will not handle properly and may be more susceptible to rolls. Place heavier items near the middle of the cockpit and place your light-weight items toward the ends of your boat. Remember that lateral placement can effect handling as well. If you are heavier on the port side, remember that when you have to roll back over.

*If your creek/crossover kayak is equipped with a bulkhead and you are not floating whitewater, remove it for the additional storage space.

6. Flip Your Boat

Flipping your boat at night is helpful for a lot of reasons. First, it keeps your seat and cockpit dry, whether by dew or rain, no one likes a wet seat. Second,it discourages critters from crawling into your boat for the night and surprising you in the AM. Also remember to move your boat and paddles up and out of the water. Waking up to a missing boat is absolutely no fun and you float buddies with thank you for not having to taxi you down river.

*I make a habit of banging on my boat with a paddle when I approach in the morning to make sure there are no creepy crawlies waiting for me inside.

7. Know Your Limits

Overnight paddling trips are one of my favorite ways to see new places and enjoy nature like most don’t get to. However, multi-day trips open you up to possible fatigue and injury. Make sure that you are physically able to tackle the 15-20 miles per day that you plan to float in order to get back to your job by 8AM on Monday morning. It’s often hard to call in to work from the river valley, only because of spotty cell service.

*Start with a few small day trips or over-nighters and slowly work your way up to longer expeditions. This way you will know what gear you need and how much you can handle.

Thank you so very much for taking the time out of your day to read along. We post all kinds of articles like this almost every week. Stick around and check out the pictures from our travels and check out our YouTube Channel for more content not published on the blog. We are always looking for brands and creators to partner with, please reach out if you are interested- okienomads@gmail.com.

As always, God Bless and be safe out there!

Category: Outdoor Tips & Tricks