Why the 180?

You guys are doing what? You’re going where? For how long? Can you get your job back when you come back? Is your route all planned out? Do you know where you’re going to stay?

These are just some of the questions we’ve heard for the past 9 months after we officially announced that we were going to quit our jobs, rent out our house and travel for a year.

But why the 180? We had paid off our dream house, we both have great jobs that we like, we live in a nice community close to family and friends. Why the huge life change instead of just going on vacation like everybody else?

It all started as a retirement dream. We were going to travel the country when we had enough money in the bank that we felt comfortable and our retirement nest egg was large enough that we felt comfortable and when we felt comfortable leaving our parents….can you see the trend? What is the dollar amount that makes you feel comfortable? When is your heart comfortable enough to leave your aging parents, your good friends, your dream house…..I don’t believe there is ever going to be a time when we were going to feel 100% awesome about the decision we came to.

We really do have a great thing going and have no complaints. I’ve worked at the local Sheriff’s Office for the past 17 years. I have a pension that would allow be to retire at 55 and I enjoy what I do. My husband also has a good job with a growing company making good money.

So what is the problem? Why do we have this need to go? I don’t know. It’s just us…The Vugs. We’ve been married for 18 years. We didn’t get married saying we were going to go travel the country & live in a camper. Actually, we built a beautiful log sided house on 15 acres of hardwoods and said we were going to retire there. Both sets of parents were within miles as well as Craig’s brothers. We both had grown up in the area and had lots of friends that we enjoyed hanging out with.

But then August 2011, we got devastating news. My dad was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. My whole world crumbled. My dad was my hero. He was a rock. How could he have cancer…and not just any cancer, a cancer that would ultimately take his life. For 18 months we prayed, fought, hoped, cried and in the end God needed him home. I will never get over it. I will never forget his face the last time I said goodbye. Is this the reason we need to go?

I still don’t know. I’m sure it has a lot to do with our decision to expedite what we are doing. We’ve all heard it, heck we’ve all said it, life is too short. Everyone thinks they have time. I’ve heard it so many times…when I have this much money, we’ll go on a family vacation. When I hit this number anniversary, we’ll go to this special place. When I retire…I hate hearing that. I really do. My dad was waiting for my mom to retire and then they would go travel and do all the things they didn’t get to do because they were taking care of my handicapped brother and chasing me and my other brother to sporting events. My husband and I chose not to have children. We made that choice together and have no regrets.

What I will regret is if we continue to wait to spend our lives together. Working 40-60 hrs a week, busting our butts on the weekends on our dream house that takes up so much time we end up frustrated with it and each other, and waiting for the next holiday or vacation days to get away so we can feel normal is not how I want to live even if it means doing things a little unconventional.

So when people ask…You’re doing what? You’re going where? For how long? Can you get your job back when you come back? Is your route all planned out? Do you know where you’re going to stay?

We are doing a 180 from normal life. We are going to travel and live in a truck camper. Alaska is our first destination. We are planning on a year but we really don’t know. We don’t expect to get our jobs back. Our route is not all planned out and we plan on boon docking it wherever we can.

Any more questions? Feel free to ask.