Our Story
We are Doug and Rosy, and we live in Ventura County California. We are both 60+ as of 2019 and have been married since August 2000. We both operate businesses here locally and try to get away as often as possible to get some ‘down time’ away from the stresses of everyday life; and in our cases, away from business challenges as well.
Like a lot of people, we have found ourselves “working for the weekend”. What has made it tougher is that getting away had become more and more pricey over the years, particularly here in California.
Hotel prices for even modest accommodations particularly in the beach areas where we love to be meant that we could easily be spending a thousand dollars when you include meals and modest entertainment for a single weekend for two! Therefore, like so many others, much of the time, we had been relegated to “staycations”.
Now this is not to say our lives are miserable by any stretch as we've been blessed with much to be thankful for, starting with our wonderful marriage, but we had a yearning for a more adventurous lifestyle.
In the past, Doug was involved in motorsports as a road racer in both motorcycle and automobile racing disciplines, holding national competition licenses in both at one time. Additionally, he had been involved with long distance motorcycle touring and found it to be a great way to see America, as one is able to immerse one's self into the landscape, culture and nuance of every place you visit. A far more visceral experience than flying ‘over’ this beautiful country in his humble opinion.
Rosanne is a hypnotherapist in a professional therapy office only a few miles from our home. She loves what she does, but also has had a dream to see our country via RV since she was a teen.
Both of us dreamed of seeing America via RV and this has always been growing in the background of our lives together. We even chose a home that has RV parking on the side of our home in keeping with that dream, even though we didn’t own one when we purchased our home.
Around 2015 we started watching YouTube videos about RVing; and inparticular, travel trailers, since we already owned a Toyota Tundra truck. We looked at many different brands and models online, on YouTube and at RV shows. After lengthy and detailed discussions with one another, we finally decided that a Coachmen Freedom Express 248RBS suited us best with seating facing the entertainment center and a great outdoor kitchen since we wanted to socialize with neighboring campers and be outdoors as much as the weather would permit.
We knew it would still take some time to get everything together to take the plunge. So, in the meantime, we watched all the YouTube videos we could about the best equipment to buy, how to use it and how to tow a three-ton travel trailer as safely as possible. Doug took to this challenge as he did in his racing and motorcycle touring experience in that there was enough at risk to make sure things are done right.
In January 2018, we were finally able to bring our Coachmen Travel Trailer home with us! Our first year was exciting and at times challenging, which is what we feel adventures are made of.
We encourage you to follow our journey as we continue “Thriving Happily Ever After”
– May God Bless You and May God Bless America.