Live Small, Play Big: The Mindset Behind Our Off-Grid RV Life
Jahanel and Ruby after initial setup of the motorhome.
We’ve been out here on the property, living full-time off-grid, for a couple of months now. Have we fully experienced what we originally envisioned? Not even close.
Medical issues have slowed our ability to commit to the build the way we want. I’ve been mostly down for the last six weeks dealing with a brain issue (I talk more about that in the tumor post). But being slowed down doesn’t mean being stopped. I’m still planning the homestead, still planning the race season, still planning the car build—and in a strange way, this forced pause has given me the space to rebuild our brand into something I truly believe can become great.
When we first kicked around the idea of “RV on the property,” it was meant to be very temporary. The plan was to park the motorhome while we either dropped a manufactured home on the land or built a barndominium. Somewhere along the way, that plan evolved. What we have now isn’t a basecamp for travel and adventure in the traditional sense—it’s a basecamp for racing.
Making full-time RV living work requires a certain mindset. If you’re single, it’s probably easier—you only have to make it work for yourself. In our case, it’s a married couple, a good-sized dog, and a 35-foot motorhome.
We’re no strangers to different living situations or hardship. We’ve lived in a small house in town and hated every aspect of it—though we made it work. We’ve owned a 3,000-square-foot lake house on five acres with a shop and outbuildings and loved everything about it except the payment, the debt, and trying to fund a full race program at the same time. We’ve lived in a 4,000-square-foot house in town with great memories but a neighborhood we couldn’t stand. And we’ve lived in a shack on the Puget Sound with barely any heat and plenty of electrical, plumbing, and structural issues.
So RV living is just another chapter—another adventure—but this one is different. This RV is our full-time home on off-grid land and our adventure rig, hauling an enclosed trailer and race car all over the Pacific Northwest. That meant adopting yet another mindset.
We know we have to live small in order to play big.
Our home can’t be cluttered with stuff because we’re packing it up and moving it constantly during race season. At the same time, we can’t have too little because this same rig supports our daily life and our land. The last few months have been experimental—especially mentally—as we figure out what we truly need.
I’ll admit it: I overpacked the motorhome, and want to downsize it . My wife thinks we need more stuff. So… compromise.
And that’s where RV living gets real when more than one person is involved. Fortunately, compromise isn’t new to us—it’s why we’ve been married for over 30 years.
Pro tip for anyone wondering how we’ve stayed happily married that long:
Rule #1 — Pick your battles.
Phrase that has saved my marriage more than once — “Yes, dear.”
Remember those two words: Yes, dear.
I let her have her way most of the time, and she knows it. When I really put my foot down on something that matters, she remembers that—and meets me halfway. That’s how we’ll make RV off-grid living work.
The plan for the next year or two is to live and race full-time out of the RV and enclosed trailer. Live small. Play big.
I won’t be the one racing—it’ll be my wife. I may take her car for a specialty race or run a season on my bike, but the priority is her running a full points program at Yakima and Woodburn, plus specialty classes at Woodburn, and earning another spot at ET Finals—this year in Spokane.
My focus is supporting Jahanel racing with her dad again and securing sponsors that fit not just a motorsports brand, but our lifestyle: off-grid living, travel, boondocking, and racing.
Live small. Play big.
So let me ask you—
why do you choose the RV life?
