What It's Like To...
What It's Like To...
What It's Like To Be a Solo RV Traveler
Jenell Jones has everything she owns with her at all times, and can travel wherever she chooses (as long as the destination is on this continent!). Jenell is a full-time RV (recreational vehicle) traveler. She spends her life on the road, but Jenell isn't lonely: she runs an RV club for other solo travelers, so they travel "alone, together." In this episode Jenell recounts her transition to the RV life (she didn't even know how to drive an RV when she decided to buy one!), paring down her "stuff" to what she actually needs (one swimsuit and a few highball glasses made the cut), and talks about how she now spends her days: hiking in Alaska, biking in the Grand Canyon, and eating fresh $10 lobster in Maine. "I love this lifestyle," says Jenell. "I feel sorry for my old self"--the person who worked a "regular" job and packed in as much as possible during her all-too-short vacations. Now her work, her life, and travel are all packed into one--one very long vehicle.
Jenell is offering a $10 discount to "What It's Like To..." listeners who join the Wandering Individuals Network RV Club. Go to winsrvclub.com, and use this code: WHATITSLIKETO.
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In this episode:
01:33--How and why Jenell got started RV'ing
03:47--A day in the life of Jenell in her RV
07:13--Exploring: biking, hiking, visiting museums with other solo travelers
09:24--Paring down her belongings to fit in an RV
13:37--Key items to live the RV lifestyle
16:03--Jenell's thoughts on the idea of "home"
18:18--Safety while RV'ing
18:54--Personal and logistical challenges she has encountered along the way
24:42--Some of Jenell's favorite destinations
31:58--The Wandering Individuals Network: what it is, how it works
36:36--What Jenell has learned about the US after traveling around it so much
Want to know more about Jenell and the Wandering Individuals Network RV Club?
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Check out her website: www.winsrvclub.com
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Anybody can drive. Anybody can learn to drive 60 feet of vehicle going down the road. The mindset is the tough part. You got to be open. You got to be ready to roll with the punches. You got to be patient. This taught me patient. I've never been a patient person. RVing will teach you patience because you go nowhere fast.
Elizabeth:Hello, and welcome to"What It's Like To..." The podcast that lets you walk in someone else's shoes and live vicariously through their unique experiences. I'm your host, former journalist, Elizabeth Pearson Garr. And each episode, I'll be asking a new interviewee all the what, why, when, and wheres of how they do what they do. If they can do it, so can you. If you've ever been sitting at your desk or stuck in commute traffic and thought, man, I'd love to trade all this in and just travel for the rest of my life. Well, listen up. My guest, Janelle Jones, is doing just that. Since 2015, she's traveled all over North America in a 36 foot RV. She's been to 49 states and much of Canada and Mexico and the majority of the national parks. She also owns the oldest RV club for people traveling on their own. And she's here to tell us all about it. Janelle, welcome to the podcast.
Jenell:Thank you, Elizabeth. It's interesting that you did that introduction because that's how it got started for me. I sat and looked out my window of my office at a dealership across the street. It was like, wow, I wonder what that's like. I would see people moving their stuff in and think what that's like to drive off in the wild blue yonder.
Elizabeth:Wow. Had you ever even been in an RV?
Jenell:Nope, I had never even been in an RV, much less go out and drive one. And across the street was a Prevost dealer, which are like the million dollar buses. So I thought that's what RVs were. They were these big buses, cause I didn't really notice them on the road. I even stopped one day and took a little tour through there and quickly realized, okay, I probably should look at another RV if I want to actually have this life.
Elizabeth:So that was really adventurous of you.
Jenell:It really was. I worked for the government in South Florida and I knew when I retired, I did not want to sit around at the house and watch TV and I don't know, garden, which I like gardening and sewing and all that, but I knew that that was not what my life was. I knew I wanted more out of my last 30 years, if you will, of my life.
Elizabeth:So I'd like to get to your day to day. I know there's no two days the same because you live a life of adventure and so they don't have to be the same, but typically, what would you be doing in a day, if you are on the road?
Jenell:Well, remember, I'm always on the road. Now, that doesn't mean that I travel every day. I don't. I go a week or 10 days and then I may stay somewhere a month. But for right now in the Canadian Maritimes, today I got up and with the group that I'm with, we went to bike ride around the ocean in Prince Edward Island. Then, you know, I had this podcast and then tonight we're going to this restaurant to eat lobster. All you can eat lobsters for$49 Canadian. That come from right here and that we'll be looking out in the ocean. Yesterday we went to... yeah, it was great. Yesterday, the typical day was we went to see the home and a birthplace of, the lady who wrote Anne of Green Gables. And then we did a fireplace last night. We all sit around did a fireplace and told stories.
Elizabeth:So let's say you're driving from a place to a place, how do you kind of get yourself going in the morning? Do you have a little kitchen in your RV and you're stocked with all your food and Walk me through a day there.
Jenell:Yes, absolutely. Just like everybody else or in my retired life. I get up when I get up around 7:00, 7:30, 8 o'clock. Today I got up at 8:04. Love it. No, alarm is in this entire house, and I had coffee. My coffee maker was going. The question that you're asking is kind of like what most people do, Elizabeth, they think, well, are you camping? You know, are you out in the open field? No, no, I'm in an air conditioned. I put my fireplace on in the morning to kind of get the chill out of the air, or I could turn my heater on. There's no camping involved in my life. There's none of that. I want to live a comfortable life. I just want to see the country. So in the morning, I get up, I have coffee and then get started around 9-ish, our group, we usually leave around 10 because we're all retired, living the good life. Nobody gets up at the crack of dawn and goes anywhere and does anything. People can't believe it, we just have a simple, easy life, a fulfilling life is what I like to say, and one filled with as much adventure as you want it to be filled with.
Elizabeth:Small practical question. How do you do laundry?
Jenell:I have a washer and dryer.
Elizabeth:You do in your rV?
Jenell:Uh Wow!
Elizabeth:I didn't know they were so far equipped.
Jenell:Oh, yeah. I got a fireplace, a central vac. Yes, but this is not my starter RV now. My starter RV had nothing in it, okay? But right now I can look over I'm in Prince Edward Island and, I can see the laundromat from over there. But, nah, I haven't gone to a laundromat in a while.
Elizabeth:So when you're driving for long periods of time by yourself. Does it ever get lonely or are you bored or are you listening to music a lot? What do you do when you're in your vehicle for a long time by yourself?
Jenell:Well, first of all, I don't drive a long time. In my early days, yes, I didn't know any better. I was so used to how real world is. If you gotta get there, gotta go, gotta go. I got nothing. I have to be nowhere, usually. So, I have the three rule of I drive three hours, or 300 miles, and I stay three days. Sometimes it's two hours. Sometimes it's four hours, but nah, I don't kill myself at all. And I listen to podcasts. I love podcasts. I listen to podcasts, yours included.
Elizabeth:Oh, thank you. Well, that's a great way to keep yourself entertained and...
Jenell:and learn. Podcasts teach so much as you know.
Elizabeth:And like you say, if most of your group is retired it's not like you have a week of vacation time and you have to cover as much ground as possible. You guys have flexibility.
Jenell:That is the greatest freedom is being able to have flexibility. You know, it's not all sunshine and roses and unicorns out here, but it's 90 percent better for me, Than sticks and bricks, we call it.
Elizabeth:And you mentioned, like, you went bicycling. Do you have a bike on your RV? Or do you just rent that? No, no, we all have bikes we all have bikes.
Jenell:Not like all. A bulk of us have bikes and kayaks. Oh yeah. We're ready for anything. We do have some that just, you know, want to sit most of the time or go once a week, but the majority of us want to be out biking and hiking and going out to eat you know, the local lunch places and going on a kayak. We just went kayaking in the Bay of fundy last week. Oh, so great. So wonderful. It was hard. Let me tell you, but it was great. I'm glad I did it. I don't need to do it again, but I'm so glad I did it.
Elizabeth:So you're up for a bunch of, adventures and really physical activities and getting out and exploring.
Jenell:Yes, I am. Exploring is a good word, Elizabeth. That's good because most of us that will join a group like this want to explore, not necessarily by their self all the time, but are okay being alone, but want to explore. That may be in museums. We've got an older lady here that she's not really into the biking and all that, but she's into museums. And so every day when we meet, we're like, who wants to go biking tomorrow? Who wants to go hiking? Who wants to go to a museum? Who wants to, you know, go to Walmart and get groceries? And so we may go together. We may not. It just depends, but we all go exploring in our own way every day.
Elizabeth:So were you a big traveler before? Had you seen a lot of the world and seen a lot of the country already? Or was this just sort of a pent up desire of yours to just get out and do things? I guess what I'm asking is, DId you surprise yourself? that all of a sudden you became this adventurer?
Jenell:No. I'd say I've always been an adventurer, and I've always had wanderlust and itchy feet, if you will. I've traveled through Europe quite a bit, flew there, hotels, flew back, like everybody. Right when I retired, I hiked the Amalfi Coast. I did a canoe trip through the Lewis and Clark trail. Fabulous if no one's done that. So I've always had that kind of in me and I've always had this also go big or go home. I'm either all in or all out and
Elizabeth:I can tell.
Jenell:Yes. And RV travel represented that next big step for me of you know, now what? What's this big thing going to be? I traveled first of all, in my starter RV, I call it, it was a little RV that I wrecked and did all kinds of stuff to. Didn't know what I was doing. Didn't know how to tow a car, but I traveled in that a couple of years and kept my house. And I realized towards the middle of the second year, I'm only going home to check on my house. I'm very much enjoying traveling. Why don't I get rid of that house, all the bills and the issues and the responsibilities associated with that. So, I did that, got a bigger RV, and then really, really started traveling.
Elizabeth:That was going to be my next question. If you have a house or, which I guess you don't any longer, or do you have a storage unit somewhere where you keep a lot of things or is everything you own with you?
Jenell:Everything I own is with me. I was going to do the storage, I thought about it for maybe one day, but that's not my nature. I'm all in, all out, which I just said. So, I'm like, I'm not going to be beholden to a$60,$80,$100 storage unit every month that I have to go check on that is full of just stuff. It's just stuff I have. I can always get more stuff and I love it. And I love not having a bunch of stuff. If you would have told me even, six, seven years ago now that I would eventually end up with like six dresses, four or five pair of shoes, one bathing suit, I'd have said, that's not going to ever happen in my life. And that's exactly where I am.
Elizabeth:You know, about a year ago on the podcast, I had a decluttering expert on and she talked about all this. You know, we don't need tons of stuff. We don't need tons of Christmas decorations. So you're the ultimate declutterer at this point. You've really pared it down.
Jenell:That's so true, Elizabeth. And it's so freeing because I still wander through shops and look at stuff, but I have a pretty strict rule, that I'm pretty 100 percent on, okay 98%. If I buy something, something goes out. So everything that's in my RV, I love it. It's not just a cute little something. I love it. My one tray I have is from Italy. I found it in a secondhand shop in Italy. The one chair I have, I found in a secondhand shop when I was in Montana that I had recovered. So everything means something to me that's in this RV and it's just such a great way to live. It's a freeing way to live. I wrote an article that Rootless magazine is going to publish, and it was about the anxiety of only having one bathing suit. Elizabeth, I was able to get rid of my house with no problem. All my furniture, no problem. My dishes that I loved, all the Christmas ornaments, you know, so I could have four trees with themes. But when it came to my clothes, I had a real issue with my clothes. And it was my mom who helped me realize my clothes represented that I had made it in society. I had suits, I had nice shoes, I had bags, and I can walk in a room and not be that poor kid from Texas that I am. And once I kind of was able to realize those clothes are nothing. They're just clothes, and I cried over a couple of expensive pieces that I bought that didn't fit me anymore. You know, we all have those, but I paid a lot of money, so I'm keeping those, but once I started getting rid of those, it was nothing. Which led me down to the one bathing suit. I have one bathing suit. When that wears out, I buy one more. And how freeing is that? Let me tell you. It is very freeing.
Elizabeth:I think so many of the things we own like you say, they're memories and they're also memories of experiences or of prior selves and we don't need the actual thing. We could just have a photo of it. I remember when my husband and I moved together for the first time I said, we've got--you have, I said to him, you have to get rid of so much of your stuff. I had to get rid of a lot of my stuff too. But you know, t shirts from college and trophies from our childhood. And someone had told me, unless you're going to display them, say a trophy from, you know, high school, if you're going to display it in your home office, okay, but otherwise take a photo of it. That can be the memory. You don't have to bring the clutter with you. The old t shirt from your college intramural championship. Take a photo of it. And so that's a better clutter free way to live.
Jenell:It really is. And I don't have to move at all anymore. And of all my clothes and shoes and everything that I was so anxiety ridden, stressed out over getting rid of, I miss one thing, which was a blue fascinator, blue hat I bought to wear to a wedding. And then I didn't even wear it because I looked ridiculous trying to be, you know, Queen Princess Kate. And so I was trying to hold to this thing that I never even used. So if you would ask me five years ago, trade that fascinator hat for biking through the grand canyon for 13 miles. You can have it. You can have the fascinator.
Elizabeth:For the experiences that you're getting to have.
Jenell:Absolutely. Absolutely.
Elizabeth:You mentioned, you've got a bike and a kayak. What else do you have on that RV? What are the essential items? You're very pared down with your clothing and I'm sure the number of dishes and all that. So what are the key items that you need to have to live an RV life?
Jenell:Well, the key thing to live an RV life, number one, is a mindset. It really is. It's the mindset. Anybody can drive. Anybody can learn to drive 60 feet of vehicle going down the road. And that's what I am between my RV and my car behind is 60 feet. Anybody can learn that. The mindset is the tough part. You got to be open. You got to be ready to roll with the punches. You got to be patient. This taught me patient. I've never been a patient person. RVing will teach you patience because you go nowhere fast. But the essential items, is to have things to not break down, or if you do break down, to make your life more comfortable, until you get help. For instance, a tire monitor. that's a so nothing, unsexy, fun thing. But. That tire monitor beepin will let you know that one of your ten tires is low or has a flat. So, there's a bunch of things like that. I have a portable charger, that I can hook to my own battery of either RV or car if on the side of the road if my battery won't start. I have a number 2 square screwdriver. That 1 thing fits almost every screw inside the RV. There's a thousand screws, and I am not exaggerating, in this RV that rattle and sometimes they fall out or you realize something over here is loose and that one screwdriver is all you need. So, there's a bunch of stuff like that to make your life easier on the road. And then, my dishes, I have one glass, two coffee cups, one small highball, or cocktail, for when I drink a little whiskey, I have two plates, two salad plates, two bowls, three mixing bowls, three pots.. That's it.
Elizabeth:Do you cook much or is it mostly eating out?
Jenell:Oh, no, I cook almost every day. have a Propane stove. It's like a regular house stove. I have a residential refrigerator that's as big as the refrigerator at your house. I cook all the time. This is not camping Elizabeth at all. I don't use the word camping. I use solo RVing, solo travel, because we're not camping.
Elizabeth:Yeah, you're driving around an apartment is what it looks like.
Jenell:A tiny house. It is literally a tiny house. Yes.
Elizabeth:You know, there's that old phrase. I think from the Wizard of Oz. I guess: there's no place like home. There's no place like home. Do you ever feel like, oh, I lost that sense of home. Or do you feel like you're carrying home with you everywhere you go?
Jenell:No Elizabeth. I don't and people ask that all the time. Don't you miss home? I'm like, no, I am home. Or when we go see somebody, they're like, Do you want to come in and spend the night in a bedroom? I'm like, no I want to spend the night in my own bed. No. And it's funny you bring that up because I am very much a wanderer and the itchy feet and all that, but I always miss my stuff. I always way over packed because, you know, I need options. I need nine pair of shoes because I don't know, I may work out nine times. I don't work out at home, but, you know, you bring nine workout outfits in case in Italy, I'm going to learn to work out. So now I bring it all with me and I have so much more comfort now. I can pull over in a rest stop. If I'm going a long distance and want to just pull over in rest stop and I can pull my shade down in the front and I'm done for the night, I'm completely home. I can make dinner, I can watch TV, I can take a shower, everything. Right there in a rest stop on the side of the highway.
Elizabeth:Yeah. So I was curious about that too, where you would park, where you can stay. I hear sometimes about, Oh, RVs or people with big buses can stay like in Walmart or something, but are there set places that you're allowed to pull over a large vehicle? And stay other than a rest stop.
Jenell:Yes, there is. Definitely RV parks like in Canada, we're in RV parks every one of the stops, but there's Bureau of land management. There's free places all over the state, or for a small fee. I've only stayed in a Walmart once. I don't care to do that. I will. I don't have nothing against Walmarts. It's nice to be able to go in and shop, but that's not something that I generally do because I don't have to, I have other places that I can go. You learn the tricks. The more you RV, you learn the tricks of where you can stay, where you can't stay. You learn the tricks.
Elizabeth:And there's enough places that you never felt like, Oh, I'm driving. I need to stop. And there's no place to stay.
Jenell:Nope. I have before been going to point A to B and it was raining so hard. I just pulled off on an exit and there was a abandoned building Umm, wasn't a business anymore old furniture shop and I just pulled in there and stayed the night and the cops came by and I said it was just raining and is it okay if I stay and they're like, yeah, we just making sure you're okay. I'm like, I'm in here watching TV eating popcorn.
Elizabeth:Do you ever feel unsafe?
Jenell:No, I don't take dumb chances either. My dad was a truck driver. And my dad always said, If you get in trouble, if you have problems, go to a truck stop. Try not to get the one serial killer. But otherwise, people that drive trucks are so helpful and kind so when I get there, I'm not afraid. I pull my shade down on my front big windshield and I never go outside. So no one knows if there's a man, 2 men, 4 men, whoever's in here.
Elizabeth:Have you had any major challenges? That you've found over time, either personal or logistically with the vehicle?
Jenell:All of that. Yes. The first challenge I had was people think you're crazy for going off and do it. My mom sat me down and was like, is everything all right with your money, honey? Are you having to do this? You know, I can give you money. Mother, I'm fine. My sister was so worried about, Oh my God, these things are going to happen on the side of the road. Girls get kidnapped. And my stepfather with the serial killer, I'm like, what am I doing? So there was that challenge of telling everybody it's fine. I want to do this life. I want this. Then the second challenge immediately was I don't know how to drive an RV. I don't know how to do all this.
Elizabeth:That's a big obstacle.
Jenell:Yeah. But me, you know, I'm all in. So I'm like, how hard could it be? Everybody else does it. I didn't see many women do it, but I'm like, how hard could it be? Well, it turns out it's easy, but there are some tips and tricks. That first RV, my starter RV, I hit a McDonald's building. I jackknifed, my car I pulled so tight around a gas pump trying to get gas that my car and my RV were at a, like an L angle and I had to unhook everything to move the RV off of the pumps. I was shut down the gas station cause nobody could move around me.
Elizabeth:Oh no.
Jenell:And this is all in six months. I went down a dirt road because I believed the GPS. I went down a dirt road that I couldn't turn around back up and then I had to drive over this rickety wooden bridge and I mean it had wood slats Ooh!
Elizabeth:Sounds scary.
Jenell:Yes, so yes, there have been challenges, but you know what Elizabeth? Every one of those I lived through. It's a funny, great story now. It made me realize you're fine. You're okay. Calm down. There's a way through this. There's a way around it. I've had a blowout on this big rig I have, and there's no tire. These tires aren't on the shelves. So I'm like, okay, well now what I'm blocking winding small county road. I'm blocking it totally. You know what? Nothing happened. I have the philosophy as long as I don't die or get hurt or I don't cause someone else to die or get hurt. We'll be fine. It's gonna be an experience. It'll be funny tomorrow or next month. Go with the flow. I like the challenge of it. I don't want a lot of challenges, but I enjoy the challenge along with the fulfillment of this life.
Elizabeth:That's a great attitude. I feel like you're really, embracing each day with that. A lot of people spend a lot of time worrying about the future and about, well, this might mean that, and what about this? There's a lot of kind of anxiety and people make fear-based decisions. And I think it sounds like you're really in a place of I'm doing this because this sounds good. If there's a problem, I'll overcome it. It sounds like it's a very healthy, approach to life.
Jenell:You know, Elizabeth, it took me a while to get here, and I appreciate you saying that, that it comes across. The thing about living in an RV, things are going to happen. It's not probably, no, they are gonna happen. And at first, I was very fear based. What if this, what if I have a, well, you're going to. Once somebody told me that, and I'm like, well, no, my RV is brand new. They're like, no, you're going to, and they're right. And so I give that advice now. You are going to have troubles. It's how you deal with it, back to that mindset. Do you deal with it like: that's it. I'm done. I can't take this. Or do you be like, well, we're going to have to find a tire in the state of Maine, even though they don't have one on the shelves, we're going to have to figure this out. And when I say we, I mean, me. I'm not going to live my last, however, I'm 63. So 30 years, I'm not going to live my last 30 years how I lived my last 30 years of worrying about work, worried about the kid, worrying about this, anxiety this, what if this happened? I'm not doing that anymore. I have 10 tires, one of these tires are going to blow out. So I'm not going to worry about it because one of them are going to go. And you know what, when I did have that one that I told you about that went, it was fine, it was all right. It was fun.
Elizabeth:And the funny thing is what you're saying about on the RV, something will go wrong. That's true at home, too! That's true in an apartment, too. That's true in a dorm room also. That's life, It's just that where you are is that you're accepting it and I think a lot of us live in this like, Oh, no, we have so much control over our lives. We can make these things not happen. And then we're sort of shocked when, Oh, there's a problem in my life. How am I ever going to confront it? You're just in reality and then enjoying the journey, literally. it's
Jenell:really
Elizabeth:wonderful.
Jenell:Enjoying the journey. I wish, like my daughter, I wish I could tell her cause I see her worrying about what if, what if, what if. She's of course, you know, has children. different whole life than me. But I just see the stuff that that generation worries about that you can't do anything about, but it took me a long time to get here too, I just, I thrive. I'm not surviving. I am thriving. And I like to say that the other people that are with me on this, not all of them, but you can definitely see the ones that are worried and the ones that are thriving and accepting this lifestyle.
Elizabeth:Hmm. That's wonderful. So back to some of the nuts and bolts when you're talking about your first RV. What does a starter RV cost roughly?
Jenell:Um, let's see. I want to say I paid$35-$40-$50,000. You know. I don't know I don't know what it was. Not much than a car. That's like a car. it was a lower end of RV, you know, you can buy a million dollar RV. But I knew that that RV. I didn't know what I was doing. It was going to be my starter RV. And I knew with that smaller RV, I wanted to go to Alaska while I had that small one. I wanted to really get some miles under my belt and knock some things off. Just like everybody. I started out with a bucket list that I got to do right now. Which I did, but I knew that there was going to be a steep learning curve. And there was, I mean, I flooded that RV. Uh, please, we could do a whole podcast on my starter RV.
Elizabeth:What are some of the most amazing places you've gone? Like if people only had a few places they could travel to, if they weren't going to make it their lifestyle, what would you recommend?
Jenell:I gosh, everybody always asks me, what's your favorite place? It's so hard because right now this week, Prince Edward Island's my favorite place. The weather is beautiful. Ocean's great. But some of the standouts are the Grand Canyon, we've all been to the Grand Canyon. It's a long time to get there. You park, you walk up and you look over that rim, that fence, and you see the Grand Canyon. You may walk down to the gift shop and you may walk down to a interpretive center. But, in the Grand Canyon, there's 13 miles of bike paths and walking paths that no cars can go down. Before, when I went to the Grand Canyon, I didn't know that. So, this last time I went, we all got our bikes out and rode 13 miles through the Grand Canyon. fabulous. That was fabulous. Another time we were in Bar Harbor, Maine, and one of the members of our club knew about a place that you can go and buy lobsters straight from the fishermen. They may have them, they may not. So we all went. Got lobsters. He had them that day. We all bought two or three because he was like, Hey, give me ten dollars, twelve dollars for all of them. So we all bought a bunch of lobsters and we came back and started a fire and grilled a bunch of lobsters and ate with our hands and butter running down our hands I looked around Elizabeth and I was like, you know what, this is life right here. I'm in Bar Harbor, Maine in the summer. It's cool. It's beautiful here. I'm eating a$10 lobster with butter running down my hands with people I consider my friends.
Elizabeth:that there.
Jenell:That's living, that is living. That stands out to me. There's been so much I have to keep a journal. Oh, I hike d the wave in Utah. Ooh yes. That's a lottery-based hike, 200,000 tries are made a year, and one of the guys in our group won the lottery. And so we got to hike in three miles, pretty tough hike at three miles out in the heat and had an incredible, one of a kind experience at the wave. That is a highlight as well.
Elizabeth:And you get to just keep having these. Cause you're on
Jenell:the go. Yes. right. I mean the bike ride today along Prince Edward Island, that's pretty tough to beat too.
Elizabeth:I like this, you posted a quote, from the author Nora Roberts, which I think really kind of summarizes a lot of what you're talking about, which was,"If you don't go after what you want, you'll never have it. If you don't ask, the answer is always no. If you don't step forward, you're always in the same place."
Jenell:Isn't that true? Isn't that so true? I don't know about men, but I find with women, that sticks us right there. it is scary at the beginning. You are literally driving off into the wild blue yonder. I mean, literally driving off. So I want people to realize this is doable, especially women. This is so doable. Once you get past that first week of, Oh my God, what have I done? It's a great life. It's a wonderful life. And I want them to see all you got to do is take that first step. Just take a step. Don't be standing there. I'm always asked, what would you tell people that get in this life? My two things are be quiet. Stop talking it to death. And my other one is stop talking to everybody because at most 90 percent of people are gonna go don't do it. You're crazy. You're 60 years old. You can't drive a 60 foot RV down the road. Oh, where are you going? Stop talking about it because you know what you want to do. You're wanting other people to tell you it's okay, and they're not going to. Most people are not going to tell you it's okay. Then after you do it for a year, and they realize what you've been doing, by posting on Instagram and Facebook, they're like, wow, I wish I could do that. Go buy an RV, and you can. In a day, you can change your whole life. So, yes, for Nora Roberts. if you don't ask, the answer is always no. Don't ask, just go do it.
Elizabeth:I have noticed you are very supportive of women and encouraging of women to do this and to do whatever their passion is, which is very, in line with my whole podcast. I always interview people who go after a passion and, you know. everyone encounters a hard time. Everyone encounters a roadblock, so to speak. But you keep going because it's what you want to do. And so it's very inspiring, I think, that you lift other people up too.
Jenell:Oh, that's very nice. But I'll, tell you Elizabeth, some of the ladies that are on this trip, the lady that's parked right behind me, I bet she's, if I had to guess 70 and one of my good girlfriends that's on this trip that I've come to know through the club, she's 74 and drives an RV that makes mine look like a little minivan. That she does all by herself, hooks up and doesn't even bat an eye. This lifestyle tends to keep you younger. I don't know if that's the way to say it, but it keeps you moving. You're not sitting in front of a TV every night. I mean you can if you want, but that's not what this life is about. We don't sit and watch TV all day and garden and sew. And again, nothing wrong with that. It's just I would much rather today have gone on a 10 mile bike ride. Than set in my house doing a... wondering what to do. Yeah. A sedentary lifestyle. We don't want that. And you see the older people that travel around like this, they can hike right with you. The guy that won the wave, he's 76. And he out hiked me all day long. So I love that. So to your thought of encouragement, when I see them, I see encouragement, that's where I get my motivation. If she can hook that up and drive that big thing and back that thing in by herself, she got 15 years on me. I can certainly do it as well.
Elizabeth:How far down the road, so to speak, do you plan? Do you know where you're going for the next 8 months or something? Or are you a little spontaneous?
Jenell:We're all spontaneous. Now, right now we're on a trip, a travel itinerary, we're in Canada for two months. But then after this, I'm going to go to my daughter's and hang out there And then I'm going to go to Arizona. But that could change tomorrow. But yes, we have an itinerary being part of my club that I own, the Wandering Individuals Network. the RV club. If you want an itinerary, I supply it for you. If you want to travel with friends, I'll give you some friends to travel with. Otherwise, nah, we kind of go wherever we want, when we want, we may not see a member for two years and then they're on every single trip for a year. Cause you know, daughter had a baby and they want to go help. So it's a spontaneous life. But yeah, there are some plans, I guess.
Elizabeth:It sounds like you can be as planned as you want to be, or as spontaneous as you want to be. kind of up to
Jenell:Yes. There's nothing you have to do for most of us. Although we do have some working folks. Some forest rangers, forest firefighter or something. They work two or three months and then they're off two or three months. And when they're off, they come travel with us. We're like, you sure you want to travel with your grandparents? And they're like, yes. We love it. We love it. We've got a couple of Uber drivers. We've got a couple of accountants, CPAs semi retired work out of the house. I work I have business of running the club, but for the most part we're all pretty much retired.
Elizabeth:And do you plan all these itineraries? For the groups?
Jenell:Yes, because I'm the owner of the group, They're usually 6 weeks. They can be 2 months, 3 or 4 months going.
Elizabeth:The company that you run-- you didn't found it, but you took it over in 2015. I like you to describe it because it took me a minute to get my head around it because it's for solo travelers, individual travelers, but you get together. So you each drive your own vehicle. But you travel together, right? So you're independent and yet you have camaraderie. Is that right?
Jenell:That's it. I'll start at the beginning. In 1988, seven people, solo RVers, they all happened to be divorced or widowed, they were sitting around a campfire and wanted a group to travel with. Back then, first of all, soloing in an RV was weird. Living in an RV was weird. You know, they thought something was wrong with you, your money, your poor, something. So they made their own little group. And it started with those seven people and it grew and grew and grew to become now a small business that I bought in this year, earlier this year, I've been traveling with them on and off since 2015 and then I've been full time since 2019. So we travel alone together, So if you choose like to go to Canada, like right now, we all met in Bangor, Maine. And from there, we all had the itinerary and knew that our next stop was St. Andrews. So we knew the exact address, the exact place, and so, whatever time you get there is when you get there. That's for the people that like to get up at 6 am and get started. So you go when you're ready, and then every day we meet at 5, have an adult beverage, talk about life, what we did today, what we want to do tomorrow. So other than that you do whatever you want, whenever you want. We travel solo together.
Elizabeth:And so do you end up being with a lot of the same people? Some of the same people come on the trips? Or do you meet new people all the time?
Jenell:Yes and no. Yes to all that, no to all that. For now in Canada. There's about 15 of us here. One lady has already left. She only wanted to do the first 2 or 3 stops. One person is going to leave after this stop. The beauty of this club is you come and go as you please. You don't have to stay. You're not paying for this trip per se. You pay a membership, but you don't pay for the trip. So if you want to show up, show up, you want to leave, you leave. not losing any money to do it either way. If you are new to RVing and want to try this lifestyle, join an RV club. If you need to get your feet wet, join an RV club. I'd like you to join mine, but join any RV club. My RV club is different in that it is for the solo traveler. You can be married, but we want you to be solo traveler. We've got a couple that the significant other, for whatever reason, doesn't want to travel or can't, and so they can travel, but we don't like married couples traveling because all of us have been at that table at a wedding where there's eight spaces and there's the one beside you that's always empty and I've been single many, many, many years, so I'm tired of that one seat beside me always being empty. I'm fine with it. Everybody else around me has trouble. so this is a place for you to come to have friends, a community, a tribe, if you will. Once you start traveling with us, you'll realize, you're not crazy for wanting to do this. This is a complete other culture. Just a different way of life than we're all supposed to have. We can help you with the anxiety, the loneliness of sometimes travel. It's fun to go off by yourself, but you know, you do want every once in a while to have dinner with somebody. And you know, let's go to the museum together. And. then also we have trips planned. We have, for instance, Alaska coming up in 2025. If you've always wanted to go to Alaska, but too afraid to go on your own, or don't want to make that long trip on your own, come with us. We're going to do it. You can take one of the trips that I put together and do it all by yourself. Tells you where to go when to stay how long to stay and stuff to do in the area. It's a great way to travel. We've got several fun trips coming up. We've got a solar eclipse party already planned We've got a drive down to Cabo. That'll be with a lady that speaks Spanish and she's done it a bunch of times. So, lots more adventures to come. All they have to do is just join up, and especially women, if you are afraid of what's down the road, if you will, join us, and we'll show you everything you need to know. Then, if you've been traveling, you've been an RVier for a long time, being with us will hopefully get you out of your comfort zone a little bit, and maybe you're not a big hiker, but maybe you will be if you had people to hike with. When I'm not traveling with the group, I don't get up and go hike. But when I'm with the group and I'm the first one to go, yes, let's go on a five mile hike today.
Elizabeth:I can see that. Yeah, it's maybe hard to motivate yourself alone to do certain things. And then when you're with other people, you feel a little more social, a little more energized to do other things. New things Exactly. Exactly. And you're not too old. If you see a 70, 74, 76 year old that is hiking up a side of the mountain, we try to keep up with them. it's very inspiring to see people of different generations, out doing things. I think being active keeps you young.
Jenell:And healthier. It's a little community. It really is.
Elizabeth:What have you learned about the US from traveling all across it several times?
Jenell:I have learned that the US is beautiful, so much to learn. People are, by far, very, very nice, very kind. Quit watching TV because it's not as divisive as it seems to be on TV. In my club, we're not allowed to talk about politics or religion. And boy, once you take that off the table, we have wonderful conversations. We talk about what we've seen. What would I say about America? I would say that there's so much to see and do. I haven't been to Europe since 2014 and I probably won't go back. There's so much here and I've looped the US four times already and I still haven't seen, an eighth of what's there is to see in this country.
Elizabeth:How many miles have you driven? Do you know?
Jenell:Uh, I don't know. I would say 70,000. I don't know. I started from South Florida and went to Maine. I started from South Florida and went to Skagway, Alaska. I started from Texas and looped the US twice. I started from South Florida and went the other way around the US twice. So. I don't know. I couldn't even tell you and I don't want my insurance to know either. So,
Elizabeth:Yeah. Yeah, Let's just say it's a lot.
Jenell:Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a lot, it's a lot, but like I said, I don't travel far and if I see the world's biggest yarn on the side of the road, if I can pull over, I pull over and see the world's biggest yarn or whatever it is, I make a point to stop and see it. I Eat at every little diner I can see on the side of the road. If I can, if it looks safe and there's a place to park. There's just so much that I feel sorry for my old self that had one week to go somewhere and I drove like a maniac or did airports for two days to get there and, run around like a crazy girl and then, fly back or drive back for two days and then go back to work. I mean, what kind of vacation is that? So for all y'all still doing that, I'm so sorry, but. The day comes when you don't have to.
Elizabeth:I'm so glad that you have found this lifestyle that is so fulfilling and really resonates with who you are.
Jenell:Yes. Thank you. And it does. And my mom and stepdad and sister, they're all fine now. Now that they've seen me, they're fine that, I haven't been got at the truck stop or kidnapped on the side of the road. It's fine.
Elizabeth:You're doing great. You're doing great.
Jenell:Yes, it's fine.
Elizabeth:Well, thanks for sharing all of this with me. It really has been wonderful to hear about it.
Jenell:Thank you, Elizabeth. Thank you for having me. I'm passionate about this. I love this lifestyle. So anytime somebody lets me talk about it I can gush about it for an hour or two,
Elizabeth:if you let me keep
Jenell:going.
Elizabeth:Well, you have some great dinner to get to, don't you?
Jenell:I do. I do. I do. Yes. Going to eat lobster, Canada lobster. Yes.
Elizabeth:So, Janelle went off to eat some fresh lobster. Sounds like a pretty nice life, doesn't it? Here are some of my takeaways from our conversation. Number one. If you really want to do something, find a way to do it. Janelle didn't even know how to drive an RV when she decided to become a full time RVer. Two. Experiences are the essential components to life. Not things. Three. The most important item to bring on an RV trip, or anywhere frankly, is patience. Four. We're all going to have troubles, whether on the road in an RV or elsewhere. So, what then? Do you give up, or do you solve the issue and move forward? Five. The lovely quote from Nora Roberts is a takeaway in itself."If you don't go after what you want, you'll never have it. If you don't ask, the answer is always no. If you don't step forward, you're always in the same place." And finally, number six. Enjoy the journey. My big thanks to Janelle Jones for sharing about her RV life and her very centered approach to living. Janelle very kindly offered a discount to her club for any of my listeners. So if this conversation piqued your interest in RVing, go to her website: winsrvclub.com. Membership usually costs$120 a year, and she's offering$10 off for my listeners. Just use the code WHATITSLIKETO. It's good until March 7th. I'll put more information in the show notes. If you like interviews with people who've had amazing adventures, you might want to listen to episode 49 with Cal Currier, who set a world record at age 16 as the youngest person to sail solo across the Atlantic. And episode 64 with Andrew Backer, who was the first American to cross the finish line in last summer's 4,200 mile long Trans Am bike race. If you haven't already subscribed to this podcast, please do. And please tell a few friends about it too. I'm Elizabeth Pearson Garr. Thanks for being curious about what it's like.