A Gen X empty nester sold her house to travel by RV full time. Here's what life is like after five years of traveling.
· Business Insider
Courtesy of Patty Gill
- Patty and Shane Gill sold their Texas house to pursue RV life as empty nesters.
- They decided to finish visiting every state by RV before their five-year "nomad anniversary."
- Patty said it's cheaper for them to live in an RV than in their previous home.
Patty Gill and her husband, Shane, were able to add the last sticker to the map on the side of their RV before 2025 closed out, commemorating that they'd finally been to every US state.
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Before making a goal to hit all 50 states, the full-time RVers, who are in their 50s, simply wanted to hit the road as empty nesters. Their old house would've required a lot of upkeep with a lot of space that they no longer needed.
Patty and Shane completed visiting all 50 states by RV just shortly before their five-year "nomad anniversary."Courtesy of Patty Gill
The couple took advantage of the pandemic housing market and sold their Texas home, which they thought would be their forever home, in October 2020. After saying goodbye to their house, they started RV living but mainly stayed within Texas at first.
"We were mostly stationary for almost the first year," Gill said.
Gill said they first fell in love with the RV lifestyle when they briefly owned one many years ago for weekend camping. Having experience with an RV made the transition to full-time RVing later easier.
Gill said the plan was just to live this way as long as they enjoyed it. "We were kind of going with the flow," she said, adding she hopes they continue to stay on the road for as long as possible, although they also recently bought a small piece of land in Texas as a home base.
"That was the plan, to save money while living this lifestyle to pay cash for property and a house one day, so when we are done traveling we will have no payments," she said, adding she hopes they can build a tiny home.
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Exploring the country
Gill said that after spending the summer of 2024 in Alaska, her husband suggested visiting the remaining 20 states they hadn't been to with an RV, hitting every state before their five-year nomad anniversary in October 2025.
"That's a big milestone to say you've lived in an RV and traveled in it for that long," Gill said.
Their final state was West Virginia. Gill said they loved being there in the fall and enjoyed going to New River Gorge National Park.
She said even though they've been to some of the states before, they only counted them once they had traveled in a camper. For instance, they've been to Hawaii before when Shane was in the Air Force years ago. To check off Hawaii, they flew there and then rented a van as their RV to visit Maui, where they snorkeled with sea turtles and saw dolphins.
Gill said Alaska was their favorite state to visit by RV, due to the beautiful scenery, wildlife, the weather, and the things they could do. "There was not a day that we were driving through Alaska where I was not in awe," she said.
She said flying over Denali and landing on and exploring a glacier were among their favorite things they did in Alaska.
Patty said Alaska was their favorite place to visit by RV.Courtesy of Patty Gill
Utah was another one of Gill's favorite destinations because of the canyons and five national parks. She also found California to be a beautiful place to visit and appreciates the state's diverse landforms, with mountains and deserts.
She said while they've loved every state, Kansas and Nebraska didn't have a lot of things to do, at least where they visited. "It's a lot of corn fields, but we still got to see some really neat things while we were there, unique places and things," she said.
Now that they've hit all 50 states, they plan to revisit some of them for longer and see more of what each has to offer, while also hoping to do some international travel where they could rent RVs.
Getting to travel as an empty-nest couple
Gill recommends that other empty nesters travel together in general, even without buying an RV, because the transition to living without kids can involve figuring out what your marriage is like in a new routine.
"Your kids were your number one priority, making sure they're getting to school, making sure they're getting good grades, make sure they get into college, all these things," she said.
"For us, it's made our marriage stronger because we're together a lot more," she added. "We're able to see all these amazing places. We have learned to work together better because we're having to plan."
Gill previously told Business Insider that the couple mainly lives off her husband's Air Force retirement, but social media earnings help cover costs. They've also done workcamping, where RVers either get paid or have various costs covered in exchange for work.
"You can either do maintenance or work in the office or run their social media," she said. "I've done that several times. Run events, clean cabins, clean bathrooms, camp host."
She said they try to spend nothing on camping by workcamping, camping in public areas, or posting on social media about the campground in exchange for a free stay.
"Diesel is around $1,000 a month if we travel a lot, usually the average is around $600 a month," she said, adding they also spend hundreds of dollars on groceries a month.
"For us, it is much cheaper than living in our house," she said.
The couple rented a van in Hawaii.Courtesy of Patty Gill
What Gill has learned from living in an RV
There are a few amenities Gill misses, including laundry appliances and a bathtub, although these can be found in other RVs. The couple chose not to get one with a washer or dryer, partly because of the weight.
She said being able to take their home anywhere — with their bed, food, and anything else they need — is a huge plus of RV living.
"My family's in Georgia, Shane's family is in Texas, so we can now go see my family anytime and see his family anytime, just kind of drive whenever we feel like it," she said.
Gill said she has learned a few things after traveling for years. She said the RV lifestyle teaches the importance of being patient. She said they've had a flat tire and a door has swung open while driving.
"We've had something blow out of the back of the truck and hit the front of the camper and kind of rip it apart, and we've had to get that fixed," she said.
It also taught them to be handy. She said her husband was already so, but has gotten even more handy since it's not always possible to visit a repair shop. "He'll sit down and go through YouTube or whatever it might be, and figure out how to fix it," she said. "So that's been very helpful."
She said now that they've been to every state, it's time to slow down so they can enjoy where they are more.
"Don't rush because you will burn out," she said. "What we do sometimes is we will move fast, but then we'll sit for a few months."
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