Living on the road can be a lot of things – adventure, curiosity of the unknown and stimulating exploration – yet, weaved into those joyful moments, change and challenges also present themselves. Let’s dive a little deeper into exploring those realities:
PRO: New places to run, climb, hike and ski are at your fingertips everyday. You can wake-up at the base of the Sierra Mountains, on the rugged coast of Oregon or on the rim of a vast canyon in the desert.
CON: It’s difficult to maintain a consistent training routine. Weather can force your plans in a different direction. And if training outdoors isn’t an easy option that day, the ability to train in a gym is often not readily available. This is especially problematic if your training requires specific equipment like weights, a world-class climbing wall or a pool.
PRO: You meet people everywhere you go. Your life becomes filled with different cultures in different places and new contacts are made.
CON: You have to say goodbye. Building-up community only to have to leave and start again can become exhausting. It can also become lonely at times. There are endless benefits to living in one place and finding “your people”.
PRO: If you know where to go and how to mitigate expenditures, living on the road can be done at a fairly low cost.
CON: Unless you work from home, it’s difficult to find consistent income.
PRO: You’re always on the move. Exploring, relocating and basking in new environments. Your social media feed is filled with photos of hiking through the desert one day and skiing on a snowy mountain top the next.
CON: You’re always on the move. There’s comfort in having a “home base” with the space to call your own where you can grow a garden, build a fire-pit for gatherings with friends and have enough space to paint, create and build whatever captures your interest.
PRO: You can live the minimalist lifestyle and soak-up the simplicity of doing dishes by hand, only having a few clothes to chose from and having less “house” to clean. You can get cozy in small quarters and read a book while the rain falls on the rooftop above your head.
CON: That “small living space” can sometimes feel too small. Perhaps not in the first weeks or months of living on the road but slowly as time goes by, cravings for a larger home-base can arise… especially if the weather has been exceptionally rotten for an extended period of time.
PRO: If you’re raising children on the road, it can be an exceptional way to introduce them to outdoor adventures. Mother Earth is their playground and they know nothing different than eating outside under the sun, gazing up at the stars at night and digging in the dirt to pass the time. You’ll have beautiful “children of the wild” that learn to bathe in lakes and endure the elements.
CON: They often lack consistency with building-up longterm friendships. It’s difficult to engage in community-based athletic pursuits like a soccer club or karate academy. They too need space to spread-out, make a mess with their toys and be their own person.
Check out more from the Farmer fam here:
https://info.deuterusa.com/blog/south-sister-bend-oregon/
https://info.deuterusa.com/blog/parenting-in-the-outdoors-a-shift-in-perspective/