4 years ago today we drove away from our house for the last time and I’m so happy to report that this year is ending differently than the previous year.  Year 3 ended with the news that my corporate work from home job was being eliminated.  3 months after my old job ended, I started a new job with a different company.  Still working from home and happily continuing down the road.

Some of our stats after 4 years:

• Averaged 15K miles a year, have not yet gone east of TX/OK, spent the vast majority of our time in WA/ID/OR/CA and AZ with some time in CO, SD, NV, UT, MT, WY, NM.
• New National Parks/Monuments:  14, with repeat visits to 3 other National Parks
• 3 new Wildlife Refuges
• More National Forests than I’ve kept track of with lots of hikingJ
• State Parks:  10 new state parks for day visits, hiking, site seeing, etc. across 9 different states, 16 new parks for camping across 9 different states
• New Bike Trails: 23, across 8 different states, some of the trails ridden multiple times, plus a couple of old favorites that we revisit each summer when we’re in WA/ID.
• Museums:  16, across 11 states
• Arboretums / Botanical Garden: 5 across 3 different states. 

So even without being retired, we’re still enjoying the reality that we can have this much fun while working and traveling for 4 years.  I honestly would not trade our lifestyle for anything and look forward to continuing to explore as we move down the road.

One a positive note, year 4 was finally a year free of major mechanical failures.  Yes, we had to replace the toilet, hot water heater and Dale had to repair our small electric slide, but those were minor compared to our first 3 years (Fridge cooling unit, truck engine, failure of never lube bearings and hydraulic issues).   It was our first year on the road where we didn’t have to change our travel plans by more than a day due to mechanical issues, which was a HUGE relief!!

So thankful for all the adventures, the ever expanding circle of friends we meet along the way, the laughs we share and the wonderful freedom we have to live this FT lifestyle.  And, we’re leaving so many places to explore once we actually retireJ