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“When are you going to settle down?”
“When are you going to have kids? Are you going to raise kids in an RV?”
“Where are you going to live?”
“When are you going to sell Franklin?”
Ever since returning from our 48-state tour, people have asked us what’s next for us. Will we continue RVing? Will we stay in Franklin? How is Franklin even still running?
We’ve spent nearly 18 months living together in Franklin and can’t imagine not living in an RV right now. But as much as we love Franklin, ever since we started traveling, my husband has been actively scrolling through RVtrader dreaming about the day when I would ‘let him’ buy another RV. In fact, in many of our dashboard GoPro videos from the road, you’ll hear Heath’s voice trail off staring out the window because an RV drove past us. Like a moth to a flame.
Which is why if you follow @heathpadgett on Instagram, you’ll find string of excited posts about our new RV home.
One short week ago, after many phone calls and emails, we purchased a 2016 Winnebago Brave (and it is really, really cool).
As we continue editing Hourly America and planning for its release next year, we’ve decided to take the documentary on a second tour across the country. And as much as we’d like to take Franklin on round 2, he doesn’t offer the space we’d like for entertaining guests on the road. Although we did fit 15 people in him once while visiting Snagajob headquarters!
This new RV is a Class A, four feet longer, with two large slideouts. We have way more space than we know what to do with! Plus, since buying the new rig, we’ve been able to have friends over and even all eat at the same dining room table together. We had to be lap eaters in Franklin, so this was a big step up!
After all the blogs I’ve written about student debt, you’re probably wondering how we can afford to buying a brand new RV. (Short answer: we can’t.) We bought this RV as part of a new partnership with Winnebago Life, where we will be contributing monthly blogs about RVing and our adventures across the country in our new Brave. They gave us a discount on the price of the RV–not a free RV, or a year-long lease, or a loaner, just a discount–and now we own it. Or technically the bank owns it because loans.
Our new home, affectionately named Merica the Brave (because America would’ve been too cheesey), is taking her maiden voyage this week to north Texas, and then off to Alabama, Tennessee, and more this coming winter. (I say ‘and more’, because I see a spontaneous let’s-go-to-Disney-World trip in our future).
So to answer all of the questions people have been asking us for months:
Yes, we will continue to RV for the next 1-3 years at least before settling in one place.
No, we will not start our family in an RV. Although one of Heath’s first comments about Merica was that if I get pregnant, we have plenty of room for a baby. I asked him where we would buckle in a car seat. (When he comes up with a reasonable answer, I’ll let you know.)
We have no idea where we are going to live, but Nashville is at the top of the list.
Yes, we are selling Franklin. If I knew how to add emojis to blogs, I would add a crying face here. We are sad to see Franklin go, since he has been such a huge part of our lives together. But then again, he’s just an RV and we talk about him like he’s a person WAY too often.
In case you haven’t seen them, here are some more pictures of Merica:
Really excited for you guys. We toured this rig at an RV show recently, and it has a lot of fun character. On to the next adventure!
Thanks Brittany! It definitely has character. Very different than most RVs we’ve toured. That’s why we picked it!
eeeeeee squeeeeal weeeeeeeeee! CONGRATS!!!! Is it much different to drive? And I’m curious about this “second tour across the country.”
It’s SO different. The window in the front is AMAZING. We must second tour, because we missed too much the first time around!