The American Dream is something like: owning a home, starting a family, having a successful career, retiring comfortably. Joe and Kait of We’re the Russos have realized the American dream in their own way… We can consider their lifestyle as a trend that favors the freedom of self-determination of every second of life over waiting for retirement age. Instead of accumulating material things, they accumulate new experiences during their travels in the United States.
- Please, introduce yourself and tell us something interesting about you.
Hello! We are Joe and Kait Russo of We’re the Russos. In 2015, we quit our jobs, sold our house and bought an RV to travel around North America with our two dogs. So far we have traveled to 46 states in the U.S., 3 provinces in Canada and 1 state in Mexico, all in recreation vehicles. We also have plans to travel extensively throughout Europe, South America and Asia.
- Why have you decided to live full time in a motorhome? What motivated you to make that decision?
Kait came up with this idea to quit our jobs and travel around in an RV because we both had very demanding jobs that left little time to spend with each other and our dogs. Initially, I thought she was crazy, but the more I thought about it, the more I was on board with her idea. Ultimately, we both wanted to make a positive change in our lives and to start living the life that we wanted. That translated into traveling in an RV with our dogs and spending quality time together. For readers interested in reading more about this, I share a detailed recount of this story in my first book, Take Risks: One Couple’s Journey to Quit Their Jobs and Hit the Open Road.
- For you, what are the best and worst parts of your lifestyle?
One of the best parts about the RV lifestyle is the incredible people we meet throughout our travels. While we love the incredible places we get to explore and experience together, the travelers and locals we get to meet is what makes it so great.
For us, there are no worst parts of the lifestyle because it’s all part of the journey and we have learned to be flexible and to be prepared. We have shared some of our tips for RV living as a resource for people new to the lifestyle.
- Is it worth exchanging the comfort you have had at home for an adventurous life on the road?
It’s been worth it for us, but that’s not to say we don’t miss some of the benefits of having a traditional home. Before we sold our home, we used to grow our own food and had a flock of chickens for eggs. Now we find local farmer’s markets to find similar quality food on the road. There are also times where we wish we had a garage that we can use for a few days to work on our truck instead of having to pay a mechanic to do the work.
- You have now a truck camper 4×4 crew cab with a pop-up camper by Four Wheel Campers. If you could change something about your vehicle, what would it be?
We have made quite a few modifications and upgrades to our truck and our camper to fit our travel needs. It’s always an ongoing project as our travel needs and style changes. One thing our truck camper does not have that our previous RVs had is an air conditioner. There are some days when it’s 100 degrees F outside that we wish we had an air conditioner in our truck camper. For readers interested in all the specifics of our truck or camper they can find all the details and modifications in this post.
- You have a long experience traveling and living in different kinds of vehicles, from large motorhomes, vans and 4×4 vehicles. After all the experience you have acquired, 4×4 overland pop-up camper is your ideal vehicle or you would like to change in the future to another kind of vehicle.
Right now, a 4×4 pop-up truck camper fits our needs. We plan to drive it up to Alaska one day and explore the Last Frontier.
- Would you like to travel outside the United States? If so, in which country would you like to drive your truck camper?
We have done extensive travel by plane and train outside of the US and would love to travel outside the U.S. more in our truck camper. So far we have only taken it to Baja California, Mexico on a group tour and that was a great experience. We would like to go back to Baja California and spend more time there as well as explore more of Canada.
- Can you describe some of your future projects related to your nomadic lifestyle?
We don’t have any specific future projects to share, as we’ve learned not to plan too far in advance because our plans are always changing. For now, we will keep living this lifestyle and visit some of the U.S. states we have not been to yet (Alaska, Iowa, Minnesota, and North Dakota).
- What are for you the 10 best places to visit in the United States with the motorhome?
There are so many great places to visit in the U.S. it’s hard to choose just 10, so we’ll share some of the ones we’ve written about.
Tucson, Arizona
Big Bend National Park
Maui, Hawaii
Yellowstone National Park
South Dakota
Maine
Crater Lake National Park
Petrified Forest National Park
Mesa Verde National Park
Flagstaff, Arizona
- What advice would you give to your fans who are considering changing their lifestyle to yours?
Don’t rush into it, do your research and have a plan. You may love the RV lifestyle or you may find that it’s not for you, but you won’t know until you try it.
Thank you for inviting us to be a part of this interview. We look forward to meeting you both when our paths cross. Until then, we wish you many fun filled adventures on the open road!
Weretherussos.com
