North Carolina mom reveals how she convinced her family to travel full time in $56K RV
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A mother of two has told how she convinced his family to sell everything and travel full-time in an RV, adding that they don’t regret giving up their conventional lifestyle.
Kearstin Saul, 32, said she dreamed of ‘living in miniature’ with children Kinlee, 12, and Zeke, 6, after seeing other families share their adventures online.
She persuaded her husband David, 35, to sell their $320,000 Asheville, North Carolina home and everything it owned to buy a 45-foot RV in October 2021 for just over $56,400.
Since then, they’ve traveled to more than 16 states in their Heartland Cyclone 4150, and despite criticism from some online, Kearstin says the life lessons his kids are learning along the way are “something they can’t learn in the classroom”.
Kearstin Saul, 32, said she dreamed of ‘living in miniature’ with her children and husband. She persuaded her family to sell her $320,000 North Carolina home and opt for a life on the road.
Since then, they have traveled to more than 16 states in their Heartland Cyclone 4150.
The family said it took a bit of time for them to adjust to their small living space and ‘little kitchen’, but it has now become easy to navigate.
They say their new lifestyle allows them to ‘spend more time with family’
While David works remotely as a freelance civil engineer, Kearstin homeschools his children and makes sure they stay on top of their studies.
They also earn income through their social media channels, where they use the handle @heartandsaultravel and promote various travel-related products.
Defending his life on the road, Kearstin said: ‘It’s a very free lifestyle.
By homeschooling children, they gain something they cannot learn in the classroom.
‘I don’t have a set time for school work. We do it when they are willing to do it.
“Kinlee has been learning about the places we are going to visit in the Northeast.”
Another question Kearstin says she gets asked a lot is whether her kids interact enough with other kids.
She says that she ‘usually has an answer to every question’ and on this topic she replies: ‘There’s a big RV community, so our kids have a lot of friends.
We double checked with our daughter to make sure she is happy. It’s a different lifestyle but it’s exceeding expectations.’
While David works remotely as a freelance civil engineer, Kearstin homeschools his children and makes sure they stay on top of their studies.
The couple also earns income through their social media channels, where they use the username @heartandsaultravel and promote various travel-related products.
It’s an adventure,’ says mom Kearstin” class=”blkBorder img-share” style=”max-width:100%” />
‘Our children used to not want to go to school and now Kinlee is interested in most subjects. It’s an adventure,’ says mom Kearstin
They plan to see all 50 states and homeschool their children along the way.
The Sauls have driven thousands of miles in their RV and have now visited several states, including Georgia, Utah, and Nevada, as well as traveling to Banff, Canada.
They plan to visit all 50 states eventually in an attempt to enrich the lives of their children.
Revealing what he first thought when his wife approached him with the idea of a road trip, David said: “Kearstin came to me and said maybe we should move into a motor home.”
‘I thought she was crazy. But once we started discussing it, we could see that it was a possibility, especially when she was able to work from home.
We sold our house and everything we owned. Children get hands-on experience when they are out in nature.
‘Our children used to not want to go to school and now Kinlee is interested in most subjects. It is an adventure.
When it came to trading their brick-and-mortar home for an RV, the family said it took a bit of time for them to adjust to their small living space and “little kitchen,” but now it had become easy to navigate.
The family spends their days exploring the area they are in. In the photo, Zeke in Badwater Basin
‘We love to walk. We study at home in the morning or when the kids are awake and take afternoon walks as a family,” Kearstin said.
The family visited 15 national parks in all and explored the wilderness.
LEFT: A peek into the RV’s living room complete with a large flat-screen TV and fireplace RIGHT: The refrigerator displaying magnets from all the states and national parks they’ve visited
Commenting on his future travel plans, David concluded, “We’re going to go to the East Coast next, so we’ll go through Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, and end up in Florida for the winter.”
They say their the new lifestyle allows them to ‘spend more time with family’.
“We all have our own spaces,” Kearstin said.
We gave our daughter the master bedroom. Our son is in the living room in the upstairs loft.
‘If anyone wants privacy we go to our separate areas. We want to make sure everyone feels comfortable in the space.
David added: “We have the toy hauler, which is like a garage, and we made a jacking system for our bed so there’s room during the day for a desk that I can work at.”
The family spends their days exploring the area they are in, including hiking in Colorado, canoeing in Utah, and drinking water from a glacier in Banff.
‘We love to walk. We study at home in the morning or when the kids are awake and take afternoon walks as a family,” Kearstin said.
We are flexible. You can’t learn these things from a textbook.
The family has visited 15 national parks in all, collecting a magnet for each and one for each state.
Commenting on his future travel plans, David concluded, “We’re going to hit the East Coast next, going through Maine, New York City, Pennsylvania and ending up in Florida for the winter.”