What is in a name? A name conveys in one word who you are.
For us, we were on the road for a couple of weeks and were talking to someone at a camp site and she says, “Oh! you’re full-timers!” We gave a somewhat non-committal answer that seemed to agree with her.
Several days later we had checked into a hotel to do our laundry and have a good internet connection. That prompted one of our daughters to say, ” You’re cheaters.” Again its hard to argue that were not cheating if we are full-timers.
Others have called us gypsies, nomads, drifters and nuts. All of which might be true to some extent. Some have said we are homeless. That is not true. At the top of this page it says, “Home is wherever we are.” (and today that is a hotel in Asheville)
So what name defines who we are? Let’s examine a few of them.
Full-Timers – Using the definition from Wikipedia, a full-timer lives year-round in an RV. We do not own a house but we do not live full-time in our RV. We are not full-timers.
Cheaters – Since we are not full-timers, checking into a hotel or renting a condo once in a while is not cheating. We are not cheaters.
Nuts – Anyone who has known us for a long time knows this one was true even before we sold our house and hit the road. We are nuts.
Gypsys – According to Merriam Webster, “a member of a traditionally itinerant people who originated in northern India and now live chiefly in south and southwest Asia, Europe, and North America” Another definition is a wanderer. Though we do wander we are not ethnic gypsies so…
Wanderer – “To move without a fixed course” We have a course. It may change every day but we do have a course.
Rambler – “One who moves aimlessly from place to place.” This is close and I do like the fact that RAM is in the name. Still, every day we have some kind of goal so we are not completely aimless.
Explorer – We boldly go where lots of people have gone before.
Nomads – “An individual who roams about with no fixed residence.” And roaming can mean “to travel purposely unhindered through a wide area.” That sounds just about right.
So when the Vorlons come asking, “Who are you?”, we now know what to answer: Nomads…or nuts – that one still works as well.