Starting Over at 60： My Full Time RV Life

At almost age 60, I said no to society's norms and I took this huge leap of faith and traveled across the country. Welcome to my Airstream, the Silver Mermaid. Come take a tour. I've had a lot of different kitchens, okay? I've lived in a ten-room farmhouse with a huge kitchen. I've had a kitchen with a big island in the middle of it. This is a galley kitchen, okay? This is a tiny home kitchen. It took some adjusting to get used to, and I have some electrical appliances that I use, but I don't keep them out because I like, I'm a minimalist, I like to keep it clean and neat. But I do have the propane stove top, and I use that, but I keep this out during the day to hide it because I don't like the way the stove looks. I'm not a big cook, OK? I kind of eat like a rabbit. I eat vegetables and hummus. But yeah, every morning, for the most part, I make breakfast on my propane stovetop. It's just awesome. Like when you're making breakfast, you're looking out. It's great having that that option. It's here. I just keep it hidden during the day. I would love to eventually get a fold out extension over here that I could use for like cutting vegetables or whatever, because I have a cutting board right now that I use. I bring it up and I move this. So I have to move things around a little bit when I cook, but I've gotten really adjusted to doing that. I have a plug outlet when I'm hooked up to shore power. I can put my appliances in this, but normally I use my EcoFlow power station and it's easy. The sink is, I love that it's a circle. I think that's really cool. I've had massive sinks, but I like it. I like the small cozy feel of everything about my kitchen. I really do. What I would like to replace one day is this. This needs to come up higher so I can put like a big pot underneath there. But I've been doing this for 10 months and I'm very content with my sink. The water comes from a fresh tank. I have a 23 gallon fresh tank, okay? And I have to fill that up. I have a monitor that I keep an eye on to see what kind of water I've got going on there. And that provides all my water for me. I have a filtering system where I filter my drinking water or I will just buy a gallon of drinking water and fill that up in there. All of my kitchen storage is under here. All my utensils are in here. I like my bamboo ware, okay? Because it's lightweight and it doesn't break. and then down here i have my pottery and my daughter made all of this she's a ceramic artist so i feel like i carry her with me everywhere i go she just moved to germany and so that's a little sensitive subject but yes all of my pottery my daughter made it she's very talented i actually have more than enough storage that i need i'm not i i don't have a ton of stuff i i've simplified i I purged a lot. That's the one thing about tiny home living, you have to purge, but you find out you can like make do with so little. I have found it simplifies life when you don't have a lot of stuff and I don't miss anything, really I don't. This kitchen is so special that I can stand here and look out these windows and prepare and and have this view. I really do love my kitchen. Now we're going to transition from the kitchen to the other part of the kitchen. This is my fridge. Yeah. I've even got a freezer. I've had a much bigger refrigerator than this, but this serves me. It really does for one person. I think it's perfect. I wish the freezer was bigger, but it's okay. I'm eventually going to get an electrical one, a small one that I can plug in. I have a microwave when I'm in, I have shore power. I can use this, but right now I'm boondocking. I use it for a bed box and storage. I have all kinds of stuff up there and I have two pantries. Okay. Okay. There's a basket in the other one. There's a door that has a basket behind it, and I keep all my staples in there, and it works for me. You know, it's not a lot. I mean, I keep extra stuff in my truck, but this, for the most part, those are my two pantries. A lot of women ask me about the kitchen and I tell them like you don't need, you know, 10 pieces of pots and pans. Same thing with groceries. You know, you don't have to have so many groceries on hand. I have learned I don't need cabinets full of groceries for one person, but I'm content. I'm very content with what I have. You can get a cooler if you need extra. I keep it simple. I got too many things out in nature to enjoy than to worry about my pantry. So we're in the front of my Airstream. Okay, so you all know the windows face the front. This is my hangout spot. I work here, I chill here, and normally it's a dinette set. You pop the table up and then there's seating all around it. I've used it both ways. I really like it like this. It just fits my personality and my lifestyle better. It's comfortable. And then I can have people in. I have fit four people on here at one time before. I really believe when you are thinking about getting an RV, a van or whatever, you've got to have a space where you can come that's comfy and cozy. I see some of these RVs, they have like a little table and they have, you know, two benches. It's so uncomfortable. You're going to regret that if you go that route. A lot of people have sofas. This is my sofa. And I think that's really important to have a place that you can be comfortable and cozy in so you're not sitting in your bed all day, all the time. I mean, I know if you live in a van, it's a lot different. You have a lot less space, but you got to have something. There's got to be something that's your cozy spot. In 2023, I sold my townhouse that I owned and I traveled across the road in 2023 with my Jeep Wrangler and slept in the back of my Jeep Wrangler for two months. And I'm like, I'm ready to be a nomad. I'm so excited. Long story short, my mom suddenly passed away of COVID. And so that threw me for a loop and I was not ready to get on the road at all. And so I had 16 months to heal mentally and physically and spiritually to be able to hit the road. And in 2024, the place I was leasing, the lease ran up and I got the RV, it'll be one year ago next month in February. And I hit the road. And it's been an incredible journey. It really has. Okay, so now how much does it cost? I get that question a lot also by women. It's different for everyone, okay? Some people can go out and just buy a rig and pay cash for it. I could not do that. Now, the Airstream that I got with the Basecamp, they range anywhere from $58,000 to $85,000. I have the Basecamp 20X, which is, you know, the bigger one. I got a collaboration, and so I got it way less expensive. My Jeep, I traded in my Jeep Wrangler and got my Jeep really inexpensive, and I almost have it paid off. So between those two, I figured I'm going to have to pay rent or house payment somewhere, so why not have it on the road? And that's how I do it. I don't have them both paid off. I allot like $200 a month for gas, okay? Sometimes it's more, sometimes it's less. We've got RV insurance. That's like $69 or something a month, I think. Pretty much like my everything is around $2,000 and that's exactly where I wanted to keep it. So it's very different for everybody. A lot of women ask me that and I tell them to write down what you're paying right now for all of your bills, your payments, your utilities, your house, whatever it is. And see, so that comes up to $2,000 or $3,000. Okay. You want to keep the same, Then you... Allot that into what you're buying and try to make that equal or make it less. My bills and stuff are about the same as what they were before. When I had a house, it was more because I had an HOA fee. So that's very different. For each person, I share that with you, but I also at the same time know that it might be cheaper if you can go out and just buy your, you know, rig or you already own your tow vehicle or you already own your van. You're not going to have the same thing I am. So that's different for everybody. But that's kind of where I am. My bathroom. It's a wet bath. What is a wet bath? A wet bath is when you have your toilet and you have your shower all in one bathroom. A toilet's really important to me. Yeah, if I'm taking a hike, I'll squat and do my business for sure, but it's nice to have a toilet. When I got this, I was like, oh, I gotta have a bathroom, okay? I barely ever use this shower. I have a shower outside and I sponge bathe a lot because I'm conserving my fresh water. When you take a shower, you gotta take like a military shower. But I love this bathroom. It's got a window, which is awesome. When I first got the rig, I was showering every few days and then I've become very feral, okay? I don't shower every day. I sometimes don't even shower once a week. But what I do use is I have wipes, okay? I use these every single day. And I also take sponge baths in the sink or I'll fill up my little tub and take a sponge bath outside if I'm boondocking. And then dry shampoo. Dry shampoo is like my best friend, but you learn to embrace it. You're living outside, you're boondocking out in the desert, out in the middle of the mountains, and you learn to just embrace your feral self. And that's exactly what I've done. So now I'm going to show you what Maya's absolute favorite part of the bedroom is. And my favorite part is this. This is my bed. Okay. I have a full size bed. When I started the journey, I was over here on a twin bed and I'm turning it into a full bed. These are two benches and there's tables in the middle. Okay. And I was doing the twin bed because I wasn't sure, do I want to get a mattress for a full or twin or what? And then I won an RV mattress. And that was like, okay, that determines what I'm going to do. And so I set this up like this. I love not tearing it down. That is another really important aspect. Okay. If you're thinking about tiny home living, RV life, van life, do you want to tear down your bed and put it back together every single day? I didn't want to do that. I want it to just have it up, have my bedroom and make it easy. And it works out so good. So this little nook here, I kind of created this, okay? This wasn't part of the Airstream. There's a base there. I have some cushions down and that is my place where I sit and look out the back hatch, work, read a book, talk on the phone, rest, take a nap. It's just like another little cozy nook that I have as an extension of the bed and it's got that wonderful view out the back hatch. As far as my bedroom, I mean I'm really happy with it the way it is. One thing I would love to have is like maybe some little end tables, but I have enough space on each side with the cushions that are underneath my mattress that they work as an end table. I have a basket here that I put my books in. I got some little cubbies over here. I keep my oils and my my crystals on and it works. You know, That's one thing you just learn. It's tiny home living. Everything is not going to be perfect. And you learn to just improvise. And then you learn to like it and love it. I love it. I love this tiny little space. These are my closets. They're cubbies and I keep my clothes in these compression bags. I have them all stacked up in there nice and neat. They zip and I just stack it all in there and that's those are my clothes pretty much. I do wish I had more storage. I would love to have more clothes. I'd love to have cute little sundresses, you know, but we don't have room for that. That's just one of the sacrifices you make with this tiny home living in my Airstream and it's okay. I'm okay with it. I, if I buy any clothing ever, which I'm not a big shopper, I just make sure I can wad it up really small and roll it in there. I also have storage up here above my bed. So I use a lot of the big bulky stuff, like my fleece and jackets and coats, and I roll them up and put them up there. And then I also have some storage up here also that I have above the kitchen area. Is it worth it not having a big old closet? 100% worth it because I'm not a big shopper. I'm not into fashion and all that. I have like two purses and I have a backpack. I love outdoors and that's where I live most of the time. I'm outdoors more than I am inside, but I know for some women that that's a struggle. Okay, so that's something like if you're wanting to get an RV or a van, that's something you really need to look at and think about that. Am I going to be able to put clothes in there? If not, I'm going to have to purge. It's very freeing when you purge and you let go of stuff that you think you need, but you really don't need. There has been so much personal growth from this journey. I started it scared. I didn't know what I was doing. I had never towed anything in my whole entire life. I would get on the road and I was towing and I would just start crying. I wasn't crying because I was scared, but I was crying because I'm doing this. Oh my gosh, I'm doing this. And it was just so empowering to actually be doing all of these things I'd never done before. When you put yourself out of your comfort zone, And you start doing things that you've never done before, you're going to grow in ways you never, ever imagined. I am not the same woman now in January, 2026, that I was in January of 2025. I am a confident woman. Shoot, people ask me, like, how do you do that? And I work with women and I help guide them and mentor them as a life mentor and empowerment coach. Thank you very much. It's just, it's so rewarding. I can't even explain to you how rewarding it is to come out of your comfort zone and to do things that you've never done before. Thank you so much for watching. You can follow my journey over on the gram at the Silver Mermaid over at YouTube, Silver Mermaid Adventures. I'm working on getting that going and the links will be posted below for you to follow. Thank you.