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4800 Miles in the Odyssey Camper (May 2019)

Darren
traveling in an Odyssey camper conversion

I’ve just completed a 4800 mile trip in the Odyssey Camper, but I’m only going to show you half of the stops…

I always enjoy reading stories about people who live as “digital nomads”.  I think it would be nice to live off of passive income from a YouTube channel or blog, or to earn money from work that only requires a laptop and wifi connection.  This isn’t that kind of story.

Ft. Sumter Charleston, SC

I’ve mentioned elsewhere that the Odyssey Camper blog and YouTube channel are not how I make money (although the YouTube channel and Amazon pay for the hosting of the site).  I’m far too old and male to “make $1000s on YouTube.”  I’m also not a cat.  Instead, I make money by buying and/or selling machine tools for myself and other companies.  This often involves travel and the nice thing is that I can write off the miles I travel for the business parts.  So although I sometimes take trips that are purely for leisure, they are usually a mix of business AND fun.

Charleston, SC despite the heat, is somewhere I would consider moving to.

Having the Odyssey Camper lets me stop off and camp to reduce my travel expenses and I can make tourist stops on the weekends, or on days when I don’t work commitments.

Petting the kitties at Pounce Cat Cafe in Charleston

This kind of schedule is more efficient for me than straight time off because I can be earning money while traveling and make use of what would normally be downtime.   It also lets me stay ahead of the competition because THEY are not willing to do this kind of intensive customer visit schedule.

Charleston Tea Plantation. The only commercial tea plantation in the US.

If you look at the route map you can see where this last trip led me over four weeks.  The pictures show my “fun stops” because trust me, you don’t want photos of factories (if they even allowed photos).  But if you are interested, here are some of my work stops from the trip:

In between all of those locations is a whole lot of America and some really cool sites.  Check out the rest of the photos to see the other places I stopped along the way.

Castillo de San Marcos, St. Augustine, FL

 

 

 

 

The Beachcomber at St. Augustine Beach. The food was FANTASTIC!
Shrimp tacos are best AT the beach!
I try to hit the beach on Sunday evenings when you have the place to yourself.
Meeting a friend in Miami. She didn’t mind me getting started without her.
I’ve never felt like I was “checking a box” when visiting a National Park, but swampy and buggy is my least favorite destination.
Bugs, grass, heat, what is NOT to like about the Everglades?!

 

The end of the Florida peninsula. There’s a nice campground down here but I’d save the Everglades for January. The horseflies in May were insane. I opened the slider in the morning and 5 came in. Took me the rest of the day to get them out…
Key West! I’m still not convinced that this spot is the southernmost point, looking at a map. But it’s the traditional stop.

My first thought was, “hey I need a belt”…turns out it wasn’t THAT kind of leather shop.
–in Jim Morrison voice–
“The road is long…2370 miles”
Hmm…it DOES appeal to my entrepreneurial nature…
It is tempting to make a Key West cock joke here…
A second look at St. Augustine, in the old town.
US Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville, AL. The full-size model of a Saturn V is most impressive!
It’s hard to appreciate how BIG these things are until you get up close.

Meriweather Lewis monument. If you don’t know who he is, shame on you.
Free Camping at the Meriweather Lewis campground!! Nice place!
This sign would work better if my name was Trace.

What, no cave photos? Not my favorite cave. The amazing thing about Mammoth is the 400-mile maze of tunnels. Photography wise, it’s just “meh” next to Carlsbad (IMHO). But don’t miss the hiking!!

If your work already involves travel, this travel formula might work for you too!  Unless you are young and don’t already have financial obligations, we all need more money to survive than you are likely to make on a blog or video channel.  I’ve traveled for work over the last 30 years and always tried to find time to explore the local sites and culture.  Most of that happened before the advent of broadband internet, but I was still in a sense, a  nomadic worker and traveler.  

I guess I’m still mixing travel work with travel leisure.  Now, if I could only find some customers to visit in Colorado and Utah…

–Darren at Odyssey Camper