Welcome to another edition of Travelers Tuesday, a weekly series where we share other full-time families and their stories! This week, we are bringing you the Spicer Family originally from Winnsboro, Louisiana. Dylan and Candace currently travel with their two fur-babies, Moses (Yorkie) and Karma (Black Mouth Cur) while sharing their adventures over at Southern Style Tramping.
What got you and your family interested in living this lifestyle? It was really Dylan who was interested in traveling. Me? I was the type who always imagined myself staying in my hometown forever. We began tramping because we just couldn’t make ends meet at home. Since Dylan is a journeyman lineman with the IBEW, we can travel anywhere in the US for work. We left our home, family, and friends behind and left out on this new adventure in a 17ft trailer! Our first year on the road only lasted 4 months since we were working in Michigan and there was no way our trailer would make it through the winter. 2014 was a mild summer in Michigan, we were looking for electric heaters in July lol. By November 1st the work weeks were getting shorter and shorter because winter was getting ready to move in so, we headed home.
The plan has been work the summers so we can take winters off, missing the extreme summers in the south and the extreme winters in the north. Two weeks after coming home in November 2014 we upgraded to a 32 ft fifth wheel and it has made a world of a difference. With it we were able to survive Feb/March on the Indiana/Michigan state line. Last winter we were able to take 4 months off and spend time at home with our family and friends as well as make some much need improvements on our house. People think we are crazy that we can work all summer and take the winters off but its working for us so far and if the blessing continue it will keep working for us.
Was getting on the road easy or challenging? Advice for those just getting started: If your are in the market for a trailer for tramping, take your time make sure you get something that your family will like and be comfortable in. All manufactures have their pros and cons. We prefer trailers with an aluminum frame.
Getting on the road was both easy and challenging. Yes, we had everything we needed to go and that is why we made the decision to make the leap into being on the road. Even though we had everything we needed, it was the bare minimum. Our first year on the road we lived in a 17ft trailer! Leaving my family was difficult and still isn’t easy today. We make the best of things and try our best to follow the path God has laid out for us.
What are your travel goals? I guess we are living our travel goals. There are a few more states Dylan would like to mark off his list; some to visit and some to work in. But traveling for work in the summer allows us to take off in the winter.
How many states have you visited? Since tramping, we have worked/stayed in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Michigan.
What has been your favorite and/or least favorite trip, site, or experience so far? Our most memorable experience hands down was our fist night officially on the road, July 4th, 2014. We stopped in Kentucky just south of Lexington and stayed at Singing Hills RV Campground. We watched the local fireworks show and even though it wasn’t the best show we made the best of it by being our own commentators, it was a blast and ever since then it always comes up in every conversation about our travels.
What got you started in blogging? We wanted an easy way to keep family and friends updated on our travels so that one day, when we look back at all of our adventures, the stories are there for us to reminisce.
What is your favorite thing to write about? Ha I guess it’s the only thing I write about: our travels and Dylan’s work. I hope through my posts our friends and family can better understand his job and what he does and feel like they are traveling with us.
Getting a bit more personal: What is your favorite season? Fall – for me it is overall my favorite. We are both avid hunters so fall is a big time for us. Hunting for me is about more than harvesting meat for our family. It’s about spending time with my family. Hunting has always been apart of my life and we both agreed we would continue that tradition no matter what. So we always go home for at least a few months to hunt and spend time with family.
What is your favorite food? Is there something you love that you’ve found somewhere but can’t easily find elsewhere? My roots show on this one, seafood – shrimp, crawfish are the best. We always make sure we at least go home during crawfish season and bring some back with us. Louisiana will always be home and truly calls our names!
[…] spent the 4th of July weekend hanging out at Southern Style Tramping’s home (remember them from Travelers Tuesday?) which was a lot of fun but also a little nerve-wrecking. The menfolk studied for the test and lit […]