If your New Year’s Eve resolution involved travel, take a lesson from this couple from Austin, Texas.
It all started with a bucket list and a desire to escape the scorching Texas summertime heat. Little did Heath and Alyssa Padgett of Austin know that their cross-country RV adventure – in their 1994 vehicle named “Franklin” – would lead to crossing so many things off of their wish lists, reports People.com.
The two met at Concordia University Texas in Austin and decided to get married after graduation in 2014. But instead of the usual honeymoon beach destination, they surprised their families by quitting their corporate jobs and taking to the road with the idea of visiting various states on a honeymoon road trip.
Then they decided to take the plan a step further when Alyssa reminded Heath of his college bucket list and his goal to visit all 50 states.
“My grandparent’s RV’d, his grandparents RV’d, pretty much only grandparents RV and here we were these 23-year-old kids doing it,” said Alyssa. “We fell into it because we thought it would be the cheapest and most efficient way for us to travel. And we bought Franklin off of Craig’s List four weeks before the wedding, renovated it, and we left four days after our wedding day.”
The two visited website SnagAJob.com, which has a listing of hourly paid positions, and were able to set up jobs for Heath along the way. They also were able to secure a sponsor for the trip to offset costs and in return, filmed and blogged about their journey.
Heath had a variety of assignments: a dojo at a martial arts studio in Albuquerque; a stand-up paddle boarding tour guide in Maui; and shadowing a park ranger at Denali National Park in Alaska. One of his favorite adventures was when wife Alyssa joined in and the two were hired to play zombies at Six Flags Fright Fest in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
Their story has turned into an array of different opportunities for them. They have started a free course called, “How to See America on 2K/Month,” written a book called, The Ultimate Adventure, and paid off more than $15,000 in student loan debt from living in the RV.
Read more about their journey at People.com.
