Madison, Cees and their kitten, Vladimir, have been living life in an RV for the last year – with the goal of hitting every single national park in the United States (SO AWESOME!!) The adventurous couple has been married two years and in celebration of their anniversary, they met up with photographer, Katch Silva, in Death Valley National Park. She captured them in their daily life: cooking, walking the kitten, relaxing together and watching the sunset from the roof of their RV.
What started out as a fun project and goal, quickly transformed into a blog that sustains their travels; their site Our Vie is a spin on saying ‘RV’ out loud with the French word ‘Vie’ for life – so it means Our Life. We asked the couple what their favorite part about living life on the road is, and they share It sounds obvious, but we love how mobile we are. It is fun and freeing to wake up in new places! We are never stagnant in life, always exploring. We also love driving together and just chatting. Some of our best ideas and silliest conversations happen when we are driving down the road. Our idea for this trip actually was born on a previous road trip. Road trips are good for the soul.
These dreamy photos give you an intimate look into their life together and will definitely make you want to hit the road. Adventure is calling… Let’s go!
M + C share We started our journey on April 10, 2016. We are hoping to wrap things up (for the national park tour at least – who knows how long we will be on the road!) in January/February 2017.
Which park has been your favorite thus far?
Cees says This is a pretty hard question! They are all so spectacular! For that reason, Madison’s favorite park is the one that we’re currently exploring – Death Valley! I have had some special connections in a few parks… The massive trees really spoke to me in Sequoia; while I loved listening to the glacier creep as we watched the northern lights dance over mountains in Wrangell – St. Elias. However, I am still holding out until we are DONE to declare an absolute favorite!
SO, SO SWEET!
The couple shares, We definitely have had some set backs with vehicle problems. It is really frustrating when we get “stuck” places. In fact, as I write this, we are held up in the middle of nowhere Canada waiting for new tires to show up! But, c’est la vie. There are set backs on and off the road. But nothing too major and we always figure it out together.
Do you have any tips for others wanting to do a trip like this?
Don’t be discouraged because you don’t know how. We literally started out with ZERO knowledge about RVs, photography, website building… literally nothing! We learned it all from the University of YouTube. So GO FOR IT. Even if you goal isn’t to hit the road, you can make your dreams happen! It won’t happen if you sit by and wait, that’s for sure! Trust in yourself and your capabilities as well as the resources around you. It sounds cheesy but it’s so true that you can accomplish anything that you dream. Take a huge goal and break it down into little, manageable parts. First thing is first, save up and start searching craigslist for your adventure mobile!
How cool was that?! Check out Our Vie to follow along and see updates about each place they visit!
photography: Katch Silva // venue name: Death Valley National Park, California / Nevada, USA
It reminds me so much the story from Into the wild. The difference is this couple know that “happiness only real when shared”. :-)
My husband and I have often talked about doing this and your article has really inspired me! Thank you!