Meet Clarke & Elaine Hockwald
Clarke & Elaine took retirement as early as they could at age 62, after realizing their investments and house were declining in value. They decided there really was no perfect time to live their dreams, and instead trust that they could make it all come together.
Clarke has some insurance agent business he handles part time on the road, and the two supplement their social security by seeking out workamping positions – such as hosting at campgrounds or working at an Amazon.com facility for several weeks to pad the diesel fund.
They found an early 1980s Newell coach, a custom built high end motorhome, for super affordable – and tow a car trailer behind that serves as a bike garage for Clarke. These two are out having the time of their lives, and share some of the lessons they’ve learned during their first year on the road.
Follow Clarke & Elaine:
Blog: What’s Newell?
Meet more Ramblings
Meet some of the other nomads we’ve interviewed in this series:
[catlist categorypage=yes orderby=rand numberposts=3 thumbnail=yes thumbnail_size=50,50 excerpt=no excludeposts=this morelink=”View all of the Rambling Interviews”]Stay tuned.. more nomads coming soon!
Ramblings: Tales from Nomads is intended to introduce you to some amazing people who are living life on their terms by traveling full time.
In this video series, you’ll be meeting and hearing the stories from a wide range of nomads we’ve met, with one thing in common – they’re not waiting for a traditional retirement to pursue their dreams of perpetual travel.
The entire video series will continue to grow at: https://www.technomadia.com/ramblings
We’ll continue introducing you to more nomads – make sure you’re subscribed to our RSS feed to be automatically notified when we post.
Would you like to be featured in this series? Let us know when our paths might be converging and let’s hang out – and we’ll be happy to film you in person too.
Want to be a Nomad too?
Inspired to explore a nomadic path yourself? Check out our free blog series: No Excuses: Go Nomadic which is our brain dump on many of the common questions we get about making it happen – mobile jobs, affordability, pets, family, mail, healthcare, connectivity, community and more.
We also offer the same series as a ‘pay as you wish’ eBook if you prefer that format or would like to toss us some ‘thank you bucks’.
love the ramblings,keep em coming!!
We have been enjoying all of your Ramblings episodes and look forward to each new one! Would you happen too have an email for Clarke and Elaine that we could use to ask them about some questions on an older (1990) Newell that we are considering purchasing for our upcoming full time adventure? We are also following them on their own site but haven’t been able to find a private contact for them. You could also send them our email if you like and have them contact us first.
Thanks for your great site Chris & Cherie. We’re enjoying the daily email updates and have participated in some of the online video chats. Hope to see you on the road someday in the future.
Mike & Cheryl
I’ll ask them to look here… but why not just comment on a recent blog post of theirs?
Love your blog and would watch the videos except for limited Internet. That was then this is now, I just realized our iPhone has unlimited Internet and I realized that from your comment in the comments. I am so excited, videos here we come.
Cherie, I don’t watch the videos either although
I would like to. My hearing is not good even with
aids, so I sidestep the frustration. But I’m sure
you’ve done well on them. Maybe I’ll catch you @
a rally seminar some day 🙂 Enjoy your blog!
we met clarke and elaine about 5 years ago and are proud to call them some of our best friends. they are wonderful folks and their newell is like a time machine. inside it is like new and outside you would never tell it is 31 years old.
you meet the nicest people from having a coach.
tom
Love it! Y’all always do an awesome job with this. I can’t wait until we can meet and be part of your series. Happy trails!
We met Elaine and Clarke at Amazon last fall. They are a fun couple and we miss them! It is nice to know that we have them in common.
Cheers to Clarke and Elaine! We met this past month in Indianapolis and enjoyed learning more about their travel adventures through this video. Nicely done!
Cherie,
As one more Bob chiming in, let me say the whole is greater than the sum if their parts. Have edited a few videos as well, I would much rather use words than wrestle with the nuances of video editing. The other Bob apparently doesn’t get out much so he’s incapable of appreciating good work.
Didn’t want my first comment to be a rant but there it is warts and all.
Started following you guys about a week ago and find everything fascinating and enlightening. Especially the info regarding a resident state. Just one of those little things most folk don’t think of when pursuing this lifestyle.
This is my first comment but certainly won’t be the last.
As always…
Bob
Thank you for feeling compelled to leave your first comment, Bob. Love all the Bob’s chiming in 🙂
Looking forward to seeing your name around here more often. Thanks for stopping by.
I’ve been reading their blog daily for a long time, it was good to actual hear them talking. Living life vicariously through both of you, until we hit the road full time. Pay no attention to the first comment. You guys do a great job in all that you have done.As always, thanks for the inspiration.
Thank you Greg.. really appreciate hearing that! And as powerful as the written word is, ain’t nothing like a moving picture to convey personality. Although, Clarke’s daily blog really captures them very authentically.
You go girl! I can vouch for you “ain’t nuthin’ easy about documenting via video”. Been there done that. Hey Rob- why don’t you try it out…. A new experience might open your eyes to new thoughts. :)) Really enjoyed your interview with Elaine & Clark. Hi guys!! Well done!!!!
Yup.. can totally appreciate that folks who haven’t tried producing video content might not have a frame of reference for what is involved. Despite how much work it is.. it’s a fun medium, and I enjoy creating them. And I love showing off our friends and sharing their stories. Glad you enjoyed meeting them.
I apologize on behalf of all the “Robs” “Bobs” “Roberts” etc. We’re not all as dim as the above Rob.
Please accept.
Hahaha.. thanks Bob. You’re awesome, thanks for always leaving a comment that makes us smile 🙂
Maybe you should do a bloopers video post 🙂
Hehehe.. bloopers? You’re assuming our interview subjects made mistakes. They’re all perfect, I swear 😀
I found the video very interesting and clearly there was a lot of effort put into it. You’re sharing insight and life experience from other RV travelers and that is helpful to readers. I guess your first commenter is just a person that doesn’t care for video information.
For sure.. video is not for everyone (particularly those on capped bandwidth). We produce content in the methods that are fun to us – but we can’t always reach everyone everytime (and nor should we strive to).
The interview was conducted in late January, or early February…..can’t remember now. Thank you for the wonderful editing job you did on our interview. Nothing easy about this process….maybe your make it look too easy, huh? We have learned a lot from the other Ramblings interviews you have done, and are so blessed to be included in your series.
I think we managed to get the interview done the day before you guys left out of Cedar Key. Glad we remembered to get to it after a month of being neighbors 🙂 Such fun, and thanks for sharing your story to help inspire others!
Really enjoyed Clarke & Elaine Hockwald’s video and story. We are in our early/mid sixties and just sold the farm. We are going on the road fulltime in our motorhome after raising 6 kids. We cant wait! Hope to meet up with some of you…
Thanks guys! You might also want to view Forrest & Mary’s interview from last month – another couple of similar age.
See you out on the road soon!
This is great . Watched a couple of them now and will watch more along the way. I especially like seeing how unretired people are doing out there. Your videos are great Cherie !! Thanks for putting them out there.
Thanks Sue.. we have such fun meeting folks and creating the series, and glad others are enjoy in it! It’s so interesting the variety of ways folks make this lifestyle work.
Another great interview from you guys! I love all of em,thanks so much!
Thanks David.. glad you are enjoying the series! It’s so much fun to create!
It must be my age but I keep seeing more and more videos rather than the written word. Maybe it’s just easier to pull out a phone, hit the record button and just talk than it would be to put your thoughts on paper.
Easy so often wins over everything else these days…
Unless it’s something I’m really curious about or a really short video or I’m really looking for something fill some more of the time I have left until I die I skip the videos. There is still plenty to read out there.
Trust me… there is nothing ‘easy’ about producing an edited video like the ones you see in the Ramblings series. Have you even watched one? They’re not just phone camera clips. We use real video equipment, and they are edited polished pieces.
I put far more time into creating these videos than most posts I write.
Some people enjoy video more than written word, and some enjoy written more than video. I personally enjoy producing both, and reaching a variety of folks. These videos reside on YouTube, and have gained quite a following, and continue to get picked up in searches and reaching people outside the blog in ways we couldn’t reach people otherwise.
So you’ll see a mix of media formats from us here, and you can always choose what you want to skip. For the Ramblings series, we are continually hearing from people who are inspired by this series, and it’s impacting them to move forward with their dreams by having seen and heard about the realities from people actually doing it.
We enjoy your mix Cherie, you just keep right on rockin’ out the RV world.. your guidance on several items made a world of difference for us!