Community on the road is quite a bit different than the community you might experience while living stationary. The people you’re hanging out with can shift as often as you change locations.
Just a few of our meet-ups in the last couple of months:
Sometimes you connect with fellow nomads as your paths cross for a short bit.
And sometimes you might connect with stationary friends (new or old) as you pass through town.
And sometimes you can feel like a loner with no close friends around for extended periods of time.
The ebbs and flows can be one of the toughest aspects of nomadic travels to adjust to, especially if you’re used to a vibrant community.
It’s been my own personal struggle for over a decade
and I’ve shared about it before:Eight Years as a Full Time RVer — A Letter Back to Myself Then
No longer do you have the same group of friends you meet up with on a regular basis.
No longer do you necessarily have spontaneous movie outings, game night or dinners out.
No longer do you have people in your life who know your story and you can just pick up where you left off last week.
Instead, community on the road is often a series of new encounters – sometimes in what feels like drinking from a firehose as nomads flock to seasonal hotspots.
You’re starting from scratch learning each other’s story. And just as soon as you start to get in a rhythm, it may be time to continue on your separate paths.
Extroverts, who also struggle with this, tend to do better with constantly getting to know new people. It can be even tougher for those us more introverted who thrive on a few deeper connections in our lives.
But yet, seasoned nomads learn to adapt.
When we encounter like minds we know our time together is transient. So instead of dancing around deeper conversations that society teaches us to avoid – we’re not afraid to poke around and explore the connections.
And when we reconnect down the road, we usually pick up right where we left off (with a little social media in-between to keep up.)
Over time we establish long term deeply connected friendships and cherish them as our paths criss cross. Friendships go in waves — deep and nourishing while physically together, and more distant as the miles grow.
But like the ocean, always present.
And every so often the stars align to travel together for a bit – regaining that sense of continuity while not giving up our travel pursuits. It’s pure magic when it happens.
Back in my stationary life, I used to lament when a friend moved way.
For that meant my social circle was changing and that person would likely not be a close part of my life anymore.
Now when a stationary friend moves or even a nomadic friend settles down, it just means a new town to include in our routing.
When our paths diverge with our fellow wanderers, we usually have a strong sense our paths will cross again down the road. We even put intentions behind it and go out of our way to make it happen.
We’ve become fond of saying ‘Until Next Time’ instead of ‘Good Bye’.
But there’s something else that can happen in our nomadic friendships.
Our itches for wanderlust expand beyond borders and the modality of travel we met under. Which means our paths may diverge even wider than we got used to, potentially crossing far less often.
We’ve changed our form of nomadism many times. And so have some of our friends.
- Sean & Louise went from RV to boat
- Ben & Karen from RV to non-RV and now back to RV
- Peter & John have needed to stay west coast based (and us east coast)
- Nikki & Jason switched from RV to sailing around the world
- And today, Nina & Paul embark on a new chapter in their lives that has been years in the making. They’ve sold their RV and are moving to Europe.
We share in the excitement of our friends chasing their passions.. and they in ours.
But there’s something about these shifts that also makes ‘Until Next Time’ seem a little closer to ‘Good Bye For Now’.
If we had our druthers, we’d travel together as a small community with some of our dearest friends. But alas, the folks we tend to connect with deepest share a common trait – we’re fiercely independent and following our own unique paths.
It’s that uniqueness that both bonds us and keeps us apart.
Until Next Time, Nina & Paul and paws.
Wishing you guys all the best in the next chapter!
The same holds true for some of your longtime readers and followers! Sean’s blog was the first one I ever followed back when he and Louise were converting their Neo. His technical writing slant and their adventurous RV life meshed perfectly with my future plans. In short order I discovered the Wynn’s, Nina & Paul and you guys. Through the magic of the Internet I had found couples I really liked who were following a life path of which I’d always dreamed. Through the years our one-sided relationships provided hours of entertainment and inspiration. Thank you to all!! Then as the realization of my dreams neared, each couple began following other divergent paths of their own. At first I was devastated when Sean & Louise ”hit” the water. When they did, I tried to follow but the common RV ”glue” that drew me in was gone. The same held true for Nikki & Jason and now it’s happened with Nina & Paul (although their new European RV adventure sounds exciting). To say I’m saddened while at the same time supremely happy for them is an understatement. We all must follow our dreams. Your post was a great send off for your dear friends, as well as testament that there is no substitute for real in-person shared experiences. I’m sure lots of your readers wish we could’ve had a seat at that table toasting with Margaritas to Nina & Paul’s new life. As always, thank you for sharing!
Beautiful post, thank you for writing it.
I am finding that I relate to nomads much easier than I did to people in stationary communities.
Did Nana, Paul and the animals make it out today?
Yes.. we watched their plane take off from our boat last evening, and got a text earlier this morning that all are safe in Paris!
This was a terrific post and you did a wonderful job of eloquently stating what I have felt. I love the deeper conversations but you have to put in the work to get there, so having a string of the same superficial conversation can be rough for me. We also have the east coast versus west coast issue with many of our friends and since we have resolved to stay on one coast for the two years that means a long break between seeing some people (family included): We also just had our very first friends leave the road and I cried the last time we saw them, because even though I knew we could see them I also knew it might not be the same.
Thanks for sharing this. I really appreciate your perspective.
Trace
We absolutely love meeting new people, but we do find we have to pace ourselves so we can keep it fresh and give each encounter our full intentions. Those deeper connections take time to form, and are truly worth it.
I’m in tears over here, such a nice send off.
🙂 Great post!
From the book, “Illusions.” “Don’t be dismayed at Goodbyes for a Farewell is necessary if we are to meet again and meeting again after moments or lifetimes is certain for those who are Friends.” We are off the road and I miss the nomads. They bring so much to the table of life. Happy travels!
Lovely quote.. thank you for sharing.
Gorgeous post. We will miss you guys terribly. Until we see you again…hugs and love
Nina
Chris and Cherie, great article on the nomadic life and friends.
This post really touched me. We have had similar experiences, but I might add that our closest friends are the ones we have met while RVing. We met while traveling and volunteering together, stayed close in friendship while we temporarily lived in a stick house again and now are reconnecting as we head into nomad life again. I think the common love of the nomad life is what bonds people together inspite of the distance apart. And for us it is also the love of volunteering, whether for the BLM, State Parks, the Forest Service, Habitat or any other volunteer work.
Thank you for posting this and bon voyage Nina and Paul!
For sure… some of our dearest friends made are fellow nomadic souls. We just share so much in common to have been led to this path.