20th Nomadiversary: Expanding Our Horizons!

Today is a pretty major milestone – I have now been a full-time nomad for twenty years!

That seems like it should be a pretty big deal – but after twenty years of living like this, it’s just another day.

Today’s plan of exploring a scenic state park and then cruising the Natchez Trace Parkway has become the sort of everyday occurrence that commuting to and from work used to be, way back in the before times.

This nomadic life really rocks.

But like all lifestyles, it has some downsides…

As I sit pondering the past twenty years – it is an appropriate time to address some of those downsides, and reveal some of what we have planned to make the next twenty years even better than the last.

Craving Community…  On The Road

The biggest challenge of technomadic living is the lack of ongoing community.

We have shared many many times over the years how awesome it is to bond with stationary friends or fellow nomads, and then how much it sucks to need to move on in divergent directions – often not to cross paths again for a year or longer.

When you live in a fixed place – you might not see your local friends for months or years at a time, but that is always for good excuses like “work” or “kids” or “sports” or “being too lazy to coordinate”.

When you are nomadic – you have to be much more intentional about your “see you down the road” goodbyes.

You can’t get away with pretending that you will get together again in a week.

But… The ultimate dream of technonmadism is to live life without compromises.

So what if you did NOT have to leave all your dear friends behind when it became time to move on to a new destination?

What if you could take your community with you?

We had such an amazing time this past season at SKP Saguaro in Benson living in community.

It truly felt hard to leave…

Until we saw the weather forecast, and realized most everyone else was scattering too.

But after years of traveling just the two of us – why not look for a way to bring a larger posse along for the ride?

Most RV’s are designed for just a couple, or maybe a small family.

But not all of them….

Buying A… Rotel?

Way back in 2015 we needed a busted air valve replaced on Zephyr at a truck shop in Tucumcari, NM – and also in the shop for some work was this beauty:

Once I lifted my jaw off the floor – a little Googling at the time helped me find Rotel Tours, a German company offering overland tours in “rolling hotels” on six continents since 1945.

I completely forgot about my Rotel sighting soon after, it was just one of the many weird things you tend to see in the desert southwest.

But a decade later – the Rotel came back to me in a dream when I was pondering our next adventure, and wishing we could find a way to bring more of our nomadic community along for the ride.

Could we buy a Rotel?!?

If we are craving having more ongoing community on the road, why not upgrade to a vehicle that would let us bring more friends and followers along for the ride!

I started digging deeper again over the winter – and it turns out there are actually multiple Rotel options available to take our adventuring in all sorts of interesting new directions!

Maybe we could go for a AWD model, and do some overlanding?

Or we could add a trailer, and bring a LOT of friends along:

But ultimately – I found a vintage 1966 Rotel for sale that would combine our passion for vintage buses like Zephyr with space to bring more of our tribe along with us:

When we found this vintage beauty for sale and ready to go, we knew we at last had a way to combine our passion for travel with wanting to have ongoing community that we can travel with.

There are some compromises around living space though – check out the video tour for a closer look at the interior.

Here is the eBay link to buy a used Rotel with some more details – and for more, here are the best English-language profiles of what Rotel Tours are like.

We plan to start upgrading with solar and lithium batteries next winter season, as well as installing a proper mini-split system to replace the mosquito netting.

We are still trying to figure out how to deal with the lack of a shower on board though…

Want to be a part of the project, and move in with us?

Let us know!

We’re Going To Need a Bigger Boat Too…

Of course – we don’t plan to give up our cruising lifestyle any time soon.

We absolutely still intend to spend part of each year on land, and part on water.

But if we intend to start traveling in community, we’re going to need a bigger boat to handle ramping up the number of crew on board.

Fortunately – affordable bigger boats are a lot easier to find than multi-family RV’s.

There are lots of other tempting boat options out there too – and splitting the costs and the work across a dozen or so people should make cruising and maintenance simple and affordable, right?

Or Maybe Not…

One of the deepest joys of travel and technomadic life is being able to chart your own course – setting off in one direction, and then steering by serendipity – with all decisions subject to change.

Some of our most exciting adventures weren’t planned – and that is the point.

But trying to get a dozen nomads aligned on a change of course?!? A futile effort!

As much as we crave constant community – what we love about our nomadic friends is reconvening after a time apart with so many new stories to share.

Being in one place (or in one bus, or on one boat) together would take away this potential for newness.

So even though we sometimes wish we could take everyone with us along the ride – what I have learned to treasure over the years are the deep connections that can click back into place no matter how long we are apart.

In many ways – these sorts of friendships are deeper and more rewarding than having local buddies you can see every day.

And sometimes when the stars (and destinations!) align, something magical happens…

We Got Ourselves a Convoy!

Rather than cramming into a single vehicle – we have managed some magical times with other nomads on both land and water when our paths align, and we travel in sync for a while.

For example, we just spent a ten days traveling across country with our dear friends Amanda and Jesse:

Ten days went by way too fast – but we’ll certainly be crossing paths again.

Some of our fondest nomadic memories were our hop-scotching convoys with Nina & Paul of WheelingIt, one of the true OG RV bloggers:

There have been so many other nomadic convoys of note:

And of course, in addition to convoys, there have been SO many intentional convergences – the types of gathering that became the core inspiration behind the founding of the Xscapers:

And on the water – while we haven’t managed nearly as many actual “Convoys” – we have loved our synchronized cruising adventures with Dave & Stacey on Stinkpot:

There are so many other convoys and rendezvous in our past that I can’t feature them all, but they are truly the highlights of my twenty years on the road.

It is the “till next times” that make our meetups with both nomadic and stationary friends so special.

The Next Twenty Years?

Crazy to think I have been doing this for twenty years.

What adventures will the next twenty hold?

One thing that is strongly calling us is to take advantage of no longer being constrained by Kiki’s needs, and to mix in some international travel.

There is a lot of world out there still to explore!

We actually already have some tentative plans coming together for later in 2026, so stay tuned for updates.

Overall – my biggest takeaway from twenty years nomadic?

It still feels like I am just getting started!

YouTube Live: Reminiscing

Keep an eye on the Technomadia YouTube channel today (April 1st, 2026).

We are intending to go live sometime today to commemorate this milestone, and Cherie is planning to interview me about some of the highlights of the past twenty years.

If you miss the live – look for the archive here!

Nomadiversary Memory Lane:

Today (April 1st, 2026) is my twentieth Nomadiversary!

20 years (!!!!) on the road and water…

Here are links to my annual past posts commemorating the occasion.

Step back in time and check out some of our past adventures:

• Nineteenth Nomadiversary (2025) – The Cat Distribution System strikes, twice!
• Eighteenth Nomadiversary (2024) — We announce an end to blogging and YouTube, and embrace TikTok.
• Seventeenth Nomadiversary (2023) — A Nomadiversary post co-written with AI – with some serious warnings about the risks of this emerging new technology. This post is pretty epic – check it out!
• Sixteenth Nomadiversary (2022) — A “Sweet 16” montage, chronicling my journey from fledgling nomad through today.
• Fifteenth Nomadiversary (2021) — Sharing about the magic of “5G” vaccines, and some of the people who have most inspired me over the years.
• Fourteenth Nomadiversary (2020) — Thoughts on being a nomad in a newly locked down, pandemic ravaged world.
• Thirteenth Nomadiversary (2019) — I explain how we move our Mini Cooper between ports using prototype self-driving technology, summoning the car to us remotely.
• Twelfth Nomadiversary (2018) — Some mathematical analysis of the future trends in boondocking, extraploting out a future with millions of boondockers fighting over every scrap of desert as the suburbs turn empty.
• Eleventh Nomadiversary (2017) — We contemplate some innovative ways to bring Zephyr along now that we are living part of the year on the water.
• Tenth Nomadiversary (2016) — I share my past history traveling with a powered paramotor, and our future plans to renovate a Zeppelin to be a flying RV. Meanwhile, we were actually already secretly starting our hunt for a boat.
• Ninth Nomadiversary (2015) — Sharing test results of LTTE boosters. Not to be confused with cellular LTE boosting, LTTE boosting (Libation: Technology Tribulation Elimination) is an even more critical element of a technomad’s tech arsenal.
• Eighth Nomadiversary (2014) — Way too swamped and stressed with launching RVillage and dealing with Millenicom madness to write anything wistful or witty.
• Seventh Nomadiversary (2013) — At last revealing the real reason I first decided to hit the road…
• Sixth Nomadiversary (2012) — Reminiscing about all the changes over the years.
• Fifth Nomadiversary (2011) — Giving up nomadism and buying a condo (not!) in the Virgin Islands.
• Fourth Nomadiversary (2010) — Discovering the secret prize that comes inside every box of wine.
• Third Nomadiversary (2009) — Camped on a beach near Malibu, watching dolphins frolic.
• Second Nomadiversary (2008) — Working with Cherie to custom design our Oliver, moving up from a trailer ideal for one to one made for two.
• First Nomadiversary (2007) — Preparing to set out with Cherie, reminiscing about my first very eventful year on the road — setting off solo and finding an amazing partner along the way.  (This links to my pre-Technomadia solo blog!)

BTW – If you enjoy my foolish writings, be sure to check out our April First posts over at the Mobile Internet Resource Center.

This year – our story is all about SpaceX announcing a hostile takeover of Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile to merge in with Starlink:

SpaceX Forges “The One Network To Rule Them All” After Acquiring AT&T, T-Mobile, And Verizon In A Hostile Takeover

My post in 2024 about Starlink Plaid and “Potassium Justice” was pretty epic too.

Check them out!