The new nomads: Older adults find life on the road satisfying

Four years ago, Karen DeGraffenreid discovered a book called "Home Sweet Anywhere: How We Sold Our House, Created a New Life and Saw the World." Captivated, she tore through it in one night. The next morning, she asked her husband, Paul Therriault, if he'd be game to try the nomadic life the book described.

To her surprise, he said, "Yes."

Within a few months, the retired couple had sold their home in Dallas, stowed their stuff in a storage unit and hit the road. Staying in Airbnb rentals, they traveled to Mexico City, San Miguel de Allende, Barcelona, Madrid, southern Spain, Ecuador, the Galapagos and Chile. And that was just the first year. They never looked back.

DeGraffenreid and Therriault are among the growing number of older adults joining the home-free movement, hopping from one hotel or apartment to another or living in RVs. The lifestyle is having a moment, thanks to the movie "Nomadland," which won the Oscar for best picture this year. The film tells the story of a woman who lives in a van and travels from one temporary job to the next.

Living the nomadic life offers adventure, a way to meet new people and keep life unpredictable and interesting.

"Comfort is the enemy of progress," said Don Wilks, 60, a Dallas native who's lived on the road for 20 years. "When you're traveling, you're always challenged. You're always learning something and trying something new every day."

Wilks' travels have taken him around the world, staying in hotels, Airbnb rentals, hostels and occasionally couch-surfing and camping. He spent most of the past year in his Jeep, exploring Wyoming, Montana and Florida.

Lisa Lowe, 59, and her husband Keith, 65, lived in Palmer, Texas, until they retired and sold their home in 2019. Now they travel full time in their 25-foot Airstream, chronicling their travels on their Footloose and Fabulous Facebook page.

"We love the freedom of just being able to go and do what we want," Lisa Lowe said. Before they hit the road, her husband spent weekends mowing and maintaining their 3-acre lawn — something he doesn't miss at all.

Not all senior nomads are retired; many work occasionally or part time, and some do volunteer work. The Campbells volunteered for political campaigns in Alaska, Montana and Colorado in 2020. Through earlier travels to Nepal, Wilks launched the Global Community for Education, a nonprofit that built schools and provides college scholarships for students in the South Asian country. Wilks also takes on contract work occasionally, assisting businesses after major disasters with recovery and preparing insurance claims. His last gig was with a refinery in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

Having no permanent residence does require some logistical planning. Where will you file your taxes? How will you vote? Many senior nomads establish a home base — a place they visit at least once a year for annual physicals and to renew driver's licenses and vehicle registrations. Mail forwarding services, offered by support networks like Escapees RV Club (escapees.com), help with managing taxes, absentee voting and staying in touch.

John Mayleben, 57, and his wife, Jade Ethridge, have lived on the road in a 42-foot RV since 2017. They've visited 17 state capitals and 10 state parks, crisscrossed the nation from Southern California to the Florida Keys, and up to Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Colorado and Utah, with occasional stops in the Dallas area to visit their adult children. They opt for back roads rather than major highways and often make spontaneous detours to little-known towns and quirky museums. "We joke that we make our travel plans in Jell-O," Ethridge says.

The Campbells try to keep their accommodations at around $100 a night. The Lowes say site rental costs average about $600 a month. Because their RV is equipped with solar panels, they can boondock — stay at places that have no water or electricity hookups, often for free.

Boondocking opens up a wide range of inexpensive options, like free parking on federal land or services like Harvest Hosts, which offers members free access to about 2,000 camping spots at wineries, distilleries, farms and other destinations for a $99 annual fee.

"There are no additional fees to camp, but our members tend to support the businesses they visit, buying the wine at a winery or produce at a farm, so it's a good deal for the hosts, too," says Joel Holland, Harvest Hosts CEO.

A big challenge: Most nomads must downsize and give up most of their possessions before hitting the road. Almost everything the Lowes own is in their Airstream.

"You have to make some sacrifices," Lisa Lowe says. "We have a tiny refrigerator and shower. That's become our normal, but for some people that would be uncomfortable."

You won't find a lot of ethnic and racial diversity among the senior nomad population. René Agredano recalls driving through diverse neighborhoods in Los Angeles, only to pull into an RV park that was occupied only by white travelers.

Agredano, 51, is a Latina who travels full time with her husband, Jim Nelson, and blogs at LiveWorkDream.com. Other than herself, she said, "I can't think of any people of color that we've met in our age bracket. If you haven't grown up around RVs or camping, it's just not something you would consider. But I do see more diversity among younger RVers."

Les Hall, 66, discovered that life on the road wasn't for him. After he and wife divorced, he left Dallas and spent some time living in a van with his dog, Izzy, traveling to Montana, Idaho, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado. He missed having laundry facilities. Parking in remote places, he was often lonely. Now he's settled happily in Terlingua, Texas.

"My advice to anyone considering a peripatetic lifestyle is don't do it alone unless you can live inside your head for days, not really connecting with others," he says. "If I had met a like-minded soul on the road, it might have been different."