Cubicle life drove Dave Thorsrud to the open road — and he’s still on it.
by Chris Taylor
In his life as a human resources manager for a major insurance company, Dave Thorsrud spent his days trapped in a cubicle, hemmed in by flow charts and PowerPoint presentations and depressed by the predictable path stretching out in front of him. He realized that if his own life were a story, he wouldn’t read it. Or if he did, it would bore him to tears. “I could have gone on indefinitely,” says Thorsrud, 37. “But I wanted something that was more memorable.”
As is often the case with such reevaluations, this one stemmed from heartache, first a divorce, followed a year later by the death of Thorsrud’s father — “potent reminders,” he says, “of life’s fleeting nature.”
If he was going to break out of his rut, he knew he had to engineer a dramatic overhaul. He sold every stick of furniture he owned, dropped the lease on his Philadelphia loft, bought an old conversion van that had been fitted with a bed, and with about $60,000 in the bank, adopted the life of an American nomad. Now one week he might be mountain biking at Oregon’s Mount Hood, the next he’s canyoneering at Arizona’s Coyote Buttes. His goal, as he proclaims on his website, Livesinavan.com: “a life less predictable. I’m on the hunt for great experiences, memories, beautiful stories.”
All that sounds well and good, but making it a reality was tricky. By cashing in stocks that had accumulated during the five years at the insurance company, he walked away with enough cash to live cheaply on the road for a year and buy his $8,500 RV. But most important, he made his vagabond existence self-financing by tapping skills from a prior job, taking on occasional software-programming gigs.
His office: a laptop, a T-Mobile account so he can connect at any Starbucks, and a cellular modem for when he’s in the wilds. He is never farther than one or two hours from a FedEx/Kinko’s and uses his brother’s address in Oregon for the IRS. (His brother, who cosigned a bank account, deposits his freelancing checks for him.) Thanks to rolling gigs and a leaner lifestyle, “I have more money in the bank now than when I started,” he says.
He’s already made this work for 11 months, although he’s considering staying part-time at his girlfriend’s place in San Francisco, just for an occasional sense of home. “It might make this all more sustainable,” he says, “something I could do with my life indefinitely if I wanted to.”
The Tactics
1. TEST-DRIVE YOUR NEW LIFESTYLE: “Before I left in my RV, I lived for a while with very few possessions in my apartment,” says Thorsrud, “and then went on the road for a couple of weeks to see if this was something I could stick with long-term.”
2. HIRE A DIGITAL CONCIERGE: It’s a relatively cheap way to keep your new lifestyle low-stress. Timothy Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, recommends Asksunday.com: “A 24/7 virtual assistant can handle everything from travel arrangements to tech support for $60 per month.”
Read the rest of Men’s Journal’s Change Your Life package here:
Make your hobby your livelihood
This article originally appeared in the January 2009 issue of Men’s Journal.
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January 12th, 2009 at 12:27 am
i did something similar. I spent nearly a year traveling as a transiant archaeologist or “shovelbum” from project to project with nothing but my dodge truck and triumph motorcycle and a sea bag full of cloths. working from montana down to the gulf of mexico in texas. The reason for this is that prior to my leaving, i had returned from a miserable deployment overseas with the Army NG, lost my mother to a suprise death, and had my fiance leave me. What saved me was as the author jim harrison called “escapeing the madness in the mountains” probably saved my sanity and enabled me to meet and love my wife, and find a since of peace.
Teddy Roosevelt said that the best thing a broken hearted young man can do is travel to a far away place and work at a job involving intense physical labor. i think he was right.
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February 1st, 2009 at 12:06 pm
It was very interesting to read. Can you give more details on this?
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February 9th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Thanks a lot for this. I will share this post with my friends.
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February 11th, 2009 at 1:27 am
Awesome Article I enjoyed reading it
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February 11th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
what a good read ! Thanks
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February 27th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Is nice to see some good articles like this one, thank you.
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March 26th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
It really is amazing that some things never change
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April 12th, 2009 at 3:53 am
Very well written. This is the kind of information that is useful to those want to increase their SERP’s. Keep up the good work.
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May 31st, 2009 at 2:18 am
True Nomad - awesome!
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September 20th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
amazing work .. beautiful …
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October 23rd, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Для того чтобы острый вопрос задвинуть в задницу, его надо умело замылить), у вас это возможно и получается.
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December 11th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Hi, I have a website but I think it’s inactive. I am looking for some info. on how to trade my 2008 ford focus for the best vehicle to travel the states and live/sleep. What do you recommend?
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February 9th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
An excellent article that will surely inspire men who feel “stuck” to try something different. Well done, Chris!
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February 9th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Well written and has to motivate men who feel stuck to try something different. Well done, Chris!
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February 9th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
This should motivate those men who feel stuck but have a sense of adventure. A lesson here is that one can do with less, and often be happier! Well written, Chris!
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