When we talk to people about this plan, we usually get variations of the same reaction. People assume we’re leaving for good. We hear comments like, “So I hear you’re leaving town soon,” or “Aren’t you going to miss KC?” We’ve mentioned this is the blog a few times, but given the reactions we get from people, clearly we have not emphasized it enough. So here it is:
We are not leaving Kansas City for good.
Let us repeat that. We are not leaving Kansas City for good.
Today we’re going to break down the plan using the age-old journalism questions: who, what, where, when, and how.
Who: It’s just the two of us. Our kids are staying here, although they are welcome to visit any time. Our friends and family are also welcome to visit any time.
What: We address the “what” more in-depth in the Nuts and Bolts of Nomading post, but in short, we both are able to work remotely, so we’re going to bounce back and forth between Kansas City and various tropical locations for a few months at a time.
Where: Due to my job being synchronous, I need to be available between the Pacific and Eastern time zones (although I will maintain a work clock on Central time to keep myself from going crazy with time zone conversions). That requires us to stay within North America, South America and entire Caribbean Basin. When we retire, we will be able to open our travels into Europe, Asia. Australia, etc.
When: As we mentioned in the Nuts and Bolts blog post, our plan begins in the fall of 2026 when our daughter goes to college. She has no idea where she wants to go to college and we are not going to rush her on that decision. What we choose to do that first year will depend on a variety of factors: where she goes to college, what her living situation is (dorm, apartment, house, roommates, etc.), and how independent she is at 18 years old.
After that, we will travel every 2-3 months, with summers and winter holidays in KC and also whenever we get the itch to see our friends and eat mediocre bbq (for good bbq, we will make a pit stop in Memphis 😊). This will allow us to see our family and Gene can still squeeze in semi-regular Cherry Bomb gigs.
Here is an example of what a year might look like for us:
Why: Short answer, because we can. Longer answer, see our very first blog post.
Hopefully this post helps to fill in some of the answers to questions you have. We will be doing a Frequently Asked Questions post soon, but this should help with the basics. See you guys next week!
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