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Mom, Dad & 3 Boys Traveling USA in RV for 2+ Years!


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Like so many American families, the Bacons were running the rat race, constantly going and hardly spending time together as a family. That’s when they decided to sell most of their belongings, buy a fifth-wheel, renovate it, and travel the country!

To date, they’ve been to 35 different states over the past two years (see more @baconsontheroad). Despite being a family with three young sons, the interior of the home is mostly white and “farmhouse-inspired” (but, of course, everything is washable!). The boys share a “bunkhouse” and it’s pretty awesome.

We got to interview mom, Mallory, and you can read the Q&A below! She even talks about how they tried out living in a house for a month not too long ago, and discovered they missed living tiny… How cool!

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35 States & Counting! Bacons on the Road in 5th Wheel RV

The adorable family in front of their fifth wheel.

Here’s the main living area.

I like their rack in the entryway.

View from the bedroom to the rest of the house.

They have a great countertop!

White and bright cabinets keep the place feeling open.

I like the little herb pictures.

The vanity is in the Master Bedroom.

In love with their sunny yellow blanket.

One corner of the boys’ room.

The boys’ dressers.

The two older boys have awesome bunks.

Love the kids’ artwork decorating the walls.

Corrugated metal shower!

That sign haha!

VIDEO: Trailer Traveling – U.S.A.

Interview with Mallory:

What are your name(s)?

The Bacon Family (Wesley, Mallory, Josiah (6), Daniel (4), Caleb (3)

How long have you lived tiny?

Since April 2019

What do you do for work? Or do you travel full-time?

We travel fulltime and work remotely. Wesley does coaching and product research for people looking to launch products on Amazon. We also have a product on Amazon, ourselves!

What are you hoping to get out of living tiny/small?

We wanted to get out of the “rat race.” We were always so busy and had such limited time together as a family. We wanted to own less so we could experience more together!

Describe your decorating style and philosophy.

Even though we have three boys, we have a lot of whites and light color. Everything we have is washable. 🙂 I would say the style is most close to modern farmhouse. We wanted light colors to open up the tiny space. Because we do have kids, we have a lot of artwork on the walls, schooling things, etc. We allow them to hang things on the walls because this is our home after all! 🙂

What inspired you to choose an RV (rather than say a tiny house or a bus)?

We wanted to travel. We have visited 35 states in the past 2 years!

How did you acquire your home? Did you do a lot of renovations?

We found our fifth wheel trailer (RV) on Facebook Marketplace. We renovated the entire thing, but the most extensive part of the renovation was the bunkhouse for the boys, which we completely gutted and redid.

What are bills/utilities like compared to before?

The trailer is paid off, so we have no mortgage. Campgrounds on average are between $25 and $40 per night. But we also do a lot of free camping (boondocking/dry camping) when we are out west. We usually spend about half the year free camping, which means we have next to no expenses for utilities. We have an extensive solar set up, so we don’t need electricity hook ups. We really prefer this type of camping to campgrounds, but we still spend about half the year at campgrounds. So obviously we spend more during those months.

Before going tiny, what was life like?

Life was so busy for us. The weeks were crazy with work and the weekends were crazy with other commitments. It was exhausting!

Is there anything from your old life that you miss?

Honestly, not much at all. The only thing we miss is being closer to family!

What benefits are you experiencing after going tiny?

Our kids are super flexible and less attached to “things,” especially toys. We have all grown closer as a family (we get to spend everyday together!). And we’ve been able to explore our beautiful country!

What about some challenges?

There are plenty of challenges that come with sharing such a small space. One obvious one being, it’s hard to find time alone/enjoy personal space. We also tend to trip over each other frequently — especially if the kids are playing with something on the ground! Ha. We have also had some challenges on and off with the boys sharing a bedroom and waking each other up from time to time. And as we have three little boys, they get a little wild from time to time. We try to send them outside as much as possible, but sometimes they get pretty wild inside too and it can be a little much, to say the least… haha!

Have you dealt with any push-back from friends and family about your choice to live tiny? How do you respond?

Honestly, everyone was pretty supportive overall. But we went into this with the mindset that this was our family’s choice and that it wasn’t our responsibility as to whether or not our family and friends chose to be supportive. Everyone had a lot of questions at first, but thankfully the overall response was good!

What makes your tiny home special?

I think anytime you put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into something, it really holds an extra special place in your heart. That’s how we feel about the trailer, since everything was reno’ed according to our needs. We also have seen so many amazing places and experienced so many things together as a family through living tiny. So we definitely think it’s special!

What is your favorite part of your tiny home?

The bunkhouse is our favorite. The space is only 8×8 (there are no “slide-outs”) so we really had to be creative when we rebuilt it. I (Mallory) also love the wallpaper because I feel like it embodies our full-time camping adventures!

What helpful advice would you give to others interested in going tiny?

If it’s something you’re interested in and passionate about, just go for it… and start soon! Going tiny takes a lot of work and if you don’t go all in from the get-go, it might never happen. For us, we sold/donated a majority of our possessions (including the sale of our house) and it was a pretty emotionally stressful time. It took a LOT of work and dedication to downsize and make it all happen. But it has been SO worth it!

Anything I didn’t ask about that we should know?

Earlier this year, we felt that we were at a crossroads and decided to pause our travels and rent a small house for a month. While it was nice to have unlimited laundry and a dishwasher, we realized that we missed living tiny SO much. Being in the house was honestly a bit overwhelming after being tiny for so long. A lot of people don’t understand how we can all stand to live together in such a small space and as mentioned earlier, it does have its challenges. But especially after our “trial run” with the rental house, we truly can’t imagine life any other way right now. Needless to say, we were incredibly happy to get back to our trailer after the house rental! But we are still glad we stepped away from tiny living for a short while because it gave us the clarification that we needed: that we love tiny living and that this is what’s right for our family right now.

Learn More:

Related Stories:

Our big thanks to Mallory for sharing! 🙏

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Natalie C. McKee

Natalie C. McKee is a contributor for Tiny House Talk and the Tiny House Newsletter. She's a wife, and mama of three little kids. She and her family are homesteaders with sheep, goats, chickens, ducks and quail on their happy little acre.

Latest posts by Natalie C. McKee (see all)

{ 9 comments… add one }
  • Linda Baker
    May 25, 2021, 5:44 pm

    Thank goodness for slide outs! The white interior is great and love the shower and boys room! Schooling remotely is what everyone was doing for awhile, so no big deal – togetherness is a real treat or can be really hard but it looks like a treat to me.

    • Natalie C. McKee
      May 28, 2021, 3:04 pm

      Yes I think remote schooling is going to stick around for many families even when schools go back to in-person learning fully. It works well for some (and not-so-well for plenty others).

      • James D.
        May 29, 2021, 1:48 am

        Well, the problem is there’s a proper way to do it but “plenty” are just doing it wrong… The teachers aren’t being trained to provide remote lessons, there’s no support structure being established to ensure the kids can do the lessons, especially in poor neighborhoods where the parents may not even be able to give their kids Internet access, over reliance on remote teaching instead of in-home resources, etc.

        Never mind it doesn’t solve the issue of parents who need to go to work but are stuck home, without good income that’s simply unsustainable as parents have to choose between feeding their kids and getting them an education…

        It’s quite literally a mess and there doesn’t appear to be any organized effort to change it, there’s even teachers who refuse to work remotely, which just leaves getting kids back to school as the only real answer unless a lot changes…

  • Melissa Robinson
    May 25, 2021, 11:15 pm

    I really enjoyed seeing the Bacon’s RV and reading the Q&A but I must admit, the sign over their toilet stole this show! I took a screenshot of it and emailed it to my mom. I told her she needed to get a sign like this to put in the bathroom she shares with my dad. I’m a mom to 1 young woman age 22 & 2 young men ages 19 & 21 but, I clearly remember their toddler & little boy potty stages like it was yesterday. Little boys as well as elderly men all need the “aim & shoot” support!

    Great sign, wonderfully decorated RV, and beautiful family Mallory! Thanks for the Q&A Natalie!

    • Natalie C. McKee
      May 28, 2021, 3:02 pm

      My boys are currently two and new, but I am sure I will come to appreciate that sign soon LOL!

      • Sgmapss
        June 20, 2021, 4:08 pm

        Any household that has males in it, whether adults or children, absolutely needs one of those signs. Wish I had had one of those during the years & would love to have one now for when the adult kids visit.

  • Theresa Perdue
    June 10, 2021, 11:51 am

    What a beautiful home. And I too love the sign😍
    But I think my favorite part was the little video with their son. He is absolutely adorable❣

    • Natalie C. McKee
      June 12, 2021, 5:48 am

      Right? So precious!

  • RV NUT
    June 20, 2021, 9:28 am

    Very cool and smart renovation.

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