5/19/2015 – We are Doug and Carolyn Lytle. We have been married since 1987 and have five children and seven grandchildren (as of September, 2020) all of whom hold a special place in our hearts. We retired in early April 2015 so that we could realize our long-held dream of a full-time lifestyle on the road.
We have lived in Tucson, AZ for the last 18 years. Carolyn held many Human Resources positions during her career and Doug was an engineer with a major aerospace company. Neither one of us has had any second thoughts about retiring. The last couple months of working were difficult due to the workload but we always had that light brightly shining at the end of the tunnel!
The log cabin photo was taken at Grand Teton National Park a few years ago. We were on a camping trip with Doug’s sister Beverly and her husband Barry. While we were exploring the area, we came upon this log cabin. The cabin is a historic landmark in a large open field with bison running free all around it, a sweet little stream running through the property and the amazing Tetons as a backyard view. The cabin itself has no floor, no doors, no windows and a questionable roof. We don’t know the exact square footage, but it couldn’t have been more than 200 square feet – all one room. No utilities. You can see the large chinks between the logs. We thought it would be a good joke to tell our children that we had found our perfect retirement home. We emailed lots of photos. We told them it needed a little work! They weren’t too happy about visiting us! We were just kidding, but just talking about retirement and pretending to live that close to the Tetons put those happy smiles on our faces.
A log cabin wasn’t really what we wanted then. We have been planning and dreaming about living on the road almost since we met. We can’t even remember when we first knew it was what we both wanted. It’s not just the RV that excites us – that will be our home and we are looking forward to purchasing one and outfitting it and getting used to it. But the real draw of our dream is spending time together exploring the beauty of this country – enjoying the treasures that have been preserved for us in state and national parks and monuments. We are looking forward to long stays in these parks. Instead of entertaining our family and friends in our home, we anticipate future gatherings at campgrounds around the country. We also want to give back and do our part as stewards of the land. We look forward to volunteering our time in the parks in whatever capacity we can help. Our children, grandchildren and many future generations should have the privilege of experiencing the majesty of America and we hope to participate in the conservation and preservation of this land we love.
A quote from a Japanese poet, Matsuo Basho, sums up how we wistful wanderers are approaching this next exciting phase of our lives:
“Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.” – Matsuo Basho