Articles YouTube Gear Our Family Our Rig

Introducing: It's About Time Now

#rvlife #travel #trailer #scenery

2021-03-26

Early Retirement to Travel | Searching for Epic Landscapes

One of the wonderful things about the RV travel YouTube community is the ability to make new friends from around the world and stay in touch with each other through our videos, social media accounts, and livestreams.

It was through a livestream hosted by the McGuires On Tires that we have met Brad and Diana of It’s About Time Now. After raising 3 kids and “focusing on everything but [themselves]”, this newly early-retired couple has kindly agreed to share a bit about their story with us. If you aren’t already familiar with their channel, you ought to be. Their mix of informative how-to videos and interesting travel destinations showcase some real hidden gems in the US. Here is what they had to say:

The Story

Tell us all about who you are!

We are Brad and Diana. We met in high school and have been married over 40 years. We retired early in 2019, Brad after 23 years in the U.S. Coast Guard and over 10 years with local government, and Diana with 20 years in local government to travel with our 2 Australian Shepherds, Sapphire and SeAnna.

Tell us the story of how you found and chose your rig.

We have had several rigs; we started with a 25 foot Travel Trailer, but got tired of hitching and unhitching. After that, we moved up to a small Class C which we found to be more maneuverable and better on gas. It was really nice when we stopped that we didn’t have to get out of the rig to get a drink or use the bathroom. We put over 30,000 miles on that one traveling across the US before Covid. Recently, we upgraded to a larger Class C, and now have the ability to tow our Jeep with us.

What’s your travel style?

We like to call ourselves anytimers; we have a “sticks and bricks” in Florida as our home base. We travel fairly quickly and usually spend 1-3 days in any location, but have extended our stays to 5-10 on occasion. We hope with the addition of our larger rig and having a Tow vehicle now that most of our stays will be longer not shorter.  We like to travel between 250-350 miles max per day. We really aim to meet the 330 rule. (300 miles and off the road by 3:30 pm)

What are the top 3 favorite places that you’ve visited?

#1: Yellowstone was huge for us! Its diversity of landscaping and beauty of nature was awe inspiring for us. This should be on everyone's list with its geysers, prairies, mountains and waterfalls to name a few of the many features this park has to offer.

#2: PNW – Washington State, the Olympic National Park and Ruby Beach! This area has so much natural beauty to offer from the rugged coast line to the evergreen forests, snow capped mountains, and many waterfalls.

#3: The Badlands because of the openness of the country and its topography was awe inspiring. Its dramatic landscape has canyons and layered spires as well as grasslands.

Tell us about one of your most challenging travel or RVing experiences.

At the start of our 2019 Trip Across the USA, our Class C RV suffered a major failure of the Body Control Module and about left us stranded far from home, we spent many hours at a Ford Dealership with our 2 Australian Shepherds, when repaired it ended up costing $1500.

In what way has the pandemic impacted your activities?

As travelers, our 2020 planned trip to Utah did not happen, so we spent that time closer to home exploring our state.

The channel

What sparked your decision to start a YouTube travel channel?

We started our channel, as many do, to record our adventures for our family to see.

Are there any other YouTubers that inspired your decision to start a channel?

We found several of the larger channels inspiring including, Less Junk More Journey, Drivin and Vibin, Gone with the Wynns,etc.

What are some of the most rewarding parts of having a YouTube travel channel?

YouTube has been a great place to meet new friends as well as a way to learn new things and share experiences. It has been amazing to see the community support one another.

What are some of the most challenging parts of having a YouTube travel channel?

Learning to operate new programs and having glitches with technology. Trying to figure out YouTube algorithms and understand Keywords and other programs and apps to assist.

How many videos per week do you typically publish?

Typically just 1, but we have added a short or two to the mix on some weeks; we also have begun doing some livestreams.

What is some of your favorite equipment (cameras, microphones, drones, etc.) for producing videos?

GoPro8 is our newest equipment that we are using and getting great results from. In addition we also have 2 DSLR cameras that we use (Canon and Nikon)  We also have a DJI Mavic Air Drone and we tend to use our iPhones as well.

Learn More

Intro Video:

Brad and Diana have nurtured and grown a YouTube community of over 1000 people - a very impressive accomplishment in the travel vlogger world. If you would like to learn more about this wonderful couple and see some of their videos, photos, and stories, check out the links below:

Until next time, keep on living the life you imagined,

Mel, Jay & Benny

west Next | Index | Previous east
Subscribe
Sign up and never miss out on the latest videos!