In 2015, Ashley Kaye’s father died and she inherited her childhood residence in Waterford, Wisconsin. On the time, she was 27 years outdated, working in company healthcare and transitioning to a consulting job, the place she labored 80 to 100 hours every week.
“I labored from residence, so I simply walked from my bed room to my workplace to the kitchen and repeat,” Kaye, now 36, tells CNBC Make It. “I used to be a zombie in these occasions,”
Whereas touring, Kaye met somebody on a scuba diving journey in Honduras who helped her notice what she needed was to go away her profession behind and journey full-time.
“We simply hit it off and chatted the entire time I used to be there. We spoke in regards to the worst of the worst, the very best of the very best, and financials, too,” Kaye says.
“He instructed me he wished he had performed it sooner as a result of it is a lot simpler and cheaper than you assume. That modified the whole lot for me. I went residence and labored an increasing number of till I give up the subsequent yr.”
Since dwelling within the truck, Kaye has traveled to over 20 international locations.
Ashley Kaye
Kaye spent the subsequent three years touring throughout the covid-19 pandemic. Whereas on a visit to South Africa, she acquired sudden information that her aunt was unwell and she or he’d must fly again residence to Wisconsin.
“That flight was in all probability the second the place not a single ounce of my being was like ‘Yay, I am going residence.’ It was like, ‘I do not wish to be right here. This is not it for me.’,” she says. “I like being on the islands. I like having the ocean close to me. That took away the hesitation I had in earlier years about promoting the home.”
Whereas Kaye was again residence caring for her aunt, she ready her childhood residence on the market and thought of her subsequent transfer. She thought so much about making an attempt van life and dwelling and touring together with her canine.
“Touring by aircraft with a canine simply appeared like a horrible thought,” she says. “I do lots of pictures, so I knew I needed one thing the place I might attain harder locations.”
Whereas ready for the sale of her residence to shut, a pair reached out to Kaye on Instagram to ask about her time in South Africa. They shared their expertise overlanding in a Toyota truck with a camper within the truck mattress.
Overlanding is a type of self-reliant journey that entails adventuring to distant locations, sometimes in a car of some sort.
Kaye estimates she’s spent over $50,000 on renovations.
Ashley Kaye
After doing a little bit of her personal analysis, Kaye was all-in and bought a Toyota Tacoma truck for $42,934, in response to paperwork reviewed by CNBC Make It.
Kaye picked up the truck in South Dakota and drove it again to Wisconsin to complete packing up her residence when it formally bought in March 2023.
‘The plan is there isn’t any plan’
Now that her new residence was the truck, Kaye set off on her first journey: A drive all the way down to Baja California, Mexico. She stayed there for 3 months and deliberate out the renovations she would wish to make the truck extra livable.
“My life is sort of like ‘the plan is there isn’t any plan.’ Most individuals plan one of these journey for years. I did not also have a truck once I accepted the supply on my home,” she says. “It was very spur of the second, so I wanted to take a pause and determine issues out.”
Whereas dwelling in Mexico, Kaye discovered an American firm that made the truck mattress replacements that would supply exterior storage and make it simpler for her to reside and journey within the Toyota Tacoma. However, the set up could not occur till September.
Kaye took belongings from her childhood residence to make use of within the camper.
Ashley Kaye
Within the meantime, Kaye discovered as a lot as she might in regards to the truck and the sort of camper she would wish. She estimates that she has spent over $50,000 on the renovations.
Prices included buying a camper, including solar energy, changing the truck mattress, upgrading the suspension, new tires, customizing a bumper, and putting in an electrical cooler.
When the truck was prepared, Kaye determined to journey the Pan-American Freeway, beginning in Denver. The freeway stretches from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina.
“It is actually an unbelievable strategy to journey since you get to set your personal tempo and for those who discover someplace that is lovely and peaceable you may keep so long as you need,” Kaye says.
“However there’s professionals and cons to each mode of journey and lots of pink tape and logistics crossing borders. It may be exhausting, particularly if you’re alone. It’s important to discover a stability that works for you, however general, it is positively one of many coolest adventures of my lifetime.”
Kaye’s No. 1 lesson: ‘Life is simply too quick, so simply reside’
Since dwelling and touring within the truck full-time, Kaye has visited Mexico, each nation in Central America, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and elements of Argentina. In whole, she’s been to over 20 international locations up to now.
“I do not wish to be a cliché and say it is a dream life as a result of it is lots of work and there are lots of issues that it is advisable maintain and preserve,” she says.
“But it surely’s actually unbelievable to have the ability to get up and simply take a look at the map and say, ‘Ought to I am going sleep inside this volcano or go to the jungle or go to the seashore?’ You’ve got lots of actually lovely choices, so I am unable to actually complain.”
Ashley Kaye has been dwelling and touring in her Toyota truck since 2023.
Ashley Kaye
In any case this time on the street, Kaye says the most important lesson she’s discovered is that life is simply too quick.
“Ever since I began touring, [I learned] life is simply too quick. You do not have to go and give up your profession to journey the world however no matter your desires and targets are in life simply begin now and the whole lot else is simply determining a aim,” she says.
Kaye says when she was youthful, it was her dad who taught her that she was able to something.
“I grew up with my dad elevating me and telling me day by day ‘You will be something you need if you develop up and you are able to do something,'” she says. “He was 57 when he handed away, so he by no means even received to retire. His passing taught me the best way to reside life since you by no means understand how a lot time you could have in life.”
Kaye bought the Toyota Tacoma for $42,934.
Ashley Kaye
