I can’t recall exactly when it was that Mark and I first came across Peter Holcombe’s photography, though I can tell you that I remember it making an impression on us. It was likely sometime in 2006 or 2007, Peter was a well-established wedding photographer based in Boulder, Colorado and Mark and I were up and coming wedding photographers, working tirelessly to establish ourselves in the same market. We saw Peter as the kind of photographer that we aspired to become.
Fast forward over a decade later and Peter’s name appeared in my YouTube feed. Intrigued by the vanlife-themed thumbnail, I went to his website and learned that in 2014 him, his wife Kathy, and their daughter Abby (10 years old at the time) sold their home in Boulder and began traveling full-time in an RV. Peter eventually transitioned out of wedding & portrait photography and into lifestyle & travel photography so that they could travel the world. Once again, this person whom we’d never met, was the embodiment of a life we were aspiring to.
Since then, Peter & Kathy have driven their van to all 50 states plus 6 Canadian Provinces, and that was just the beginning. In 2019 they shipped their Winnebago Revel van to Europe and spent 6 months visiting 20 countries. Currently they are in South America, well in to their Pan-America highway journey from Deadhorse, Alaska to Ushuaia at the very tip of Argentina.
I was over the moon when Peter & Kathy agreed to do an interview with us. Not only did I feel as though their contribution would be an awesome addition to our interview series, it was also an excuse to finally make a real-life connection with this person whom we’ve long admired. After reading their responses, I could feel enthusiasm for the vehicle-based travel lifestyle coursing through my veins, their story is that inspiring and impactful. I hope you enjoy this look into Peter & Kathy’s unique lifestyle as much as I did.
Your travel resume is impressive. You drove to all 50 states and 6 Canadian Provinces before shipping your van to Europe and visiting 20 different countries. You’re now deep into your Pan-America highway journey that will end up spanning the length of both North and South AMerica. What motivates you to spend your life in motion, behind the wheel?
Peter and I met in 1995 and went on our first road trip together two weeks later. A love of exploration and travel was one of the things that we immediately connected on, and something that we have always enjoyed doing together. In fact, we designed our lives so that we could maximize the time we had on the road, and at some point we realized if we sold our house, that we could become full-time nomads. So in 2014, we listed our house for sale and bought a Winnebago, and have been on the road ever since. We thought we would travel for a year, and then settle back into a “normal” life. But that one crazy year proved to be one of the most amazing of our lives. One year became two, and now, here we are on our 10th year on the road. As far as motivation to keep going, that has been easy. Once North America started feeling small, we set our sights on exploring the whole world. There are so many new places to experience and discover, and honestly our travel list just keeps getting longer. In 2023, we dedicated the next two years to driving the Pan-American, from the top of North America in Deadhorse, AK all the way to the bottom of South America in Ushuaia, Argentina. We now realize you could spend a decade or more just in Central and South America. There is never enough time to see and do everything, but we are giving it our best effort to experience as much as possible in the time that we have, and that motivates us to get up every day and make the best of it, wherever we are. We just crossed the border into our 35th country. Our motto is “today’s the day’!
In 2014 you moved on to the road full-time with your then 10 year old daughter. Could you share some of the ways your mobile lifestyle shaped the adult she has become?
Honestly, we were super concerned with how our radical change in lifestyle would affect Abby, and it was the variable that we deliberated on the most before selling our house and hitting the road. At the time, there weren’t many families traveling full time, and online school options were few and far between. But in hindsight, we needn’t have worried. Traveling the world has given our daughter not only an incredible education, but also a deep appreciation and empathy for the people and cultures of the world. She has experienced firsthand the geology, geography, culture and history of places that most people have only read about. She is a fantastic writer who has chronicled her adventures on her Instagram channel, @adventurous.miss, since she was 11, and is a regular contributor to WinnebagoLife.com.
Along the way, Abby also inherited a lifelong passion for kayaking. Initially, we selected our destinations based on whitewater kayaking, because that is what Peter and I loved the most. And, as luck would have it, we were traveling roughly the same trajectory as most of the professional kayakers in North America. This provided opportunities for our daughter to regularly kayak with some of the best paddlers in the world. Professional paddlers are so humble and generous with their time, and welcomed us into their fold immediately. Because of this, Abby grew up being nurtured throughout her formative years by the best of the best. It would be comparable to Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods, allowing a 10 year old kid to tag along for most of their training season and coaching them along the way. Very quickly, Abby began to excel at kayaking and a passion for the sport ignited and continues to burn brightly to this day.
What we didn’t realize was that just spending time with the best of the best, was planting seeds that she too could become one of the best kayakers in the world. Watching the worlds best athletes, taught our daughter discipline, technique, and most importantly to believe that it was possible to join their elite ranks herself. In 2019 and 2021, our daughter Abby, qualified as one of three junior women to represent the United States of America at the Freestyle Kayak World Championships, and became the Junior Women Freestyle Kayak World Champion in 2022 at the age of 18.
Now, she is 20 years old and is pursuing a career as a professional athlete, with the goal of closing the gender gap between the men and women in her sport. She is currently training hard with the goal of making the podium as a senior at the upcoming World Championships in Germany next summer. Beyond kayaking, she is a brand ambassador for Winnebago RVs, and GoPro Mountain Games Ambassador in Vail, CO. Without those formative years spent kayaking with her kayak heroes, and traveling the world, I don’t think she would have reached her full potential as an athlete, or developed a passion to travel and pursue excellence in her sport. By watching us dream big and relentlessly pursue our passions, Abby realized that she too could set outrageously huge goals and charge ahead in pursuit of the seemingly impossible. And we couldn’t be more proud of her passion, drive and work ethic!
After 10 years of full-time travel, what would you say are some of the key ingredients to making this lifestyle sustainable for the long-term?
There are several pivotal moments that have made this lifestyle work for us. The first was that we started this trip completely debt-free and with very few payments (only insurance and cellular bills). This allowed us to live and travel very inexpensively. We also had a regular source of income through our wedding and portrait photography business. Over the years, our business has morphed into commercial photography and content creation, but we still work full-time sharing the stories and images from our travels. You can follow our adventures on Instagram @PeterHolcombe or on YouTube @Famagogo.
What has full-time travel provided you that stationery living could not?
I think that comfort is the pathway to complacency. If you regularly do the same thing, it is easy to settle into a comfortable routine that can ultimately inhibit growth. If, on the other hand, you are constantly pulled and stretched into new circumstances, it keeps you learning and growing (whether you want to or not). For example, when we lived in Boulder, CO, sometimes I would drive home from work on autopilot and not even look at or appreciate the beautiful mountains the surrounded me every day. But when I am driving through a new area, or even a familiar one that I haven’t been to in a while, I can’t take my eyes off of the scenery, and I appreciate it so much more. The same is true of meeting new people or trying new food, etc. It heightens your senses and keeps you present in the moment. With effort, you can achieve the same awareness and appreciation in a routine environment, but it take a lot of discipline and intentionality to avoid settling into a fog of complacency. We are constantly in awe of the people and landscape that surrounds us. It keeps us present in the moment and expands our understanding of the world. While this constant state of learning and growth can sometimes prove exhausting, it is what we are most grateful for and the thing that keeps us forging ahead into the unknown.
What has surprised you about the full-time travel lifestyle?
I never dreamed that this would become our real life – I didn’t even know it was possible to live this way for over a decade. At the onset of this journey, we worried about all of the problems: bad people, lack of income, poor education for our daughter, etc. But we hadn’t even considered all of the beautiful people and places that we would experience along the way. One example (amongst thousands), was when we were traveling through Europe. We crossed into Norway and tried to get a SIM card for our phones (so that we could continue to work while abroad). The cost was quite high for foreigners, and was way out of our budget. The kind sales person at the store tried and tried to come up with a solution that would work within our meager budget. All of a sudden, his eyes lit up and he ran to the back room. He reappeared in a few minutes with a twinkle in his eye and a SIM card in his hand. He handed it to me and explained that he had unlimited data on his personal account and could add us to his account at no charge. AND, his card worked throughout all of the EU. He added us to his cell plan for the remaining four months that we were traveling in Europe and all he asked in return was that we enjoy our time in his country and to send him pictures and updates regularly. We were absolutely floored with his trust in us and his willingness to help complete strangers. Things like this happen to us all the time. The people we meet along our journey are the absolute best part of this lifestyle, and continue to amaze us with their kindness and generosity everywhere we go. We have seen firsthand the beauty of the people in the world, and hope that we can spread that light as we continue to make our way around the world ourselves.
What are some valuable lessons you’ve learned (either about yourself, travel, or the world) since pursuing this way of life?
Full-time travel, while extraordinarily wonderful, can also be challenging and exhausting. That same novelty that keeps you experiencing the world with fresh eyes, can also wear you out if you’re not careful. But I think the most important lesson that we’ve learned is resiliency. On the very first day of our Pan-American trip, we broke an axle on our Sprinter van…in Deadhorse, AK. The nearest Mercedes dealer was 800 miles away in Anchorage, and it would cost $6000 to tow us there. So we rolled up our sleeves, diagnosed the problem ourselves, and had the part flown up to us at the top of the world. Using YouTube as our teacher, we learned how to replace an axle in a dirt lot at the very top of North America. You see first-hand how we figured it out in this episode on our YouTube channel. The ability to calmly assess a disastrous situation, and come up with a feasible solution, has saved us time and again in our travels around the globe.
What do you do for a living? How do you fund your travels?
Peter is a commercial photographer who specializes in photographing vehicles and people in remote and dramatic environments. I am a writer for outdoor adventure and RV enthusiasts, and a regular contributor for WinnebagoLife.com. We are brand ambassadors for Winnebago, AgileOffRoad, Jackson Kayak, Kokatat and many other outdoor brands. We also have a YouTube Channel and Patreon @Famagogo. We have very few expenses beyond gas and food, and live a very simple life.
What is some advice you would give someone dreaming of full-time vehicle-based travel but is nervous to take the leap?
It is natural to feel nervous when you are facing a big change. We always recommend taking small steps toward a big goal. Go on a week long road trip, and then a month long trip. Test all your systems and make sure that you enjoy everything about it, and fix anything that you don’t like. Make sure that you are in a good place financially, by eliminating as much debt as possible, and be sure to have a small savings in reserve. If all systems are a go after all of that, then you are ready to take the leap and go for it. And just remember, the worst that can happen is that you don’t like it, and you return to normal life – nothing lost, nothing gained. The best thing that can happen is that you love it and you discover a whole new world. Either way, you never know until you try.
Top 3 favorite pieces of gear or tech that you couldn’t live without?
Starlink (this allows us to work from the road and continue to fund our adventures), Winnebago Revel (our home away from home that keeps us comfortable, safe and ready to charge every single day), and our cameras (Sony A7R4 with 70-200mm 2.8 lens, DJI Osmo and Mavic 3 Pro) and computers (Apple MacBook Pro) – without these tools, we couldn’t work from the road and share our adventure with YOU!
For someone new to your YouTube channel, where should they start? Do you have a favorite video you’d like to share?
I think the best place to start on our YouTube Channel is at the beginning of our PanAmerican Adventure in Deadhorse, AK. This was definitely one of the hardest weeks we have ever experienced (our dog died, our van broke leaving us stranded for almost a week, and we were super sick – seriously just like a country song). And that was before we ever got to the starting line of our greatest adventure yet. From there, things got even more beautiful, intense, and exciting (bear attacks, Mexican police escorts, emergency room visits, vehicle recoveries, and so much more). Here is a link to the beginning of the greatest road trip on earth.
What are you most excited about for the future?
We are currently in Chile and continuing south to Ushuaia. We have dreamt of exploring Patagonia for most of our adult lives, and now it is just over the horizon. Our daughter Abby will be here in a few weeks, and we plan to spend a good part of the summer exploring the Andes of Chile and Argentina. We will complete our Pan American adventure in May of 2025, and will ship the van somewhere at that point. There is a big wide world out there and where we go next is anyones guess. And that is the exciting part, dreaming about our next big adventure. We have six months to make a decision on which direction to head next. Until then, we are southbound til the end.
–Onward… The Holcombes!
When Peter & Kathy’s responses arrived in my inbox a few weeks back, I learned that while Kathy was writing what you just read, Peter was busy digging their van out of some deep mud on the world’s largest salt flat in Bolivia, 50 miles from the nearest road. I couldn’t help but smile, knowing that while in the moment that was likely not a fun experience, Peter & Kathy were simply adding another page to the book of their storied and adventurous lives. I cannot thank them both enough for taking the time to share with us. If you enjoyed getting to know them, please give them a follow on Instagram or subscribe to their channel on YouTube.
Find Peter & Kathy online at:
Website: Famagogo.com
YouTube: @famagogo
Instagram: @peterholcombe
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