Couple’s Decade of ‘Full-Timing It’
Was Their Dream Come True
By Martha Slater

David and Lori Peirce of Rochester and their trusty Airstream, which is their home a good part of the year. (Herald / Martha Slater)

For 10 years, David and Lori Peirce, who now live high atop a hill in Randolph, lived out their dream of traveling around the U.S. in an Airstream trailer.

The couple raised their children, who are now grown, in Keene, N.H. Their son, Kevin, lives in Colorado Springs, Colo. and their daughter, Kory Hirak and her husband, Joe, work at Vermont Technical College and have two kids, Kathryn, 9, and Alex, almost 8.

"The reason we ended up in Randolph was to be near our grandchildren," David explained. "Before we actually settled here, we would spend at least a month here every summer. One of the other things that attracted me to Vermont was the political climate of the state."

What made them hit the road in the first place?

"We had never been camping and we had a big, old Victorian house, but we found our lives were getting too complicated, and we both had high-pressure jobs," Lori explained.

Lori, who is an RN, had become head of clinical operations for the big mental health center in Keene, and Dave operated a major appliance sales and service business he had founded there.

"We were both around 50, our kids were grown, and I was traveling a lot for work," Lori continued. "We had bought David’s parents’ Airstream trailer and took short trips in it and discovered that we both loved it."

"We’d come home at the end of the day and sit out in the Airstream in our yard," David recalled. "One day, we just said, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to just take off for a few years and travel?’"

A couple of years later, David had an opportunity to sell his business.

"We rented out the house, but didn’t sell it, because what if we didn’t like traveling after all?" Lori continued. They did eventually sell it in 1999.

In 1997, they became full-time travelers.

"We didn’t have any formal itinerary, but one idea we had was to go to Alaska," Lori said. "We just wanted to travel and see everything. David’s folks were still living in Florida and we’d spend a month at a time with various people in the family."

During the decade they lived on the road, their RV travels took them to 48 states. Their Airstream was pulled by a green Ford 350 crew-cab pickup truck, dubbed "Sara" because they bought "her" in Sarasota. The Airstream sitting next to their Randolph home is actually their second one. The first 34-ft. one was ruined in a hailstorm in Texas in March 2000.

The trailer has solar panels, a generator and inverter, so it’s quite self-sufficient, except for laundry facilities. The couple shared the driving and domestic chores.

"We didn’t have a washer and dryer, but we didn’t have to pay property taxes, either!" David quipped. They camped at state and national parks, RV parks, rest stops and family yards, etc. They also spent five years hosting at a camp at Buffalo Bill State Park in Cody, Wyo.

"It’s a wonderful lifestyle, but it’s not for everyone!" Lori said with a laugh.

"Both people have to want to do it or it just won’t work for you," David added.

"When you begin, you travel like you were on vacation," Lori said. "It took me a good two years to realize I could take my time and explore an area because we weren’t on a timetable."

One thing the couple re-discovered was their faith in their fellow human beings.

"We got out of the habit of watching the news on a regular basis, because we didn’t need the stress," David said, "and we met so many good people wherever we went."

Lori noted that, "When we started to travel, we found that people were exceptionally kind and helpful. In 10 years, we never had a negative experience related to people."

The two relate a couple of stories to illustrate this.

"One time in late fall, we were in a gift shop at Yosemite National park in California and started to chat with a woman there," Lori recalled. "She worked at the San Diego Zoo and suggested that we call her if we got down that way. About a month later we did, and she took us for a behind-the-scenes tour, got us free tickets and everything, all because we spoke with her in a gift shop."

"Another time," David continued, "We were at an Elks Club RV park in northern California and they had a cook-your-own steak night. We got to talking with another couple who had a motor home parked there and it turned out they were from Fresno, where we were headed next, because that’s the town we were married in. They invited us to park on their property, even though they weren’t going to be home. Their tenants showed us where to park and gave us the keys to a car to use, since our truck needed to be repaired—and we’d only met and talked with them for a couple of hours before!"

"We got to know the country really well and it was a lot of fun, but we decided last year to come in off the road," David explained.

"David is 68 and I’m 65 and we’re in pretty good health right now," Lori continued, "but we’d been talking about getting old and it was time to establish a home base. We decided we wanted to spend time with our grandkids."

The Peirces have fallen in love with the Randolph community.

"We really like the fact that it has an active downtown. There’s so much variety here and so much to do," observed David, who works part-time at the Montague Golf Course.

The two say they are more than willing to speak with anyone who would like more information about what they need to know about being a full-time RV-er. You can call them at 728-3386.

The Peirces like to quote what Mark Twain said in his classic "Innocents Abroad," written in 1869.

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely," Twain wrote. "Broad, wholesome, charitable views cannot be acquired by vegetating in one’s little corner of the Earth."

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