Life is short. Take Risks. Make each day meaningful. Think Outside the Box. Sometimes it’s just takes a little creative thinking.

Hey, Y’all !  Thanks for taking the time to stop in.  Here’s a tiny chapter of our story as it relates to TwoScruffyNomads.

Karole (Sessums) began living full time, and running her web design agency, from her little Chinook motorhome full time about 7 years ago after a big unexpected life change at the exciting age of 50!  It was exactly as she had hoped and life was grand. Friends told her for years that they lived vicariously hearing about her unconventional life that she had carved out for herself and that she really should start a travel blog so they could follow her adventures. So it took a while, but it looks like the “blog” is finally becoming a reality.

In August of 2015, after 3 years of a few mutual friends telling both Karole & Lisa (Trentham) that they were kindred spirits and really should meet, it happened. Karole was swinging through Birmingham, AL after a summer of backpacking in Wyoming and Montana, and Lisa asked her to join her for a Salmon burger at Baha Burger!  The rest is history.  Sometimes friends are spot on. And theirs definitely had been!

The day they met, Lisa’s Subaru was packed and literally leaving that day, with her vintage 67 Shasta in tow, to move back to her native neck of the woods, Knoxville, TN and the Smoky Mountains.  After a few months and lots of communicating, the Chinook followed its heart and landed in Scruffy City (Knoxville) with Lisa!  Lisa had already made a plan to begin working from the road taking travel OT assignments, but there was a job opportunity that she felt she needed to take in Knoxville before living as a full time nomad !  So the next 20 months in Knoxville were filled with lots of fun days and time for Lisa to continue her downsizing for tiny living in the Chinook.  Her beautiful little Shasta had to find a new home, lots of stuff was sold, and Lisa went from her 1500 sq. ft. home (now rented) to a 650 Sq. ft. loft in knoxville’s hip downtown district for the next 12 months.

Then 650 sq. feet became a living space measuring about 17 ft. x 8 ft. ! In January, 2017, the two made their move into the 21 ft. Chinook and parked in the front yard of a sweet friend’s home near downtown knoxville for the next 5 months leading up to their planned departure. (Well, there was one late Spring house/cat sitting gig for a month for other friends thrown in as well ! )

So by now, I think you have the picture.  I’m sure more of this story will come out in some of our future blog posts!  Here’s a little more background on both Karole & Lisa.

Karole Sessums grew up with her grandparents and two brothers in a small town in Mississippi and is a lifelong traveler and lover of the outdoors.  Although her adult life began with a B.S. in Nursing and an early career in Labor & Delivery, she has had a lifetime of re-inventing herself decade by decade by doing the things she loves … from backpacking, to living on her bicycle around the country, to performing as a singer-songwriter around the Southeast.  After many years of self-employment in the fine art and design fields, for the past 8 years she has owned her own web design agency, the Lola Agency, which she lovingly calls HappyGoLola.com. A mobile agency based in her small Chinook Motorhome,  her client base spans coast to coast, but her creative designs are rendered anywhere there is fast wi-fi, good company, and a comfy chair!

 

Lisa Trentham grew up in her family- owned Motel, the East Side Motel, in Gatlinburg, TN. Inspired by the vast diversity of fascinating people, whom she got to know and love via their annual vacations to the Smoky Mts, Lisa found a deep love for storytelling, photography, and documenting the importance of everyday life.  With the Smoky Mts. as her backyard, her love for nature, adventure and the outdoors began early on. Her most recent travels include bicycling New Zealand and a 250-mile pilgrimmage on the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain.  Lisa holds degress in both Psychology and Occupational Therapy and has worked as an OT in diverse practice areas for the past 19 years.  Living full-time in a 21’ ft. Chinook RV, Lisa has found the ideal live/work balance as a traveling OT and a fulltime adventurer. Regardless of where her gypsy spirit leads, Lisa always carries with her a deep love of family, friends and East Tennessee roots. And if you ever forget lyrics to just about any song out there …  just ask Lisa.