If you regularly watch YouTube videos of full-time RVers, chances are you’re familiar with the RV Odd Couple. In a sense, they’re vlogging stars in the RV world.
Sharing every aspect of life on the road, especially the hardships, is the focus of the videos they release. They never try to sugar-coat their experience to make it seem more glamorous than actual reality.
Now, the couple divulges their newest adventure. Is it really the end of the road for this full-time RV family?
Let’s find out!
The RV Odd Couple Calls It Quits
After three years on the road, the RV Odd Couple decided to make a huge life transition. They bought an older RV park in the northeast corner of Alabama called Thunder Canyon.
Purchasing the land allows them to fulfill a dream bigger than that of living a life of travel and adventure. They won’t be on the road but will continue to publish videos. The RV Odd Couple plan to share everything about Thunder Canyon and their new vision.
Who Is the RV Odd Couple?
John and Mercedes Condon are YouTube vloggers. They’ve been sharing their life as full-time RVers for the last three years.
Unlike many of the videos released by traveling nomads, John and Mercedes are entirely transparent. Early on, they decided to show all the ups and downs of RV life. From bad motorhome purchases to breakdowns to marital problems.
The RV Odd Couple have 162,000 subscribers to their YouTube channel. They feel a big part of their success is from being honest and open about their lives.
John and Mercedes are recovering alcoholics who have a strong faith in God. They don’t try to hide any of their personal beliefs. However, they understand they’ve lost some viewers along the way, possibly due to oversharing.
They’re a very likable couple, and the information they convey through their videos has undoubtedly helped many new or struggling RVers.
Why Did the RV Odd Couple Start RVing?
The reasons people give for getting into the full-time RV life are many. For the RV Odd Couple, it happened just after a tumultuous time in their life.
John, Mercedes, and their young daughter Sage lived in Florida, owning a beautiful home near the water. While everything appeared perfect and wonderful outside, the couple was actually on the brink of divorce.
After years of sobriety, both began drinking again. While Mercedes felt her drinking was manageable, John’s was much heavier. It became a problem. They decided to put their house up for sale, split the profits, and separate.
As John tells the story, his turning point came at the closing table while settling the sale of the house. He realized he was about to lose so much. John asked Mercedes to give him one more chance. While hesitant, she agreed, and they moved forward together.
To RV or Not to RV?
Having just gone through selling their home and most of their possessions, they hit a fairly minimal point in their life. While living in a small house Mercedes rented, John started watching videos of full-time RVers. He loved the idea! Mercedes, not so much.
Little by little, the couple began watching more people sharing their experiences on YouTube. While John’s idea involved boondocking, Mercedes wanted more of a glamping RV life. As she says, “I didn’t want to poop in a bucket!”
They binge-watched hours of videos seeing all the different ways of RVing. The couple agreed on the kind of motorhome that would work for them. Their first rig was a fifth wheel since they felt it provided the best type of living space.
Since Mercedes wasn’t comfortable with the idea of boondocking, they agreed to stay in parks and resorts. It worked for both of them. John fully enjoyed the RV life, while Mercedes still had a sense of “home.”
Adventure and Community
The RV Odd Couple looked to the RV life as a way of “pursuing freedom, independence, and adventure.” It would also allow them to spend quality time with their three-year-old daughter, Sage, showing her all the beautiful places in America.
Early in their RV experience, they decided to document their new life and share it with others. Their first video was about the mishaps of impulsively buying the fifth wheel (see “Buying Mistakes” on their channel).
They chose to show all the good, bad, and ugly of RV life from then on. Instead of making it seem like all “rainbows and butterflies,” they wanted to be honest and tell it like it really is.
In 2018, not long after they became nomads, they formed the RV Odd Squad, a community of supporters through their YouTube channel. This growing group of viewers supported their journey both financially and emotionally.
While on the road, their daughter Sage developed autism. After her diagnosis, John and Mercedes worked with specialists in Florida to help Sage with communication skills. After about a year, she appeared better, and the family began traveling again.
The RV Odd Couple loved everything about their adventurous life. While mishaps occurred, as they always do with RVs, they worked through the problems together. John and Mercedes thought becoming full-time RVers strengthened and enhanced their relationship.
But, in their own words, “all good things must come to an end.”
Why Is the RV Odd Couple Quitting RV Life?
So, if the RV life seemed so great for them, why are they quitting it? Fortunately, it doesn’t have to do with any misfortune or unhappiness in their lifestyle choice.
Instead, the reason involves following a grand vision John developed about a little over a year ago. He wanted to find a piece of land that could provide a safe space not only for their own family but also for their RV Odd Squad community.
At this same time, the entire country and the world were in shutdown mode. Fuel shortages and grocery supply chain backups forced the RV Odd Couple to reassess their life on the road. Everything seemed so uncertain.
Thunder Canyon
John and Mercedes felt finding land, where they could hunker down and feel safe with Sage, was of utmost importance. Almost immediately after deciding this was what they needed to do, Thunder Canyon appeared on their radar.
Located in Alabama, Thunder Canyon was an RV park in desperate need of maintenance. The RV Odd Couple purchased the land from an older couple who cherished the park. But the former owners could no longer give it the love it needed.
John, Mercedes, and Sage agreed they wanted to remain on the land, live in a house, and build a new life at Thunder Canyon. They’ve been in Alabama now for almost a year.
Their vision is to create a park for their RV Odd Squad to visit, learn about RV life, and feel safe from “the big storm coming our way.” This big storm refers to the uncertainty the RV Odd Couple experienced with supply shortages.
They do expect to travel again in the future, but only going out for maybe a month at a time. While their focus is changing, John and Mercedes will still offer support and publish videos to help new RVers. They just won’t be documenting their own travels.
From Uncertainty to Safety
The RV Odd Couple isn’t the only couple currently deciding if traveling is the right choice. As John says, he’d be “terrified to begin full-time RVing right now” with all the uncertainty in daily life.
Everyone has decisions to make, whether as RVers or just citizens on Earth. Making the right choices for yourself and your family is what’s critical, regardless of what anyone else thinks.
While the RV Odd Couple will be taking an extended break from traveling, they’re delighted to focus on their vision. We have no doubt they’ll succeed in making Thunder Canyon the safe space they envision.
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