When Kay and Andy Taylor retired in 2012, they bought a fifth wheel RV, sold all their possessions and, along with their two dogs, Harry and Fiona, hit the road.
Shucking any permanent address, they spent the next six years being nomads while traveling through states west of the Rockies. From volunteer gigs at wildlife refuges and national parks to 24-hour guard duty at a Texas oil field, they wholeheartedly embraced their nomadic lifestyle, meeting many others like themselves along the way. When they moved to lakeside in 2017, they sold their RV in Jocotepec, lived briefly in Chapala, then last month settled into their Ajijic casita.
“The 2016 November elections drove us to Mexico,” says Kay Taylor. “That’s when we felt we were done living in the U.S. Also, we reached a point where we got tired of living in 300 square feet of space. We were ready to rent a ‘real’ home in Mexico.”
During their travels, they spent three winters at Bosque Del Apache in New Mexico. Other stays included two winters at Arizona’s Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, a summer at Wyoming’s National Elk Refuge and a summer at Yellowstone National Park.
Adds Taylor, “We even spent one winter working as gate guards at an oil field outside Carrizo Springs, Texas. The money was too good to pass up.”
When not volunteering, a good part of those six years they spent traveling “just for fun” throughout the western United States and Mexico.
The Taylors hailed from Pennsylvania but left the state when they finally had enough of living among too many cars and people.
“Over six years, our commute to work, only 12 miles from our home, grew from 40 minutes to one and a half hours,” says Taylor. “The one stoplight on the two-lane road had to change ten times before we were able to pass through it to get to work near Allentown.”
In 1992 they called it quits, sold their home and took off for the small community of Parachute, Colorado. There, they both worked for many years at a hardware store in Telluride. During their time off, they engaged in their favorite pastime: — camping.
“All of our lives, Andy and I were tent campers,” says Taylor. “We switched to RV camping once we retired. We wanted the comfort of sleeping in a real bed.”
While the two were making plans to volunteer at wildlife refuges, they knew that they needed an RV in order to become volunteers. They bought their first fifth wheel camper in 2011, a year before Andy retired, and used it for vacations and weekend trips. Four years later they traded it for a motor home, allowing them a bit more leg room, with the added benefit of being able to drive together.
“Since we weren’t able to pull the fifth wheel behind our truck,” says Taylor, “I was the one having to drive it. Once we had the motor home, we could pull it behind our truck using a hitch. That allowed us to be together in the same vehicle on those long stretches of lonely highway – a big improvement.”
Their first volunteer gig was at Bosque Del Apache, a 57,000-acre bird refuge in San Antonio, New Mexico, along the Rio Grande. From November to February they volunteered in the visitor’s center answering phones and questions and signing guests up for tours and programs.
“Every winter, 100,000 snow geese arrive at Bosque Del Apache, joining up with the already 70,000 ducks and 20,000 sandhill cranes,” says Taylor. “The refuge draws thousands of tourists, especially birders. During one particular weekend, 20,000 visitors passed through just to see one rare bird.” During the winter the refuge can house up to 48 volunteers – 24 RVs.
“In between volunteer gigs, we would take breaks,” she says, “landing somewhere and staying a week here, a week there. Being avid birders, we’d often go birding from March to May in southeastern Arizona.”
The couple vacationed in Mexico for about eight years before making their move to lakeside. Their longest stay was six weeks in the Yucatan.
Says Taylor, “We did lots of research about Mexico before moving here. I wanted to live in Mazatlan, but realized that it was going to be too hot and humid, so, we chose lakeside. We like the quaintness of the Ajijic village. If we want our big city fix, we drive to Guadalajara.”
She continues: “We’d like get involved volunteering at lakeside but aren’t yet sure where to put our energies. With so many choices, how do we decide between animals, thrift shops, orphanages, aging seniors, or teaching English to Spanish speakers?”
Having put in many volunteer hours for so many years, the Taylors are taking it slow, allowing themselves all the time they need to decide what’s next. After all, that can do that — they’re retired!