Freedom in a Can: Adventures with Hamlet

Happy Birthday RENOGY! This innovative solar company celebrates 15 years strong with a Huge Birthday Sale...use our CANLIFE promo code for extra savings! Our promo code is valid in the United States , Australia , Canada , and the UK . Founded by a very smart woman who was awarded a grant for a solar panel design while completing her PhD at LSU, RENOGY is celebrating their 15th year...and has expanded to 6 other countries! We rely on Renogy solar components to live, travel, and run our off-grid mobile business...EVERY SINGLE DAY. And have saved over $200K in camping fees since 2012! This California-based solar company has taken the off-grid industry by storm by making high quality, reliable components that work together seamlessly. Even with the huge tariffs as of late, RENOGY has managed to keep their prices affordable -- their motto of "Solar for All" still rings true! As solar educators, we've taught thousands of RV, boat, and off-grid cabin owners how to size and ...

We often tease that Canlife Correspondence is an Almost Monthly Newsletter. Sometimes we just have too much going on, too much to share, or are simply having too much fun to get it done by the end of the month -- and these past few weeks have been a combination of all 3!  Between helping Shari's parents and old friends with projects, diving into Hamlet maintenance projects while in "dry dock," and hanging out with good friends in our old stomping grounds in the Blue Ridge Mountains, we've had a whole lot going on this past month.  All of this to say, we finally sat down and got to writing.  We hope you enjoy this April-May issue... Stehekin: A Way Through Our friends, Jacob & Kara, run a beautiful farm near our "hometown" of Boone, NC.  Jacob has recently converted an old school bus into an adventure rig for his parents so that they can retire and have comfortable accommodations while traveling to and enjoying music festivals.  He reached out seeking our...

Scroll directly to the bottom if you are seeking tangible ways to make a difference!  If you are new to this information, please read the entire blog. If you've been following us for awhile, you know that educating and inspiring others to enjoy and learn about the natural world, living and traveling more sustainably, sharing our own story about making a huge life change , and bringing joy to others through visual imagery and storytelling are what keeps Freedom in a Can rolling down the road.   We try to keep negative news out of our posts as there is so much of that in other places. But, after the abuse of federal power that's been ravaging our democracy for the past couple of months AND flies in the face of nearly everything we stand for and value, we simply had to speak out about the random acts of reckless UN-kindness that are happening across our country right now!   The sweeping changes enacted by our current federal government are NOT acts of efficiency, t...

Nearly 25 years ago, we spent our short honeymoon on Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, the southernmost inhabited island along what most people consider the "Outer Banks."  Disembarking from the ferry, we were immediately welcomed by a wooden sign on Howard Street imploring us to "Drive Real, Real SLOW!"  It seemed to capture both our vacation goals after the frenetic pace of our wedding week, and the essence of this village post Labor Day.  We spent a few days with our rented 1-speed beach cruiser bikes (complete with handlebar basket) taking in what this small, sleepy island had to offer -- miles of undeveloped Atlantic beach, a few restaurants, the oldest lighthouse in North Carolina, an amazing coffee shop & bakery and the lowest of low-key vibes anywhere between Cape Cod and Biscayne Bay.  It was perfect.  Returning this spring, after such a long hiatus, we feared that perhaps change had swung its wrecking ball.  But, to our great joy, the small c...

"That's genius!" Hutch exclaims, "why haven't we done this before?" Every single day on the road for the past 12 years, 5 months, and 26 days, we have learned something new -- about ourselves, each other, our communities, our beautiful country, and how to make the everyday things we do just a little bit easier. It's just like any life, really, except ours moves around a bit more. Monday at this time, we were leaving a cute Air BnB above Blake's Tavern in Lil' Rhody and getting an Uber to go to the Providence airport.  Today, we are back in our normal habitat, sitting outside of Hamlet along a beautiful lake in an off-grid campground in central North Carolina with thousands of birds chattering away in the distance. The city is a mere 7 miles up the road, but it feels like a world away.   When we give in-person seminars at RV shows in various cities across the country, we meet people who are trying to absorb as much as they can before they even ...

From Furniture City to Rocket City - Finding Your Dream RV! What's an RV Show?  This was our first thought after being asked to speak at one in 2015.  We'd already been living in an RV for 2 years, but we had no idea what these shows were all about.  After a decade, they are now an integral part of our annual schedule.  If you'd have told me that we'd be traveling around the country sharing personal insights into our simple camping life, let alone making a living through it, I would've called you crazy.  S hari is nudging me to mention all the other side gigs and things that keep us afloat financially, including the blog writing, the videos, the product testing, and more -- but I digress.  It all began in Furniture City, with the Grand Rapids Camper, Travel, & RV Show in January 2015.   Seriously though, what is an RV Show?  Many of you joined us on this newsletter from the audience of one of our show seminars, but some of you might have ...