Working away sanding the walls for her new cargo trailer home, Danyel is originally from Michigan. A warm, kind woman with an engaging smile and positive attitude, Danyel started her nomadic life two years ago when she was evicted. She and her son watched lots of Cheap RV Living videos and knew they wanted to live a nomadic life. Her parents had passed away in 2014 and 2016, and she knew she didn’t want to waste any more time being unhappy. Her son had never traveled and they decided to visit places they’d never been.
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After a trip to Home Depot, and armed with “no carpentry skills,” they constructed bunkbeds for the minivan and took off on their adventure. They lived in a state park, then Danyel got her first work camping job in Ohio. Her son enrolled in an online high school and graduated this year. Unfortunately, in May, and her second season of work camping, the engine went on her minivan. While her savings was not enough for the down payment on a cargo van, she was able to scrape enough together for one on a 2009 mini SUV.
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Through Cheap RV Living, Danyel learned about Home On Wheels Alliance (HOWA) and its mission to help nomads in need. She applied and was selected to receive the cargo trailer at the build-out event in Pahrump, Nevada. Overwhelmed to be selected, her next hurdle was to get to Nevada. She had a new tow hitch and tires installed on her mini SUV. Her son volunteered his savings for Danyel to travel to Nevada and back. She bought a tent. Friends pitched in money to help and her work camping job paid her for the full season although it was not up until November 1st.
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Once the build out of her beautiful tiny home is complete, she plans to hitch it up and return to pick up her son and dog. Then it’s back to the West to live her version of the nomadic dream.
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Post contribution by: Diana Hollenbeck
Danyel’s Nomadic Journey
A success story from the Nomad Emergency Fund
A request for assistance:
I’m 68, a f/t nomad for 6 yrs. presently in Santa Fe, NM. Three weeks ago I spent my emergency funds/savings of $1000. on getting my van fixed, I was down for 2 weeks. Attached is the labor bill, I tried to fix it myself and spent 400 dollars on replacing parts (it ended up as a bad electrical connection). Then I had a medical emergency last Friday.
The prostate operation I had a week ago started hemorrhaging and I drove myself to ER. They put a catheter in and let me go. I went to my surgeon’s office across the parking lot and blacked out in his office (shock from losing so much blood), I woke up back in ER (amb) and was admitted. That afternoon, I was back in surgery. I’m doing well now.
I have a specialist Dr. appt on Aug 21 in Albuquerque and I’m afraid of driving that distance b/c when I had the mech. problem, they told me how bad my tires are (I have no spare). Therefore, I’m requesting financial assistance to replace my tires. I’ve exhausted my financial resources and have no family to help. I hope that you are able to assist me.
Assistance prvided:
Dear Charmaine,
J

The nomad emergency fund in action
A recent success story from the nomad emergency fund.
Help requested:
Hello, My name is Karin. My husband and our kids have been living in our rv for almost a year. We are broken down in Florida with bad brake lines and a broken water pump. We are scheduled to be working at an Amazon fulfillment center in two weeks. We do not have the funds to get the repairs done. If we can’t get help to fix this we will have to give up our dream of living on the road with our family and become homeless. Please help us. We need a miracle.
Request filled:
Hi Charmaine, I just wanted to thank you all for your help getting our rv fixed. I can’t express how truly grateful we are. As soon as we start making money we definitely plan on giving back to HOWA. We have made it to Kentucky and settled into our campground. we are looking forward to working at the Amazon fulfillment center. Again, thank you. You were the miracle that helped us continue our dream of living on the road. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
-The Richards Family

HOWA’s Very First Photo Contest Winners 2019
Congratulations to the Winners of the Very First HOWA Photo Contest! We received so many wonderful photos and a big thank you to each of you that sent in photos for our consideration. Keep taking photos! There will be another opportunity to enter a photo contest at the 2020 RTRs!! See you then!
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