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Concord, NH This Weekend!

| jamiefeinberg

Hello, New Hampshire friends! (Other friends, hello to you as well!)

We just wanted to send out a quick note to make sure you know we’re back in New Hampshire for a few weeks. We’re teaching and performing a lot while we’re here, but the most exciting weekend is THIS weekend, where we are in Concord for three days in a row!

On Friday, September 29, you can see Ross and I sing and play at the Hatbox Theatre in Concord. It promises to be a fun and silly event – and you’ll get a free double album with your ticket purchase. How awesome is that?

On Saturday, September 30 and Sunday, October 1, I’m accompanying the phenomenal actress and singer Jocelyn Duford in Jocelyn’s ABC: Adult Broadway Cabaret. It’s recommended for ages 12 & up due to some adult language; and trust me, you’ll love it, whether you love musical theater, hate it, or don’t really care either way! It’s a show you won’t forget.

Jamie is also performing in downtown Concord as a part of the Piano Project from 9:30-11:30 AM. Stop by if you’re around, it should be very fun. At the Capitol Commons building.

Thanks for reading, and we hope to see some of you soon!

Choosing Our Next StepsĀ 

| jamiefeinberg

It’s mid-August already. Can you believe it? We are in shock at how quickly the summer has flown by. But everything they say about time flying is pretty true, in our experience.

And there isn’t much we can do about that. But we can be deliberate with the time we have. Some people work extraordinarily hard to save so they can retire early. Or just retire someday. And we respect that. But since we haven’t found lucrative gigs that excite us and make us want to wake up every morning, our approach is to make the most of our time by seeking adventures and pursuing our passions to the fullest. It’s so hard. And we still have to do the boring stuff, like laundry and battling ants. But we’re incredibly blessed to be doing what we are doing, and we are thankful for it every day. So the adventure continues.

We’ve reached that time in the season where we are being asked to decide if we are coming back next summer. And boy, are we on the fence! This place is seriously amazing. Our bosses and co-workers are awesome (even with a few good friends no longer here) and these jobs offer us creativity, flexibility and fun in a way that basically can’t be beat. 

But there are downsides to staying, of course. We’ve done the sight-seeing thing, so year 2 we won’t really have anything new to explore within an hour’s drive. Even more of our friends won’t be back, although we will meet new people of course. And while being on the beach is awesome, we still have lots of this country to see, and May – early September is a big time commitment. 

But there are some serious positives here, and we know that if we do decide to move on, we’d come back again in a heartbeat. It’s always nice to know there’s a place for us!

So what is next, you might be wondering? Well, we head back to NH for 4-6 weeks or so this fall. We will visit doctors, hopefully get our RV looked at by our favorite RV mechanics, visit family and do some performing and teaching. After that, it’s back to the Orlando area for the winter. We will return to the same RV park as this winter – it’s cheap and has nice people, even if the maintenance/cleanliness is not ideal – and hope to return to part-time work while we build our business. Oh, and Disney. We’re excited to see what Halloween and Christmas and the Food and Wine Festival look like at Disney World, and since our annual passes are good through mid-February, we will plan to stay until then. 

After that, we will see where the wind blows us! It could be the Outer Banks (in which case we would consider FL for another couple of months), or it could be New Mexico or Colorado, both high on our visit list. We’re currently reaching out to campgrounds and researching the cost of living in the places we’d like to land. And it seems likely that even if we return to the Outer Banks in 2018, we will be out west by the fall. 

Adulting is hard. Planning is hard. And we are so blessed to be making these choices. Thanks for reading and supporting what we do! And if you haven’t found us on Facebook yet, check it out! Ross and I are performing live every week or so now, so follow our page for the updates. 

Safe travels and have a wonderful day, wherever you are!

Accidents Happen

| jamiefeinberg

And sometimes they’re caused by construction companies.

For those of you who haven’t been seeing us in the national news, the islands in the Outer Banks that we are living and working on have been without power since Thursday thanks to an unfortunate construction mistake. Our campground has been running on generators ever since, and the KOA next door had to close due to sewage issues when the outage happened. Meanwhile an evacuation order was issued, but those currently on the island (even short-term visitors) can stay if they’re self-sufficient like most campers are.

So we’ve been making due with a generator and the best staff and management we could ask for. There’s still a beautiful beach, which we took advantage of until the ocean ate Ross’ glasses. But we will be back there and taking it easy while working to stay cool at a much emptier than usual campground. 

Today’s plan was to handwash our clothes, but the limited power that came back yesterday is enough to power our washers and dryers, so I am thanking the powers that be for modern technology!

I’m sure when all of this is behind us, I will have more insight and tips for dealing with situations like this. But for now we’re just taking it one day at a time. (Photo is of the almost empty beach at 8 a.m.)

Note to future folks – in an emergency here, T-Mobile is apparently Talk and text only. Luckily Ross has Verizon and the campground has internet!

Do you have any power outage tips? 

Summer on the Outer Banks

| jamiefeinberg

Ross and I are spending the summer on the Outer Banks in North Carolina. If you’re not already aware, this popular vacation destination is an extremely unique geographical phenomenon. It’s a series of very long islands, with the sound on one side and the beach on the other. From above, it looks like one very long and tiny landing strip.


We’ve been here since May 1, which has given us lots of time to explore these beautiful and still generally remote (if not entirely isolated) islands during our stay. 

We will continue to share our favorite must-dos for the area, but for today, I thought we could share our top 5 positives and negatives for our visit so far. 

Two Months In: The Best About Living On The Outer Banks

1. The beach is always a couple of minutes’ walk away. 

2. The sound (and its glorious sunsets) are always a couple of minutes’ walk away. 

3. There’s almost always a nice breeze. 

4. The pace of life is relaxed here as people do their best to enjoy themselves. 

5. Not relevant to all, but we have the best co-workers and management we could imagine. Also, wild horses! 

Two Months In: The Worst About Living On The Outer Banks 

1. Sand in everything, including your shoes and your bed. 

2. Worrying about hurricanes and other bad weather. 

3. Ditto the crazy wind sometimes, messing up activities and keeping you awake. 

4. Some of the people we interact with take for granted how lucky they are to be here and ask the impossible (fix the weather, etc.). 

5. There isn’t really a great downtown for when you want to get your city fix – Manteo is fun but small, and that’s about it!

Overall we highly recommend a visit to the Outer Banks. I’m sure we’ll have more thoughts to share soon. Thanks for following our crazy adventure! 

Settling Down in Davenport

| jamiefeinberg

Many of our New Hampshire (and other) friends believe that we’ve moved to Florida permanently. Not true! We may have settled in Florida for a few months, and we may have become “Florida residents”, at least by name, but we are still full of the travel bug and eager to keep exploring all this country has to offer. 

So why, you may be wondering, did we spend about three months in Davenport? We had a few major reasons. 

1) We were running out of money. When we originally planned this trip, we hoped we would be having significantly greater success booking along the road than we actually did. Our first few gigs didn’t come until Bisbee and Tucson, and neither paid much. Booking is hard work as it is, but when you’re still establishing yourself as an artist it’s even tougher. And despite contacting more than fifty churches, only 1 booked us to perform – and that was unpaid! So we’d been living off of savings and knew our savings were coming to an end. Staying still for two months (or three, as we ultimately decided to do) meant we could limit our gas expenses, pay a cheaper monthly rate ($430-$460/month plus electric in this case) and pick up part-time jobs to help us bridge the gap in our incomes. 

2) We decided to become Florida residents, which is a complicated proposition. From new bank accounts to a new “permanent” mailing address to registering vehicles, health insurance and voting, there’s a ton to do when you move to a new state, particularly if you’re self-employed. Since we plan to be on the road for at least another year, it made sense to become Florida residents. We won’t have to go back for annual renewals as almost everything can be done by mail, including registering vehicles. We use a service called St. Brendan’s Isle which is pricy but so far very helpful in managing our mail as we travel. Also, because we were becoming residents, purchasing a car in Florida was the way to go. 

3) Why Davenport? It’s outside of Orlando, where we booked a few gigs. But the reason we chose it, honestly, is its proximity to Disney World! Ross and I were blessed to visit the parks last year thanks to an incredibly generous wedding present from his sister. We received six nights at a cheap Disney hotel (All-Star Music), five days in the parks (we were able to add a sixth day for about $20 each if memory serves) and were then gifted some spending money by family, so all we had to do was provide our airfare and food/spending money for the trip. Absolute heaven! We honestly went in thinking it might be awkward as we weren’t “Disney people” and the idea of dropping our own 2K on a week’s vacation felt like an indulgence we couldn’t afford. But the reality was, we had such an amazing time that we wanted to go back again as soon as possible! 

When we finalized our RV travel plans and needed a new state of residence, access to Disney on the cheap was a definite plus for us. For less than $300 each we can access all four parks Monday – Friday with only a couple of months of blackout dates total. So we had more than seven weeks in the parks this winter, and we will back this fall for even more fun.Davenport is a great area to visit if you’re a Disney fan. There are many other parts of Florida that are prettier and less stressful (avoid I-4 at all costs! State highways are your friend!) but you can’t beat this area for convenience to the parks. There are also plenty of places that you can pick up a part-time job, even as a snowbird, if you play your cards right. And Kissimmee and Orlando offer great local cultural opportunities. 

Are you a Disney fan? Have any recommendations for places we need to visit when we return this winter? 

Six Months on Ross and Jamie’s Adventure

| jamiefeinberg

Happy Friday! I’m happy to report that we’ve passed the six month mark of our full-time RVing life change/adventure! When Ross and I agreed to do this, we promised each other we’d stick with it for a year and re-evaluate then. I’m happy to report that after six months we’re just as excited to be doing this and looking forward to year two this fall.

One of the amazing things about this lifestyle is the way it changes your sense of time. We had many conversations two and three months in where we realized it felt like we’d been doing this for months instead of years. After all, we’ve visited tons of states (20 I believe, with notable time in all but a couple of them), hanging out in nature, exploring museums and historical sights and trying to learn what living like a local would look like in cities and towns across our nation. It’s amazing what we’ve been able to see already, and we aren’t ready to stop, although our pace is slowing down currently to give us more time to make money along the way. As we celebrate this milestone, I wanted to talk about how this experience has differed from our expectations so far, and about some of the lessons we’ve learned along the way. 

Assumption: Life on the road will be full of adventures.

Reality: Yes, life on the road will be full of adventures. Some of them will be awesome and some of them will be frustrating, like when your house battery won’t stay charged or when the pilot for your fridge won’t light. Also, maintaining a balance between real life and playing tourist is harder than it looks! 

Assumption: Once we have more time to ourselves, booking shows will get easier. (Not that we ever thought we’d be an easy sell!)

Reality: Free time helps, but the lack of great internet while we travel kind of balances this out. Booking shows has proven to be one of the hardest types of work we do on the road! That being said, it does get easier with practice and a routine.

Assumption: Finding part-time work when we settle in a place should be pretty easy, especially in a tourist area. 

Reality: Most businesses don’t want temporary workers, so getting a gig isn’t as straightforward as we wanted and we can’t emphasize that we are nomads when we apply. (And this problem was much worse before we had a car! Limited businesses within walking distance narrows your options further.)

Assumption: Being on the road will be stressful, but the freedom will help make up for the new stress. 

Reality: Overall, we are MUCH less stressed than we used to be. It’s gotten easier with time. Financial stress is real, but if you organize your time well, this lifestyle is usually a dream come true. And days when you have to work super-hard are easier knowing they’re financing this lifestyle. That being said, your anxiety and depression don’t go away because you hit the road! Make sure you have strong self-care habits, maintain your personal space and work to keep the lines of communication open with your partner. 

Assumption: We’d have tons of free time to work on music projects and booking once we hit the road. 

Reality: We have to work VERY hard to make time for this. Because we’re juggling so many income streams and responsibilities, the music making sometimes takes a far back seat. We’re working on making this a regular part of our schedule, but it’s something we are still working on. 

Assumption: We probably wouldn’t be back to New Hampshire for another year or so. 

Reality: I’ve gotten two gigs in New Hampshire since I left. So I flew back in December and in March for a few weeks. Who’d have thought I’d be offered higher-paying theater work once I moved out of the state?! (Ross, unfortunately, is waiting for New Hampshire to call with his gigs. We will be both be back this fall for a month to teach workshops and perform.)

Assumption: It will be harder to not have a regular community on the road. 

Reality: We have made friends wherever we’ve gone. Although our social lives aren’t particularly exciting, we find people who care about us and share stories with us everywhere. It’s been pretty wonderful. We miss our friends and family, but we definitely feel welcome wherever we go. (It helps to be able-bodied, white, a male-female couple and relatively privileged. We know this and are constantly thankful that we can feel relatively safe and welcome wherever we go.)

As we look forward to the rest of this year, we are currently on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. (Report on Florida, Savannah and Charleston to come!) After Labor Day, we will visit New Hampshire and then head back to Florida if our plans stay on track. We will stay there through the winter and possibly spring. 

Thanks for reading and following our journey!

Making the Most of Midland, TX

| jamiefeinberg

We were delighted this January to get a phone call inviting us to spend a week or two at a campground in Midland, TX. We had passed through Midland as we headed to Arizona (staying at a local Walmart) and while it was clear that it’s a large city, it’s in the middle of the oil fields and we weren’t too motivated to explore it as we couldn’t picture ourselves staying for the long-term. That being said, it has plenty to do, and nearby San Angelo is full of super-nice people and a thriving arts scene too.

Midland RV Park invited us to take advantage of a campsite – full hookups, pay showers, decent internet for emails, nice if not fancy – in exchange for work on their website and organizing a community campaign to bring internet to the park. Without a separate car, we stocked up on groceries and planned to stay there for the week. They also invited Ross to give a concert at a dinnerĀ for the local residents.Ā In fact, the area is very limiting to visit in this way. Walking the streets isn’t a great idea here. But across the street made an incredible difference in changing this from a basic RV park, great for our needs but not exciting (after all, I had to record about 40 piano tracks for a project) to a beautiful place I didn’t want to leave.

The 1-20 Wildlife Preserve is an almost 1.5 mile walking loop where you’ll find tons of birds, rodents, butterflies, lizards and even bobcats around a gorgeous body of water that will make you feel like you’re on the ocean. It is truly an oasis and besides Mondays, you can explore it daily for free.I made a point to take a walk every day we stayed in town. Whether it was in the 30s or the 80s (yes, both happened), I was out there. Only one day with lots of rain and flooding kept me inside.

The people in Midland were extremely nice and welcoming to us – one employee even gave me a ride to and from Walmart for groceries – and we loved our stay. If you need a place to pause and recharge for a few days, don’t overlook Midland!

Travel and Tucson and Changing Holiday Plans

| jamiefeinberg

It’s been quite a while since I’ve updated you on our travels. I hope you’re enjoying the holiday season if you celebrate. Ross and I celebrate Christmas, and this year was definitely unique as holidays go!

Ross and I knew we wanted to visit Tucson. It’s warm, it has excellent bike trails and public transportation and it’s beautiful. So we planned to spend a week or so and were happy to book a couple of gigs in town. We planned to head to the Phoenix area after Tucson, both to visit and so that I could catch a flight for the holidays. 

Yes, I planned to head back to NH – for a few gigs! My theater company, Not Your Mom’s Musical Theater, is still based in NH, and around the time Ross and I hit the road I was asked if we’d consider returning to the Mount Washington Hotel, a grand historic hotel in Bretton Woods, for a few performances before the holidays. I was hesitant initially – I’d need to cover my airfare (or find an accompanist) and rehearsing prior to the gig with my actors would be a challenge. But they were persistent, and we were eventually able to negotiate a pay rate and terms that worked for everyone. I was able to find a great rate flying Southwest out of Phoenix, so we decided Ross would stay at an RV park in that area in my absence. 

Unfortunately, RV parks in Phoenix seem to fill up for the season many months in advance. We called a variety of parks on our list and couldn’t find anything in our ideal price range and nothing in a good location. We settled on a park a mile away from public transit on the outskirts of Mesa that we would have to leave by January 1st. At least we were able to negotiate to keep our rental car through Christmas so Ross could sightsee – I was less concerned as I knew the area from a past visit. 

But then I realized; if we have a rental car, we could actually stay in Tucson! Much cheaper camping and it would give us more time in an area we didn’t want to leave. 

So on Sunday, December 18th, Ross gave me a ride in our rental car to Phoenix from Tucson, where we’d gotten a few weeks at at the Pima County Fairgrounds, a beautiful and easygoing park. While Ross spent a week recording a new album, working, playing at open mics and enjoying some free time and space, I rehearsed, prepared food and then spent four days at the hotel playing and singing with two of my extremely talented performers and friends. We performed a two hour holiday set daily and a few shorter sets too. We specialize in customizing musical theater set lists for events and in high-quality performances in unusual, interactive settings.



I had a flight booked to leave at about 5 pm on Christmas Day, which meant I could spend time with my family and have a midday meal (which I helped cook) before leaving. Yesterday’s flight was canceled (I had to fly into Chicago and the weather was bad) but it meant spending more time with family, including a Skype session with my husband, which was a really nice bonus. 

So today is a new travel day. If all goes well, I will be home this evening. 

For the record, we really are enjoying Tucson. We will share more about what we’ve been up to later this week. 


Thanks for reading and Happy Holidays! 

An Artist’s Paradise in Bisbee, AZ

| jamiefeinberg

In the heart of the copper-covered hills in Bisbee, Arizona, you’ll find a unique community. It’s full of artists and musicians, hippies and dreamers, homeless and the well-off alike. This wonderful mix of people live in a quirky place, with homes built into hillsides and businesses up and down stairs so prevalent there is an annual competition to scale them all.

Bisbee is truly a community, and we fell hard for it. We had an amazing week getting to know the locals (at an open mic, at Ross’ concert at the Silver King Hotel’s tiny bar and after the second Saturday artwalk at a party we were invited to) and we relished a week of living at an RV park only a five minute walk from the heart of historic Bisbee.

We visited galleries, shopped antiques and bookstores, and found a few treasures to take with us – mostly food purchases like balsamic vinegar and killer bee honey. Ross found his new mustache wax and beard oil brand. Jamie even visited a local church. We lived like the locals and indulged in a few chocolates and in a fabulous gelato experience. 

Although Bisbee is too small a town for us to consider right now, as opportunities would be somewhat limited, we will happily visit again, and if we come up with a specific business plan for the future, we won’t rule out Bisbee if it’s a good fit. 

Be sure to make Bisbee a part of your travel plans in Arizona. It’s an easy drive from Tucson or Las Cruces, and it’s only four hours or so from Phoenix too. You can even time your visit for the second Saturday or to include one of the many film, music or other fun festivals in town. It’s a truly charming place we were honored to call home for a week.