Jodie and Kyle, the duo behind @jodieod and @briskventure are full-time travelers living in an airstream with their three (yes, three) dogs. They sat down to talk with us about finding community on the road, what their day-to-day looks like, and what it’s like traveling with their four-legged friends in 140 square feet of space.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from and where you are going?
Jodie: “I’m originally from Massachusetts, a little town called Rowley. Kyle is originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan. We live full time on the road now. When I say full time, I mean it. We are never in one place for more than 3 weeks. During the year we travel from coast to coast and also internationally. The last two years have found us in Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Ireland.”
How has your lifestyle changed since you moved into an Airstream?
Jodie: “Well, this is a funny story. I was on a content trip for GRAYL. We actually started on a Fjallraven Classic Event in Hong Kong and then continued on to Vietnam. I had gotten very sick during the first 5 days of the trip, just coughing my lungs out, and was procrastinating going to the doctor. Who really wants to go to a doctor that they can’t understand?
We arrived at our first Vietnamese hotel and I went straight to bed. Two king beds to myself — and a cat. Anyways, as I was falling asleep I heard this guy “Kyle” arrive. He was so loud. I could hear him talking to the rest of the gang from 3 floors up. To be fair, he had flown directly from Puerto Rico where he had been helping drop relief packages out of airplanes and was going on all RedBull and no sleep.
I woke in the morning and went down to the lobby to meet up with everyone. I reached out to introduce myself and shake hands with Kyle. He promptly reached out with both arms and said, “We hug here!”
Oh boy…
Over the course of the following week, he took care of me every chance he got. Getting up and making me tea at 3 a.m. because I couldn’t stop coughing, finding conditioner for my hair because I ran out. He was really persistent and genuine and I couldn’t ignore him.
After the trip, I settled my affairs and jumped on the road with him. No house, with just a fraction of my “stuff.” I was ready to roam and so was he. We haven’t stopped since.”
How is life on the road conducive to your work as a photographer and social media manager?
Jodie: “It works perfectly. I have to travel for my job anyway and this actually makes it easier. At least, I like to tell myself that. Logistics are sometimes interesting. Parking is sometimes hard to come by, but being able to work from the side of a ski lift or river makes up for it.”
Did you or your partner make any interior updates to the Airstream?
Jodie: “Kyle basically stripped the airstream down and built it back up. We now have a fully working bathroom/shower, queen size bed and beautiful hardwood floors. Oh, and a @tinywoodstove. That is key for the cold weather areas (like when you get stuck in a snowstorm in Ouray, Colorado after photographing an ice climbing festival).”
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A post shared by Kyle Murphy (@briskventure) on Jun 27, 2018 at 6:28pm PDT
What are some of the tools or items you couldn’t travel without?
Jodie: “I think these might be different for Kyle and me. I can’t travel without a bikini. Haha! But really, my Grayl purifier, warm and cozy blankets, my camera… I don’t know, I’m pretty low maintenance. You have to be to live how we do. As long as I wake up to coffee with a splash of Irish Cream.”
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A post shared by Kyle Murphy (@briskventure) on Nov 13, 2018 at 10:00am PST
What are some of the places the Airstream has taken you? Do you have a favorite destination?
Jodie: “I think our favorite campground is in Jedediah State Park. It’s right on this beautifully clear river. They actually filmed part of Bird Box here.”
What is it like traveling with 3 dogs in 140 square feet of space?
Jodie: “That gets challenging. We luckily have three old maids that get along really well and like to cuddle. When we get to camping areas, they go straight outside. It’s a big, vast backyard for them and they are so happy. They really just sit at the door waiting to come back inside.”
What are some of the challenges of living on the road?
Jodie: “Parking, small space, (you really have to love each other), gas prices, spotty cell coverage equals having to find somewhere to work on WiFi. That’s really it though. There are way harder challenges in everyday living. I think we have it pretty easy.”
In contrast, what are the highlights of living on the road?
Jodie: “We see so much! It’s amazing having a traveling office. We’re never bored. Our country is so beautiful. And when we have the chance to travel internationally, we’re even more in awe of our ‘little’ world.”
What does your day-to-day look like?
Jodie: “Well, every day is different. But while on the road in the airstream, it goes like this:
Kyle starts to wake up. He opens one eye and Sophie, our Cocker/Aussie, sees him and starts whining. Kyle talks to her and I pretend to still be asleep. Kyle gets up, lets the dogs out and makes coffee for both of us. Sophie comes back to bed with me (she’s the only one that can still jump. Our dogs are geriatric.) and I try to stay in bed as long as I can. This is basically impossible because there is always something to do.
We make breakfast on our induction stovetop and go through photos from the day before. Then we pack up and get back on the road. Wherever we’re traveling, we try to shoot along the way. We usually pack a light lunch and keep going to until we find a place to stay for the night, set up camp, go find a brewery with WiFi (we like our IPAs) and upload photos that we edited in the morning. We kind of have it down to a science.”
Have you found a friendly community of other people living on the road?
Jodie: “I would say people are overly friendly sometimes. They see the airstream and want to talk about it, see the inside, give advice, and tell us about their old airstreams/RVs. We love it most of the time. Sometimes we’re really in a rush though! But in all honesty, we’ve met many cool people on the road and it’s almost like a free city with the generosity of wanting to share food, libations and stories from the road.”
What has surprised you most about life on the road? What have you learned about yourself in the process?
Jodie: “I thought it would be an easy transition from how much I traveled before to full-time travel. It wasn’t. I still long for a walk-in closet and a bathtub. A place to drop all of my stuff so I don’t have to travel with it. A place to leave the dogs when we travel overseas. Logistics are difficult, but not impossible. It just takes more planning. I wouldn’t trade this for anything right now though. From the road, we have been able to launch our new company, Camp Wanderlost. I have been trying to do that for 5 years and it took being less comfortable, and with the right person to do it. So, living on the road? Harder than not. But that just makes us work harder.”
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A post shared by Kyle Murphy (@briskventure) on Feb 5, 2019 at 10:06am PST
Rapid Fire Q&A
Do you plan on adding more dogs to your family?
Jodie: “Of course! More Aussies!”
Kyle: “Not until we travel a full year abroad. It’s been a dream of mine to shove the airstream into a shipping container and travel around Europe.”
If you had to settle down in one spot with the Airstream, where would it be?
Jodie: “Anywhere? Beachside in Costa Rica…”
Kyle: “These are hard questions … My gravitational pull brings me to one of two spots. The Colorado Rockies or the PNW.”
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A post shared by Kyle Murphy (@briskventure) on Aug 25, 2018 at 7:06am PDT
On the coast or in the desert?
Jodie: “Cooooooooast”
Kyle: “The coast”
Summer or winter?
Jodie: “Forever summer please”
Kyle: “Summer”
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A post shared by Kyle Murphy (@briskventure) on May 22, 2018 at 7:10am PDT
Early bird or night owl?
Jodie: “I hate mornings”
Kyle: “Burn the candle at both ends?”
