Fulltime solo RVer Joyce Caudell volunteers for National Park Service in Oregon

Editor's note: We received an email from fulltime RVer Joyce Caudell who is returning this summer to volunteer at Oregon's Wallowa Lake State Park for the Nez Perce National Historic Park Service. We thought this would be a good time to update a profile on her that was first published in 2011.

Joyce Caudell, retired registered nurse in health education, teaching and management.

Started fulltime RVing: In February 2007. Sold her house in April that year.

How did you decided on the RV lifestyle: "It was always a dream for me and my husband to retire and explore the remote places of the USA," said Joyce.

"Then when I was alone, I kept looking for a new dream and couldn't find one I liked better. So I took this one on as a possibility with vigor and commitment to learning to do a good job as a single woman with curiosity and a spirit of adventure."

Joyce did extensive research, joined RV online groups, took classes, and talked to anyone and everyone she could.  "I made files, spreadsheets and learned as much as I could for a year before I finally took the plunge, bought the RV and sold the house," she said. "I didn't have the money to keep up a nice house and yard and do the extensive RV travel too, so I said, 'Who needs this house anyway.'

"I knew I had to make my life happen."

Joyce Caudell's 2013 Northstar popup camper

Type of RV: Travels in her 2013 Northstar TC650 popup camper on her Chevy Silverado 2500 3/4 ton pickup with extended cab and short bed. "I especially like the 6 wrap around windows on the pop-up for ventilation, view,and privacy," said Joyce.

Her homebase: Escapees Park of the Sierras in California where she parks her 2011 27 ft. Outdoors Timber Ridge 260RLS travel trailer.

How do you spend your time? "I remember one of my daughters-in-law sitting in my new RV and asking, 'But what do you DO all day?'

"I'm still not sure how to answer that. I'm definitely not bored. I have lots of interests, hobbies, friends, family and sport activities--like walking, hiking, biking and kayaking. I spend a lot of time planning adventures and travels.

Solo RVer Joyce Caudell

"I enjoy boondocking with like-minded friends in the beautiful desert, parked randomly on undeveloped BLM lands using solar power."

Volunteering: A few years back a friend suggested Joyce get into volunteering and since then she has done stints for state parks, the National Park Service and the Army Corps of Engineering.

In 2010, Joyce was asked to serve at Oregon's Wallowa Lake State Park for the Nez Perce National Historic Park Service doing demonstrations and campground presentations about Nez Perce Nation cultural items. She returns for another summer this year.

Would you choose this lifestyle again? "In a heartbeat," she said. "Just thinking about settling down gives me claustrophobia. I've never been to a locale I didn't want to come back to and do more exploring. The RVing community is awesome. The friends I've made on the road are treasures that will last my lifetime. "

Photo: Volunteer RVer Joyce Caudell shows a young visitor a buffalo horn at Wallowa Lake State Park. "The Nez Perce would clean them up, polish, and sometimes decorate them to make them into useful personal items such as drinking cups," said Joyce. (Courtesy of Joyce Caudell)

Read more RV lifestyle articles by Julianne G Crane at RVWheelLife.com

Longtime camper, retired teacher Carole Paulett keeps on volunteering, traveling

USFS volunteer Carole Paulett returns each autumn. (Julianne G. Crane)

U.S. Forest Service volunteer Carole Paulett of Virginia is a retired university administrator. (Well, not quite retired, she still substitute teaches for her old school district -- "Everything except math," she laughs, "that's my weak subject.")

For the past eight autumns the 70-something solo RVer has packed up her purple and gold 1983 VW Westfalia (more about that later) and headed for her favorite campground near the Blue Ridge Parkway on the George Washington National Forest, to volunteer for a month.

"Missy" aka Mistletoe Noel

"I've been camping here since 1965," she says, "It holds a lot of memories for me of coming here with my family." These days she travels with her four-legged partner, Mistletoe Noel. "My grandchildren named her," says Carole. "She was a Christmas rescue dog."

Now, back to the purple and gold VW van (custom painted with the colors of James Madison University). It seems that ten years ago, a charity was holding an online auction. "I saw this Westfalia as one of the items and put in a bid," recalls Carole. "To me the van represented 'independence.' I realized that if I had a camper van, I could volunteer for the forest service and travel south to visit friends in the winter."

However, others also wanted the van and the bidding went back and forth. "Finally it was getting close to the deadline and I was about to give up," she says, "but, I put in one last bid of $1 more than the previous bid." Her timing was perfect because the auction closed right after she hit the send key.

To read more of Julianne G. Crane's writings, go to RVWheelLife.com

Photos by Julianne G. Crane.