About Us

Meet the Team~ 

Welcome to Our Next Big Adventure! We are Jim & Rhonda Delameter, 50ish, married citizens of the world on a path to rewrite what society considers normal and create a life less ordinary. Having spent 25+ years in corporate cubicles we knew this wasn’t life as we wished to lead it.

Rhonda:Jobs: Chief travel planner, organizer, navigator, head blogger, and cook. Rhonda is a freelance travel writer, inspired cook and is obsessed with seeing the world: Motto: Peace, Love, & Margaritas or Yoga & Whiskey depending on the day.

Jim: Jobs: Chief driver, emergency mechanic, and tech fixer for his less tech-savvy partner. Jim loves traveling, fishing, and eating Rhonda’s cooking. Motto: I want to live in a Camper. Quote by Jimmy age 7

 Maddy:  – RIP sweet girl – Jobs: Head of security and in charge of daily love and kisses. Maddy loves long walks, wearing a fresh bandana and hanging out with the pack. Motto: Never leave home without a tennis ball!

 

Porter: RIP handsome boy –Jobs: New head of security and doggy love. With Maddy’s passing, we adopted a new black dog to take on the tasks she left behind. Porter loves destroying his squeaky toys, long walks, and hanging in the camper. Motto: Early to bed, late to rise and keep the whites clean.

Aspen –  RIP sweet baby girl Jobs: Aspen took over Maddy’s duties of fetching and kissing. What can we say.. we do love black dogs! Our smart boy Porter was just too bored home alone while we went to work and so we welcomed another wonderful rescue into our home. A super sweet girl, she’s a mellowing influence in the house. Motto: Isn’t it meal time YET? Squirrel!

The travel bug hit us both fairly early and we traveled frequently, assisted by Rhonda’s job in the travel industry, but these jaunts were always a typical two or three week holiday. In 2002 we came across www.bootsnall.com, a website that would change the trajectory of our lives. Although our RTW trip didn’t happen until 2007, it was an epic adventure backpacking through over 20 countries on five continents that changed us immeasurably and irreversibly. Once home we realized the old version of “home” was not at all what we really wanted.

Thus, the planning & plotting for the Next Big Adventure began. With South America being our last unexplored continent, we headed out on an epic journey to drive the Pan American highway to the tip of the continent. The plan was to take our time, volunteer often, spend extended time in some areas, learning Spanish along the way, and working towards a location independent lifestyle. We turned our wheels south on December 26, 2015, and this time Porter & Aspen, AKA Black Dogs came along!

“Planning is valuable, tho the plan is usually useless” – Ben Horowitz

As we meandered south we fell ever more in love with Mexico and did, indeed, travel slowly, taking almost one year just to reach the border of Guatemala. Pushing that countries visa limit to the very last day we faced a decision; turn towards Playa del Carmen to set-up for a bit while Jim flew home to see his parents or return to Oregon. Both financial and family issues had come into play and our compass once again turned north.

The next plan gone awry turned out to be one of the most catalytic turning points in our life of adventure. The “plan” was for Jim to get a job in Portland for a few months while I continued my blogging and freelance writing while volunteering (read “living for free”) at LL Stub Stewart State Park. As they say “the best-laid plans”… what occurred instead was a dog walk meltdown on my part that led to a search for a plan outside of the box. One email later and we became workampers at a campground in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho At that moment we had no idea that our lives would be turned upside down.

Our mere worker job turned into a management position during the summer season with winters spent marketing and handling reservations for camp from anywhere, an ideal situation that found us back in our beloved Mexico five months per year and showed us a new lifestyle to love.

“Any arbitrary turn along the way and I would be elsewhere, I would be different” ~ Under the Tuscan Sun

Life these days has us in a semi-nomadic life, lived partly in Oregon and continuing to workamp, and partly on the road. For now, the PanAm waits but this in no way has dampened our overwhelming zest for adventure and exploration.

What we feel to the very core of our being is the overwhelming need to live our one precious life to the fullest extent possible. We have had close family members leave this earth too young, and we are determined to not “wait” for retirement or the perfect moment. Life is happening right NOW!

Follow us along on our wild & wonderful journey on this road called life. Hopefully, we’ll meet many of you along the way and inspire everyone to step outside their comfort zone to make each day memorable!

Living The Dream: Jim, Rhonda, & Ryder

47 thoughts on “About Us”

  2. Hello,

    It was a pleasure to read blogs on your site. I’ve enjoyed reading through your blog because of the great style, energy and photographs. I have a blog on travel theme. It contains great stories from travelers who love to share their journey with the world. If you’re interested, we would love to have you on as a guest blogger. Please send me an e-mail and I can give you more information. Looking forward to hearing from you.

    Thanks
    Rachna

    Reply ↓

  3. Hello Jim and Rhonda,

    I enjoying browsing your site. I was inspired through your though and your style of writings. I noticed that you haven’t visit our place yet (Philippines). Is there any possibility that your adventure will reach the Pearl of the East? Looking forward to have an article about our place from you.

    Thanks for sharing your adventure.

    Cheers,
    Jay

    Reply ↓

    • Hi Jay… We absolutely plan on making it to the Philippines one day! From friends who have been there we know you have many of the most gorgeous beaches in the world and friendly people. You’ll have to let us know of any suggestions you have for visiting and things to see and do.

      Reply ↓

    • I’d like a margarita right now please:) Safe travels…can’t wait until you’re hiking in Nepal..we need pictures!

      Reply ↓

  6. Hi guys, we recently discovered your blog, looks like there are plenty of great posts for us to read here. Look forward to your future updates.

    We too are planning a trip down the Pan American Highway. We intend to leave in 2014, so we are still in the planning and saving stages right now.

    Have you set a departure date for your trip?

    Might see you on the road 🙂

    Reply ↓

    • Thats fantastic! I’ll check out your website. We hope to leave end of 2014/ early 2015 and it would be great to meet up with you somewhere. Where are you beginning your journey? Cheers.

      Reply ↓

  7. Sounds like a plan you have, and we hope to see you somewhere on the road. We are currently in Peru and going northbound (it took 6.5 years to get this far – slow travelers indeed).

    Reply ↓

    • Good for you!! I do hope we meet up en-route. Always great to run into like minded travelers.6.5 year. lol..well, that IS slow but what a grand adventure.

      Reply ↓

  10. Rhonda and Jim, your story sounds so familiar I had to write. We live in San Francisco and we are 40 (almost 50) somethings leaving end of October/early November for South America. Quit our corporate jobs a few months ago (I was also in the travel industry) and we are also driving a truck camper down. We are also huge dog lovers (lost our 15 year old golden/Border mix last year), oh, and we love margaritas, too! Our blog is Our Bigger Picture and is not yet live, but hopefully next week we’ll get it publish. We may be on the same time frame down in Mexico so I just wanted to reach out – it would be great to meet you guys on the road. all the best, Paula and John

    Reply ↓

    • Oh my Paula.. you guys do sound just like us! I will absolutely keep an eye out for your blog when it goes live. We are fretting at the bit, waiting to get on the road, but may be just a bit behind you. What we’ve learned though, is that someone like minded travelers somehow end up finding eachother along the way. If you end up in the Portland area prior to heading south by all means let us know! We’d love to host you and connect before the long journey south (and you could get a little puppy love from the dogs.) Keep in touch!!

      Reply ↓

  11. Hi,

    Great, what you are doing!

    We have been traveling through Europe, Middle East and Africa for almost two years and now have a medical interruption in the Netherlands.

    We really liked you description/definition of “overlanders”; it describes exactly what it is! We took the liberty of using a summary of it on our site and trust that’s OK.

    Margriet & Jan
    Netherlands
    http://www.DeEinderVoorbij.nl

    Reply ↓

    • Hi Margriet & Jan – I hope the medical interruption isn’t serious and you’ll be back on the road soon. Thanks for stopping by, and I’m honored you liked my description of what it means to overland.

      Reply ↓

  12. Hi Rhonda and Jim,
    it seems it was a really fantastic adventure. Traveling on the road and back to the basics. Lucky who can enjoy like that.

    regards Romy

    Reply ↓

  13. We are Jared and Jen, and we are preparing to drive up through Africa (south to north). We have run across you blog a couple of times and would love to meet up, if you are game. We sold our home and quit our jobs and are currently living with my folks (Jen’s parents) in Oregon City until our departure in late November or early December.

    Reply ↓

    • Hi Jared & Jen.. we would LOVE to get together! How fantastic that you’re overlanding Africa. Have you been before? I’ll go to your blog and check out your info. We spent 1 day in Morocco, 1 month in Egypt, and first went to South Africa for a month in 2003 but then overlanded with a group from Nairob-Cape Town over about 3 months in 2008. We adore the continent and are considering shipping from South America to Africa to do our own self-driving trip there. I can’t want to hear your plans. I will email you as well to set up a meeting!

      Reply ↓

  14. Hi thenextbigadventure.net,

    I have came across your site and I am wondering whether you have any advertising available? If so please will you provide me with the pricing and terms for your advertising?

    Hope to hear back from you soon.

    Thanks

    Thomas

    Reply ↓

  16. Ahoy Mateys,
    We sure had great fun with you while here in La Ventana, BCS, Mexico. Would you come back for one more fish dinner tonight? Please add our email address as one of your readers. Thanks

    Reply ↓

    • Hello cutie pies! Thank you SOOOO much for making our time in La Ventana so very special. Sorry, salad for dinner tonight but darn, that sure was one good fish fry wasn’t it? I will add you to our email list and whenever I put out a new post I add the link to facebook too. Cheers until we meet again. J&R and Aspen

      Reply ↓

  19. Hi Jim and Rhonda!

    I have a product called World Scratch Off Travel Map. It will make it easy for travelers and jetsetters to keep track of the places they have already visited. People who are not into traveling can also get it and give it to their traveler friends as it comes in a gift-ready packaging.

    Would you be interested in sharing it with your audience? If you do decide to be an affiliate I can send over a pack that includes everything from blog post templates, newsletter templates and social media updates to make it as easy for you to share and keep your readers updates.

    Also, there is no limit to the number of readers that can take advantage of the 37% discount on the Travel Map.

    How does that sound?

    I look forward to hearing from you.

    Reply ↓

  20. Dear Rhonda – hello & happy weekend from London!

    We read your article in “International Living” with great interest as we are also planning to “cut loose” soon after decades of being self-employed and living a comfy but very stressful life in London – keen to visit more remote parts of the world including the “pueblos magicos” in Mexico and other Latin American countries (we had a wonderful time in Uruguay a few years ago and would like to go back and explore in more depth). Our van is being built as we speak and the clock is ticking for our own adVANture to begin! It would be great to keep in touch – I’d like to write about our trips, too. And maybe – with a bit of luck – we’ll meet up ‘on the road’ one day. Very best wishes: Martine & Digby Orsmond

    Reply ↓

    • Hi Martine & Digby!
      Thank you so much for checking out our blog. I’m glad you enjoyed our article in International Living. It has been an amazing ride these last couple of years and we can’t imagine ever going back to a traditional lifestyle. Good luck on finishing your van build. What is your website/ facebook going to be? We’d love to follow along on your trip and yes, of course, hopefully meet up one day! Cheers, Rhonda, Jim & Aspen

      Reply ↓

  21. Hi,

    Hope you are doing good!

    I just reviewed your site thenextbigadventure.net and impressed with the quality work on your site.

    I was wondering if you allow some Sponsor Posts with do-follow links.

    Could you please send me the Pricing/Details?
    Looking forward to hear from you.

    Regards!
    Nageen

    Reply ↓

  22. Hi
    I am from http://reviewnight.com/ I just came across to your blog while doing some googling about outdoor/travelling resource. I have a few posts on Review Night here related to outdoor adventure and reviewed some necessary products which you need to carry while adventure. Would you interested to publish any article related to your site? I will provide high quality and well researched unique content. If yes then let me know.

    Looking forward to hearing from you!
    Regards

    Reply ↓

    • Hi John & Susan! Thanks for stopping by. Yes, Portland is fantastic as is the PNW. With winter approaching we would vote for continuing south:) I’ll certainly check out your blog. Good for you for making a new home in the little latitudes:) Cheers and enjoy!

      Reply ↓

  25. Hi,

    This is Kleise, an outreach assistant. I wanted to find out who the best person is to speak with to contribute an article on your website?

    I am looking to write an article that you can post on your blog. The article will be well-researched based on the large pool travel experts that we has access to. In exchange, I was hoping that you could credit our online travel media site for providing the article to you. Please let me know if you would be interested?

    Thank you,

    Kleise

    Reply ↓

      • Hi Jim and Rhonda,
        I’m Alanah. I really enjoy looking through your blog at the great pictures and reading about your travels.
        Would you be interested in doing a guest post for my website about traveling with Aspen in an RV?

        I’m sure you have learned a lot of tips that would help my readers.

        Thanks for your time, safe travels.

        Reply ↓

        • I emailed you directly! Thanks for your interest. Also, be sure to check out Theblackdogchronicles.com which is a site Aspen contributes to.

          Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.