About
Us
We’re two high school sweet hearts that went our separate ways after graduating, but found each other again a few years later. Before reuniting we both went into the law enforcement field for different agencies. We were engaged when Stacy was shot in the line of duty in 2011, and not long after Stacy began walking again we got married. We switched to the “civilian world” aka normal jobs and realized we weren’t fulfilled. We tried for years to have children and unfortunately it just never worked out. We came to realize that tomorrow is not guaranteed and we were building our whole lives for children we might never have. We also didn’t want to live our lives working constantly just to possibly not live to retirement age. Combined with knowing Stacy could possibly not be as mobile as she is now due to her injuries, we decided to hit the road. We spent 18 months paying off debit, downsizing, and selling just about everything we owned. We also simultaneously built our “I’m Not Lost I’m RVing” business, all while working 40+ hours a week each. We hit the road as full-time RVers in June of 2017 and have barely scratched the surface! We plan to keep doing this until we simply don’t want to or can’t do it anymore. We’d love to have a home base with RV hook ups, but that’s all future adventures!
Stacy
As a native Floridian, Stacy loves warm weather, beaches, people, animals, & dancing. She is definitely the people person of this duo and loves making connections everywhere she goes. She lives for wine & coffee and is a true believer in embarrassing every moment. Stacy worked various jobs over the years before putting herself through the police academy. As a local law enforcement officer she worked for the Auburndale Police Department in Central, Fl for approximately 18 months before she was ambushed and shot in the line of duty at the age of 26. For more information watch this video, but I warn you that it’s not easy to watch: https://youtube.com/StacysStoryOfSurvival Stacy was medically retired due to her injuries and receives a pension. After the shooting Stacy spoke at numerous first responder and public servant events, including teaching at police academies around Florida. In an attempt to improve her mental health, in 2016 Stacy decided to take a step away from the public speaking forums and she’s only done one conference since. Although Thomas & Stacy still attend law enforcement charity events, they have decided to close the majority of the law enforcement chapter of their lives. This has really helped their mental health and they are simply happier now. Thomas and Stacy truly are a team, from everyday task like walking Mr. Kitty, to running a business together. As far as videos go, Thomas & Stacy work together to brain storm ideas, plan videos, film, and edit the YouTube videos.
Thomas
Born and raised in Florida, Thomas loves just about anything to do with water. From fishing to cruising the lakes on a nice day. You could describe his sense of humor as dry with a side of sarcasm. He lives for being outdoors, ice cream, & always seems to have a project to do. Thomas grew up on a small blueberry farm and while in high-school started working at the local grocery store, Publix. After about 5 years of working his way up in retail, he decided to pursue his dream of being a cop. He started with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office in Central Florida at the age of 19 as an Animal Control Officer and worked his way up to being a Street Training Instructor for patrol as a Deputy Sheriff. With a little under 9 years with the agency Thomas decided to leave law enforcement for his and Stacy’s happiness. He took a claims adjuster position with Geico but found the cubicle style office not what he enjoyed, especially after working outside much of his life. While on a fishing trip to Lake Okeechobee Thomas noticed a class c motor-home parked at the boat ramp with an empty trailer. Stacy had been talking about getting a pop up camper to take trips and Thomas loved to fish, so the class c was intriguing to say the least. A few weeks later on a Saturday shopping trip to a local plaza Thomas noticed some wacky inflatable advertisement and asked Stacy if she wanted to look at RVs for fun as the dealership was right next door to the shopping plaza. The dealer didn’t have any pop up campers, but they did have some class c’s. Thomas and Stacy stepped inside a 30 foot class c and Thomas made the remark to Stacy “we could live in here”. From then on he started looking into living in an RV and the two made a goal to get debit free and hit the road! Since they are a team, Thomas helps run the YouTube channel by doing things like taking and editing photos for social media, making thumbnails, and other creative task needed. He even created this website, Hello by the way 😀 When it comes to videos, he and Stacy both work together and create equally.
Nala
We found Nala in Colorado, well really Nala found us! We were camping and she wandered up very underweight and simply unhealthy. Nala is quite the talker and loves make noise to say the least! She doesn’t really care for treats, however she never gets tired of playing. She loves her sister Pumpkin, exploring the outdoors, and snuggling under a blanket. She loves to meet people and is quite social.
Pumpkin
We adopted Pumpkin from our local SPCA on 9/14/20 and since she was surrendered by the prior owner, we know she was born 5/2/20. Pumpkin is a female tortoiseshell cat which are commonly referred to as a “tortie”. They aren’t a specific breed, however they’re named for their coats. This is the first time either one of us has owned a tortie and allegedly they are the “divas” of the cat world and are known to have a “tortitude”. All we know is that Pumpkin is a wonderful travel kitty! She doesn’t seem to be effected on moving day and often rides on the back seat of the couch by the windows. She LOVES to snuggle and is quite persistent about it. She’s also quite the little chunk muffin and thinks every time we’re in the kitchen that she needs a treat or food. She loves to attack toys and runs around with her back arched up and attack anything she even thinks might be moving!
Dazey
Our first RV set up was a 2012 Ram 3500 truck and 2014 Open Range 274rls travel trailer. After owning that set up for about 18 months we decided it just wasn’t for us. We didn’t like how large the truck was at 22 feet long or the set up of a travel trailer. We sold them and began living and traveling in a 2014 Itasca Viva 23b which is a small class c or super b style motor-home. We drove the Itasca everywhere and really enjoyed it, but we decided we were moving too fast and wanted to slow down and stay in places longer. The Itasca was only rated to pull 2000 lbs and in our opinion that small 24 foot rig was best without a towed vehicle. After all, what is the point of living that small if the car is going to make you longer anyways? By this time we had been on the road two years full time and knew our travel styles better. We had seen a few Lazy Daze RVs and knew they were built like tanks. From the aluminum walls and roof, to the thick insulated walls, and real wood cabinets, they simply make the quality RV that should really be the standard. With our limited income and budget, we couldn’t afford a brand new rig. So we searched the country while traveling for a few months before finding our perfect version. Dazey is a 2005 Lazy Daze 26.5 Midbath on a Ford E450 chassis that’s powered by a 6.0 power-stroke diesel. Since about 1997 Lazy Daze has only offered the Ford chassis with the Ford V10 gasoline engine. The V10 is known as a decent engine, but of course like all engines it had some issues. So when we found a diesel coach with only 37,000 miles we knew we could make it the workhorse to last, even if it is the infamous 6.0. We spent August 2019 – January 2020 renovating Dazey to make her our home. To watch the renovation before your eyes, check out these videos: https://www.youtube.com/DazeyReno If you want more information on our RV solar system then click here: http://www.imnotlostimrving.com/lazy-daze-rv-solar-system/
Goldie
After traveling for a few years, we knew that we wanted a 4×4 for taking the off roads that lots of parks have. We wanted to make it to the more remote sites and hiking trails. We knew that Jeep’s could be towed with all 4 tires on the ground which means no tow dolly to deal with. After we went to Moab, Utah in the spring of 2019 we started talking about and looking at Jeeps. We tend to always buy used and started our research into the perfect “towed” for us. We narrowed it down to wanting a Jeep TJ which were built from 1997-2006 and started test driving and looking to buy while traveling around the Northwest of the United States. It just so happens that we found the Lazy Daze RV first and once we got it home to Florida stumbled upon Goldie for sell on the west coast of Florida. The second ever owner only had her about 18 months and already had it set up to tow behind an RV. She had right around 64,000 miles on her and appeared to be garage kept. By this point we had looked at a few dozen Jeeps and we didn’t find much wrong with Goldie. We learned the original owners lived in Auburndale which is where Stacy worked as a cop, so it just seemed like it was meant to be! We tow Goldie behind our motor-home on travel days, but she is normally unhooked and ready to explore. Goldie was built on October 31st, 2005 and is one of only 2000 total Golden Eagle TJs built for the 2006 model year. In total Jeep built 965,465 TJs from 1997 to 2006 so that makes the Golden Eagle package pretty rare at about 0.2% of all Jeep TJs made. Basically the 2006 Golden Eagle package was a nod to the Golden Eagles CJs from 1977-1983 made famous by Daisy Duke driving one named “Dixie” in the popular TV show Dukes of Hazzard. Since she is a 2006 Jeep Wrangler TJ, it means she has one of the last “AMC Straight Six” engines offered by Jeep which were produced from 1952-2006 in varying displacements. The 4.0L inline 6 cylinder produces about 190 horsepower and 235 lb-ft of torque and that power is put to the 4 wheels by the first 6 speed manual transmission ever offered by Jeep, the NSG370. She has all sorts of mods which are listed here: https://revkit.com/goldie-tj and for a walk around video check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/goldie