Happy campers teach music and share on social media

Jared and Kayla Payne, who chose traveling and RV living eight months ago, are back in Farmington for the Christmas holiday, with a new story to tell.

“We live full time on the road, and we share about our travels and tips and tricks, fun and laughs and music on a couple of different social channels on YouTube and Instagram, and it's a lot of fun,” Jared said Monday in a phone call with the Tri-City Record.

Jared Payne said they’re part of an online music teaching team, a business started by a friend a few years ago. Jared teaches piano and Kayla teaches piano, guitar and flute. Teaching is their primary source of income, but musical performances and social media work contribute to their earnings.

Jared Payne, 26, grew up in Farmington as a music lover and indoors person, while Kayla was raised in Idaho Falls, Idaho, in a family of outdoors enthusiasts. He now loves the outdoors, hiking and backpacking.

After considering the money they spent on apartment rent, they bought a 28-foot RV, which needed a lot of work. Now they tow their portable home behind a Toyota Sequoia to public lands.

A favorite destination is the Olympic peninsula of Washington, where it was “just beautiful.” They camped on a river a month for $5 dollars a night.

“We had never been there, so it was cool to see the rainforest. It's amazing,” Jared said, adding that it’s phenomenal how “much scenery the U.S. has that we take for granted.”

One minute we’re in the rainforest, another we’re in the desert and then we’re in the mountains – like we just have it all here.” And another we’re in the desert,” he said.

During their eight-month journey, the young couple have met many interesting people, such as Bill Blackwell, the treasure hunter they camped next to in the Superstition Mountains in Arizona. Blackwell, a retired entertainment lawyer who lives in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, has made many trips to the area in search of Spanish treasure.

“We've met some great people, whether that's just you know, being near people and talking with them – like Bill – or we've met some really awesome friends on social media. Just other people that follow us or interact with us,” said Jared.

Bill’s a great guy … we camped right next to him and started chatting with him. He's a fun character. He gave us a whole spiel on gold hunting. It was a lot of fun.” Jared said.

Jared said they’ve met other young people who are living on the road and working remotely, including those who work corporate jobs from “their rig.” He said they didn’t realize how popular it was to work remotely, even with families and those partially retired.

“But it's been very chill with other young people like us that are doing the same thing,” Jared said.

The couple met while both were majoring in music at Brigham Young University-Idaho in Rexburg. They earned their master’s degrees in music at Arizona State University and have many friends in the Tempe area, where they’re heading after Christmas.

Jared said he’s always been interested in learning new things so learning about how an RV works was intriguing. He said they “gutted” the entire 2011 RV with the help of Kayla’s grandfather Gregory Sievers, who had the electrical knowledge and the tools necessary for renovation.

They redid the layout, with new floors, cabinets, lighting, water heater and couch, picking up knowledge by watching YouTube.

“It was a big face-lift.” Jared said.

He said that about a month ago they added solar panels with an inverter and lithium batteries. Solar provides most of their electrical needs with four panels producing 440 watts each. They use propane for heating and cooking.

“So we can stay off-grid for months on end if we have to,” Jared said.

“I love living on the road … growing up my family was very outdoorsy and adventurous,” said Kayla, 24. Her parents were into hiking and camping and she “just tagged along.”

While growing up in Idaho Falls, she participated in lacrosse, softball and gymnastics. Snowboarding was a favorite family sport, and they participated in hunting and fishing. Now, hiking and backpacking are her choice activities.

Kayla teaches on the Piano by Pictures platform. “The whole idea of this company is to teach people how to play piano without actually having to read sheet music,” she said.

She also works with graphic design and makes all the picture notation used by the program.

“Content would be extremely difficult if we didn't know how to do that stuff,” she said.

She said they were inspired to choose the traveling lifestyle when they took a little vacation and saw people living in RVs.

“And we were like – we should totally do that – it would be cheaper and we both love to travel and hike … It makes perfect sense.”

Jared said that their choice to hit the road is “something that we never really envisioned doing. But then once we actually thought about it, and started researching it, we realized that it's actually possible and it's great way to live.”

“We just stay off-grid as much as we can so our monthly stay … some months it's $200 or $400. I mean, we try to we try to do it on the cheap.” he said.

“Yeah, so we're very happy with where we're at … of course, there's always room to improve and make even more money,” Kayla said. “But, for me it’s not just about making the money … it’s also, can I enjoy life and can I go on the hike … and still make enough money to be comfortable and eat the food I want,” Kayla said.

“I’m a happy camper,” chuckled Kayla.