The Gillis Family

Having a view of the ocean and kayaking the river filled with seals in Smith River, California is the Gillis’s favorite memory on the road so far.  These are the kinds of experiences captured when living full-time on the road in an RV. Inspired by YouTubers such as Less Junk, More Journey, and Keep Your Daydream; they encourage those considering this lifestyle to do it as soon as they can, “we wish we could have started years before we actually did”, they beamed.

Jared and Kris Gillis are part of a family of four, they have two boys named Eli and Matt who love to travel. Eli has a passion for photography and Matt loves to make videos. They both love to Geocache any time they can. As for Jared and Kris, they enjoy helping people, making videos, and getting into a good read, as well as homeschooling the boys. Jared has a background in construction and general contracting with some time working in the ministry at a church. He is also currently part of the Campendium team, a website that includes thousands of locations for RVing. As for Kris, she enjoys her time being a stay at home mom.

Together, they have two YouTube channels that involve their RV lifestyle. The first channel, “Less House More Living” follows their family adventures while they travel across the country discovering new places and making new memories. Their second channel, “All About RVs” focuses more on the ‘how-to’ aspect of RVs. “We thought it would be better to separate them so people could subscribe depending on their interest. We know that some people may be focused on the ‘how-to’ not just our family travels and vice versa”.

Nomad Lifestyle

Despite their YouTube Channels, the main reason they chose the nomad lifestyle is for family time. “We really just love spending time together as the four of us and is one of the main reasons we live full time in an RV. We love going somewhere new and just exploring an area and seeing what it’s like to live there”, they cheered. Spending time together as a family is something that they really cherish because living life ‘normally’ means less time to travel and less time with your kids. As a family, they enjoy kayaking and, of course, traveling.

Their nomad lifestyle originated when Jared quit his job and they started contemplating the idea of an RV after talking about possibly living in a tiny house. In 2016, they transitioned to RV full-time and have now been on the road for two years.

Their Setup and Choosing Battle Born Lithium Batteries

Currently, they have a 38’ 2004 Forest River Toy Hauler. They chose this because as soon as they saw their friend was selling it, they knew that it would be a perfect fit for their family. They have remodeled a majority of it, but continued to have two 6-volt lead acid batteries. However, they decided that it was time to transition to lithium because “there are so many advantages with lithium especially for us being full time in the RV. A few of those reasons are weight, no maintenance, speed of charge, how long they last, and how efficient they are for their size”.

After helping Marc and Trish Leach from Keep Your Daydream install their Battle Born Batteries, Jared was impressed. Check out Jared’s video on the Keep Your Daydream installation here!

All the advantages of lithium convinced the Gillis family that it was time to move onto two 100 Ah 12 volt Battle Born Batteries and encourage people to choose these if they want a reliable product.

Their current system has:

• 1 Victron BMV-712 Battery Monitor with Bluetooth Built in
• 1 Battery Guardian Autoselect 
• 2 100 Ah 12 V LiFePO4 Deep Cycle Batteries
• 1 Progressive Dynamics 12V 60-amp LiFePO4 Battery Charger

Living The Dream

So far they have spent most of their time in the west and their favorite places vary from relaxing at the beach, to hanging out in downtown San Francisco, and hiking in the Redwoods. They never thought they’d be living out of an RV but are now living the dream. With the help of their Battle Born batteries, we hope they get to create more memories and boondock plenty more. Keep up with the Gillis Family on their social media platforms: YouTube and Facebook.

Jared also has a video where he speaks about his transition to lithium with our Battle Born 100ah 12V Batteries. Watch the video here!

For more information on our batteries, follow the link.