Architect Duff Bangs and social worker Ashley Rodgers were ready to leave Seattle—and the nine-t0-five grind. Taking a leap of faith, the couple quit their jobs, sold their condo, and spent the past summer traveling the western United States in the Adventure Wagon 28, a 200-square-foot tiny home with a 70-square-foot sleeping loft. Now settled in Eastern Washington, Bangs and Rodgers are continuing their business Modern Wagon with the mission of building affordable tiny homes that are ready to hit the road, and donating a portion of the proceeds to housing for the homeless.

When designing the prototype, the couple aimed to include amenities like a bathtub, washer and dryer, and space for a yoga practice. The 28-foot trailer, carefully balanced for weight distribution, features a sloped roof and angled front and rear walls for maximum living volume. The exterior is comprised of aluminum composite rainscreen with pre-finished birch lining the interior and Europly cabinets.

Bangs and Rodgers traveled nearly 11,000 miles over three months beginning in June 2017—heading east to Chicago, back west to Colorado and Yellowstone National Park, and then south to Utah and Southern California before ending up in Eastern Washington. "We stopped at every national park we could," says Bangs, who still lives in the prototype with fiancée Rodgers. "Living in a tiny home is better than I expected. [We] downsized from a 1,000-square-foot studio, and our lives are so much less cluttered and more simplified."

The 13,000-pound tiny home stayed steady, even through storms in Montana and the Midwest. Says Bangs, "The entire journey has been extremely rewarding. It was pretty amazing to set a goal to design and build such a fascinating project within our deadline and be able to have the freedom to travel for three months all while towing our home."

If you're curious to hear more, check out the Modern Wagon blog for an account of the design process and road trip, and the website to get in touch with the creators.