Retired couple turns 53-foot semi-trailer into a dream home

(NewsNation) — It sounds like a dream — retire, hit the open road and explore the country in a mobile home. Well, one British Columbia couple did just that, but with a twist.

Clayton and Teresa Balabanov dreamed of selling their taxi businesses and traveling in an RV.

Five years ago, they bought a used 53-foot semi-trailer and spent $180,000 creating a spacious home that they call the “Nomad Monster,” which includes a library, a full kitchen, a movie theater and even a hot tub.

“The library was the one thing that I asked for, and the other thing was to separate the toilet room from the tub room,” Teresa said.

This actually wasn’t their first renovation, Clayton said they previously flipped a bus.

“I did the bus many years ago and we enjoyed that, but we didn’t have the time. Now we’re retired and we have the time, and we just put it together piece by piece, and as the budget allowed,” Clayton explained.

A small carbon footprint was important to Clayton.

“The whole roof is solar. We found that water is an issue, so revamping things right now and putting in the whole reverse osmosis filter system so we can filter the gray water. So we’ll use less water, we’ll recycle the whole water system, and it’s super insulated and run on solar and recycled water,” Clayton explained.