(Props to NWFightScene.)
“All through college I had my own house. I had a nice car,” says Bryan Caraway. “I realized that all of that was getting in the way of what I wanted to do, getting in the way of my passion.”
Caraway’s passion was fighting, so he gave up most of his worldly possessions and bought a Caraway bought a 23-foot ‘79 Chevy Midas Class C RV motor home and parked it next to Dennis Hallman’s gym, Victory Athletics.
“It’s tough to go after your dreams; you have to sacrifice a lot of things. You have to push and just be passionate about it and never lose sight of where you want to be,” Caraway said. “I decided to buy a motor home so I didn’t have to worry about bills. I condensed my bills down and got rid of my car payment… [Hallman] has a ton of property, and I just parked [my motor home] right next to the gym. I teach kids wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu and submission wrestling and help teach fight practice, and that pays for my electricity and rent.
“I don’t do anything half-assed,” Caraway continued. “I had a lot of high-level people that had been there and done that telling me that I had a lot of talent and that I could go places, so when I turned pro, it was for a reason. I really wanted to go somewhere with it.”
And he didn’t half-ass his RV purchase, either. Despite being more than 30 years old, the entire interior had been redone. The floor had been ripped out and replaced. The stock cabinets were replaced by new oak cabinets. Even the stove and refrigerator were replaced. Once Caraway parked the RV on Hallman’s property, he added some missing essentials: a 32” LCD flat screen television and an Xbox 360.
“The outside looks so old, like all those 1970 orange brown and cream colors, but the inside is all new and nice,” Caraway said. “I call it the Road Ranger—that’s what me and my roommate named it. I love the Road Ranger. It’s really cozy in there, and warm… and it’s kind of snuggly.”
Going into his World Extreme Cagefighting debut this Saturday, Caraway recognizes that his career is moving into a new phase, and he plans to move to Sacramento, Calif. to train with Urijah Faber. Relocating from Washington state to Cali is a major transition, and what would become of the Road Ranger?
“Who knows, I might move into one of Urijah’s houses, but one of the houses that he owns—he’s got a lot of property, a huge lawn. Who knows, maybe I’ll end up bringing the [Road Ranger] down there and parking it and living in it until I can save some money.”
Either way, Caraway refuses to be embarrassed about the sacrifices he has made to pursue his dream.
“It’s always easy to take the easy route and get a normal job and be a little drone and work 9 to 5 like everybody else. It takes guts to go after your passion and take that risk,” Caraway says.
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