Suites to Boots Embracing the Texas Ranch & RV Lifestyle
Fides Eruditio Veneratio embodies our family motto and spirit as we embrace a corporate to ranch life transition.
About Us
Life’s challenges and rewards
Welcome to Howllite Ranch
We’re Pete and Samantha—two New York/New Jersey natives turned accidental Texans. After decades in high-powered corporate life (Wall Street, banking, international firms), we made a bold move to ranch in the South, trading our boardrooms and suites for cattle and trucks and an RV. In 2015, we took a leap to open our own investment firm in Princeton NJ, and a few years later found ourselves on an untamed piece of land just outside of San Antonio.
Our move to Texas was initiated by a change in our lifestyle and basic philosophy... and the moment our daughter took off cross-country. Classic empty nest impulse? Guilty. But deeper than that, we felt called to rewrite our story together, and that’s when everything changed.
Throughout the years, we’ve traversed various phases of life, experienced wild adventures, celebrated big wins, and weathered colossal losses. Through it all, we’ve stayed side-by-side, cheering each other on from chaos to calm.
Our friends have spent years laughing, cringing, and sympathizing with our stories—and finally convinced us to share them with a wider audience. So here we are, with a YouTube channel and this vibrant corner of the internet, ready to document our Texas adventures.
Our Origin Story
Pete - Raised in an affluent suburb of New Jersey, where luxury was the norm. My dad owned a company, giving me a front-row seat to business management. Extended family dinners, year-round vacations, and neighborhood mischief were standard. After entering college, I joined the military—first in Naval Intelligence, then as an Army Cavalry Scout. Toss in various stints and academies (such as Police Academy, Electricial Engineering, Commercial Diver) and you have quite the résumé before I even hit the corporate world. I spent 13 years as a VP at one of the world’s oldest banking firms before co-founding an investment company focused on small businesses. And this is where our new story begins.
Samantha - A Brooklyn girl, tomboy, and Sicilian with German and Southern family roots, adding some sass. Raised in the ‘70s, I fought my way up through corporate life, armed with grit and a loud New York attitude. My childhood was filled with sidewalks, fire hydrants, and family traditions that could double as operas.
Together, we raised our daughter in a resort town on a ski slope—our three-story condo boasted a hot tub, sauna, and balconies overlooking the runs. We skied, hiked, scuba-dived, and traveled the world, thrown in the yearly cruise to Bermuda in the penthouses suite with butler. Masonic lodge memberships, golf outings, black-tie dinners, and corporate adventures were all part of our lifestyle.
We even designed and built our dream home in the Poconos of Pennsylvania—4 acres, a pool, outdoor kitchen, and bar setup. Retirement was looking dreamy.
The Fall
Our plan? Leave corporate life behind, run our new investment firm, and live off our millions while doing what we loved.
Reality check? Our daughter married a Special Forces soldier and kept moving—so we pivoted, choosing Texas as our next chapter. Our timeline? Originally set for 20 years out. Our actual move? Overnight. After one snowstorm buried Samantha’s Durango, we declared "we’re outta here!" and called the movers.
We landed in San Antonio just in time for the world to unravel. COVID hit. Plans froze. Businesses folded. Our investment company imploded. And just two years later, my business partner passed away unexpectedly. No recovery.
We had lost everything.
Starting Over at 50
So... we rebuilt.
We’ve gone from suits to boots—literally. Our temporary ranch house is now home. We raise Texas Longhorn cattle and RV across Texas, logging miles and memories from pine forests to desert sands. I'm now working remotely as VP for a NYC company, while Samantha runs operations in large-scale logistics.
We still cherish museums, old films, rich food, and spending quality time with each other more than anything.
We’ve traded elaborate vacations for RV hookups—and we wouldn't have it any other way now.
Why We’re Sharing
Howllite Ranch represents our fresh start. This channel serves as our living archive. We had the American dream and lost it all, but it’s not over. We plan on sharing our ups and downs, ranch living experiences, travel adventures, and all the lessons we've learned (and unlearned) along the way.
Life isn’t linear—it’s layered, messy, and full of surprises. Whether you’re watching from a Manhattan high-rise or a tent in Big Bend, we hope you laugh, cry, and nod along with us.
Welcome to our story. We’re glad you’re here.
Our life on Howllite Ranch
RVing & Adventures
Questions we are frequently asked
Typical topics that come up in conversation
It was a long thought out plan of what would fit our personalities and lifestyle. How we got here is story in its self. Basically we came for a quality of life that aligned to our beliefs.
It’s all prospective, before we pulled the trigger the concept of such a drastic life style and culture shift was hard to really conceptualize. Most of our friends and family could not believe us when we did it. Now we can’t even imaging going back.
No! We love Texas and the new life we have built here. It fits our way of life and brings quality in ways living up North could not. Where New England is beautify, especially in the fall, we have so much more available time for outdoor activities due to the difference in the climate. Where we could only enjoy maybe 3 to 4 months of specific outdoor activities before, now they are practically feasible 10 months out of the 12
Contact Us
Drop us a hello and hope to see ya’ll around the campground!
Thank you for visiting and god bless.
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