What better way to celebrate Thanksgiving and the spirit of giving than to talk about how grateful we are for our families? I’m incredible grateful for all the time I am able to spend with my family. We eat together, sleep together (pretty easy when you live in 188 square feet of space!) and play…
We’ve had quite the week so far at Lost Dutchman State Park near Phoenix, AZ. Along with a new environment came new challenges, personal discoveries, and some growing pains. Through our conversations, Sam and I kept returning to our deliberate decision to live the way we are because of the mental shift it created in…
It’s Labor Day. The annual end-of-summer holiday. I can’t believe that soon we will be feeling the crisp autumn air, eating pumpkin pie, and getting ready for Halloween. Our travels have motivated us to ‘wander’ in the places we visit. We wander to parks, visitor centers, forests, and towns just because there is something interesting…
We wandered to Arkansas 🙂 One of my favorite places to go! We had never been to the SW so everything was new to us though! It was in June but felt like summer so I am counting it 🙂 Other than that it has been the year of lakes. We have never swam in the lakes here but this year we did and it was not too bad! My husband is from MN so he is used to clear lakes but these brown lakes are okay also 🙂 I get travel guides for our area and for those we grew up at (before we make a trip to see family). I try to pretend we are tourist visiting 🙂 I get to see so many amazing things in Oklahoma that so many people have no clue about!
http://daniellehuddlestonphotography.com/day-1mt-nebo-state-park-dardanelle-ar/ReplyCancel
Our Labor Day adventures led us to Great Basin to the bristle cone pines. Your pictures were an inspiration. We had been before, but we could not make the hike because of all the snow on the ground. Your blog has helped inspire me and my husband to go back to RV living. We did it the first four years of our marriage, and we miss it. Thanks for sharing your adventures!ReplyCancel
We had a great summer of Wandering. We got home in late April after 8 months on the road and spent May and June wandering in our own northern backyard – Yukon (Canada) and Alaska through our adventures.
July and August have seen us out and about again and we’ve hit Nelson (BC), Regina (Saskatchewan), Kawartha Lakes (Ontario) and Ottawa (Ontario). Some for family, some for road schooling and all for fun!
We head home tomorrow for a month before we hit the road again for our winter adventures!
Lee, Tim & Hunter
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We just got back from Great Sand Dunes NP and Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP in Colorado. I highly recommend both parks, the canyon for the scenery, peacefulness and very dark skies, the sand dunes because it is a giant playground for the kids! Our boys loved exploring the dunes! Many more adventures to come!ReplyCancel
All right! We have officially been on the road in the Airstream for 3 months and 15 days. We left Utah for our house swap in Virginia 7 months and 15 days ago. INSANE. Wow. Time flies. We LOVE that you come and read our blog, but now we need some input. When we envisioned…
Living in Europe, it’s such a treat to follow your blog and see the states through your eyes.
Our family also have a camping trailer, which we manly use during our summer holiday. Your adventures are fueling our dreams of traveling around Europe for a longer period of time, so I’m also all in for learning about not only the places you see, but the day to day life and practical issues with living in a trailer.
I would love to read more about your day to day activities. How do you do laundry? Dishes? How do you decide where to go? What do driving days look like? Where do you keep toothbrushes or brush your teeth? What are your kids favorite things about Airstream life? What do you do with their toys or souvenirs?ReplyCancel
Day to day life for sure. As well as day to day emotions! pros and cons list – from traveling, to cooking, to mothering, to … all of it.
Also your technology. What do you use, how do you keep it all charged? How much does it all cost? etc
What you miss the most about “house living” and what you don’t miss at all.ReplyCancel
If you guys do some kind of budget every month, that could be informative to read about. Love reading day to day posts. And I’d like to point out that your photos are some of the best that I’ve seen of most of the airstream blogs that I follow. Also a video every now and then could be fun if you guys have that capability. Hope this helps!ReplyCancel
Back in 1985 we took our three kids on the road for 6 months. We both took leaves from work (I was doing bookkeeping and my husband taught elementary school), after spending months planning the logistics of how we were going to travel, pay our bills, “camper-school”our kids, get a house-sitter, keep in contact, etc. It was much more complicated since the age of instant communication and electronic banking was not even dreamed about. Phone cards, forwarded mail to my mother-in-law to pay our bills, and a weekly call to our housesitter and mom to troubleshoot problems were just a few issues that would be less complex today. Our kids were 5,9, and 10 when we left home in our cabover camper with very loose plans to circumnavigate the country (clockwise). We hit 3 provinces and 32 states with not a single campground reservation.
I enjoy comparing our circumstances….lots of junior ranger programs, lots of hikes, museums, waterfalls (my son said “too many”), two hurricanes, not enough people we knew east of the Rockies, journaling, the Smithsonians and Washington DC, and field trips at camper school. Kids got to alternate being the “navigator” learning to read maps, and bookkeeper who noted all of our expenses on a ledger sheet.
So, now we are nearly retired, just bought a RV/camper van and plan to take one grandkid at a time out for adventures. I enjoy reading your logistics of using skype, internet hookups, cell phone issues and other communication modalities that are pretty easy at home, but more complicated technologically on the road which I find somewhat daunting. Our kids still have great memories of our trip and we are excited to build wonderful memories with our grandkids. So keep those kid activities coming!ReplyCancel
We really enjoy seeing the places you have loved along with the things you love doing as you travel around. I personally also enjoy the more technical posts covering many of the moving pieces that make your air stream life possible. It has all been enjoyable and has inspired us to make small changes in our life here locally.ReplyCancel
Dido the day to day stuff questions, and question on where you store everything!… do you have a schedule on days you aren’t traveling? It sounds like you have to be pretty flexible, but is there anything that is stable in your lives right now? 🙂 I’m curious to know your thoughts on handling church and callings… seeing how you are not really going to just one at the time… which ward family do you technically “belong to” right now? Maybe no one else cares about the LDS aspect of this, but I am curious. 🙂 Also, love the financial posts, as they show my husband that it is fiscally possible to do something like this. Keep the details on the funds coming. Also, you mentioned there are many jobs out there that you’ve ran into while meeting other wanderers as yourself… so what do they all do? What other jobs are out there that make this lifestyle possible? Also, unless I am missing it, it seems you need a map tracking your stops and maybe showing where you’re headed? I know you may not have it planned out far in advance, but it’d be cool to see the places you’ve been (and especially the referrals for the favorite places you’ve stayed on that maybe? When you do talk about finances, I’m curious to know how that differed from your life at home- for example, did you spend the same amount on food before you left? More or less? etc. Any unexpected costs? And do you ever get any “me time” mom? How? Who does most of the blogging? When do you find time to do that without the kids interupting? OK, as you see I have many questions, but I’m also curious about the ages for your kids. Why did you choose to go at this time in your lives verses later or earlier? I know it was meant to be this time, as you mentioned, but did the kids ages have anything to do with it? I think that’s all for now. 🙂 Love everything you are doing, keep up the inspiring work! 🙂ReplyCancel
OH ya, a few more questions for ideas to post on… 🙂 What gear did you decide to bring, where do you store it? Did I see a fishing pole in one picture? Do you rent gear/borrow gear along the way for some of your adventures? How many outfits did you pack for each person? How often do you have to do laundry, etc. I know you have bikes for all, where do you keep those? ReplyCancel
Ok, believe it or not I actually thought of a few more comments. 🙂 I realized that you already have a map of those favorite places you’ve stayed, awesome! Also, I love the faith promoting comments that keep you going through the hard times, since doubts and fears are many of the reasons why don’t take risks, like wandering. 🙂 Keep the posts about the conflicts, the problems and the ways you’ve overcome them coming, they are really motivating. Maybe even a post on top 10 things you miss most about having a home, but top 10 reasons why it’s all worth it? Also, I asked about mom’s free time… also curious how you guys get time for adult conversation and quality time/date nights? And one last thought… you say you meet people all the time with their own amazing stories, I like to hear about those stories/people that inspire you too. Thanks again for taking the time to inspire and motivate the other dreamers like me out there!ReplyCancel
I love reading about your adventures. I love weekly roundup s of events, funny stories with links to places. Maybe we are headed here and a follow up post to why you liked it or didn’t like it. Maybe ask your kids questions and put their responses. I love everything you have done so far. ReplyCancel
Beautiful!
Thank you!