Inspiration

I am feeling inspired or compelled to write about our ongoing goal of life on the road with the kids. Recently, I began to feel a little scared of taking our kids, 4 and 2, out for a few years, away from what they know and into a constantly changing lifestyle with a shifting community. But, as if to assuage my fears, my sister in law sent a book along with boxes of wonderful hand me downs for our 4-year-old daughter. That book was written by David Cohen and is titled One Year Off… and is a wonderful account of one family’s decision to leave everything behind and travel the world for a year. They did this with a 9, 6 and 2 year old and were successful overall, but not without some hiccups and risks here and there, as would be expected. Wonderfully, the children adapted to life on the road more easily than did the parents. We are so connected to our daily lives in our towns, workplaces and homes and that structure and routine has provided stability throughout our lives leaving not much to the unknown. Children are familiar with this routine and structure, but are also much more “trainable” and open to new experiences in life without bringing their preconceived notions to the table.

Reading this book gives new urgency to our quest and my determination to see it through. In one chapter the author describes a fleeting glimpse of his daughter’s childhood and sees her coming transition into adolescence. Our own children change and grow so rapidly and to be able to stop the craziness of modern life and turn to the simplicity of enjoying each other in the time that we have right now is so enticing for me. I so want to savor each and every moment and have a chance to see the world new through their eyes.

Even though we have not kept an active journal on our progress, we have in fact progressed. We have been to a couple of RV shows and Jeff never fails to read the latest review of the newest tow vehicles and residential RV’s available. He’s narrowed it down to two trucks and one 5^th wheel in particular - I’ll leave the details of the vehicles for him to write.

At any rate, our next step is to really crunch some numbers and figure out what our budgets are going to look like. In the mean time we can dream about where we’d like to go on our journey. There are so many great places to see and go. One idea that has surfaced is to try to spend summers volunteering in National Parks with the hopes that will help get either one or both of us a stable job to ease our landing back into a “normal” lifestyle.

Well, I can at least begin a list with some obvious favorite places and organizations we’d like to see and experience:

Yellowstone

Glacier

Joshua Tree

Alaska

Any beach anywhere it is warm for as long as we can stay there!

Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Ventana Wilderness Sanctuary, California

Peregrine Falcon Fund, Idaho

Oceanic Preservation Society, Colorado

Northwest Territory

Vermont

The Adirondacks

Big Apple Circus

It is easy to see that this list will quickly outgrow the time we are giving ourselves. It will be a challenge to give each and every place the time we will need to really live it and get to know it and the people who live there. The great thing about this trip will be its spontaneous nature – if we like a place we stay, if not we move on!

A window of oppurtunity

Working towards realizing this Full-Timing lifestyle may not be possible for many because of existing situations. Natasha and I happen to find ourselves in place where making such a leap seems rather uncomplicated. We do not own a home, nor do we have a mortgage, we rent. We do not have debt of any kind; we own our vehicles, no credit card balance, nothing (this after working three hard years to become debt free). Though I have two older children in college, Natasha and my two children are pre-school. We live in a house that has less than 800 square feet of living space, so the idea of moving into a RV does not seem daunting to us. We have relatively few possessions, the result of living in a small house with almost no storage. And of these possessions very little is dear to us; we don't anticipate trouble getting rid of what we won't need in the RV. We look at these circumstances as a window of opportunity to take to the road and live full time in an RV.

Why a window? Though this may change, we feel it important that our two youngest have a place to call home when they enter their formative years. In addition, Natasha and I love to garden, and dream of one day having a place in the country where we can do this in a big way, and also have some goats and chickens (The full-time life, as far as we can see, does not leave room for such a lifestyle. Though I suppose we could have free range chickens! Sorry, I could not resist that.).

So, we do not anticipate living out the rest of our time together on the road. However, you never know about twists and turns of life. But for now we look at this as a window of opportunity, two to three years from now, living full time on the road, but with the window closing in six or seven years. A window, in our case we feel, open to full-time living on the road for three to four years.

An exciting journey

Funny how once you put it down I can already see what progress we've made, easing into the idea and by Jeff doing all the research he's been doing! Remember where we started? Looking at the motorhomes? What we've learned in just two months is remarkable and valuable.

My main concern is how this affects the kids. I know we will be fine, but how will they feel living life on the road, in constant transition? But then I know that in the end they will transition just fine back into life in a more traditional home. Maybe once you are into it, it doesn't feel like that, constant transition. I'd love to hear from some other families who have done this with young children, or children of any age.

It is exciting to think of going wherever you want to go whenever you want to go there! And I am most excited about really spending time with our friends and loved ones who live far way - more than just a quick weekend visit - getting to know their friends and haunts and daily lives.

To Begin

I'm not sure exactly when this Full-Timing idea came into my head. And I am not sure how long it ran around inside my head before I brought it up to Natasha. But sometime back before Thanksgiving of 2009 I got to thinking what a cool idea it would be to take our family on the road in an RV Full Time. For those that might not know what I am referring to, think living all the time in a Recreational Vehicle! And probably when you hear this you may instantly think about Christmas Vacation, when Cousin Eddie confesses to Clark that he and his family live in an RV! Well anyway, that is how many folks go with this idea of mine. Fortunately when I brought it up to Natasha she was very receptive to the idea. Good thing, since there is no way that something like this could be even contemplated without absolute, 100% full support from a spouse!

So how is this Full-Time Life even possible for a family like ours (me, Natasha and two children under four) to think about? (Good question). How would a family even go about doing something like this? And how would seemingly sane individuals deal with the large expense of such a scheme!? Both Natasha and I have spent the past two months just trying to get our brains around this idea of Full-Timing. So far we have not been successful. It is rather complicated and extremely scary. And the more we look into it the more bewildered we get. By starting this Blog we hope we can get a handle on all of the information we have been accumulating, and weight the pros and cons of attempting the Full-Time Life. But more importantly, it is a way for us to share this adventure, or better, odyssey we have begun. And a way to hear from others of how crazy we are, or better yet, get some useful input. And who knows, if this idea works, maybe someone else out there might wish to give it a try, and it would be nice if we could have offered some helpful information.

So, here goes our Full-Timing Odyssey Blog, the adventure begins anew.