Howdy Y'all. I'm writing another post about our last month, but as I sit here Sunday morning in San Antonio Texas my mind is a reflecting (could be the yummy Pike Place I'm drinking).... I think it was about 10 months ago when Jen and I really started talking about a "possible" big adventure. As with most big decisions we started small, "how about we sell everything and vagabond for a year, mostly in developing countries?", then we whittled it down to a trip around the country. There were a couple of big considerations we had to overcome to do the trip, the biggest was schooling. I can't remember how it evolved but one day Jen just said, "I'll do it, I'll home-school.... or more accurately road-school". Then we had to think about leaving family and friends, the logistics of the trip, what kind of RV to buy, pull a car or not, day-to-day living, etc, etc. I think one of the things that allows Jen and I to do these kinds of things is our lack of planning and fully considering the ramifications of our decisions. We just considered the adventure part and know we'll get through the rest. As you can imagine, this has ups and downs, pains and pleasures, pros and cons. But Jen and I also have full confidence in our ability to make it work and know we'll make the best of all situations. There has been plenty of pain, and fortunately more pleasure....
We are in Texas, which means we have drawn half our "U", our plan was to begin in Maine and end in Seattle, driving a U around the outside of the US, Texas is the half way point. Even writing that feels weird but it's true, we are half way through the US. We have visited 19 States and 2 Countries. Imagine a group conversation in Campbell's Kindergarten class next year, "So class, how many states have each of you visited", Johnny says, "6 teacher", Sally says, " 3 ", Campbell says, "40"... and promptly gets sent to the principles office for lying.
Overall the trip has really been interesting, thought provoking and is changing the way I think about life and what's important. I love picking up a bag of garbage, walking to the dumpster, and throwing it in. Then I walk back to the RV. I love watching my kids learn at school everyday, how they learn, what they learn... I find the entire process fascinating. I love watching Jen teach and figure out new creative ways to show the kids how to learn things. My favorite example is for Campbell's writing. Remember the dotted line that dissects the writing lines on the practice sheets, the purpose of the line is to keep lower case letters below and help general guide other letters. Campbell didn't understand, then Jen told him that the dotted lines were forcefields which couldn't be penetrated... he hasn't written threw them since.
I love talking to people in the RV parks, they are so engaging and full of life. I love our day trips to new places, our family movie nights, reading each night (instead of watching TV). I love driving the RV to our next location (this took me 2 months to relax, but I now enjoy it). I love the flexibility to stay more days or leave early in any place, it's very freeing.
The only thing that I'd like to improve is sleep and exercise. These are two things I'm used to having in abundance. It always seems that something is waking us up every night, the kids, some noise, temperature.... I'm nearly ready to "invest" in ear plugs;-). I really thought exercise would be easier as well, but there are so many places and people to visit it doesn't leave much time to get into a routine. We have a plan to fix it but we'll see...
We are gearing up from Christmas in San Antonio Texas. Unfortunately the weather isn't going to be very good;-). The kids are beaming with excitement, and have already fully grilled us on whether or not Santa will find us, how he'll get into the RV, and if our Christmas tree is big enough.
