“You’re doing WHAT?!?!” This is the typical response we get from people when we tell them the plan.

That plan being to sell everything and travel the country for a year in our RV.

Some say it with enthusiasm and follow it up with a, “That’s awesome!” or a “Good for you guys!”. However, there are those whose faces quickly contort into something along these lines:

And who could blame them?!!? Who does that??!?!?! You’d have to be bat-crap crazy! Well, I always have been a little crazy and Zac got contaminated long, long ago.

But we didn’t come by this decision lightly. The idea initially came to me the very first time we ever rented an RV for a weekend camping trip three years ago. At that point, it was just a pie in the sky, maybe someday when we retire idea. But then we purchased an RV of our own: Harvey. And every trip we took thereafter, the idea kept on resurfacing and nagging at us. After a trip to Nashville, TN in March of 2016, we finally couldn’t shake this desire anymore.

So, to borrow a format made famous by pastors everywhere (including our own amazing pastor, Joe Coffey) here are three points explaining why we’re making such a huge, life-changing decision:

First, to quote Jim Croce, “There never seems to be enough time to do the things that you want to do once you find them…”. I’ve been around enough to know that my family are the ones that I want to go through time with.  We LOVE traveling together.  Yes, it is crazy and chaotic, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.  These times are so fleeting.  CLICHE ALERT!!  CLICHE ALERT!!!  I blinked and my babies were in school.  I warned you.  But it’s a cliche for a very important reason.  It’s true.  And now when they get home from school we have MAYBE an hour of family time between homework, piano practice, and dinner.  Don’t get me wrong, we LOVE the school district we are in.  The teachers have been wonderful and we are so grateful for our experience with them.  But to capture an entire year in their young lives will be so precious and dear.  The experiences that I chronicle in this blog will be lifelong memories that we can treasure forever with them.  Of course, this means homeschooling for the next year.  I’m sure sometime in the near future you will be reading my blog post, “Homeschooling: How long it took until my head fell off completely”. Prayers please.

Second, let’s stick with the songs, shall we?  Give me the simple life.  I sit here typing this in our beautiful home.  When we built in this neighborhood four years ago in the spring of 2012, we could not have felt more blessed.  And we still do.  We love this home and the memories we’ve made in it.  But it’s amazing how much you accumulate!  I look around me and I see stuff.  Sitting around without a purpose, STUFF.  And now I’m about to really blow your mind.  There are people who make this stuff that has no purpose.  There are people whose purpose in life is to make stuff that serves NO PURPOSE.  Whoa.  Trippy.  Now, of course, there are those of you who will say that everything in their home does serve a purpose.  That the decorative piece serve the purpose of making the home feel warm and inviting.  And they are not wrong.  I love walking into some of my dear friend’s homes who have an amazing knack for making their personal space into a work of art.  So this issue is clearly one that has formed in my own maladjusted brain.  And for me, personally, I’m ready to be rid of it.  For a while.  It’s entirely possible that I will come back from this trip and YEARN to fill our home with beautiful things that speak to who we are as a family.  In fact, I hope that is the case.  But for now, I’m so excited to pull free from the shackles of all this STUFF and live in 400sq feet on wheels.

Third and finally (and I’m breaking away from the song theme here): WHY NOT?  We find ourselves in a unique situation where the hubby and provider is able to make an income from anywhere and everywhere.  In fact, traveling may actually expand his business.  We decided not to wait any longer to pull the trigger on this hair brained idea.  Because in a year from now, who knows what our circumstances will be.  Yes, seize the day!  Aw man, I did pull through with song analogy!  And from my favorite movie, no less!  Aren’t you proud?  High School Musical who!???!  This is Kenny Ortega’s real masterpiece… I’m sorry.  Don’t get me started.

So there you have it in a nutshell. Stay tuned in the weeks to come as we move forward with plans to head ’em up and move ’em out!