Brake Lights & Bug Bites

Buckle up! This is a long one! A lot has happened since our last post in December! 

In December, we decided to leave our camper and truck in Joshua Tree because we wanted to continue our travels but we also wanted to be back in Ohio for Christmas. Shortly after Christmas, Ken and I were sitting in front of the fire with mountains of new gifts and empty boxes scattered on the floor. One conversation led to another and we ended up talking about selling our home and going full time on the road. Crazy, right?!?!

We called a realtor, just to see what the market looked like. She said, now is the time to sell! Ken and I spent some time praying and talking through what this might look like for our family. One thing led to another and we were knee deep in house projects getting the house ready to sell! The house sold in a week! We closed at the end of April.

It was a whirlwind! Packing up a 3,000 square foot house to live in a 45 foot camper was a huge undertaking. We rented a storage unit, got rid of some things and sold quite a bit. 

I wish I could sit across from you with a cup of coffee and tell you all the details of those months. The hard moments. The disappointing moments. The moments when we saw God’s hand. The moments when we questioned every decision. The moments of joy. It is too much to write in a blog so I will give you the cliff notes version!! 

-January and February: completed house projects to get the house ready to sell.

-January: Purchased a brand new camper, a Brinkley G3950. It would not be ready until June. 

–February: Ken flew to California, picked up our camper/truck, and drove it back to Ohio. He was amazing!

-Tate turned 1!

-March: Put the house on the market. Spent a week at the Hershey, PA campground while the house had showings. We spent some quality time with my brother, Rande, and his family.

-Sold the house and packed everything up. We could not have done this without the help of dear friends and family. 

-End of April: Took the camper to Florida. Celebrated the twins’ 10th birthday at Legoland! Became Florida residents. Set up our mail service. Purchased Disney annual passes. Met up with our friends at a campground in Orlando. Spent a week at Disney. Caught our breath after several months of craziness! 

-May: Drove back to Ohio for Memorial Day. In West Virginia, Ken had to pull over for a flat tire on the camper which turned out to be a broken axel. Our camper was towed to a repair shop. Because it was the holiday weekend, the camper would not be worked on until the following week.

-Turned out the axel was a speciality axel that needed to be made. Our camper was sitting in West Virginia for two months waiting for the axel. My parents graciously allowed us to stay at their house and lakehouse while we waited on the camper. We volunteered at VBS. Charlie went on his first mission trip. The boys went to camp in the Upper Peninsula. 

-Early August: the camper was finally ready! Ken hopped into the truck, picked up the camper and drove it to Indianapolis where our new camper was waiting for us! The sale fell through and we ended up not purchasing our new camper in Indiana. A few days of disappointment, frustration and uncertainty led to us finding an amazing dealer in Alabama that had a Brinkley on their lot ready for us to come pick up! 

-Ken drove the camper from Indiana to Alabama. I drove the boys from Ohio to meet up with Ken in Alabama. The boys and I took a two day stop in Atlanta to visit the Aquarium and College Football Hall of Fame (something that was on their bucket list!).

-Traded in our old camper, purchased our new camper and drove back to Ohio! Our new camper is amazing! It is going to be a wonderful home for our family while we travel. 

-Spent 3 weeks at a campground in Amish Country getting settled and checking off doctor appointments and such before hitting the road! 

-We made the very difficult decision to give Higgins to our friends, The Grays. It was one of the hardest decisions we have made. Higgins was such a joy and blessing to our family. It was hard to have him in our small space and it was hard for him to not have the space to run and play. The tears were many, but we can think of no better fit for Higgins. We are thankful that the Grays were happy to welcome him into their home and love him.

Which brings us to today! There were moments over the past 6 months when we thought we had made the wrong decision. Maybe we should throw the towel in and move back into a home. But I can honestly say, I am so glad that we persevered! 

We left Amish Country on Thursday bound for Colorado Springs! We spent two days in Columbus with Ken’s family. We also tried a new thing, to us, called Harvest Hosts. Harvest Hosts is a membership-based program that offers thousands of campsites at wineries, breweries, farms, historic sites and attractions. It is like an Airbnb for RV camping. Instead of staying at campgrounds on our way out to Colorado, we spent two nights at a horse farm in Columbus, a night at an alpaca farm in Missouri, and a night at a diner/coffee shop in Kansas! It was an amazing experience! 

We finally made it safe and sound to our campground in Colorado Springs. It is a KOA with so many fun things for the boys to do while we are here-a jump pad, playground, pool, splash pad with water slides, and more! We also started our school year. Charlie is an 8th grader and Grant and Miles are 4th graders! 

We are so thankful and so excited to be back to our adventure! I firmly believe that our family is at its finest when we are on the road! It’s not always easy and often times it looks messy, but the simple living, meeting new people, experiencing new things, seeing new places, makes it all worth it! 

We cannot wait to share our journey with you! Stay tuned for our adventures in Colorado Springs!