Hey y’all!!

Sorry it’s been so long since I last posted. I’ve been without Internet and finally gave up and installed an app on my phone that allows me to post!!

SO!! We spent our first official night in the RV at Beaver Bend State Park in Oklahoma! It was perfect for our first night. Close enough to town that we could just go get food, but far enough from town that we felt like we weren’t in town!

Notice the bears the Alex and Nicholas are holding? Meet our trip mascots!! The big one is Rose and the little one is Stormageddon. The boys named them after a couple of favorite Doctor Who characters.

We pulled into our campsite around 4 in the afternoon and immediately went for some food! When we got back we looked around the campground a little. We were close to a river and nestled in the woods.

It really was a great campsite!

The next morning we found some breakfast and then took time for a short hike. The trail went up and down the mountain side and I found out just how out of shape I really am!! Whooweee!!! My legs were on fire!!!

We crossed this little stream that only one of us fell in. (It wasn’t me!)

After stretching our legs we hopped back in the car/RV and headed on down the road. This area of Oklahoma is really gorgeous!! We’re already wanting to go back and take the time to actually see it instead of just driving through. If you have a chance to go you really should!

Since we don’t have the trailer to pull the 4Runner yet I had to follow behind the RV on the way to Missouri. Nicholas took the picture above while we were winding our way through the hills of Oklahoma!

Now that I can post from my phone, I’ll be keeping y’all up to date more frequently!

See y’all on the road!!

Sooo….we bought an RV last week!

Wait, what?

I thought we were going to leave in June…

Well, we went and did it. We bought ourselves an RV. We went to a place in Alvarado, TX last Wednesday and found an RV we were ok with. It had what we were looking for…it was a diesel, had a bed for everyone…it was a class C. But, it was kind of lacking in the size department. It didn’t have a washer/dryer, the refrigerator was on the smallish side, and to be totally honest…it was a little more than what we were wanting to spend. We ended up staying the night in Alvarado and going back the next day to look some more. We were really set on getting a diesel so we didn’t even entertain the idea of looking at the Class A gas RV our sales guy, Justin, mentioned. He said it was perfect for us. It had everything we wanted but it was gas and not diesel. What model was it? It turns out it’s the same model that another RV dealership mentioned to us on the way to Alvarado the day before. I should mention here, that there’s not many Class A models that have both a bunkhouse and a bed over the drivers cab. They’re pretty darn rare. So, after we made Justin drag us all over that RV dealership (it was huge!!) and we were about to give up I asked to see the gas model he had mentioned. I was curious. Two different sales guys from two different stores brought it up so it was worth a look, right?

We walked in and thought…oh, this is perfect! But it’s not diesel. I happen to know a very fine mechanic (hi Dad!), so I started asking him questions about it. The final verdict was that this absolutely-perfect-for-us class A gas RV would work. It’s not going to be the powerhouse we were hoping for, but it will pull our 4Runner and get us where we want to go. It was the last one of these they had on the lot. The next year’s model was getting ready to come in and the price was going to jump back up to a level we were trying to avoid. So, we bought it! Why not?! We’re not ready at all, but hey, this whole trip is supposed to be about adventure, right?! The dealership did the paperwork in record time, got our new home ready to go and out the door we went!

We ended up leaving the dealership around 6PM with about a five hour drive ahead of us. For those of you who know me, you know this was not something I wanted to do. I really hate to drive and driving at night is my worst nightmare. You can see in the picture I snapped that it was already getting dark as we were pulling out of the dealership. It got dark pretty quickly and I spent a long six hours following behind our new house.

Here’s the layout of our new home! Pretty snazzy, right?! Look at all of that room! Don’t worry, I won’t be offended if you’re asking yourself, what room? It’s actually pretty roomy and the best feature…my absolute favorite thing about our new home…it has two full bathrooms!!

Two! Not one and a half, but two FULL bathrooms!!

I don’t really have a good shot of the outside. I’ll get one and post it up for everyone to see. I did get one of the five of us in front of it while we were at the dealership.

I know, I know… it’s really early to buy an RV when we’re not leaving until June. That’s why we’re rushing around like maniacs trying to get everything organized and ready to go. I’ve got boxes and piles in every room. Piles for storage, piles for donation, piles for our moving sale, and piles to go with us. I’m paranoid I’m going to mess up and get rid of a pile that is supposed to either go to storage or go to the RV. We keep looking out the window to make sure the RV is still there. It’s always there, right where we left it.

Well, I’ve got about a million things to do, but I wanted to update everyone on the new development!

See y’all down the road!

Those of you who really know me, know how much I love my books. My books are as much a part of me as my green eyes and short legs. I’ve known for over a year now that I would have to pack up all of my books and store them. It’s been over a year that I’ve had time to come to grips with the fact that I would be living without a single actual book while we’re on our most excellent adventure. It was still so hard to pack them all up though. My books are like breath for my soul. They’re old friends I frequently visit. So, when I taped up that last box full of books…it was a little emotional. I’m not gonna lie…it was hard. I kept thinking…maybe I’ll just sneak in a few, but when you’re packing up your life and downsizing to an RV every single ounce counts. The few books we’re taking are all educational and go with the fifty states workbook I made for the boys. We all have kindles…It’s not as though we’ll be completely without books to read…it’s just…there’s something so right about an actual, in your hands, book. I keep reminding myself they’re fine. They’re nicely packed. They’ll be in a controlled environment storage facility.

I’ll be fine.

Really.

Out of everything in our house the hardest things for me to leave are my books and my pictures. I hadn’t really thought about leaving my pictures. I’m a bit of a picture-holic. Ok, more than a bit…more like a lot. Pictures for me are like little memories frozen in time. I don’t always have the best memory so looking at old pictures is kind of like a walk down memory lane. It’s amazing how many little details I forget over the years. And yes, while many of my pictures are digital now and can easily come with us, there’s a good portion that aren’t. The hardest ones to leave behind are the ones on my walls that we had taken over the years and don’t have digital copies of. I have three particular ones in mind. They’re 16X20s of each boy on their first birthday. While I’m determined to have a few of my favorite pictures come with us and hang somehow on the walls of our new home (RV), I just don’t see that happening with three 16X20s.

While these things are (I’ll admit) trivial, they’re big things to me. My books and my photos have kind of defined who I am for so long. It’s hard to leave them behind, but it’s also kind of freeing. I get to find out who I am without them. Maybe I’ll discover a new passion or rediscover an old passion. I guess we’ll find out!

What things would be the hardest for you to leave behind?

See y’all down the road?

When we started trying to decide which RV would be best for us, I was surprised by all of the choices. I grew up camping. I’ve been around RVs and campers, but as a kid, I never really paid attention to the differences and options out there.

Did you know there are around nine different types of RVs? Nine! And within those nine different categories there are sub-categories. Wowzers, that’s a lot of options!! There are two main types. Towable and Motorized. Do you want to drive your RV or pull/haul your RV? Well, we want to drive ours so we looked at the motorized choices. This narrows the field down, but within the motorized category there are still three groups or classes. A, B, and C.

Class A’s are the largest and built on a specially designed vehicle chassis. You’ll find all of your usual amenities in a Class A. Bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living area and tons of storage. Oh…and some even have washer/dryers! Both gas and diesel models are readily available. Most of the Class A’s we’ve seen start at around 21 feet and go to about 45 feet. So, there’s a wide range of sizes. Some have slideouts (sections that…well…slideout from the main RV section to widen or lengthen the RV). The cost starts somewhere around $60K and goes up from there. You can spend as much as you want to get all the bells and whistles your little heart desires. Our problem with the Class A is the over the head bed has to be raised and lowered and honestly they never seem completely sturdy. The thought of not being able to leave a location because we can’t get the bed to raise keeps floating through my mind.

Class B’s are the smallest and built on a van chassis. They’re sometimes called Van Campers because they’re about the same size and shape as a van. They drive more like a regular vehicle and come with some amenities. We haven’t really spent time looking at or researching the Class B’s because they’re just way too small to even be considered for a family of five to full time in. Class B’s usually have only one bed, a tiny kitchen, a bathroom, and run between 16 & 20 feet.

Class C’s are considered the in-betweens, but they overlap size wise with the Class A’s quite a bit. Class C’s run between 21 to 38-ish feet, so you can see that the length of a Class C is very comparable to the length of a Class A. Class C’s are usually built on a van chassis like the Class B’s, but offer longer and wider options. Some of the newer Super C’s are built on a freight-liner chassis. What really makes the Class C different is the extended section over the cab where there’s either a bed or extra storage or an entertainment center. It’s this over the cab bed that makes the Class C our choice. The models we’ve been looking at also offer bunk beds which for us is a must. With the bunks and the over the head bed added to the main bedroom we all have a space of our own. Just like in the Class A’s you’ll find all the amenities you could wish for (yep, some even come with washer/dryers). One of the biggest downsides for me about the Class C’s is the lack of storage which draws me to the newer Super C’s which are not only diesel, but have way more storage and a few more bells and whistles. Class C’s also have the slideout options like the Class A’s to widen/lengthen the RV and start at around $40K. You can really spend as much as you want to get all the amenities you need or want.

When you’re going to be living full time in an RV with five people and two big cats, space and storage are kind of the top priorities. Everything else is just…icing on the cake.

See y’all down the road!

After the warm and fuzzy glow of deciding to do this amazingly awesome trip wore off, we realized just how big of an undertaking we’d decided to take on and we were faced with quite a few questions.

Where do we even start? We’ll have to pull all three boys out of public school and start to homeschool. What are the Texas laws on homeschooling? What curriculum will we use? What will we do for an address? What kind of RV will best suit us? What about internet on the road? Do we plan each state or just go with the flow?

Ok, I have to stop right there. Anyone who knows me at all knows I’m not just going to go all willy-nilly off on a trip like this without a plan for each state. Now, Jerl would totally do that. Just point the RV in a direction and go. Not me though. It would kill me to do that. No, I’ve got to plan and organize. I have to mull things over. Research and review. He’s more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of person. We balance each other out…it works for us. While I’ll try to plan every last detail, he’ll keep me in the real world and help me realize a little spontaneity is good for a person. I’ll admit, I do have a plan for each state. It’s a loose sort of plan…I have a list of things I want to do in each state. We may or may not get to all of the things on my list, but by golly we’ll at least know of all the things we could possibly do in each state! I’m sure the list will be modified…many times. There will be things taken off and things added on.

We had so many questions and no idea where to start so we started with the basics. What do we do about an address? Even if we were to pay all of our bills online, we still need a permanent address for various reasons. Not to mention it’s the law. The government needs to know where to find us. We have a couple of options here… We could ask family/friends to let us “rent” their address. Basically, it would look like we live with them. That’s a lot to ask of anyone. Another option would be a mail forwarding service. There are a few mail forwarding companies with full time RVers in mind. I think we’ll be going with one based out of Texas since we’re already Texas state residents. If we were to go with one based in another state, we would have to go through the process of becoming official state residents. Our vehicle tags would have to be changed and our drivers licenses would have to be changed. Staying in Texas is so much easier for us. The company we’re looking at is the Escapees RV Club. Before we make it official, we’re planning on heading to the actual facility to talk to them and look around. Sometimes a place has a totally different feel in the real world vs. online and I want to make sure our mail will be secure. I’ll let y’all know how it goes once we’ve made the trip!

See y’all down the road!