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Once upon a time, Ashley and I were furiously discussing how in the world we might turn this dream of traveling full-time into a reality. Not like, angrily discussing. Maybe furiously wasn't the best description. Anyway.
We made lots of lists, did tons of research and even wrote our own Pros/Cons list. You can check out hers here or mine here.
We did, in fact, make that plunge - and hit the road 6 months ago to travel full-time. We thought it would be fun to re-visit all our pros and cons and see how things shook out. Ready? Here we go.
PRO - NO HOUSE PAYMENT - We actually decided to sell our house instead of renting it, so we don't even have a mortgage anymore. However, we found that staying in decent campgrounds with full hookups cost just about as much as our mortgage - ouch! Not only that, but there's a ton of stuff to buy when you transition to a different lifestyle. We're just now to the point where we're not spending large amounts of money each month on that. We've been working through this, finding cheaper ways to camp and learning a lot. Ask me again in 6 months if it's cheaper. The answer should be a more definite yes.
PRO - SPEND LESS TIME CLEANING - There is definitely cleaning more often, but we can get the whole place spotless in like an hour if we work together. This has definitely opened up more time for us to spend together. Like tons more time.
PRO - MORE FAMILY TIME - We are definitely spending more time together, but it's not quite as much as I thought. We usually move on the weekends since I work during the week, so that extra time we spent cleaning on the weekends gets spent tearing down, driving and setting back up. This is a long-game kind of goal, though - and I can see us adjusting things in the future as we learn more.
PRO - CREATING WITH THE KIDS - Haven't done this as much as we should have. Partially because of the space and flat surfaces, and partially because we've had so much mental overhead during the transition. Now that we're mostly through said transistion I can only chalk it up to be being lazy. Time to make changes!
PRO - THE OUTDOORS - YES! There has been so much more hiking, biking, exploring and enjoying nature. I'm craving it even more, though. We've been talking a lot lately about what it would take to start boondocking and really be in nature all the time. Right now, most of the campgrounds we stay at are like RV parks - and they're often 30+ minutes from any nature adventures. I hope we can change that soon, but it'll take some more equipment like solar panels and a generator. But in general - yeah we are loving the outdoors.
PRO - MEETING NEW PEOPLE - Ok, I'll admit it. We've met some really awesome people. And I enjoyed hanging out with them. Totally outside my comfort zone, but that's a good thing. Here's to hoping I can get better at making even more new friends.
PRO - FURNITURE MOVING - We really haven't rearranged that much! And I'm ok with that. Ashley may or may not be, though.
PRO - DEBT FREE - Since we sold the house and used the money to pay off the truck and RV, yes we did end up debt free! Personally I quickly moved into the "we need a huge savings account in case anything goes wrong" mode, though and probably didn't spend the proper amount of time celebrating. But yeah - it's pretty awesome!
CON - LAUNDRY - We totally called this one. The laundry is probably our biggest inconvenience. You never know how clean the facilities are or how much it'll cost. Or even how far away. Sometimes it's in the campground, but they're so gross you end up driving 30 minutes to do a couple of loads. Thankfully we only need to go about once a week.
CON - CLEAN SHOWERS - Our fears here were also confirmed. Campground showers are pretty much gross. Thankfully we have a nice tiny shower in our RV so we just use that. The biggest downside here is that we can't take long hot showers. Our tank fills up pretty quick. So we either need to be somewhere with a sewer hookup (or now that we have a honey wagon, just somewhere with a dump station close by).
CON - FOOD & STORAGE - As far as storage goes, we actually have plenty of room. Our outdoor fridge holds anything that won't fit in the main one - and our RV came with a nice full size pantry. What has been really hard is just being near a good grocery store. More often than not, we're 30 minutes from a Walmart, and don't even start talking about anything organic or real. Our healthy eating has really taken a hit these first six months, and we're just now working on a plan to get that back on track. Hint: we're going to have to get creative.
CON - MY WORK - We were able to get an RV with a perfect little space for a stand up desk so all those fears have been moot. Yeah, sometimes the kids noise level gets a little crazy, but I can always go work somewhere else if I really needed to.
CON - THE MAIL - We ended up using my parents house as our address. I bought them a Doxie scanner, shared a Dropbox folder with them and they just upload scans of our stuff as it comes in. They also take our business checks to the bank for us. They're pretty awesome!
CON - HOUSE RENTAL - The more we thought about this, the mental overhead of dealing with renting a house while living on the road wasn't worth the hassle. We just sold it (in 12 days no less!)
CON - WAY LESS STUFF - We did end up getting a small storage unit to combat my sentimentality, but I have really fallen in love with having less. It's amazing how freeing it is to not have to keep up with so much stuff. I'm ready to get rid of even more. Let's do it!
CON - CHIROPRACTOR - We still miss this, but it really encourages us to stay healthy, limber and strong so that we don't get sidelined by a bad night's sleep or a weird twist while hiking. I may or may not have asked our Chirpractor for a few stretching techniques before we left, too.
CON - CHURCH - We're still struggling with this, and don't have an answer yet. We travel most weekends, and leaving our kids at a strange children's church isn't something we feel comfortable doing. While we still do simple church by ourselves, it's a short term solution until we figure things out.
So all in all, a few of our worries have been true, but most aren't that big a deal. Whatever tradeoff there is in those inconveniences are totally offset by the freedom, adventures and time we get to spend with our kids. 6 Months in, and we're just getting started!
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So, when you make a reservation at a new campground and they send you a verification email, you should probably read it. They may have directions that differ from your GPS and they may save you from having to replace your transmission in your truck...again.
It was a beautiful drive from Knoxville to Pikeville. We thought we were going to be staying to closer to Chattanooga but, in order to keep cost down, we decided to stay out of the major city and head to Pikeville.
When we get to this back road and Jonathan starts up this hill and he begins questioning if this is the right way. I had been asleep for a bit so I wasn't paying attention to where we were. He's telling me to look and see if this is where we need to be, I snapped back with, "of course it is...look at the GPS" and he's all like..."I don't think this is going to work!"
We came upon 5 tight switchbacks...while climbing up a mountain...hauling our house. We started panicking. This is how transmissions die! CRAP!! Luckily Jon noticed that the tranny was running hot so after one of the switchbacks there was a place big enough on the side of the road (on the mountain) that we could pull over and let it cool down. I got out to make sure our trailer brakes were ok and woah, just look at the view.
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After our quick stay near Richmond, VA we drove down to the Thousand Trails park near Lynchburg. And when I say near Lynchburg I actually mean like 30 minutes away. Nestled back about 5 miles off the main road in Rustburg, VA the park was very much off the beaten path. Beautiful drive, though!
We got there right before Labor Day weekend and barely found a spot to fit our monster rig. It was packed. After squeezing into the spot and starting to get setup we noticed that the polarity was inversed on the 30 amp plug. Thankfully our surge protector caught it and wouldn't let us turn the power on. I found the maintenance guy and he was able to fix it for us - which was a huge relief because it would have been a pain to move.
The next day or so were pretty crazy there, but as soon as the holiday was over nearly everyone left. After that is was really quiet and relaxing.
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I'm sorry, every time I say "New York City" I say it in that super redneck voice from those salsa commercials back when I was a kid. That's just how I hear it. Way to go marketing.
When we started talking about this travel thing, one of the first places the kids said they wanted to go was NYC. Why? Because Ninja Turtles! No, seriously. That was the main reason
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So many people see us traveling with our 4 young kids and the typical response is, "oh man...I feel for ya!" What? What does that even mean? Do people not enjoy spending time with their kids anymore? Why does everyone assume that bringing them along on our adventure equals pain and suffering and despair?
Honestly, I'm fed up with this attitude. I just don't get it. And I'm growing weary of the assumption that our kids are exhausting, overwhelming, demanding, soul-sucking and life-wrecking.
I'm also tired of the mindset that all parents have a God-given right to be child free for at least 3 hours a day so they can maintain their sanity. Grandparents, churches and pre-schools are all getting pulled into this and I think it's a real shame.
Because while I can totally relate to needing the occasional break from all the noise and craziness, I also could never imagine my life without these 4 beautiful blessings by my side everyday.
Listen, I understand everyone's circumstances are different. Single parents have to work, and sometimes both parents need to make ends meet. But I want to encourage you to relish the time you get to spend with your kids - not dread it. If I see one more "I'm so excited my kids are going back to school they were ruining my life" status updates on Facebook I'm going to scream (sorry Jen Hatmaker).
Is it hard to be with your kids all day? No, not really.
I've found that the more I'm away from my kids the harder it is for me to tolerate their loud shenanigans. Since we started this full-time travel thing and we're together all the time, I honestly don't think about going away that often. While I do appreciate the few times I've gone to the grocery without all 4 in tow, it's also not that big of a deal if I end up taking them with me.
In fact, instead of complaining about having them with me I've been trying to pay attention to them more.
Here are a few things I have learned from being around my kids all day, everyday.
1.) THEY ARE KIND & FORGIVING.
Sometimes when I'm having a bad day and I loose my cool over something stupid, they are really quick to accept my apology and forgive me. They often will give me a hug soon after my blow up and tell me that they love me and you know, that is so awesome! Thanks to them I'm learning to forgive faster.
2.) THEY ARE SOCIAL.
I see them interact with people of all ages. They aren't afraid to have a conversation with an adult and they play and talk to kids of all ages. So many people worry about 'socialization' of homeschool kids. Our kids have played with lots of people while we have been on the road and they are learning to include anyone, not just whoever looks cool or whoever is around the same age as them. This, I am sure was not learned from us. I sometimes think that our kids are way more social than we are. They're teaching us to get out of our comfort zone and talk to people we don't know.
3.) THEY LEARN THROUGH PLAY & TRAVEL.
Guess what! My kids have interests! And guess what else!! We can make any kind of 'lesson plans' out of what their interest are at the time.
Ada is crazy about ponies. So, we talk about the colors of the ponies, and how many there are and what happens if one of them goes away? How many are left? What do ponies eat? Where does thier food come from? How much does a pony cost? I could go on and on.
Adali want's to run a farm. So, we research all about how to take care of the animals that she wants to have on her farm. How much would it cost to feed all of them for a month? How do you care for the animals? How much would it cost to build a barn? Where would your farm be? What's the weather like there? How would you make money having a farm? What could you give to the community if you had an awesome farm? How would you make it awesome and unlike any other farm so that people would want to come visit your farm?
This is teaching us how important it is that learning comes naturally. Investing in their interests and helping them understand what it would take to make thier dreams come true is really important. Also, we've started to see how to use situations and cicrumstances to learn and get better, not complain and criticize.
4.) THEY ADAPT EASILY.
I thought it may be hard for our kids to adjust to life on the road but you know what? We have seen them thrive. They have come out of their shell. They are getting along better than ever. They talk more to others than they ever have. They are learning to do more things on their own and they are quick to help each other out when they see someone struggling. Do they miss their extended family and friends? Of course. But we encourage them to write letters and to text them. They are constantly learning and I think parents these days see play as a waste of time whereas most kids who are playing are actually learning important skills.
So - in my completely unprofessional opinion, it's far more valuable to be with your kids as much as possible than to ship them off multiple days a week for some "me-time." You know, your kids are there because you CHOSE to have them. So, why not invest as much time as you possibly can into thier lives?They want to learn from YOU. They want to be around YOU. I bet if you asked your kids who they wanted to spend time with today, the answer would be, "Can you play with me, mommy/daddy?" You have such little time with them in the grand scheme of things.
When your kids are grown and gone I highly doubt you will look back at these younger years and say, 'I am so glad I sent them away for 3 hours a day so that I could be alone!' I bet your response will be something similar to, 'Where did the time go? I miss them being little!'
So please, ENJOY your kids! Put down the phone! Get outside and let them play in mud puddles. Let them dress themselves. Say yes more often. Don't rush them! Encourage them every day! And for pete's sake, GIVE THEM LOTS OF HUGS! They're only little for a short time. Enjoy it.
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Jonathan Longnecker / November 08, 2015
Ashley Longnecker / November 05, 2015
We’re Jonathan & Ashley Longnecker. We love weird ideas, great food, travel, drawing, music, homeschool, tattoos, dreads, woodworking, design and our 4 amazing kids.