Take That Exit – Leaving the fast lane, to enjoy the view

UPDATE – SOLD! :: 2015 Airstream Flying Cloud Bunk Model

Jun 262018

2015 Airstream Flying Cloud bunk model for sale

Update – We sold our shiny, tiny home in July 2018! We miss her but we she went to a family ready for lots of adventures. We plan to get an Airstream again one day in the future.

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Gosh, how time flies. We look back at our travels on this blog often and it seems crazy that we’ve been stationary for two years now.

We are keeping busy running a successful LuLaRoe clothing business, moved into a larger house, kids are involved in sports and activities and we are getting out to explore as much as we possibly can.

The kids in Victoria, British Columbia

Already this year we’ve been to Florida, Haiti, Jamaica, Cozumel, Arizona, British Columbia, California, Nevada, and Washington . . .and we have summer adventures planned for Disneyland, Alaska, Texas, Honduras, Belize and another trip to Cozumel! Our life right now is an awesome combination of WORK HARD and PLAY HARD and we really have zero complaints.

Snorkeling in Cozumel

But we’re finding the Airstream isn’t getting the love she needs. Being busy with work and school means it’s easy to take off for a weekend here or a week there – which we try to do at least monthly, but we don’t have the flexibility to pack up and spend months in the Airstream. She’s just not getting the attention she deserves for this season in our lives.

It’s taken me a year to come to this realization. Every time we’d talk about selling her, I’d tear up and refuse to talk about it. I just love her so much. And we have so many amazing memories and adventures in that shiny, tiny home on wheels.

It’s not that we aren’t traveling anymore, it’s just a different kind of travel right now. More airplanes and hotels. More tent camping. More day trips. All beautiful in their own right, just not making the most of the Airstream.

So our 2015 Airstream Flying Cloud Bunk model is for sale. She comes with a whole lot of extras and features. But mostly she comes to you FILLED WITH LOVE – she’s been well taken care of and she will serve the next family well, we know it.

Head over to our full listing here.

If you have questions about the sale, you can leave a comment on this post or message me via our contact us page.

Like I said above . . .we aren’t done traveling – it’s just happening in a different way for this season in our life. You can see photos of where we’ve been and what we’ve been up to this year over on our Take That Exit instagram account and of course, I’ll be sharing if we take any notable exits in the near future!

Thanks for sharing this post with friends or family members who are looking to make their own adventures and could use a reliable, loved 2015 Airstream Flying Cloud bunk model.

Transitioning back into a house after fulltime travel. . .and our plans for future travel

Jan 222017

View of the Airstream from the patio of our house on moving day.

I can’t believe it has been ALMOST SIX MONTHS since my last blog post. I’ve sat down so many times trying to write a post about moving back into a house – and every time I felt so overwhelmed that I didn’t get very far. Between a trip to Alaska to visit family, the transition back into the house, getting the kids settled into school, a few major family crises, the holidays and a new business, I feel like the last six months have been a blur!

We moved into our house in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho on the afternoon of Friday, September 2. The day before my birthday! And just 4 days before SCHOOL started the following Tuesday, September 6. I’m so grateful for that timing. With Jeremy being a teacher and the kids starting a new school I wanted to be in the house BEFORE school started and it barely happened – but it did!

I remember the moment we “moved in” so vividly. We backed the Airstream into the driveway that Friday afternoon and unloaded everything into the house.

View of the house from the Airstream

It didn’t take long. We didn’t have much. We met our neighbors. The kids played in the yard. My family who lives locally came over to visit. It felt like home so quickly.

That first weekend we had the most gorgeous sunset welcoming us to our new home.

Our trailer. Empty of most of our belongings. We even put the old factory bedding on her . . .and cleaned everything from top to bottom.

The kids (and Jeremy) headed off to school on September 6. . . .

[Read more…]

We put an offer on a house and are now soaking up the sun at the lake. ..

Jul 282016

Coeur-d-alene-house-contract The backyard of the house we hope to buy. Very nice chicken coop, raised beds. . .

It’s been a week since our last update and so much has happened since then!

Last Thursday we toured a house in Coeur d’Alene and knew instantly it was “the one.” Even the kids knew, it just felt right. We put an offer on it within a couple hours – which the sellers accepted and we were instantly under contract. We had our inspection on Tuesday (it went amazing!) and have a tentative closing date of September 2.

Let me tell you a little about the house. . . .

Smallest, most affordable, house we have ever purchased
3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1,300 sq feet
Small, fenced yard with chicken coop and a couple raised beds
Good school just 1-mile away
Easy commute to Jeremy’s teaching job at a nearby high school
CLEANEST house I’ve ever seen – spotless, every cabinet, drawer, corner – spotless.
In a neighborhood with young families (a first for us!)
No room to park the Airstream (only downside) – it will go in storage

We looked at a lot of houses in the last couple months. I felt a little bit like Goldilocks – too big, too dirty, too old, too fancy, too expensive, too far out of town . . .we picked this one because it checked many boxes for us (mostly listed above). We plan to live in this house a year or so, and then rent it out – but that’s only just a plan, you know how those can go. 🙂

Two years ago we were looking at dream houses. . . much bigger and fancier than this house – and honestly I would have never given this house a second look . . . but that was two years ago and we’ve changed a lot since then. . .

Living-fulltime-Airstream-no-regrets

After you sell all your possessions and move into a 180 square foot trailer for 14 months of travel – your priorities shift dramatically. I am so grateful for this change in perspective. Keeping up with the Joneses and having a big, fancy house is not the least bit important to us – we want a small mortgage so we can save money and travel whenever we can – while continuing to live debt-free. This time around (our third house purchase) we purposely bought a starter home – as a smart financial choice – because there is ALWAYS a market for resale on starter homes and we can easily rent it out (for a nice profit!) as soon as we’re ready to hit the road again or move into a different house. We made the most practical, sound decision we could have when purchasing this house – in some ways it’s what we needed to do, after a year of relative risk and pushing our comfort zone.

View-from-the-beach View from my chair on the beach, watching the kids play in the lake.

As soon we put an offer on the house we got back on the road and went north to Priest Lake, Idaho. We no longer have to be in town to watch for a house to come on the market, so now we’re parked in a National Forest campground two hours north of Coeur d’Alene – just $20/night, with no electricity or water or sewer hook-ups, a beautiful lake with a sandy beach, 80-95 degree weather, the smell of pine trees, deer walking through our campsite. . .and we are back in our happy place. Thank goodness.

Happy-Birthday-Sweet-Boy

Liam celebrated his 9th birthday a couple days ago up here at the lake. He had ice cream 3 times that day. . .

Huckleberry-ice-cream-9

and he blew out a candle in 2-scoop huckleberry ice cream cone (his choice, we told him he could have ANY cake he wanted!). It was a wonderful day and I can’t believe it’s been a year since he celebrated his 8th birthday in South Dakota (while we dodged tornado warnings!). So much has happened in the last year.

Campground-Priest-Lake

We initially planned on staying at the lake just 5 days but extended our reservation another 5 days because we are enjoying ourselves so much. We head back to Coeur d’Alene on Monday August 1st – at which point we will settle in to a RV park. Jeremy starts coaching football soon and while he’s busy with 2-a-day football practices for a couple weeks, I’m flying up to Alaska with the kids!

That’s right, the kids and I are flying up to Fairbanks, Alaska for a 14-day trip (Lord, help me) to visit my immediate family (parents, sister, brother) who live there. We haven’t been up there in a couple years, we had enough airline miles for free tickets (yay for a year of campground fees on your AK Air credit card) and we figured it would be a great opportunity to see family while while we are in a hiatus the next month. I’ll be sharing our Alaska trip on Instagram and will probably do a blog post as well – that is always an adventure.

So we are COUNTING down the days to the house closing (35 days to be exact). . . and I’m praying everything goes well until then. I’m reminding myself daily to soak up this season because it will be over before we know it and I’ll be dreaming of pulling the Airstream out of storage to get away . . .even for a day. I just know it.

Thanks for putting up with my relatively whiny post last week. I’m over it. And we’re in our happy place.

Take-That-Exit-sign Take that. . . . .

What our life looks like as we transition back to a house

Jul 202016

Fulltime-family-moves-into-house

Hey there. Can’t believe it’s already been two weeks since we announced our plans to stop traveling and move back into a regular house. Since then we’ve been in a holding pattern – sort of treading water – as we house hunt. We had heard from other traveling families that this transitional period is a difficult one – and it is. We find ourselves juggling many emotions – mourning the end of our epic year of travel, excited for the conveniences and stability of a house, frustrated with living in a small space when we aren’t moving and exploring often, and anxious to find the perfect house sooner than later.

We’ve toured about a dozen houses in the last couple months – but nothing feels just right, so we continue to look. We are all anxious to find something sooner than later – because we want to ideally be under contract and/or moved into a house before school starts September 6. We are running out of time for this to happen – but we also don’t want to buy a place that doesn’t fit what we’re looking for – just for the sake of being moved in before school, you know!?!

So how are we passing time as we wait for the perfect house to come along? We have been spending a lot of time finishing our homeschool curriculum – and TODAY is the last day of the official curriculum. Hooray! <insert happy dance here!> We are all VERY excited for this to be wrapped up and I’m so proud of the kids and Jeremy for following through with this curriculum to the very end. I’ll write more about that later – but this has been a major focus for us these past couple weeks.

KROC_community-center

We got a membership to the local KROC Center – which is a community center and gym – and we go at least 4-5 times a week. We swim in their epic pool area (water slide, lazy river, hot tub!) with the kids. Jeremy and I will workout while the kids go to the 7-10 club (ages 7-10) and Playcare (younger ages) – which the kids absolutely love. And we SHOWER there because we don’t have the best showers at the campground we’re currently at.

Library-fun-reading-summer

We go to the Couer d’Alene library every couple of days. We put books/movies on hold ahead of time and drop-off/pick-up items 3-4 times a week. The kids are reading a TON thanks to the summer reading program and we are really enjoying this season in life where the kids can both read on their own!

McEuen-Park-Jumping

Many afternoons we’ve spent in downtown Coeur d’Alene at McEuen park – they have a wonderful splash pad and playground that the kids love (and it’s right next to the library). I’m taking advantage of all the extra free time and working as much as I’m able on my frugal blog and a few other business ventures I have in the works.

Liberty-Lake-campground

We are staying at a campground out near Liberty Lake, Washington (about 25 minute drive to downtown Coeur d’Alene) and there are lots of trails, a playground and a lake! Although the spots aren’t very big (no privacy) and the restrooms/bath house is NOT very clean or convenient – it’s been a wonderful place to stay multiple nights and there are lots of opportunities to play and explore outside. We have met some wonderful people here – especially an Airstream couple who follows our blog and JUST started their Airstream adventures this summer (hi, Larry and Pat!).

When we can, we are playing PokemonGo at local parks and spending lots of time with family. I visit my grandma as much as I can and my aunt/uncle who live locally have been a great support.

Toothless-wonderful

Hadley lost her first tooth and the tooth fairy found us at our campground and Liam had an orthodontist consult. Next week BOTH kids will celebrate birthdays and Jeremy will soon start coaching high school football.

Dishes-convenience Without full hook-ups and not the best facilities at our park –
dishes, showers, restrooms and laundry have been a bit of a frustration.

Mostly right now I think the hardest thing about this transition is not getting too discouraged. When you make the decision to move into a house and you’re no longer exploring in your tiny home – it’s a waiting game and things that were once very manageable before become annoying. Like having to do your laundry at a laundromat, showering/restroom use without full hook-ups, cooking in a small space – it all was part of the journey when we were traveling and exploring. But now that we’re essentially “stuck” in the same spot and we know a house is just a short reach away (a house with these conveniences) I find we’re frustrated more with them. Does that make sense?

Even though we are anxious for the next chapter in our adventure,
we would be foolish to miss the beauty in the present.

Jeremy and I have to stop often and remind ourselves that we’re still living the dream – still in a beautiful place, with flexibility, nature, family time and many of the things we loved about being on the road. This hasn’t changed – so let’s soak it up while we can because before we know it, we’ll be back in the hurried, scheduled and regimented world of school and work.

We’ll figure it all out and it will all happen the way it’s supposed to. For now we just need to be patient and appreciate the present instead of focusing on the next chapter that will surely come soon enough.

Do you live in the Coeur d’Alene area and know of great places to boondock? Do you know anyone who might be selling a house or have land that we can park on while we househunt?! We’d love suggestions or recommendations!

Camping-Liberty-Lake

Should we travel another year or settle down!?! We made our decision. . . .

Jul 52016

Mobile-Alabama-Airstream

We have been neglecting the blog and Instagram the last couple weeks as we spend quality time with friends and family here in the Tacoma/Olympia (Washington) area. It’s been wonderful being “home” and seeing people we haven’t seen in more than a year.

The last month has been a major period of transition and decision making for us. When we started our journey last June we had originally planned to spend only a year on the road (June 2015 to June 2016). But then we loved it so much. . .we started to consider a second year. There is just so much of this beautiful country we haven’t seen yet.

We spent the last few months going back and forth – should we keep traveling or should we settle down?

By the time we reached Zion National Park in late May we were finding ourselves anxious, irritable and frustrated. We couldn’t figure out why we were feeling so discontent even though we were in one of the most beautiful places in the country.

And after many nights of discussion and consideration, it was in Zion that we decided we should STOP traveling after our year was up.

Making the decision was the HARDEST thing. The going back-and-forth. The debating the pros/cons. Weighing all our options over-and-over. Talking a lot with the kids about what they wanted. After we finally settled on the decision to stop traveling – it was a relief and we knew we made the right choice.

Tawas-Point-Water-beach

We decided to STOP traveling full-time for many reasons. . . .

The kids are ready to settle down. We noticed this spring. They loved being outside, loved seeing new places – but they were asking more for things like dance lessons, basketball practice and a room of their own. The extraordinary beauty of the national parks had somehow became completely ordinary to them. They never complained, always loved being outside and were happy, exploring kids. But we could tell they were ready for normal “kid stuff” again.

I needed to focus more on work. Working on the road was harder than I expected. Often I’d work while the kids were doing school but my blog traffic was down, revenue was down and I was having a hard time finding the motivation to work on the road. It was hard to juggle our travel blog with the needs of the blog that was paying our bills. I don’t want to go back to working 80-hours a week (which is what I was doing before traveling full-time) but I definitely need to be working more than I am now if I want to keep things sustainable and financially profitable.

Our health benefits were costing a LOT. We intentionally got a national health plan to make sure we had coverage across the country. But our Blue Cross plan costs $1,100/month and our deductibles are high. Hadley’s broken arm is thankfully healed but we’re approaching nearly $5,000 out of pocket for it. Our health insurance has been our biggest expense on the road, by far, and unfortunately it wasn’t going to be sustainable – especially if we had another big incident.

We were restricted by the school calendar. We probably could have squeezed in another 6 months of travel. But Jeremy, being a school teacher, would need to get a new job that started in September. If not this fall, then it would be another year before he’d be working again. Because of the need for better benefits, and revenue and traffic being down on my blog – we weren’t sure we wanted to wait another full year pulling from our nest egg that we were saving for a house.

A big part of us doesn’t want to stop traveling. We love the IDEALS of it. Choosing adventure and experiences over stuff. Quality time together as a family. Living our life on our own terms. It’s been a dream come true, it really has.

It’s important to note that we didn’t start traveling because we hate suburbia or because we were trying to escape suburbia forever. I’m extremely grateful for experiences like touring Washington DC or hiking the Grand Canyon – it’s added value to our lives. But I also completely understand why my five-year-old wants to take a gymnastics class with other five-year-olds – and I see value in that, too.

[Read more…]

UPDATE – SOLD! :: 2015 Airstream Flying Cloud Bunk Model

Head over to our full listing here.

Transitioning back into a house after fulltime travel. . .and our plans for future travel

We put an offer on a house and are now soaking up the sun at the lake. ..

What our life looks like as we transition back to a house

Should we travel another year or settle down!?! We made our decision. . . .

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