Did you ever have a dream that you talked about over and over but never did anything about? We all have those dreams. We think, “Maybe tomorrow,” but tomorrow never comes. Well, on July 2, 2015, our family began living our dream. Mine and my husband’s dream, that is. The kids were kinda forced into it, but they haven’t complained too much.
What is our dream, you ask?
Well, it started a little over 18 years ago when I met the most amazing man on this planet (more about that later). He told me a story about how his parents had decided, after his dad’s retirement from a well-known cruise line, to sell their house in Miami and travel the US. They bought a van and a small travel trailer and set off from Florida with my husband, his twin brother, his older sister, and their cat.
For around six months, they traveled through the states. When they arrived in Austin, Texas, they decided to put down roots once again.
My husband’s memories of their adventure inspired us to talk and dream about one day doing something similar with our own children. For 18 years we talked about it as a “one day, if and when the planets align, we will do it” kind of thing.
Our daydreaming continued while we were on an epic family vacation in Big Bend National Park in southwest Texas over Spring break. We again talked about how awesome it would be if. The vacation ended and we went home, but I couldn’t stop thinking and talking about traveling across the country in our RV.
After all, my husband worked from home and had done so for several years. We had just made the decision to home school our son. The educational opportunities that occurred during our Big Bend trip had been countless. We had to do something about turning this dream into a reality before our kids got any older. Our daughter, Emma, was in 7th grade. One more year in middle school, then high school would be starting for her. We knew that once high school started, it would be very difficult to take her away from her activities and friends.
With the realization that we needed to do something soon or not at all, we started seriously talking about making our dream happen. In posts to follow, I will share the process we went through to prepare for our trip, details and photos of our journey, and much more. I hope you will continue to follow us while we live this great adventure.
You can read a little more about me here, see where we have traveled, or check out some of my photos.