On Our Mark...
We didn’t exactly wake up one day and decide, “Let’s start traveling round the country in an RV!” The seeds were planted in conversations long ago in the early years of our marriage. Would travel by RV be something we explored ‘someday’? The answer was yes, but not now. It would be you know…later…after kids…down the road…when things are less crazy…you get the idea. Well, somewhere along the way, someday turned into today, and we’ve been through enough life to know that when life hand’s you an opportunity like this, you don’t let it pass by, so we’re about to abandand our well established routines, toss expectations out the RV window and start driving down the road to see what we’ve been missing.
Why We're Starting This Blog and Why Now?
This year feels especially important for us. While we are a family of four, only three of us will be making the travel transition. Our son Tyler has decided to grow up fly the proverbial nest. We will absolutely miss him but hope to have him join us whenever possible.
Our daughter, Shelby, will be traveling with us while taking her first year of college classes online before attending in person next year. This time – this in-between stage – is special and something we don’t want to take for granted or rush through.
We wanted a place to document all of it. The real deal. The good, the bad and the ugly, not just the destinations, but the process of getting there and everything in between, thus Firesidetrails was born.
The Impatient Need Not Apply
This all requires patience. A trait, I admit, I am sorely lacking. Luckily, my husband has it in spades. My need for instant gratifications is definitely learning to get comfy in the backseat. Patience truly IS a virtue and absolutely mandatory when attempting to make a life shift of this magnitude
Conceptually, it all sounds pretty great. Chunk your junk, grab the kids and/or fluffies and hit the road for smores, togetherness, and memories that will last a lifetime. Piece of cake right? Well, yes and no. You really do just need to make the decision to go and go. Once you’ve made your choice, however, making those massive changes and adjustments take time, flexibility, patience and intentionality (Did I mention patience?). Becareful not to underestimate that ever unrolling scroll of ‘To-Dos’ that need to be checked off in order to get from here to there. Here is a mere snapshot of our current list.
- We need to sell our house. We’ve done this a few times and it never gets any easier. Where does all the stuff come from and why does it stick to us so stubbornly!?!? Even though we won’t be be full time on the road, we will be downsizing to a much smaller sticks and bricks (or logs, in our case) to serve as a kind of off road base camp.
- Choosing your style of travel and how you’ll do it. Although we have tackeled this one already, we may very well have made a mistake by doing things in the wrong order by buying our RV before we purchased our tow vehicle. RV shopping was a time consuming and emotional process for us with the insane amout of personal considerations to think through, but when the bug bit us (or full disclosure, bit Shelby and I), it bit hard. (We will cover more of our purchasing journey in a blog to come.)
- Adjusting to a whole new world that waits just around the corner. This checkbox alone can be endless. What will it be like? What will we need? Where will we go? How much will it cost? Will we even like RVing? What if the unforeseen happens, because, it will? What then? And on and on aaaand on…
Traveling, Our Way
We’re approaching this entire mountain the only way that feels like us -laid back and flexible, well, most of the time that’s our way. I think we’ll need to be or we won’t be out on the road for long. From what I’ve seen doing my own research and learning from those who have gone before (and are still going), flexibility, peristance, and patience are non-negotiables. We have so much to learn and if you’re interested in walking this trail with us we’d love to have you along so, “Welcome, come on in, pull up a stump and join us around the campfire.”