RV Beginnings – This is our story

It started with a simple question. In August of 2020, our children innocently asked if we could buy an RV and travel the country. After a few minutes thinking it over, we realized we didn’t have a good reason to say no (kids were going to be home schooled the next year due to COVID, we both worked full time remotely from home, we had the money, and had family living with us to watch the house and animals) so we said yes. Over the next couple months, we found a new RV that would suit us, we traded in the SUV for a big, capable truck, and bought all the essentials to live, work, and school from the RV. Three months later we set off on a journey that changed our lives forever.

The mountains are calling and I must go.

John Muir

We have had so many great moments that it’s hard to capture them all. While not everything has been perfect, there are so many ways we came together as a family and we will never forget the lifestyle and how it feels to travel together and see so much across the country. After starting to think about what kinds of places we wanted to see and things we wanted to do, we figured it was a great opportunity to visit as many national parks as possible. As adults, we had only been to a couple, but the kids were excited to visit places they were learning about in school. It also helped that we had a fourth grader who was eligible to get a free national park pass as part of the Every Kid Outdoors program.

We hadn’t even heard of most of the national parks out west, but when we started visiting them, we quickly realized that each one offers something special. It hadn’t dawned on me that native people lived on these lands and knew how special they were long before we did. When we kept seeing different petroglyph sites, and talking about the stories told on the rock walls, I felt more connected to the land and couldn’t help but think about the life that their families must have experienced so many years ago.

Along the way, the kids seemed to get more involved in the planning and getting excited for different parks. As we were driving North in California, I remember them asking us what the difference was between a Redwood tree and a Sequoia, and why we were going to both parks. I honestly didn’t know, so we looked it up. It was a different experience completely when we stepped foot into paths beneath the Redwood trees. The ground, mulch, and dirt was red. The air was thick with rain and humidity but somehow smelled sweet and clean. The trees stood so tall and strong that you felt dwarfed standing under them. We felt much of the same in Sequoia and Kings Canyon, but seeing these magnificent coast Redwood trees truly felt magical.

After growing up on the East Coast and living mostly at or just above sea level, it was quite a change to be out west and at much higher elevations. After passing many highway signs noting the elevation… and us wondering at many times in-between, we downloaded an app to check our elevation. At one point, we were towing our RV through the mountains and crossed above 10,000 feet. Shortly thereafter, we were hiking the lakes trails in Rocky Mountain National Park, through pretty severe snow and windy conditions. There were a few moments when the kids wanted to turn back but we continued on. After crossing over one of the lakes, we looked down and checked the elevation to see that we had made it above 10,000 feet in elevation. Between reaching their goal to hike above 10,000 feet and that they survived the blizzard conditions over the last lake, they excitedly hugged and were so proud of their accomplishment.

There are many other moments we overcame obstacles, climbed to new heights (literally), and broke out of our comfort zone. I look forward to more of these moments and know that these are the real memories and stories that will live on in our lives forever.

If you’re not brave enough to take the first step, then you’ll never know how far you can go.

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