Every 6 Months or So?

I don't update because really, there's not much to say.  We are still WAITING.  Waiting for surgery, waiting for money to clear up, waiting waiting waiting.

I'm desperately done with waiting.  I fear "running out of time".  I know it sounds silly but I know how this goes.  We plan and then we procrasitnate and then we lose focus and the next thing you know you're in a nursing home wondering how you broke your hip in the first place and whether or not they'll be serving cool whip with their strawberry jello at dinner.

We need to GOOOO already.  We need to get out.  I don't care if we travel by car and tent or RV at this point.  Maybe Harvey can be someone elses project because I'm done waiting!

Seriously.  There are Tents that Harvey can't even hold a candle to.  Tents that are bigger than the house we are currently living in.  Tents with wood stoves. 

Papa Jackson worries about security in a tent.  Well, I say...make sure everything is insured and carry concealed.  Amiright?  Like, we can't NOT live because we are worried someone might creep into our tent and steal our tupperware...ya know?  I mean, if they come in and steal everything we own while we are out and about...what will be really have lost?  That's what insurance is for.  Not like we are going to furnish the tent with expensive electronics and antiques. And anything that's too valueable, will take with us in the car. 

I mean, sure there's bears, right?  I guess Nature could kick our asses, but again, I could get attacked by a rabid racoon in my back yard too.  Does that mean I don't go outside anymore?  Hmmm???

We need to get to gettin'.  I'm sooo over this waiting.

Been Awhile

Wow...it's been awhile since we've posted.  :(  But at least we have somewhat of a good excuse...excuses.

1)  We had to pack up in the middle of the coldest winter in forever to move to a new home because the owner of the house we were renting returned from the military and got engaged (how dare he?) and he wanted his house back...and Traveling Mama got super sick in the middle of all of it and ended up in the ER (she's all good now).  The good news is:  a) Rent & Utilities are about 1/4 of what were were paying there.  b) It's a small, with a capital S, place!  Tiny.  Itsy.  And still much much much larger than the RV...so we are learning to function in a tighter space.  The bad news is:  Mama is getting impatient and is threatening to make us live in tents should the RV not be completed soon.  There are some crazy awesome glamping tents out there we could live in...but they'd probably end up costing more than an RV!

2)  Traveling Dad has to have back surgery.  We've tried every other therapy there is...to no avail.  So, back pain = little work getting done on the RV.  The plan is for a summer surgery and a fall depature?

Our calendar says November 1st = Maiden Voyage.  But, it's written in pencil because things change no matter how much planning and prep we do.

We got rid of a lot of stuff when we moved.  Some went to other family members, some was donated.  And yet we still have a ton of stuff.  A ton.  Maybe 2 tons.  How do humans manage to hoard so much stuff?  Boxes and boxes of stuff crammed into our carport.  What is even in those boxes?  We've been happily living without anything from within those boxes for months now.  What could be in there that we could possibly need?

Speaking of stuff and having way too much of it...we watched a documentary about minimalism.  Traveling Mama has kinda been in this mindset of "What's the point of working so hard to just pay bills, sleep, eat, and do it all again the next day."  Which is a huge part of why we are planning to travel.  Life should be an adventure, not a race to see who has the most stuff.  Anyway, if you want to know more about minimalism you should totally check out The Minimalists.

And, finally, we are going to do our best to at least post weekly...and keep your fingers crossed for that November 1 departure!

Progress...Slowly but surely!

We are getting there.  Very, very slowly.  We have the RV.  Traveling Dad is working on the engine.  He's ordering parts little bit by little bit.  We are selling my car by letting our oldest son make payments to us.  As we get that money we are applying it to parts.  Eventually, we will start working on the interior.  We've talked and researched and we know what we want to do...just a matter of waiting for warm weather (which happens here around March).

Here are a few links to things we like so far:

Foam Flooring
Ceiling Wallpaper (This link just shows a pic of the style, not the actual product.)

We Have An RV!!!!! What??

We've just been chillin' lately.  Sort of processing things...thinking.  And we decided to put off leaving until next spring.  We needed time to save money, get things in order, etc.  We still hadn't decided if we were going to try to go for an RV or use a tent...

So I get this random text from Grandma Jackson saying that one of our cousins has an RV he's trying to get rid of...

And wouldn't ya know it...he does have one and it's super old yet super inexpensive...and we went today and checked it out.

It's only 5 years younger than I am.  :)  Only has 25,000 miles.  Runs good.  The interior is ok, but we'll paint and do some other things to spruce it up.

The point here is...we are buying an RV.  I am so super excited about it.  I'm going to post pictures of the whole process.

Here's a pic I got today when we went and checked it out.  It's been sitting and is in desperate need of a good ol' scrubbing.  And there's some minor cosmetic stuff that needs to be done. But then engine and "bones" seem to be really excellent!  It's going to get about 4 miles to the gallon...but that doesn't matter to me as much as just having it!  :)

But...YAY!  We have our RV.

Tents We Like so far...

This tent is mama's favorite:

Coleman Tenaya

This tent is dad's favorite:

Field & Stream Wilderness Cabin


We haven't seen any pop up campers in person but we've watched Youtube videos and we love the A-Frame pop ups.  They are EXPENSIVE if you buy them new.  Wouldn't we be better off just buying a used RV?

Hmmm?

Research, research, research.

If I had my way, we'd Tent and leave on October 1st.  But there are a lot of pieces that need to fit in the puzzle before we depart.

Pop Ups & Test Travels

We've been researching and changing our minds and researching and changing our minds.

Although, tents offer more room in general, a pop up camper offers more "amenities" like heat, comfie beds, a sink, a stove and they just seem more pet friendly.  Tents are more affordable, so there's that.

We've been traveling every weekend to visit local campsites for general ideas of what's out there.  We've found some pretty nice spots:

Randolph County State Recreation Area  on July 10th.  It was nice, clean, offered RV sites and primitive camping.  It was super Uncrowded.  We saw deer & ducks.  We fished and caught some tiny pumpkinseed sunfish.  

Pyramid State Park on July 17th.  Again, it was nice and clean.  Tiny, tight, primitive camping in some areas.  Very calm.  We saw deer, turtles, ducks.  Crazy butterflies and dragonflies.  We ran out of bait so I dug up worms.  Still didn't catch anything but tiny pumpkinseed sunnies.  We did get to see 2 mama sunnies guarding their eggs which was pretty cool.

Kinkaid Lake on July 24th.  This was a confusing trip.  The GPS wasn't updated maybe, so we had a hard time getting to where we wanted to go.  The signs seemed to be confusing.  They have awesome marinas but when I asked about beach swimming I was told I had to go to the Spillway.  The "camping" was basically grassy knolls with markers.  A lot of the RV's were permanent fixtures with porches built on.  We did see deer frolicking in a pond, which was something I'd never seen before.  We also saw deer in fields.  We saw cranes & Traveling Jackson saw a "beaver" which was actually a ground hog and a turtle on a log.

(Note about The Spillway; ironically my mom and her cousins spent part of their childhoods living in close proximity to the spillway.  They cousins built a tree house there years and years ago.  That treehouse stood for a long time. Sadly it's no longer there.  But the spillway is amazing.  Traveling Jackson & I actually go into the water there.  It was a nice trip.  It would have been more fun if it wasn't 100 degrees outside.  The water is warm at the spillway.

Lake Murphysboro on July 24th.  As far as tent camping, this was one of our favorites so far.  Camping right near the lake with excellent views.  We saw a few tents, but no too crowded.  They had a separate RV park, which was nice as well...but not hoity toity RV's, again, with excellent views.

These weekend mini trips are just one day excursions.  We may try an actual camping trip with our current gear and see what happens.  I think we are going to try Carlyle Lake next weekend.  Maybe an actual camping weekend.

Living in a Tent? For Real??

So, I think we've decided that for the first few months we are going to do our traveling and camping via tent.  Mostly because that will be the most budget friendly.  If you've never shopped for an RV...don't get sticker shocked when you discover that RV's...like the top of the line RV's...can cost as much as a house her in the midwest!  What?

Tenting with our pets might be difficult.  The dog will be fine.  But we have 2 cats.  So, that's an issue.

But...the whole concept of living a simplistic lifestyle is so appealing to us.  I mean...travel, no stress, eating and shopping local and did I mention no stress?

We are headed out now to look at some real tents.  We've looked online so we have an idea of what we need and want.  I'll come back and post some reviews of what we've seen and where we saw them.

To be continued...

PS:  We also have some great ideas about Jackson's homeschooling and educating kids across america.  Super excited!  We'll share soon!