On the Move, Again

After drying out from our drowned rat days in NOVA, we headed out to Mammoth Cave National Park. Our first night in the park was a bit more crowded than we were anticipating for a Sunday evening in October. Columbus Day holiday. Oh, and Kentucky schools get a fall break. But a lot of folks cleared out Monday afternoon, and by Tuesday, we were running pretty free and clear, with just a few other campers. By this weekend, though, we're back to a full campground. Thank goodness most of our fellow campers are headed back to their non-camping lives tomorrow.

Domes and Dripstones Tour

We spent a lot of time trying to figure out which tour to take. There's a wide range of tours offered, so we read up on all of them and then checked with a ranger. NPS' website says to get a ticket the day before, and most of the tours sell out. Even with that warning, we ran into people who came in the visitor's center in the afternoon looking for a tour for that day. Upsetting for them, to say the least, especially since it was their only day in the park. At any rate, we decided upon the Domes and Dripstones Tour. Turns out, I can't go with a crowd. This is a HUGE tour, with about 118 people allowed to go along with the rangers, bringing the total to 120. I had to bust through the crowd and exit the cave and chill out with Ranger John for a few minutes. After gathering myself, we went back in, and as long as I hung back and didn't rush into the cramped spaces, I was cool. But, my oh my, those cramped spots are CRAMPED. Such a good tour, and I'm glad I forced myself back into the cave. It did take us about 10 minutes to get down the windy and cramped stairs entrance. Ranger John told me the guys who discovered the cave came down on ropes and it took them 10 days to get to the big room. I don't think my destiny is to be a caver.

Mammoth Passages

We were fortunate enough to work in a second tour, Mammoth Passages. The entrance to this one is much larger, never having a cramped and winding entrance. Thank goodness. After two days of climbing and walking a couple miles, I was feeling my heretofore lack of exercise. It was good for me. I need to get my butt in gear and exercise more. After the tour, we continued down the trail to the River Styx stream. NB and I then went to Echo River stream and then to the campsite. He and I ended up hiking about three miles that afternoon. We were HOT when we returned to camp.

Cool Roots

NB and I got to see some truly cool roots. We also got to see a small entrance into the cave. Did NOT go through the creek into the cave. But we did talk to a gentleman who moved to the area 24 years ago to explore the cave, and he sounded like he has used the creek to enter the cave.

Stressing Out

We had a fantastic visit with my college buddy, Cindy, yesterday.  We got to see four of her six kids after they got out of high school.  We haven't seen these guys in a very long time.  As her two oldest start their senior year, they're looking at colleges.  Cindy was going through what colleges run these days.  Holy stink.  Oh, and her kids are taking some college classes right now, plus they're doing some truly amazing stuff in their final year of high school.

I have to get my stuff together for high school homeschooling.  I have some worksheets to help me plan, but I really need to get some experiences and curriculum.  I feel like I'm going to have to come out of my comfort zone, which may mean I don't play to my strengths.  Then I read this article, which did nothing to soothe the freak out factor.

My kids are smart, but that's only part of the equation.  College is part of the equation, but the cost is skyrocketing, so I wonder about the future of traditional colleges.  There is no justification for a $200k college degree.  I hate the stress of living up to expectations.  Fitting the mold.  How do we proceed from here?

Math Revisited, Again

My parents lent us the Great Courses Algebra video and workbook.  I have no answer book for the workbook, and so it was becoming a challenge to grade.  I really don't have the time to go through the videos and do the work myself in order to have an answer for all of his work.  I feel horrible about this.  With that in mind, however, we did go ahead and make the switch to Teaching Textbooks.  G said that the problems in there were easy peasy compared to what he had been doing, so I'm tempted to have him do the Great Courses while we're staying at houses, just to give him that extra exposure to more complex ideas, by without me grading them.  I need to have a way to keep track of his progress in math, I need to know he's getting the concepts the book is trying to get across to him, and I simply can't do that if I have to do all the work alongside him just to make sure he's got the correct answer.  I've got so much going on, that's just not working for me.  I feel a bit of a failure on this one...

Confirmation and Such

Our timeframe for returning to CO had been set way before we even began our journey across the US.  NS got confirmed on the 15th of September!  

He took the name Robert Alphonsus.  Personally, I hate that they have to pick a Saint's name before confirmation studies even begin.  K and NB have to pick their names now for their confirmation next year.  K has already done that, NB has not.  At any rate, check out how sharp my little man is next to his uncle.  He insisted on the bow tie.  He looks good!            

All of us assembled.  We don't get a lot of family pictures, so it's nice to get one while we're all gussied up.  G's slouching, he's even taller than Bill these days.  All those monkeys look good dressed up.  Very few occasions to dress up whilst camping.          






 We also got the opportunity to hang out with friends while in town.  The boys got to go to scouts a couple times, we went bowling three times (twice with friends from the charter, once with family), we hit the rec center, and we went to mass at our own church thrice (twice on Sundays, once for confirmation).  It was nice to be in a familiar place, though I missed the camping.

Two Months In...

Time to hit some numbers.  In my pipe dreams, we were living on less than 3k a month.  We missed that by a HUGE amount.  We've spent over 9k in a little over two months.  Sigh.  So not how I wanted things to go.  BUT, we've spent some time internationally, we've had to repair some tires, we've had some amazing experiences, and we've had a great time.  Now it's time to buckle down.

We can't be doing everything we want every time it comes along.  We also need to tone down our eating expenses.  Here's a breakdown of how we spent our money:

Fuel:  $1342.28
Stuff:  $2042.08
Snacks:  $299.07
Meals:  $4216.28
Lodging:  $1519.96

Clearly our food is out of control.  Stuff?  Who even knows how we spent that money?  Our categories are too vague, so I've decided to track a bit more detail in our next leg of the journey.  I want to know how much we're spending on ice.  I'm gonna say it's an obscene number.  How often are we buying DEF?  So much that would help me to plan much better.  I'm going to differentiate between groceries and eating out.  I want to see how much we're spending on laundromat.  How much firewood do we buy?  How are we doing with propane?

And just to keep track, we've gone 9,974 miles in nine states and one foreign country (two provinces).  We spent 65 days on the road, nine of which were in Canada, seven days spent at family's house.  The boys have earned one merit badge, seven Webelos adventures, six Wolf adventures, and the Wolf Outdoor Activity award.  And the youngest three have earned a TON of Jr. Ranger badges.

And then again, is our journey really in the details?  We can learn so much from the details, but can we enjoy our trip any more or less based on them?  I need some philosophy class to work out my issues....

Camping in July

Turns out, I'm not so excited to tent camp in July in Utah.  I love Dinosaur National Monument, don't get me wrong.  But my body absolutely hates the thought of 100+ degree days.   Bill found a misting fan that I pooh-poohed at first, but it's beginning to sound like something I would really want.  On our walk last night, Bill was checking out the weather for our various campsites on his phone.  This week the first few ones are all hitting the 90s to the 100s.  Blech.  At least we'll be near water at all of them.  Bill's big plan for Dinosaur is to go to the visitor's center and just hang out.  I also want to go to the box canyon and check out the homestead again.

I also found a fish hatchery in the area that would be cool to visit.  We have a wildlife refuge around here that we like to visit.  It's home to a bison herd and also has black footed ferrets.  The Ouray National Wildlife Refuge is home to waterfowl, and it also hosts the fish hatchery.  I think we'll have a great time exploring places outside the park, seeing what else is in the area.

Reservations

Me oh my.  Things have gotten real.  This morning I made two reservations.  Neither of them being for our first, second, or even third location.  I should get on that.  BUT, I have just committed us to being international travelers.  Of the North America variety.  Late July will find us in Banff, Canada!  We haven't been out of the country since our honeymoon, so it's pretty exciting.  

We applied for our passports in late April and we got them in such a hurry!  We have friends who live in Northern VA, and they had to make appointments to get their passports applied/turned in.  We walked in, no appointment, no other people in line, had all the paperwork filled out and such, so we walked out within 20 minutes.  About two weeks later, they showed up at my parents' house (we had them sent there in case they showed up after we moved).  That was simply amazing!  And so now we get to put those bad boys to good use before we pick up our trailer in the fall.  Yeah!!!!  

The other reservations I made this morning are for Silver Falls in OR.  I got National Geographic's Guide to State Parks of the United States for research. NS did one of his reports on Silver Falls, telling us about the waterfalls and such.  When I looked at their campground for reservations, the tent pads were all kinda small.  Bill called them up, though, and the ranger he spoke with said our tent should fit.  It'll be snug, but it'll fit.  So I hopped right on it, since there were only two sites.  We're in!  

Now I just need to get on the rest of the trip.

Time Flies By

We're now down to less than a month in the house.  At times it feels like so much still needs to be done, at other times I feel like we've got this made in the shade.  Local schools let out May 26th for the summer.  We've been finished since mid-February, except for their charter school they go to once a week, that ended on May 9th.

With the end of public school comes the start of our homeschool time.  Back in February, it felt like I had forever to plan and come up with a structure.  Now June is almost upon me. Fortunately, I have the tables of what they need to learn by subject.  But as I've mentioned before, I'm not so sure that's the schedule we're going to maintain on our year of travel.  Personal finance is a big one this year, we'll make sure we continue math, and we'll definitely learn about our country.  We'll work on our scout achievements, so we'll get a lot of life skills in on this trip.  Philosophy, big ideas....I want to get my kids thinking about bigger ideas than the surface level ideas they toss about.  Hand in hand with that, I'd love to have them paying attention to what's going on around them, see beyond themselves, make connections and pitch in without being asked.

I now have five days to get my act together.  Most of the month of June is going to be spent working on our research skills, but with books and on the internet.  The kids are already pretty good with this, but the purpose of this goes beyond just making sure that their research skills are up to snuff.  We actually need to get this trip planned out.  I have ideas, but I need the kids to be invested in this trip as well, so their ideas need to be heard.  This will also hit their informational oral presentations requirements.  Ah, and one on one math time with Mom.  Who doesn't love that?

Oh, and in and amongst all of this school stuff, I still have to finish packing and cleaning.  Let's hope it all goes smoothly!

Lone Scout

One of the difficulties of this travel year is continuing the scouting program.  We're progressing as Lone Scouts.  We headed down to the Denver Area Council today.  Bill spoke with staff, I hit the store.  My boys have grown, so several shirts were needed, along with all NB's Webelos stuff and J's Wolf stuff.  G and NS have both earned their one rank since the new program was instated, so they both needed new books, and then NB and J just need their new year's books.  Oh, and all the belt loops and Webelos pins.  It was not a cheap visit! While I was off collecting all the stuff, Bill was off collecting paperwork and trying to get all angles taken care of with the staff.  Bill's been Cubmaster of our pack for 5.5 of the past 7 years, so part of his work today was making sure pack stuff got settled.  The other part was getting our Lone Scout applications and talking about what it's going to take for us to actually do this.  We came home with Lone Scout applications, Merit Badge Counselor applications, and a ton of info. I've also got Leader's books for Wolves and Webelos that I borrowed from last year's leaders.  I'll have to return them to the pack, but I get to get a feel for the adventures before handing them back.  We've actually started working on things, going over information and practicing skills.  I told my den that I would send them videos of our progress for this year, so they can see what we're doing and try some of that stuff themselves.  I actually picked up six elective pins for NB, so we'll get to show the den some cool things we're working on this year that they may not actually have thought about working on.  

Along with getting the new is finishing up the old.  Since NB earned his Bear, I went ahead and attached it to his uniform, but at the same time stripped it of everything that can go on his Webelos uniform.  I'll clean this bad boy and then promptly pack it away, another memory to store.

Organizing the Trip

The house is under contract!!!!  We now have a start date of sorts.  We'll be in town until the older boys return from South Dakota on their scout camp.  Knowing we won't be leaving the area until early July gives a sense of security, but also a bit of panic since I put all trip organization and planning on hold while the house was being prepped and on the market.  With the house on the market I was able to start planning again, since that involves little chaos.  Organizing for me, though, involves a TON of chaos.  

This is all our stuff, weighed and recorded.  Ok, it's really only our tent stuff, minus any personal items.  Nine sleeping bags (the older boys each have two), five pads, seven pillows, and a whole bunch of goodies.  I feel like we're missing some stuff from this, but I can't figure out what it would be.  I'll figure it out at some point, I'm sure.   It's amazing how little this looks like.  All but the coolers will fit in our small, 4x4, trailer that we'll sell once we've got our travel trailer.  But this stuff has seen us through quite a few trips.  The coolers are new, because our locks on our old coolers had broken, and we had to stack things on top of them just to keep them closed.  Not so handy.  We've been really happy with our setup to date, so we'll see how we feel after months, not weeks, of camping!      

 

   

This here's our baby trailer.  She's served us well, though she gets a lot of laughs.  Amazingly, we keep very organized and can fit an absolute ton of camp gear in there.  We did need to add the car top carrier, but the two of them combined are a traveling wonder.    

This is our school gear, unfiltered.  I put something like 25 boxes in storage at my parents' house, and whittled our keep pile down to this.  200+ pounds of stuff.  Um....it can't all go. I invested in Life of Fred Pre-Algebra because NS said he loved LoF; that's so five minutes ago.  *grinding teeth* Ok, well, that's fine, I also picked up Prentice Hall's stuff.  On the cheap, thank you used books.  Now I get to spend another couple of days (or weeks, who's to say?) sorting through this stuff and figuring out what we need between now and September.  If I don't need it until after mid-September, I'm good with storing it in plastic tubs at my parents' house, since we'll be back in the area.  There are other things that probably should have been packed away, but I couldn't bring myself to do that.  As I was breaking my back pulling all the heaviest boxes off the top shelf in the garage (?!?!), I realized how stupid putting books into bigger tubs was/is.  That's ok, I'm sure I need the two kids' dictionaries and the two kids' thesauri, and the dictionary of idioms and such.  Holy cow, this is a trip, not a new home we're filling up!  Man, I need to prioritize.  I can't believe (yeah, I actually can) I was thinking packing so many reference materials was a good idea.  Clearly I am an English major and can't let go of my texts, but that ain't gonna work on this trip!  Oh, do I have my work cut out for me!

Weather

In the Denver area, it's been raining.  A long time now, it seems.  My garden is totally digging it, but it makes me wonder about this trip.  Our first five or so months of this journey are in a tent.  We've had a lot of adventures in our tent, seen some grand sites, enjoyed our fair share of awesome weather.  But we've also camped out in bad weather.  We've had wind storms that threaten to take our tent, wind storms that took our tent when we weren't holding it down from inside, hail storms, rain storms, below freezing, and boiling hot.  I have to admit to hating being outside in rain.

I love our tent.  It's done such an amazing job over the last four years and 16 or so campgrounds.  The older boys' troop loves it because it's huge and fast to set up (compared to their gigantic troop tent).  I know it will all be fine once we're out doing it, but I'm sitting at home watching the dreary drizzle come down, and it concerns me for what lies ahead.  I need to read more of those stories of the women who crossed the country, gave birth, tore up their wagons and rode the rapids with a boat built from the wood.  Those women would scorn me.  Time to toughen up!

Junior Ranger

We have loved the Junior Ranger program from the NPS (and some states, too!) since we took our big trip four years ago.  I was actually introduced to it five years ago when G and I helped my parents move to CO.  We stopped at the Petrified Forest National Park, picked up the booklet, and set to work.  The kids have gotten badges or patches at a variety of parks/monuments/recreation areas.  Now the NPS is celebrating their 100th anniversary.  Yeah!!!  And to commemorate this, our National Parks have a special booklet to earn a 100 year patch.  This activity booklet can be downloaded and worked on at home or at a park.  It's all color, very intense in its color usage, so I'm thinking we're going to head to Rocky Mountain National Park and hit up a visitor's center.

If you've never done the Junior Ranger program, it's such a great way to get the kids (and adults) to pay more attention to the park they visit.  When we did our one at RMNP, we actually did it with my Cub Scout den after our campout.  The booklet had the boys paying attention to the wildlife, the vegetation, and the geology.  Typically the parks want you to attend a ranger talk, but not always.  At the end, before they can get their badge or patch, the kids have to take an oath to help protect the park.  It's just such a great way to get the kids more connected to the park and the outside.

And speaking of connecting...this year we get to connect free because K was in 4th grade this school year that just finished up.  I love the idea of getting every kid in a park.  I'm hoping the program continues, because NB is heading into 4th this year.  It's not a huge expense, compared to many others on our journey this year, but I'll take advantage if the opportunity is there!

Early Stages of Planning

It's time!!!  I finally get to start planning...ish....  Since we need to wait for the house to sell, I don't really have dates, though I do have a date in September where we need to be back in this area.  So I have an end date for the first leg of our trip, and an area of the country to visit.  Since that's all I have for now, let's just start daydreaming.

In my ideal world, we leave this area mid-June, so let's start there.  From here we probably head to my parents' house for a day or two to collect ourselves, and then head on over to South Dakota.  That's non-negotiable for the end of June since the older two have scout camp there.  But I want to visit the Pacific Northwest.  In order to get there, we have to go through Wyoming.  Devils Tower.  LOVE IT.  We've been twice already.  Once a couple years ago just for about three hours, and the other time was four years ago for a few days.  This year may be camping there, may be a short stop on our way to another campground, who knows?  I don't want to spend a lot of time in this area, cuz I want to get to Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and northern California.  Possibly a jaunt to Canada in there.  G wants to hit Alaska.  Gosh, I don't know how we do this.

Idaho...I just started researching it.  I don't know what's near each other, what's far away.  But there's a ton of stuff to do there.  Beautiful stuff.  I'm having a hard time narrowing it down.  I'm thinking a week in this state might not be enough, so I have to start carefully allocating our time.  I've had Craters of the Moon on my list for years.  We had to cut it from our big trip four years ago, which made me sad, but maybe this time we'll put that in.  The campground closes for renovations right around the time we'll be there, but a visit would still be nice.  I've been pinning things like mad on Pinterest, plus I have a stack of books with just snippets of best to do and see in areas.  Narrowing down is going to be hard.  Plus I have to figure out where exactly my uncle is so we can meet up with him.

Washington.  My sister and her family live here, so we'll work in time to visit them along with camping.  There's a lot to do in this state, too, and combined with spending time with my sister and her family, I think we're going to end up with two to three weeks there.  The 10 Best of Everything:  Families has a list of farmers markets and such in the northwest.  Oh, I'm so looking forward to getting fresh, regional food.  I want to hit National Parks, state parks, Mount St. Helens, and just spend some down time chasing my niece and trying to get my one nephew to acknowledge me and the other nephew to stop hugging so tightly.

Oregon...We have a family friend who gave us a HUGE list of things to do.  They sound amazing.  I haven't started researching this state myself, so I'm very grateful for the list she gave me!  The kids are so excited to see the ocean, though, they may never want to leave.  Bill's also got some family in this part of the world, so we'll try and meet up with them.  We haven't seen his aunt and uncle since 2010, so that'll be cool.  I guess we should tell them we're coming!

Northern California....Redwoods, sequoias, lava beds.  So much to see, so much to do, how do we fit it all in?  Since we have no one we want to meet up with in this state, I think we're good with just a week or so here.  I don't really know if we can get all the way there, but I'd love to stop in at the Lawrence Hall of Science, too.  I've been getting their emails for years, so actually seeing the museum would kick butt.

Now that this part of the trip is planned...ish, how to get back to CO?  And how much time do I need to allow for that?  A hotel room for all of us is about $100/night, so I think we have to rule that out and try to give ourselves a bit more time.  Or maybe we suck it up and pay for one night and just try to make it with one overnight.  More research is needed....

Learning on the Go

I'm full into planning our next academic year.  I'm the kind of gal who just can't seem to work past Christmas, my enthusiasm just wanes.  So I start our year early.  This year, I'm not entirely sure when our year will begin.  Normally we begin mid-June.  This year we may just start earlier.  We've got Scout camps and such, but other than that, the kids can work on their research skills.  Using the Internet, working on their organizational skills, finding places they want to visit (AND be able to explain WHY they want to visit certain places)....what great lessons!

Every year I start out with Rebecca Rupp's Home Learning Year by Year.  I go through the grade levels and just pull out the information for my kids and put it all in a spreadsheet.  I cannot even go through all my technical woes of late.  Suffice it to say, I'm burying much technology in the coming days, once I get all my stuff backed up.  In order to get all my work done, I've invested in an iPad Air, a hardcore case, I'll get a Bluetooth keyboard in the coming days, I'll be set.

I'm freaking out a little having an 8th grader.  Doesn't at all faze me that my youngest is going into 2nd grade, but having an 8th grader.  That's big time.  We have a variety of math interests in our house, or more specifically, a variety of math program interests.  Life of Fred has been a fave for years.  G enjoyed Teaching Textbooks in 7th grade, but in talking to others, I feel like perhaps I should push him a little more.  So I've ordered Algebra I from Foerster for this year.  I got the three different pre-Algebra books from Life of Fred, but I also feel like I need to get NS a more rigorous program, or at least something where I can make sure he's learning what he needs. K, NB, and J will all be sticking solely with Life of Fred and supplementing with games and such.  Math facts are somewhat lacking in our house, so we'll practice, practice, practice.

Aside from math, I really want to focus on writing.  We're HUGE readers, and I'll curate a list of what I want my older to be introduced to, but I don't need to really push the whole reading thing.  Writing? Yeah, let's get on it.  So I'm getting little pocket journals for everyone to keep in the day packs so they can keep them handy on hikes and such.  One mom told me about Bravewriter, so I need to look into that and see if that can help us.

I also want the kids to think about Big Ideas.  Read some philosophy, discuss important ideas, see how we can fit idealism into realism.

Doing all of this while keeping our book load light, oh, it's a frightening prospect.  But we'll bring along DVDs, books on CD, our stuff from Audible, and our minds.  Oh, what an adventure we'll have!

Budgeting

Argh.  One of our goals on this trip is to save money.  Our current mortgage is close to 2k/month, plus utilities.  We can go way under that on a camping/roadschoooling adventure, wouldn't you think?  Man, I hope so!  At this point, we want to keep all our expenses right around 2k/month.  I'm looking at $400-$500/month on camping sites, $500/month fuel, and around $1000/month for food.

I'm freaking out.  I've read sites where people plan on 4k/month.  That's about what we spend living here in the house.  I want to reduce and live more simply.  I want less stress.  A LOT LESS STRESS.  I'm feeling a bit crazy with the small budget, but I'm feeling like we can do this, with the knowledge that some months we'll just be over because there are things we don't want to miss out on.  I know there are people who make do on a lot less, so this is all about choices.  Keeping our eyes on the future, not pining for what could have been, trusting that this all works out.

Reduce Redux

Second moving sale down.  Yeah!!!!!  We've managed to get rid of tons of stuff, thanks to the two moving sales, and advertising on our neighborhood site and Craigslist.  Whew!  We've got a ways left to go, so we'll continue to use Craigslist, and then we'll donate or keep (or toss) the rest.

This has been an amazing journey that has challenged me in so many ways.  Just to lay hands on EVERY last thing in our possession.  And then to make decisions about all of it.  Things that I've had since college, or earlier.  Do I keep the silver duckie that my godfather gave me for baptism?  Turns out yes, yes I do.  How about the armoire I got for my room senior year in college?  Nope, that one's out (buyer dependent).  It really brought up important ideas that I haven't really worked on in such a long time.  How much do I really need?  How do I keep things neat and tidy and controlled?  Do I really need very much?  And if I don't need very much, what do I need?  Such a great exercise, but I don't think I want to do this too very often.

Tedious Business

Daydreaming about the trip.  That's fun.  Researching places to go, I love it.  Talking about the beautiful sites we'll see.  All over it.  Weighing and recording every last little thing we're going to take with us so we're not overweight.  Blech.  I think I'd rather do almost anything else.  Especially since it's literally been weeks I've been doing this.  Not all day every day, but enough of my time and energy that it's really gotten old.  I've set everything up in a spreadsheet, I've got every item attached to a person or function (I don't want all the homeschooling materials coming out of my personal allowance!), and I'm weighing things on my bathroom scale or the kitchen food scale.  I hope those are accurate enough!

In addition to weighing every.single.thing, we're having a second go at the moving sale this weekend.  Taking pictures, assessing value, posting pictures online, figuring out where (other than Craigslist) to advertise a moving sale.  I am slower than a tortoise trudging through molasses in January.  I went to a local high school event with a friend last night, and an older lady and I were talking.  I said I was tired (it was, in all honesty, my normal bedtime--of 8pm).  She went on a little rant about how I had no business being tired, she's 70, she has every right to be tired, but why in the world was I?  Even having 5 kids wasn't swaying her.  So I'm slow, I'm tired, and I'm quite pathetic.  What a week I'm having.

Petroglyph and Tent Rocks

 We did some poking around before heading out to NM for the Sprinter to figure out what we wanted to do with our time.  I had found Petroglyph National Monument.  TONS of petroglyphs.  Really cool to see.  The hike was a sandy one, which is definitely NOT something we do a lot of in Colorado!  We enjoyed our morning there, and then headed out for a hike recommended to us by several people.

 

 

Tent Rocks!

What a cool hike!  Definitely spend time asking people from the area what there is to do.  I didn't find this one online, and it was decidedly awesome.  The hike isn't very far, about a mile and a half, but the elevation rise is all in the last little bit.  Oh, but what a view you get.

We all brought back a bunch of sand on our clothes, our shoes, in our hair, and possibly in our socks.  But we had a great time hiking in New Mexico!

Going Big AND Going Home...

We bought our minivan right before our 2nd son was born.  That's coming up on 12 years ago now.  Our oldest just turned 13, and he no longer fits comfortably inside our beloved Odyssey.  He fits, just not comfortably.  And when I say not comfortably, I'm referring mainly to OUR comfort.  So tired of the touching and the yelling and the discomfort that such close quarters bring.

That's a pretty packed car.  The quest for a new car began about two and a half years ago, but was put on hold when my husband began his new company.  His company is actually the reason behind the whole big journey.  Success has not come quickly, and so we needed to change things up a bit.  Downsize.  Prioritize.  Live our lives on our terms.  Challenge our notions of what is possible.  But I digress...

We looked for a couple of months at Sprinters (which is what we had been looking at so long ago), but really kicked up the search a week or two ago.  We knew we would want to be towing a trailer for our year or so of travel, but we needed to make sure we could get one that would fit all seven of us and still have a dry weight right around 3000 lbs.  Once we found that (it's custom, so we don't have it yet), it was time to get the Sprinter.

Used Sprinters are still EXPENSIVE!!!!  We looked and looked and looked, but the deal we liked best was a brand new Sprinter in Albuquerque.  We hit the road at 5am Tuesday, and picked the van up around 1pm that day.  By 6pm the Odyssey was sold to Carmax.

We put all our stuff in there, and still had enough space for my own yoga/stretching area in the back.

We'll pack that baby with so much more for the big trip, but this is what it looks like with seven people's things for a couple days out of town.  Complete with luggage, daypacks, coolers, and snacks.

Now we're back home.  The stress of getting everything ready to sell and store and move is weighing heavily upon me, but the excitement of a new vehicle and a new adventure is amazing.

Reduce, Reduce, Reduce

You know that guy from The Lorax?  The one who figgers on biggerin' and biggerin' and biggerin'?  Yeah, I think that was us for a while.  We held our first moving sale to try and reduce.  Our goal is to not need a storage unit.  We're very fortunate that our parents will let us store some of our stuff at their houses while we're making our way around the country, but we don't want to impose too much.  So we're looking hard at all our stuff and trying to figure out what's really important.  As time goes on, fewer things are really important!

That's a lot of stuff.  And we had a bunch of other stuff that didn't fit into this room that I just forgot to photograph.  I had a friend over a couple days before the sale to go through stuff since she's going back to a classroom and got rid of all her stuff when she left the classroom years back.  Blessedly, she could use a lot of what I had.  That rescued a lot of things from either the trash bin or the recycle bin.  Thanks Lisa!!!  We also posted a bunch of things online that garnered some attention, so the table saw was sold before the official sale as well.  And then we spent 5 hours on a very sunny, beautifully sweet spring day, and sold a lot of things.  While we still have a lot to get rid of, I'm pleased with how much we've done.

Now to figure out where to store all this until our neighborhood sale in another month or so.  This house needs to hit the market, preferably without all the clutter!