Pulling up the Stakes

Let me get right to the point here:

In exactly 4 months I will be loading my family into a truck, with camper in tow, and embarking on a one year journey across North America.

Now that we got that out of the way, let me explain:

At some point during this miserable cold season it occurred to us that we hate winter. I mean, sure, we like Christmas and we love seeing family and we make the best of the snow but, as most of our family and friends know, we live for the summer. We live for long weekends in our camper, discovering the wonders of a new state park. We live for hiking and biking and nature...even our 4lb toy poodle is an experienced hiker. When we aren't camping we stay up late researching new camping spots on the internet. It's the foundation of our family. We love camping. For example, when most couples get married they get a pile of household items at their wedding shower. Blenders, pots and pans, towels, picture frames, etc. At our shower we received a pile of green colored boxes from the camping aisle at target. We had three people give us the same camp stove and someone even gave us biodegradable toilet paper. WE. LOVE. CAMPING.

So, it started out as a conversation that I didn't take seriously. 'let's move somewhere warm'...'let's go full time on the RV'...just playful dreaming. Then, we started to ask ourselves 'why not?'. Within a couple of weeks we didn't have any good reason to stay here. Every potential problem we discussed had a very logical solution. It's a scary feeling when you realize the only thing holding you back is yourself. We are actually at the point now where we agree that this trip is urgent. Based on the ages of our kids and the timing of everything, our window of opportunity is closing. Noah is turning 5 and Sam just turned 3. After this year it will probably be best to have them in a traditional school setting but missing preschool and kindergarten...no big deal. Sure, we could wait until we are old and the kids are grown up but what's the fun in that? Besides, why do tomorrow what you can totally do today?

So, that's it. We are moving forward and not looking back. We just traded in our old popup and bought a 31' travel trailer. Here is a picture of it next to our old popup. Jessica and the boys had a moment of sadness as we drove away from the popup. We had a lot of memories on that thing. I didn't share in their moment as I was busy freaking out about the 31foot, 6000 pound trailer hooked to the ass end of my truck. It was all good after the first 5 miles. She tows beautifully.

Our official departure date is 9/15/2014. We plan to return to the area in August 2015. When we do we will be looking for a new place to live. Maybe someplace warm...maybe a house in the woods...who knows? What we know for sure is that we have a lot of loose ends to tie up this summer. Then we will be off creating memories that will last us the rest of our lives. We will update this blog before, during and after the trip so our friends and loved ones can keep tabs on us. We would also welcome strangers of all sorts to follow along. Who knows, maybe you will find it useful in planning your own journey.