Let the adventure begin

We departed Lakeville, MN on July 6 after an intense packing session that involved a bit of tetris-like skill. Our first official destination was Rhinelander, WI, where my cousin Eric lives, along with his wife Kristi, Chloe and CC. We’re “moochdocking” on their land, which is a fancy term that means we’re camping in their yard and taking advantage of electrical connections and hot showers in their house. Major bonus - Eric is a fantastic chef, and it’s safe to say that our meals here this week will be off the charts.

As we were starting to share the news of our travel, we realized that many people had the same questions. Where are you headed? What does work look like? What is Owen most looking forward to? So for our first official blog post, I thought it was appropriate to share answers to a few of those questions.

Do you have your route mapped out? What does it look like?

Yes, for the most part. We purchased a very large, laminated map of the United States back in October (right after we had purchased the RV), and got to work. Between that, Google maps, and RVtripwizard.com, we’ve charted out a route that covers 25 states over the next 12 months. Our Next Stop page has a snapshot of it. While you’re there, we’d love it if you’d fill out a form to suggest what we should see along the way.

What are you most looking forward to?

This varies for all of us, and this is a very hard question to answer. Overall, the experience of seeing the United States and all that it has to offer is a given. We’ve been very lucky to travel extensively internationally, and embarking on a classic road trip throughout America has a special allure to it, as there are many places we haven’t seen. Owen’s top destination is Las Vegas, Tom is really looking forward to the Grand Staircase area in the Escalante National Park and Laurie is very excited to explore the trails and coast of Oregon. But we also know there are going to be places that we never even knew about that may become favorites. Of course, we can’t wait to meet up with friends and family along the way!

So, are you working?

Short answer, yes, although scaling back from a full-time schedule. Tom continues to stay employed by his company, Prodege. Laurie continues to run her recovery coaching business from the road, which isn’t much of a change from how she managed it during COVID. Since we’re also both focused on roadschooling Owen, we believe this will take a substantial amount of time (it’s new to us all).

On that note, what IS Owen doing for school?

We are diving into the homeschooling realm - or more specifically, roadschooling. As we started doing the research and talking to trusted friends that are well-versed in this area (huge thanks to Amanda J and Rebecca H!!), it was clear to us that this will be a great way to use our travels to tie into Owen’s education. He’ll be in the 7th grade this coming year, and we’ll actually be roadschooling him starting in July, so that we can do it year-round and use locations on our route that align with his curriculum (think history! geography!) We’ll be following the MN state guidelines for required subjects that need to be taught, and using a mixture of online programs designed for this purpose as well as teaching a few subjects ourselves. Time for Laurie to start brushing up on her Spanish and Tom is excited that Owen wants to dive into coding. Suffice it to say, we’re all going to learn more than we bargained for.

Is Owen excited?

We get this question quite frequently. Short answer, very much so. As we were dreaming up this trip, we knew that it was probably wise to schedule this during his middle school years versus high school. He couldn’t wait to tell his friends and has been on board from the very beginning. Of course, he said he’d miss his friends most. If any of you have middle schoolers that want to connect with him virtually for gaming or a FaceTime chat, let us know! We want to make sure he is staying connected socially in a way that is meaningful for him.

What kind of RV are you driving?

We purchased a used Jayco Seneca Super-C diesel that is 39 feet long. Tom is the chief pilot so far - Laurie hasn’t learned to drive yet, but will be, hopefully soon. Perhaps a future post will include a video tour of our home for the year.

Are you pulling a car?

Yes, we are towing a Jeep behind us, also equipped with bikes and two inflatable kayaks. We want to take advantage of the off-roading and remote destinations that our RV might not allow for. It will also be a better way to run into town to stock up on groceries, visit museums, and the like.

Did you sell your house?

With the market where it’s been, we were dangerously close! But for a number of reasons, the right decision for us was to keep it, and we are renting to a cousin of Laurie’s. We believe that we will be coming back to the Lakeville area, at least until Owen finishes high school. But you never know. We may take to this lifestyle and realize that tiny living in the RV is where we should be.

Can we meet you on the road somewhere?

By all means! Just be sure to make a reservation. We’ve had a few requests already for our time in the Florida Keys when the MN winter hits ….

What questions do you have? Leave us a comment - we’d love to hear from you.

See you down the road!

Tom, Laurie and Owen

Rhinelander, WI (our transition travel spot)