When John “Hutch” and I got married almost 13 years ago we both LOVED to travel.  We had done it separately in our 20’s and then together after we were 26.  We were both passionate about it.  I hope John will write  a book about his experiences some day.  He loves to be on the road.  I call him “Traveling John.” He is in his element and the possibility of adventure lights him up.  Me? Well, I grew up in the most beautiful little city in the world, a block away from the ocean.  What else could a kid want?  Raised by a single mom I realized later we could never afford to travel anywhere but living where we did, we didn’t need to.  In middle school my mom and I took a trip to Vegas, back when you had to dress up to go anywhere.  I couldn’t believe there was so much to see.  In high school I visited colleges with my best friends and then at UCLA I went to Mexico and Europe.  There was a WHOLE WORLD out there for me to experience and I was blessed to have the opportunities to see it.

Then John and I started dating and road trips were the greatest times of our lives.  I have albums full of all the places we have been and I am thankful that God blessed me with a partner who lead us through so many adventures.  John has been to 49 states and only needs Alaska to have seen them all.  After we were married I took a part time job with the U.S. Dept. of Ed and traveled around the states and I think it was around this time that we came up with THE IDEA.

“Wouldn’t it be cool if ‘someday,’ after we had kids we traveled around the United States with them in an RV?”  We talked about it so many times.  Since I’m a 4th grade teacher I could home school them.  We could show them how amazing the country they live in, is.

And then life happened.  We got pregnant with twins.  Our beautiful miracles and then a year later, SURPRISE, pregnant with another amazing little girl.  We were in the depths of parenthood for many years.  3 bottles, diaper changes x3, and nap schedules.  But when our baby turned one we rented an RV and did a 10 trip up the coast.  We.  Were. Back.  At least for 10 days and little by little as they’ve gotten older we have traveled more and more with them. We’ve done several trips to Sedona and 2 weeks to Hawaii when they were 6, 6, and 4.  Then a 2 1/2  week driving trip up the coast to Seattle and back.  Then a 3 week trip to Utah, Wyoming, and Montana and back and several trips to Mexico City to visit my family.  These girls are AMAZING!!  Yes, they get annoying.  Yes, they fight.  And COMPLAIN.  But they also LIGHT UP  when they’re traveling and love each other and us so much.  We have so much fun on our trips.  We laugh, giggle, and learn, and we always have inside jokes and stories we love to share when we get home.  They have all 3 inherited their parents’ love of adventure

So, this year we had several things happen that got us to revisit THE IDEA. One, I have been sharing a contract at my school and my partner was going back to work full time so I needed to find a new partner or go back to work full time.  Our lease was up and we needed to decide if we were going to renew or buy a new home.  So many questions to answer and then the old idea kept creeping back….. what if we went on the road for a year.  Well, long story short, thanks to our friends Christa and Ryan and one fun dinner night with our 6 girls, we started to really consider doing this.  And so things started falling into place.

We’ve decide to leave our wonderful little neighborhood, I will home school the girls who will be in 4th, 4th, and 3rd (my favorite grade levels to teach.)  John will run his business from the road and don’t worry, we will be back in a year.  In the last 4 months since we’ve made this decision we have had so much support.  We are thankful to our family and friends who at every step have said, “Yes! Do this!”