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Greetings!!

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How on Earth did we get here - living full time in an RV with little kids?! What prompted us to make such an unusual and life-altering decision? Why are we doing something we know will be criticized, challenged, and misunderstood? Are we nuts?!  My name is Alyx; wife of Justin and mother of 4. Back in the spring of 2023, we had this wild notion that we were being called to a very different way of living; that God was leading our family to something other than the conventional American Dream (at least in this season of life). Only a month after that first mutual realization, we were on our way to purchase our first-ever fifth wheel RV, states away, not quite convinced that this was really happening. Neither one of us had so much as camped in one before, let alone lived in one, towed one, or ever thought about owning one. But here we were, with our new “house on wheels” and no real clue as to how to make it work. We took it out on a few “trial runs” and watched some YouTube how-to’s,...
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Travel Recap #16: Five States and Family!

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  “There’s no normal life, Wyatt, it’s just life. Get on with it.”   ~ Doc Holliday ~ Christmas was fast-approaching and we had plans of being in New Mexico for the holiday, so we chose to pass up spending time in Tucson this time around and headed straight for Tombstone. A few miles before the town, we turned off onto a long and bumpy dirt road that eventually led us to another narrow dirt road and a grassy pasture where we could set up camp. We were once again in our boon-docking element; surrounded by gnarly prairie trees, climbable rocky hills, and mooing mama cows. A visit to the town of Tombstone was an absolute must, and if you’ve ever seen the movie, you’d know just what to expect! The town itself was quaint and definitely old western-style, with a variety of reenactment shows to choose from as well as horse carriages and dressed-up cowboys walking around. We checked out the O.K. Corral and met the actors out in the street (looking just like Wyatt, Morgan, Virgil, and ...
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God With Us: A Debt of Gratitude

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  “Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His name!” ~ Psalm 100:4 ~ *I mentioned in the previous post that it has been a long time since I’ve written or updated the blog, and it has. Part of the reason is that life is just plain busy and I juggle quite a few responsibilities, but it also happened that my YouTube account got deleted over the summer and along with it, every last blog video we had. I thought the majority were gone for good and didn’t want to address the volume of work it would take just to get what we already had back, so I kept putting everything off. Over the holidays, I realized I was now a full year behind in writing about our travels (wow- who zapped 2024 off the timeline that quick?), and I missed getting feedback from family on things when I did post. So, I tackled the growing elephant in the room, and yes, it was quite a project. We’re not all the way back and running yet like we were (Justin will have to carv...
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Travel Recap #15: We’re Back! In Arizona

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  “The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.” ~ Charles Dickens ~ Friends and Family!!! It’s been forever since I’ve updated, I KNOW!! Life!! I’ll mention more about it in another post, and the videos are going to be few and far between (sorry, sorry), but let’s at least get back to the memories for now - it’s been a full year and a FULL year since I last recorded our adventures, so let’s see… where were we? Oh, yes. Wonderful, warm and sunny Arizona!! We crossed over from California, passing through Yuma (where a great many snowbirds and seniors stay in the colder months) and heading north on Hwy 95. We landed in a remote and beautiful site outside Palm Canyon and the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. It was just perfect dispersed camping on what seemed like hard-packed volcanic rock, surrounded by cactus plants and a whole lot of open, uninhabited desert wilderness. The sunsets were amazing and we had a sweet view of the Kofa Mountains to the east. What an awesome ...
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Big City Break: NYC

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  “I’m gonna know what it means to live and not just be alive”  -MercyMe One week after visiting our nation’s capital, we decided to take a tour of New York City! In an attempt to somewhat plan ahead for the trip, I had to first figure out where we would park the rig. There really aren’t many RV park options anywhere close to Manhattan, unless you want to pay fancier hotel prices for a parking lot stay and follow very specific route instructions in order to avoid the countless “no-go” areas for trucks and RVs. I knew I didn’t want to chance any of it, and since our rig is so big, it was best to stay as far away as we could from the city and all the urban mess of vehicle size restrictions, stop-and-go traffic, and the like. I knew we also didn’t want to drive our beastly F-350 in the city and try to find overpriced parking when we’re too tall for many garages and stick out like a sore thumb in regular lots, so I researched the local transit systems, figured out where the train ...
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Big City Break: Washington, D.C.

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  “For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us…”  ~ John Winthrop  ~ We’ve been engaged in a serious march up the East Coast for the past several weeks, seeing as much as we can in a very condensed timeframe. Along the way, we’ve enjoyed the privilege of spending a day at a time touring some of the more prominent cities in our country, and I’ve decided to take a short break from the chronological travel recaps in order to tell you about them while it’s fresh on the brain (and the more-recent footage is easier to access for Mr. Videographer.) I think it goes without saying that the East Coast is full of history. And I. Love. History. Especially American History. What better place to start soaking it all in than our nation’s capitol, Washington, D.C. Our launch point was a campground in Pohick Bay, not too far south of Mount Vernon on the Potomac River. I had previously lived in D.C. for a semester in college, so I was fam...
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God With Us: There He Goes Again

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  “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”  ~ Isaiah 41:10 ~ No matter how busy we get or how much we see, God continues to be central to it all. He is the peace that surpasses all understanding, the light in the darkness, and the ever-present help in trouble. A few weeks ago, we were continuing to make our way up the East coast, this time from Virginia Beach to just south of Alexandria outside of Washington, D.C. I was so fixed on avoiding the low-clearance height of the northbound Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and creating a safe route through Norfolk to the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge Tunnel that I neglected to research the rest of the route. As we neared our exit en route to Pohick Bay Regional Park on the Potomac, we noticed a bright yellow low clearance bridge sign. I was in disbelief, and I’m not quick on my feet, so I thought for sure it would ...
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Travel Recap #14: California Dreamin' - Part 2

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  “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” ~ St. Augustine ~ Our route southward from the desert took us back down through San Bernardino toward Palm Springs. We overnighted at a Casino in Indio, witnessed an incredible sunset over the mountains with palm trees in the foreground, finished up our customary in-town chores, then continued the next day to the dispersed camping area south of Joshua Tree National Park. What a cool place to hang out for awhile!!   We found a spot with plenty of space and enjoyed several days of bike-riding and low-key homeschooling. The kids had fun collecting whole dead bushes for campfire fodder, and Taren went to work hand-carving a long and elaborate track for everyone to ride on throughout the wide campsite. It turned out great!! The day we ventured in to Joshua Tree, we drove up through the South Entrance past a bunch of Ocotillo and to our first quick hike around the Cholla Cactus Garden. It was crazy to see thousa...
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