The Makings Of Our American Dream

So we get asked, “what made you decide to do this?” We’re crazy! Didn’t you get that from the first few blog posts?

Actually, we’ve been camping with Brent’s family for a few years now. We didn’t have our own camper, so we would stay in their camper with them. Brent and I would sleep on the living room couch bed and the kids would sleep in the bunk room (two beds…three children). The kids complained about being crowded at night and I complained about how awful the couch bed was. Brent just used those opportunities to hint that we needed to get our own camper.

Those hints eventually made their way into discussions at home. So I devised a plan (or maybe he let me think I devised a plan). Disney World has a campground. I said I would let him buy a camper if he promised to take me camping at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground. So I booked a vacation and he bought a camper. WIN!!!

As we made camping trips over that next year in our own camper, we found that we really enjoyed our adventures. We’ve gone hiking, bicycling, stargazing, fishing, and swimming. We’ve explored historic buildings, and the kids have enjoyed meeting new friends at the campgrounds where we stay. And then Brent started dropping hints that we should travel around the country full-time in our camper.

No! Nope! No thanks! Not this girl! I’ve worked my butt off for 10+ years and built a chiropractic practice that I truly love. There’s no way I’m leaving it now.

Then the Disney World trip happened. We traveled to Florida for an almost 3 week vacation in our camper. The first portion was spent in Sarasota while I attended a chiropractic conference. Then we hit Disney World for a week where I decided I could just camp there for the rest of my life. We finished off the trip in St. Augustine, and I think this is what really broke me.

If you’ve never been to St. Augustine, you MUST go! The beach was fabulous, but the history…I don’t think we even made a dent in the history of this city. We visited the Castillo de San Marcos fort where our kids earned their junior ranger badges. I was pretty much done looking around after about 2 hours, but the kids were begging to stay so they could finish up the little junior ranger book that was filled with information and activities relating to the fort. Yay for education on vacation! There was still so much more to learn about this city, but we just didn’t have the time to take it all in.

After we got back home, Brent continued to say that we could have those experiences all the time if we lived/traveled in our RV full-time. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how awesome of an adventure this would be for our family.

We want to explore. We want to learn about the great country we live in. We want to see national parks and monuments and learn about historical events and where they took place. We want to visit museums and tall buildings and waterfalls and canyons. We want to swim in the oceans and lakes and learn about the creatures that live in them. We want to hike thru the forests and up mountains. We want to visit all 50 states (yes, I realize we can’t get to Hawaii in our camper). We want to spend more time together and less time maintaining the yard, fixing broken things in the house, and telling our kids “not right now.” We know living in the RV won’t be completely void of those things, but we don’t expect those things to take up the majority of our time like they do now.

Brent and I are in a position both physically and financially to be able to make this a reality, so why not go for it? Because society says we’re already living the American Dream with good jobs, great incomes, a big house, fancy cars, and 2.5 kids? Because it’s not what normal people do? Normal is so overrated and so not us! We want to live, think, and do differently.

Are you living your American Dream? Let us know!