Week Thirteen



It's been one of those weeks where you just start realizing that our amazing summer is starting to come to an end. We have said good bye to so many friends and the weather is starting to turn a little bit. It's earlier than most years, but man it's getting cold. And we got hit with a pretty gnarly rain storm that lasted for a three days straight. It was mixed with thunder that shook our motor home and hail the size of small peas. It kind of just makes you want to crawl up on the couch and not do much of anything.

 

It's all kind of fitting though.... this week we found out some horrible news. Our best friend Tyler, just found out his mom has an inoperable brain tumor. We don't know that much about it yet but the doctors don't seem like they have too many options. This news just hit us like a ton of bricks. Robin has been like a second mom to Jordan and so kind to me. She has a heart of gold that has loved on so many people and you just hate to hear of something like this. Especially this year.... especially after the past two years of losing some amazing people of faith... some amazing people in our lives.

 

So as the rain pours down and the thunder pounds in the sky we cry up to the heavens for a miracle. Lord, please don't take her! We are praying the doctors give the answers they need. And mostly we are praying for Tyler, Chelsea and Al. This news is news that nobody ever wants to hear and it is unbearable. We are ready to pack up and head up in an instant if we need to. Because this is our

family and this is just breaking our hearts.



RANDOM PICTURES FROM OUR WEEK:



jordan bought me this amazing bracelet

getting my country girl on....

We get bored at work...

Jordan hard at work.....

Kyle hand made this guitar for his dad... it was incredible

Ian finally got Jordan's present: a sheep's heart. Zoe was not amused haha

 

used the last drop of ink from my pen

this is how it feels to have three boys i guess

the amazing Carlos

19 Days

(Our 4 year anniversary is just around the corner! Can't believe it's already been four years! Love the hunk i married and our life together! Adventure buddies for life baby... had to go back reflect on a little piece I wrote right before we said I DO!)

In 19 days I am getting married to a boy who some how managed to steal my heart at the age of 12 years old. A boy who made me fall madly in love with him with only the sound of his voice. In the matter of a couple years we managed to rack up thousands of hours on the telephone. I saw him only once a week and that was enough. His wisdom, his charm, and his sense of humor at age 13 somehow found a way into the depths of my heart. This boy has heard more tears than any person I know, more ridiculous ideas and thoughts than I am proud to admit, and the most fall-on-the-floor-roll-over crying kind of laughter than anyone in my life at that time. He sang me the songs he wrote over that purple cordless phone I got one year for Christmas. This voice in the dark stole my heart!

In 19 days I am getting married to a boy who stole my heart at age 17. Even though more than 3 hours separated us, the seeming to be chemical connection was no fainter than the day we first started talking 5 years before. This boy took my breath away as he told his stories from Africa with a passion that was undeniable. The joy, the pain and sorrow he experienced became the same in my heart too. He melted my entire being as I watched him lead countless people in worship and praise to our one and only Creator. To watch him pour his heart and soul so openly and freely only made me realize all the more this boy had my whole heart! The camping trips, the walks on the beach or in the park, the late night drives half way in between, the sitting on the driveway until 4 in the morning talking. . . I couldn't imagine ever loving another. This boy, my first love, he completely and totally took hold of my heart.

 

In 19 days, I am getting married to a boy who I watched become a man in the past year. Three and half years of no contact still could do us no wrong. It was one night, a Laker game and a late night walk on the beach. That was it, one night and the three years of distance never existed. I was just as in love as I was at age 13, laying on my bed giggling to his absurd lectures and ideas. A camping trip to Joshua tree the week after only confirmed everything I had ever thought to be real. The conversation was easy, the company was incredible, even the silence in the beauty around us was comfortable. He swept me off my feet, rode me off into the Hawaiian sunset and for four months I began to watch an incredible transformation from a boy to a man. This man stole my heart as he gave me space to heal from a past of mistakes and lifetime of pain. With notes, flowers for my hair delivered to work every morning, hugs when I felt overwhelmed, and kisses that can make the world stop turning. He's the one I choose. This man, who planned an entire trip back to Kauai, a proposal, and reunions with friends, without me knowing, yes, this man has won!

 

In 19 days I am getting married to the one who ALMOST got away, and I have never felt so blessed.

Jordan's Sprained Ankle

I can't forget to tell you this story. It also happened in the last few weeks of Arkansas. Jordan was out fishing and helping with some chores around the ranch when he misplaced his foot in a hole covered by leaves. It resulted in a horrible sprain. I mean if you look at the picture below you will really understand. It was already starting to bruise on his hobble back to the house. The bad news was that he had to work the next evening and he couldn't call off work becase we had just got home from our trip to Kauai. So it was time to enter into the world of all the things I had been reading and things that Wendy had been teaching me in herbal medicine. (I can't say I was happy that he sprained his ankle but I was very excited to play doctor with all these new tricks I had just read about!)

The result was miraculous really, that is why I have to share!

The Foot!!!!! It was pretty bad....

First, we heated up some hot water (as hot as he could stand) and mixed it with apple cider vinegar. He soaked his foot in that until it would cool to room temperature, usually about 15-20 minutes. After that we iced it for ten minutes. We repeated this a few times. This took the swelling and pain away pretty quickly.

Second, we made a fomentation and wrapped up his ankle. (Basically that means we took hot water and Dr. Christopher's Bone, Flesh and Cartilage Herbs and made a strong tea.) While that was heating up I put cayenne oil on Jordan's foot to enhance circulation and help absorption of the herbs in the fomentation. I then took strips of muslin/cheese cloth and dipped in the super hot tea and wrapped it around his foot. After the entire area was covered I wrapped it all in saran wrap to keep from dripping everywhere. We left it on for the next eight hours while he was sleeping.

Applying Fomentation: strips of cheese cloth dipped into strong tea of Dr. Christophers BF&C herbs

Wrapped in plastic wrap

We added a ziplock back over just to catch any drips and then wrapped that with a heating pad (that lasts for 8 hours)

In the morning there was no swelling and the bruising that appeared the night before was gone. We did another fomentation wrap in the morning. By afternoon he was able to walk on it with a little limp. The night before he couldn't put any weight on his foot.

So before he had to go to work we put Arnica oil all over his foot with an ankle brace. He made it through his entire eight hour shift less than 24 hours after this initial incident!!! 

I couldn't believe it. His ankle was still sore for the next few days so we repeated the process everyday with the apple cider vinegar, BF and C fomentation and Arnica oil. By the end of the week he was walking without a limp at all and in two weeks time he was pretty much back to his normal self.

Our Pathway to Healthy Living

I am often an extremist and now with the availability of information on the Internet and all the knowledge through my new books, this whole journey to healthy and better living can become quite overwhelming. I mean Monsanto has ruined nearly all of our food or at least they are trying to, pesticides are causing cancers and killing off our wildlife, dairy products are so full of hormones and chemicals that they are causing early puberty and cancer, sugar and caffeine are drugs that can kill you, natural food isn't really natural at all.... You name it, there is at least 1000 websites to tell you how horrible things are and that they are only getting worse! If you're not eating everything organic your life is basically over.

Ha ha, well that is what it feels like sometimes and honestly, it's just plain overwhelming. My extremist side feels like becoming a strict organic vegan. But then reality sets in, we live in a motor home with 1/4 of a kitchen, we have an icebox instead of a fridge and no freezer (hard to keep produce), we don't have access to all organic food for more than half of the year, and my husband is obsessed with red meat, bacon, eggs and cheese. 

So what am I going to do?! There has to be a happy medium. The truth is we have had to get a very realistic perspective of our lives and figure out what goals we could set that would actually be attainable. We want to build healthy habits now.  Health and vitality are important to us and extremely important for our type of life on the road. So here are some of our stepping stones that we have recently added in our pathway to healthy living...

1. Two-Three Vegetarian Dinners a Week. Since my husband is obsessed with meat he has a hard time picturing a meal without it, we have started incorporating some meatless dinners into our schedule. We started with once a week and have worked our way up from there. It was kind of a big deal when I served the first dinner without meat.... but he is adjusting and actually enjoys those dinners now.

2. Apple Cider Vinegar and Local Honey- There are so many amazing benefits to A.C.V. (as long as you get the raw kind with the mother. We like Braggs!) the only problem is I hate the smell/taste of vinegar- Like so much so that it makes want to vomit! I have always stayed away from it until we learned of this amazing concoction, and I just have to share it! 

What you'll need:

-Raw, Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar with the Mother

-Raw Local Honey

-Cinnamon (the real, good kind!)

How to make it: 

-Boil some water

-Add 1tbsp A.C.V. into a mug

-Add 1tbsp honey

-Sprinkle cinnamon to cover top of liquids

-Add 1 cup of warm water

-Stir till honey is melted

-Drink!!!!

It tastes a lot more like Apple Cider now than it does vinegar. Yes, there is a little kick to it in the back of your throat but you learn to love that feeling. We try to drink it at least once a day. 

***About a month into this- Our allergies have nearly disappeared, our digestive systems are very happy, my husband rarely gets heartburn anymore, and my skin has really cleared up. 

3. Drinking Distilled Water (when available)-  We incorporate it as much as possible and also have increased our water intake dramatically!!!!  Here is some info on distilled water:

"Although there has been some hype over the years about the “danger” of distilled water, there are actually a number of benefits of distilled water. Let’s take a look at some of these benefits of distilled water and how it can make a difference in our overall health beyond aiding natural detox.

•  Contains No Contaminates: One of the biggest benefits of distilled water is that it contains no contaminates or impurities. The process of distilling water kills the majority of organic impurities like bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms. It also separates debris, minerals, and heavy metals from the water as well.

• Aides the Body Detoxification Process: Some individuals have tried to state that distilled water can leech necessary minerals and nutrients from a person’s body. In reality, this is actually one of the benefits of distilled water. Although it can’t actually leech minerals that you need from your tissue, it does act a little like a magnet and attracts minerals that can’t be used by your body. This includes excess minerals and mineral waste that has been excreted by your cells.

• Does Not Contain Any Chemicals: The two most common chemicals that are found in both tap water and bottled water are chlorine and fluoride. Chlorine is used as a disinfectant to kill off harmful microorganisms, and fluoride is added to help prevent tooth decay. However, introducing chemicals into your body is never a good idea, and excessive amounts of fluoride can actually lead to discoloration on children’s permanent teeth. Another one of the benefits of distilled water is that it does not contain either of these chemicals" -Spiritdetox.com

4. Practice "Grounding" at least once a day for 30 minutes- "Grounding or Earthing is defined as placing one's bare feet on the ground whether it be dirt, grass, sand or concrete (especially when humid or wet). When you ground to the electron-enriched earth, an improved balance of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system occurs. The Earth is a natural source of electrons and subtle electrical fields, which are essential for proper functioning of immune systems, circulation, synchronization of biorhythms and other physiological processes and may actually be the most effective, essential, least expensive, and easiest to attain antioxidant. Modern science has thoroughly documented the connection between inflammation and all of the chronic diseases, including the diseases of aging and the aging process itself. It is important to understand that inflammation is a condition that can be reduced or prevented by grounding your body to the Earth, the way virtually all of your ancestors have done for hundreds if not thousands of generations " -articles.mercola.com


So far these are things that we have incorporated into our lives since being here in Arkansas, of course there are other things that we have already started practicing years ago and more things to come in the future. It always a journey, but we are taking one step at a time. 

What are some practical ways your incorporate healthier habits into your lifestyle? 

14k A Year

I still laugh to myself when I realize that our combined taxable income was 14,000 dollars in a whole year! I am wondering how we even survived to be honest. I know that cost of living only keeps rising and same with cost of gas... so this amount of money seems almost impossible to work with. But I know this was one of our best years yet, so how does that work.

Least Amount of Income = Best Year.

As I sit and think about it I can think of so many reasons why this equation works but I have narrowed it down to three.

1. Keep A Low Overhead

2. Have Free Fun and Low Travel Expenses

3. The Kindness of Others

1. Keep A Low Overhead- I know it's usually taboo to talk about finances but I feel like its a struggle we are all going through and there are a lot of ways we can help each other if we weren't all embarrassed of our situations or too proud to talk about them. Cause honestly, we all are dealing with it! So here is our financial story, maybe it can help someone....

When Jordan and I first got together six years ago we had (combined) over $25,000 of debt and our monthly overhead was $3090.00 and we were only 21 and 22 years old. This is what our monthly financial break down looked like.

Jordan 
$500.00 Rent
$65.00  Credit Card
$30.00  Credit Card
$150.00 Insurance
$100.00 Car Payment
$400.00 Food
$150.00 Gas
$65.00 Phone
$20.00 Misc. Fees
TOTAL: $1480.00/month  
           $370.00/per week  
           $49.00/day

Jules
$400.00 Truck Payment
$200.00 Insurance
$80.00 Credit Card
$400.00 Gas
$400.00 Food
$110.00 Phone
$20.00 Misc. Fees
TOTAL: $1610.00/month   
                 $402.00/week   
                 $53.66/day

We knew that this was out of control and knew that if we ever wanted to be free to travel more we had to deal with our financial situation first and foremost. It was extremely hard to travel when our cost of living every month was SO high. (probably not that high compared to others, but at the wages we were earning this was a ridiculous amount). We can't take the time off of work because there are too many bills to pay and we simply just "can't afford" to go anywhere, especially not for more than a long weekend, which was much too short for our liking. That was the problem and we hated it. We were young and we wanted to adventure as much as possible. 

So this is how we fixed our problem...

The week after we got married we moved to Tucson. This was not our ideal place to live but we knew the cost of living was so cheap and we had the opportunity for some great paying jobs, so we decided to stay for one year and get things caught up. Within one year of working very hard we reduced our cost of living tremendously....

Jordan
$500.00 Rent
$65.00   Credit Card
$30.00   Credit Card
$150.00 Insurance (we combined our policies and saved a ton of money)
$100.00 Car Payment
$400.00 Food
$150.00 Gas (Jordan walked to work and my new job was only 2 miles away)
$65.00 Phone
$20.00 Misc. Fees

Jules
$400.00 Truck Payment
$200.00 Insurance
$80.00 Credit Card
$400.00 Gas
$500.00 Food (we spoiled ourselves a little bit with nice beer, but we ate every meal at home except for one night a week. This cut our food costs way down.)
$110.00 Phone (by joining a family plan we ended up saving a ton!)
$30.00 Misc. Fees (combining accounts)
$412.00 Rent (Jordan worked for our apartment complex and saved us a ton of money
$50.00 Utilities
$60.00 Internet/Cable

Our new monthly over head after one year: $1462.00/month
$365.00/week
$182.75/person/week
$26.10/person/day

By paying off our credit cards, paying off one car, selling the second car, combining our insurance, getting on family plans, and eating at home we have reduced our cost of living by $1628.00 per month!

We left Tucson immediately after our year was up and spent the next 6 months in Kauai and the 3 months after that we moved home to Cali to get things ready to buy a motor home. In April 2012 we found our Destiny. After the initial investment of $5500.00 we have yet again been able to reduce our cost of living by getting rid of cable, high utilities, and rent.

Jordan and Jules
(Gas: This is a varying factor. Some months we barely spend $10.00 and some we spend $1000.00. So we keep this separate from our monthly budget and save the amount needed when we are ready to go to the next place. I have the gas mileage pretty dialed-in on Destiny, so our budget is usually right on point when we head out.)

$0.00 Rent (through the kindness of others, work trades, and an adventurous spirit we haven't had to pay for rent for two years)
$110.00 Phones
$48.00 Insurance
$65.00 Credit Card (We don't like having credit cards anymore but we still have one credit card that we use for emergencies. It came in handy this year and we were grateful for it. But trust us this will be payed off ASAP!)
$400.00 Food
$30.00 Misc Fees
$25.00 Propane (The beauty of not having a working fridge is that you go through a lot less propane. We only use it for dishes- if we are hooked up, and showers- again only if we are hooked up!)

Our new Monthly Total: $678.00/month
                                            $169.50/Week Combined
                                            $84.75/person/week
                                            $12.10/person/day

Jordan and I each have to make $85 a week to survive (without fun or extras) and that totals to about $8136.00 a year.  Our life two years prior totaled to $37,080.00 a year-  it blows my mind and really makes me wish that we could have figured this all out sooner because we would have had so much extra money to adventure with! But I am glad we are starting to figure it out now so we won't be in a hole later in life.

So the real reason I brought all of this is up- I was trying to figure out just how we lived off of $14,000 a year. Well it turns out our overhead was only $8136.00 so that means we had $5864.00 left. What did we do with it? ......... Well I guess you could say we drove across the country and back!!! We saw 7 National Parks, we drove across the Mississippi River and imagined Huck Finn out there on a big log raft, we wandered up and down Beale Street in Memphis dancing to the blues, watched undiscovered bands light up a Nashville stage, played in the orange and red leaves of Arkansas, watched snow fall in Missouri, ran from tornadoes in Oklahoma, visited with friends Texas, climbed miles under the earth into caves in New Mexico, spent a summer in Montana, laid in fields watching meteor showers under the biggest sky you've ever seen, wondered through lava fields, marveled at the northern coast, stood in reverence of the giant redwoods, soaked up sunshine on the Colorado River, climbed the boulders of Joshua Tree and enjoyed thousands of miles on the road.

The way we see it- we could either spend our money on mortgages and car payments or we could just use it for gas money and new experiences! We'll take the second option...... it's a lot less stressful anyways!

2. Have Free Fun and Low Travel Expenses: This in itself is another way we are able to live with a small budget- have a lot of fun but do it all for FREE!!!  

If we were to stay at RV Parks even half the nights of the year it would add $6,500.00 to our annual budget. So we have learned where to stay for free and make it fun!!! Even in Walmart parking lots we find some of the best memories. We have also found BLM land way off the grid that we can camp for free and have great campfires or we use freecamping.net to find a place to park for the night. It's a pretty easy way to cut down costs as long as you are ok with "roughing it"... meaning not having hook ups. For us this isn't a problem, in fact I think we enjoy it more most of the time.

Jordan and I have also been getting very good at not paying for any of our "fun" activities- with the exception of our annual America the Beautiful pass that gets us into every National Park and most State Parks for free. It's pretty easy for us because our "fun" is basically being outside. We love everything nature.... hiking, walking, camping, fishing... rivers, lakes, forests, desert wandering, fields.... I don't know, maybe we are just simple people but we find our greatest days are spent in awe of creation without spending a single dollar or swiping our debit cards once. The days we actually have to spend money we call "chore days" because we would honestly rather go camping then go into town. 

We also love going into NEW towns and checking out their local scenes and such. Sometimes we don't spend any money and just wander, other times we will go out to their local watering holes and enjoy our evening but we try our best to spend a very, very limited amount of money. Every beer is another gallon of gas... so we just try to watch where and how much spend! 

We also love people, from all walks of life. We love to hear their stories, where they came from, what they are all about and where they are going. We love to invest our time and our hearts with them. We love to give love. This is a deep rooted passion in both of our hearts- something that truly brings us joy. And guess what? Loving people is FREE!!! All it really costs is time... they say time is money- but not for us, time is what we have gained from our journey into minimalism... time is what we now have to give! So between being outside and spending time with people our fun is mostly FREE!

3. The Kindness Of Others: This factor is really one of the main reasons we are able to survive with a low income. There have been so many people who have given us driveways and extension cords or a place to sleep and a hot shower. It has been a huge blessing to have so many offer us a place to park. It also makes the whole adventuring so much better as we get to see so many people in their hometowns. We often find that people love to show off their town.. even if they don't really love the place when we come into town they take us to all the "hidden gems." We love to see people in their elements and think it is so fun to see them so comfortable and happy.... they truly shine! Without the kindness of all the people who have hosted us or given us something to better our journey we would not be where we are today. We are truly grateful!!

So yes, 14k a year is totally do-able and it's possible to have a lot of fun too by careful budgeting, good planning and being flexible. We might not have the "coolest" clothes or the latest styles (or any style at all), we might not be able to shower everyday or have all the amenities that we could have but hey we get to see some pretty amazing things and develop some incredible friendships. I'd say it's a pretty fair trade off. Just like anything in life you are always going to want things you don't have. So yes, sometimes we struggle with the things we could have or see others have. Sometimes we pout and have bad days. Sometimes I want a house with a garden and Jordan wants a boat and a wood shop..... he wants an old truck, I dream of a crossover SUV..... I mean yes, we have dreams too just like everyone else.... but you know what if we would have kept our good paying jobs and bought all of the things we sometimes want, we would be dreaming of a debt free life. We would be pouting and wishing we were on the road traveling. We would want what we didn't have. The grass is never greener on the other side.... so we are trying to soak up every part of this stage of our life and make the most of it!

The greatest lesson we learned this tax season is.. if you want to have a more "free" life (whatever that looks like for you) get out of debt an stay out of debt. Jordan and I always talk about the fact that somehow our culture made it seem totally "normal" and "ok" to be in debt. We don't agree and feel it's a trap that adds so much stress to your life. We are no professionals on finances or life at that matter (we have so much to learn) but we have just seen the rewards and fruit of becoming debt free and living a simple lifestyle. We sometimes wish it for everyone and wish that everyone would sell their homes, buy a motor home and travel with us haha! We know it is completely unrealistic, but seriously we can dream right?!

Tax Season

Jordan and I actually love tax season. I know that this might actually sound weird and crazy to most people but it is probably our favorite time of the year.

 It is a little intense at moments as we try to round up W2's from states all across the country and fill out the proper paperwork, but that I can manage. The main reason you could say we love this time is because we have right in front of us the exact amount of money that passed in and out of our hands throughout the past year. I understand this could cause a head ache for some, but ever since we have journeyed into a "minimalist" lifestyle it has become a game for us. Over the past four years our income has decreased by almost half every single year and our enjoyment for life has only multiplied. Again, I do know this does sound crazy.  But let me also tell you something, we set a record low this year of taxable income.... $14,000 COMBINED!

And to be honest, we couldn't be any happier.

I'll dive into the reasons why in my next post, but before I do I want to leave you with some quotes and great excerpts that completely exemplify our goals as we travel farther into the simple life. So grab a cup coffee, sit back and really take a minute to think about these things.....

Edwin Way Teale. “Reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life, and the labors of life reduce themselves.”

Anna C. Brackett. “We go on multiplying our conveniences only to multiply our cares. We increase our possessions only to the enlargement of our anxieties.”

Socrates. “The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.”

(The following are some excerpts from the guys over at theminimalists.com)

What is minimalism? If we had to sum it up in a single sentence, we would say, Minimalism is a tool used to rid yourself of life’s excess in favor of focusing on what’s important so you can find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom.

Minimalism has helped us:

-Eliminate our discontent

-Reclaim our time

-Live in the moment

-Pursue our passions

-Discover our missions

-Experience real freedom

-Create more, consume less

-Focus on our health

-Grow as individuals

-Contribute beyond ourselves

-Rid ourselves of excess stuff

-Discover purpose in our lives

Minimalism is a tool that can assist you in finding freedom. Freedom from fear. Freedom from worry. Freedom from overwhelm. Freedom from guilt. Freedom from depression. Freedom from the trappings of the consumer culture we’ve built our lives around. Real freedom.

Fear traps us. It prevents us from growing. It prevents us from contributing to other people. It prevents us from living happy, satisfied, fulfilled, free lives. In fact, fear is the antithesis of freedom. It is, by definition, constricting.

We often hold on to things because we are afraid to get rid of them. We fear losing those things that we think we might need. We don’t just fear the loss of these things though, we fear the loss of what these things might potentially mean to us in some distant hypothetical future.

When you say that out loud, it sounds ridiculous. Try it. Say I’m afraid to get rid of this [insert object name here, e.g., T-shirt] because it could potentially make a serious impact on my life someday in the future. Ridiculous, right? And so there is an obvious question we must ask ourselves when we’re holding on to something: Why am I afraid to get rid of this ?

We have good news though. Fear is a choice. You actually choose to be afraid. And you can deliberately choose to live without it. All you have to do is make a conscious decision, a decision to not be afraid. When something stands in your way, you must ask yourself, what am I afraid of?

So many people have chosen to get rid of their fears and move on with a meaningful life. But don’t take our word for it, try it out yourself”¦

Throw away your favorite T-shirt.

Get rid of your TV.

Write that novel.

Start taking yoga classes.

Do something you wouldn’t normally do.

Live your life.

Live a better life.

What are you afraid of?

It’s time to stop being afraid of whatever is preventing you from being happy, whatever is preventing you from being free. Because in the end, you’re holding on to the fear because you’re afraid to give it up.

.......stay tuned to our next post to see how and why we survived a year with $14,000 and loved it!

Grateful Host

We are into week two of our time here and only have a few days until Justin goes back home to California. It's going to be kinda weird when he leaves, we have adjusted to always having three people. It's been an amazing and a humbling adventure having a guest on the road with us.

On one hand we have had so much fun sharing our life with someone else. Sometimes the hardest part about living in an RV at such a young age is that we don't have anybody our age to relate to our daily life (most RV'ers are over the age of 55). It's also hard because we experience so many new cultures, we see so many beautiful places, and meet so many new people... that unless you're actually a part of those experiences you can't really relate. We can tell our stories and try to share the experience with you but it is just not quite the same as actually being there experiencing it for yourself. So being able to share all of these things with one of our closest friends has been absolutely incredible. He saw everything we did, met the people, had the conversations and soaked it all in with us! We are so grateful for Justin and our time together!

The other crazy thing that has happened to me since we've hosted an extra person on the road is that I have become incredibly grateful for every single one of the hosts who have had us in their homes. I realized that opening your home, or tiny home on wheels, takes a lot of courage because you are completely vulnerable. You are voluntarily opening up the the door for someone to see every detail of your life. That person sees you when you climb out of  bed with crazy hair and sleepy eyes as you crawl to the coffee machine. They observe the way you run your home, how you do your dishes, the way your treat your spouse on a very real day to day basis.... They taste your food, see your messes, watch how you handle good days and bad days..... THEY SEE EVERYTHING! And that is a little scary. Sure you can put on act for a couple of days or maybe a week but having someone in your home for a month or more- they start to see A LOT! (hopefully Justin still loves us after this trip!) ha!

The funny thing is that we are usually the guests, so I guess I never really noticed the other side of it all. But having Justin here with us for a month was a complete eye opener. And in a really good way. Hosting someone in our home really made us appreciate all of you, who have given us a safe haven in between all of our adventures. We can't thank you enough for your open doors and open hearts.

Passport America

Each time we take Destiny out on another adventure our knowledge of the “road life” increases tenfold. Through conversations with other “full-timers”, research on the internet and just the raw experience of actually doing it we gain more and more knoweldge. Sometimes we learn things we probably should have known 15 months ago when we left for this journey; other things we learn are just the “tricks of the trade” that make the RV life easier or more efficient! (I love efficiency!) We do realize we will always be learning in this type of lifestyle, but I guess that is true for any kind of life you lead.

Tonight I wanted to share one of the great tips we received from veteran full-timers this past summer. You have to know two things though- first, Jordan and I don’t have any kind of RV memberships because they are often times $400-$1500 per year. This doesn’t make any sense for us! We are often too mobile to really take advantage of the parks that the memberships include. We constantly bounce around from one side of the country to the next. Second, we can’t afford something of that cost! Our budget is tight and that is a huge chunk of money to hand out to a membership we might not use.  This is why we stay overnight in Walmarts or use freecampsites.net or allstays.com to find a quick overnight FREE parking spot. It gives us just enough rest to get back on the road. So with that being said we were discussing this with our friends over dinner and they introduced us to Passport America. It sounded pretty perfect for the way we RV! You pay $44.00 per year to become a member and you get half off (or more) at over 1900 RV parks across the whole U.S. We especially needed this for our third trip out in Destiny because we have transformed our shower into a closet for Justin. Instead of paying to dump our tanks and paying a truck stop for showers we could just use the Passport America membership to do it all at half the price! Most RV parks have decent showers (we always bring our sandals in though!) WI-FI and some have cable, pools or club houses.

Even though this sounded like a perfect fix for our latest adventure on the road we were still a little leery about actually joining a membership. I hate to waste money on things that aren’t truly needed! But we bit the bullet and did it anyway.

So far we have used it twice and have saved $30.00. We paid $15.00 at each of the two parks for one night of full hook ups. One of them had cable.

If we didn’t get the membership our costs would have been $10.00 to dump tanks twice and $40.00 for the three of us to shower at a truck stop twice.

So we have spent $60.00 for the membership and the two nights of camping,  without it we would have spent $50.00 with no future benefits of discounted sites. I would have to say that it is worth it?!

I will warn you that only one out of our two sites wasnt very nice. So it could be hit or miss but I don’t mind, I am keeping track of where we stayed and taking notes so that we won’t stay at the not-so-good ones again. We are pretty excited to be able to stop and “plug-in” along the road of our adventures with a membership that has almost paid for itself already in two nights. Dry camping is only fun for so long!

We may be gypsies but we still love to be clean! If you RV or are thinking about going on a short trip I recommend you check out the site for yourself.  It could save you some money and we all love that!

I would love to hear some of your RV secrets and tricks of the trade!

Road Life

It's three thirty on a beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon. I imagine most everyone is relaxing, doing chores around the house, catching up from another busy week of life. This morning we woke up in San Luis Obispo and now we are half way to Parker, Arizona. The northern coast is a Gem... A beautiful, misty illustrious gem. We so much enjoyed our time exploring, walking with the sand beneath our feet, feeling the cool ocean breeze on our skin.

But after a whole summer of no "summer" we have been craving sun shine. Like hot sweaty pure sunshine. So being that our house is on wheels and having no time constraints we left this morning heading east to the Colorado river.

This is the beauty of life on the road. Plans are never really plans. In an instant or a change of heart you can switch directions and drive to wherever your heart desires. Even if it's an extra 300 miles out of your way just to soak up a couple rays.

I am giggling right now thinking to myself... Wow I have been unemployed for five weeks now. I feel almost guilty. I have thoughts of how we are going to make ends meet... Did I save enough money. Are we crazy? I mean who just takes five weeks off work?!

Then I smile bigger. I remember now that we worked really hard for this. Four years ago Jordan and I payed off $20,000.00 of debt in one year. We had only one credit card left after that. This summer we were incredibly frugal and Jordan worked extremely hard to get his online company's new website up and running- because of this we paid off our last credit card. It was hard this summer. We only ate out 7 times the entire four months in Montana. We only went out for drinks a few times. I planned meals for two to three weeks at a time to save money on food. We pinched every penny between saving for our next trip and becoming debt free.

And now....We owe nothing. To no body. Our overhead a month is less than $150.

So five weeks into our little vacation I sit here with a big smile on my face. I know that our hard work and discipline with our finances pays off in big ways. I know that even because our house is smaller than most and we don't have a piece of land to our name we are ahead of most by being debt free at ages 26 and 27. And more than anything I realize that I am so beyond grateful to our God who has given us everything we need at the exact time we need it. We are amazed and extremely thankful for the continual blessings he pours upon us.

I am excited to get back to work next week and to see my family and friends. But first, I am going to go soak up that vitamin D with the love of my life and enjoy the road life.