Montana 2015
After a good chunk of time in Wyoming – which feature both Grand Tetons and Wyoming national parks – the bar was set pretty high for Montana. I knew we’d only be seeing the western part of the state on this trip, but I had high hopes of continuing the amazing landscapes we’d come to admire in Wyoming.
Wyoming 2015
After a cold and rainy April in Colorado, Springtime finally caught up to us in Wyoming. Despite Colorado being one of my favorite states, our time there was hard. Cold, wet, and cramped, there were a few days Erin and I looked at each other and didn’t know if the other person was going to make it on the road.
May in Colorado
We last left you as we were camping near Northern New Mexico. After a great week there, we made our way into Southern Colorado. We spent one night in Alamosa to dump the tanks and do some laundry (and get a hot shower). We then headed North East for another few days of dry camping at Zapata Falls Campground.
Catching Up
Let’s catch you up on the last few weeks…
- We left OKC on March 28th an drove to Western Oklahoma (Sayre).
- Then to Amarillo, TX. While not the prettiest of towns, it allowed us time to complete our change of residency to Texas by getting our driver’s licenses.
- We got out first “down time” by camping in Eastern New Mexico in Santa Rosa. The State Park was beautiful and it was a welcome change from cramped RV parks.
- Albuquerque was next. It was great to see our friends at one of the newer LifeChurch.tv campuses in Rio Rancho, NM. The museums downtown were great, but we found ourselves over-extending ourselves too much and getting stressed out.
- Santa Fe was a bit more our pace. But once again, we tried to do too much and found ourselves frustrated by cranky kids and crowded RV parks.
- Taos, NM was awesome. And cold. And windy. But awesome. We stayed at a small RV park with only a few other trailers. We finally got into a bit of a work/life rhythm between myself, Erin, and the kids. We did less and began to really enjoy our time together.
…but we needed to get out of town. RV parks are fine (running water and electricity are great!), but I really wanted us to try our hand at “dry camping” (or boondocking) – no hookups, and preferably on some public lands. We’re still dealing with the financial burden of selling our house (delays, termites, etc), so the idea of staying somewhere for free sounded especially nice. :)
A Week of Firsts
What a wild 1st week of this adventure. It truly was a week of firsts. Here are a few.
Coming Soon: Life On the Road
Well, it’s official: we’ll be hitting the road full-time around March 28th. Last we posted, it was still a dream, but a lot has happened in the last few months.
Last summer, we stated learning about families that had decided suburbia wasn’t for them and were traveling the U.S. full-time with their families. This seemed like a great fit for our family. We had also become disenchanted with the idea of the typical American dream and decided not to fight our wanderlust any longer.
Thriving In God's Good World
Life has never been about just “getting in.” It’s about thriving in God’s good world. It’s stillness, peace, and that feeling of your soul being at rest, while at the same time it’s about asking things, learning things, creating things, and sharing it all with others who are finding the same kind of joy in the same good world.
So We’re … Homeschooling?
So, we’ve started homeschooling our our two oldest kids. Now, your first response to that statement, is either one of abhorrence, exhilaration, or maybe even confusion. I usually have two camps of people in my life that think, either home educating is crazy, or they absolutely love it. I actually feel quite blessed to be surrounded by multiple perspectives.
Teaching Confidence With Hammers
Last week, Erin asked if we could purchase a baby gate. She sometimes has a hard time keeping tabs on our very-mobile 1-year-old, Henry. The trouble is, the area in which she wants to contain the little guy has a very large opening into the kitchen — too big for a standard doorway-sized baby gate. Which means we need a baby gate wide enough to fit. And since Erin and I are trying to massively cut back our expenses, this might be a problem.
Erin first went to a second-hand kid’s store to see if there was one for sale. No luck. So I decided to break out my oft-unused man skills and make a simple gate out of 2×4’s and chicken wire. But touting my incredible 2×4 cutting skills is not the point of this post. What happened during its construction was what I wanted to share.
Saturday afternoon, I decided to head to Home Depot to purchase the materials. But instead of carving out this trip as “me time”, I made sure to include my kids. First of all, any trip to Home Depot with kids can be fun, but I knew that building the gate would give us some good one-on-one time, so including them even in the initial trip would be good.
After arriving home, I had the girls help me measure out the dimensions of the door frame. We then went off to the garage to begin cutting 2×4’s. I think the girls are both a little too young to be operating power saws (6 years and 4 years old), but they were allowed to watch to the side. I also let them help me measure the cuts and mark the wood.
After the gate was completed, I could see that both girls wanted a little more. More time with me and more time to learn and experience what I was teaching them. So I grabbed a box of nails and the 2×4 scraps and we learned to use a hammer.
In retrospect, including my kids in this project was not the most efficient way to go. The Home Depot trip would have been shorter and my construction time would have been cut in half (pun intended). And even though my daughters may never become master carpenters, they’ll know how to swing a hammer.
Weekend Fun: Disc Golf
Not every adventure has to be extravagant. Now, don’t get me wrong — I love to plan out big fun trips, or spontaneous adventures on the other side of town. But we can’t all spend a few hundred dollars every weekend to have fun with our family. To that end, I always try to find cheap and easy ways to get outside and connect with my kids.
This week’s weekend fun? Disc golf. I started playing when we used to live in San Francisco. I’d barely call it a sport — more like a skill sport like golf. Except I don’t get insanely angry playing disc golf. And I don’t spend $40-60 a round, either.
Head over to your local sports store and buy a disc. Just one will do at first. Then, enjoy the walk!
I started by taking my kids for a walk, but I brought my discs along. We have a short 9-hole course at the college close to our house. The first time out, I just let the kids walk with me. But our oldest quickly wanted to learn how to play. I spent $10 on her own disc and now she loves playing with me.
We’re both pretty terrible, but we love getting outdoors together. And more importantly, the hour that we play gives us plenty of time to talk and plenty of teachable moments. So go spend $10 on a disc and get outside with your kids. Just don’t play any courses with water … because you’ve only got one disc. :)
Hi there, I'm Jon.
Writer. Musician. Adventurer. Nerd.
Purveyor of GIFs and dad jokes.