2 Years – Over 50 Campsites

 

I’ve decided to do a special Second Anniversary Celebration Blog showing every single campsite that we have “lived” in since we began our journey on February 18, 2016.  I originally thought this post wouldn’t be too difficult, until I counted my journal entries from my Home Site Diary.  Do you realize that we have stayed in over 50 different campsites since we started?  I sure didn’t. We’ve stayed at a total of 53 locations in the past 2 years, including our old driveway as the first one.  Enough talk, let’s take a visual tour….  shall we?

Wow!  In the two years since we set off, not only have we stayed at 52 different campsites (not including our old driveway), but we have stayed in a total of 18 different states! We had our oldest granddaughter, Saylor, living with us for a total of 7½ months of this time and our full-time college student son, J.Jay, for a total of 2 months.  We were able to fly him to visit us during his college breaks on 3 different occasions to 3 different states: California, Arizona, and Texas. It’s been an amazing two years, but it’s not all perfection.  Not by a long shot.

While this has been an exhilarating and wild ride, and one that we have no intention of getting off of anytime soon, we are finding it all a bit more bumpy and stressful (and expensive!) than we had originally anticipated.  Looking back and realizing that we have averaged a new campground every 2 weeks for 2 whole years has been quite eye opening.  We do not want to crash and burn, yet trying to continue at this pace while working and homeschooling may be a recipe for just that… burnout.  To avoid that happening, we have made a conscious decision to be more intentional about relocating less often during our next two years, which is much easier said than done. We are still learning how to slow down a bit and enjoy the journey.  If we were retired it would be different as we could go sightseeing every day or so, but that’s simply not the case.  We are in this for the long haul and with Greg’s work and our homeschooling we really need to be more intentional about taking more time to explore God’s creation at a slower pace.

We have also confirmed what we anticipated when it comes to how the weather affects my health.  The lack of humidity out west made an even bigger difference in how I felt and how well I functioned on a daily basis than even I realized.  It’s recently becoming even more evident as my health slowly began deteriorating once again as soon as we hit the beautiful yet cold (at least it was this past winter) and humid state of Texas. Unfortunately, my overall health is back to being less than ideal more often than not as we continue to make our way back east. That said, we are past due for some some serious extended visits with our grown kids and grandkids as well as other family and friends, so I will just have to deal with it.  Although I really should know better by now, I am still taken aback at how intensely and negatively something as simple as the weather can affect me. I’m already dreaming of returning to Arizona and doing some serious hiking!

Although this lifestyle has been a good and growing thing for the three of us as a family as well as for each of us individually, I must admit that I seem to like it the most of the three of us. Greg and Elijah like it as well, but they both on occasion fantasize about returning to the way things used to be when we didn’t relocate our entire house on such a regular basis. Thankfully, their fantasies are generally fleeting and tend to occur only during particularly stressful or down days.  I, on the other hand, am quite addicted to this nomadic lifestyle and am praying that slowing down just a bit will make their occasional fantasies a thing of the past.

I’ve said it so many times before, but I do plan on blogging more frequently from here on out.  Hopefully my plans will become a reality!  Until then…

Happy Trails and Sunny Sails!

P.S.  As I hope you’ve already noticed, I have completely revamped our blog/website.  In addition to changing the overall look and feel, I also added more content in the main menus, especially the “Our Rig” section.  If you’d like to see our sweet setup, including some pictures of the inside of our home, click on the “Our Rig” menu option above.  Hope you enjoy the new look and feel!

10 thoughts on “2 Years – Over 50 Campsites”

  1. Love the post and the pics! Love that you got so many different perspectives in the pics not only of the areas but also often of the personal aspects of each setting as well. Being a fellow nomadic spirit, I understand that inner force that propels you forward to the ‘next’ discovery. I tried to travel by the seasons also but stayed in a general area for a couple months and did my extended exploring (as you know you make new discoveries every day also 🙂 ) that area as well as areas within an hour or so away mostly on the weekends, as (you know) I also telecommute worked during the weekdays. I don’t think I could have actively traveled over 5 years had I not done it in that way. I think it really wise that you have decided to slow down a bit in your treks across our beautiful country. Much enjoyed this 2 year reflections in looking back both visually and in your thoughts about what you have discerned to move forward. God bless you all as you continue this part of your continuing journey. With much love & many prayers, Your Eldest sis, Brenda

  2. What an awesome perspective on your travels! That’s a lot of ground covered. Nai’a asked me this morning: “What does Meme like to do, travel??” when we were talking about each of our hobbies. I’m pretty sure she answered her own question, she knows from the huge collection of postcards we have!

  3. Thanks so much for taking the time to post all of your travel history. Can’t believe it’s two years already. I know you’ll be glad you kept track of all the different campsites and memories.
    As Rick Steves always says “Keep on traveling”.

    1. Thanks! It’s really hard for me to pick a favorite. I love so many of them for so many different reasons. Spending Christmas in Palm Springs was pretty sweet though!

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