The Inside Edition

For everybody that has asked for a tour of the RV, this is for you. I apologize in advance for my awkward emceeing.

This past week has been both exciting and stressful. I picked up the truck on Wednesday, had the hitch installed Friday morning and picked up the trailer in Houston on Friday afternoon. Just in time to catch rush hour traffic. Talk about a good initiation for hauling a 42' monster! In all honesty though, the truck's setup and the trailer's lighter construction made towing it pretty seamless, and I felt very comfortable with it.

After parking in our church parking lot overnight, I moved it to it's first official parking spot, a little RV park just north of Conroe. It was my first time setting up on my own, so Molly graciously kept the kids away until I was finished. I have to say, this also went without a...hitch (well, there was a hitch, but...okay, I know, terrible pun). But seriously, actually parking the trailer was a breeze. We had a pull-through spot, the pad was relatively level and called for minimal adjustments, and all the slide-outs and hook-ups performed as expected.

After church on Sunday, we had several visitors come by who couldn't wait any longer to tour our new house. Having thirteen people in here at one time made me realize that even though it will sleep nine, we probably won't attempt that very often. After everyone left, we made a couple of trips hauling stuff over to the RV from the house, then settled down for our first night staying here!

In keeping with how things have been going lately, we were awakened extremely early with one very sick little girl. Then a storm moved in, bringing with it tornado warnings and rain all day. That kind of shot some of our moving plans in the foot, but we were still able to bring over quite a bit to furnish the trailer. So, in spite of all of that, today ended up just fine because our new little "house" is starting to feel more like home.

~Jonathan

Week One

This week has been insanely busy. As I type this, I'm pretty much a drooling, nearly-snoring zombie. We brought home our brand new (to us anyway), absolutely beautiful truck a few days ago. In the process, we had to say goodbye to our van. Somehow in the moments as we traded him in, he went from "the lame mom-mobile" to what suddenly seemed like a member of the family that I couldn't possibly part with. Funny how attached we get to vehicles, isn't it? It was tough on the kids leaving the van sitting there and driving away in our new truck. And I would be lying if I said I didn't have to choke back a tear or two myself as we pulled out of the dealership. In all fairness, it has been the only vehicle my kids have ever known. We've made a lot of memories in that ugly thing! It was definitely a tough goodbye.

But upward and onward, right?! On Friday, my awesome husband made the trek down to Houston to finally pick up the RV and bring it back to Conroe! The kids and I waiting so impatiently all day while he had the new hitch installed in the truck, then headed over to the RV dealership to finish signing papers, did the final walk through, and got the basic info we will need to survive in this thing.

Around 5:00 Friday evening, after never having pulled an RV before (which left me completely terrified), Jonathan pulled into our church parking lot in Conroe carrying the most beautiful 5th wheel in the whole world behind him! Jonathan and I, all three kids,my dad, and father-in-law spent the rest of the evening figuring out all of the buttons and levers, hoses and tanks (ewww by the way!) etc., then sat around for hours commenting on how cool it all was. My mother promptly decided she needed a matching 5th wheel, in which to follow us around the country. She's pretty good at talking my dad into getting what she wants...I wouldn't be in the least surprised if she showed up at a campground along our route somewhere, in her very own Salem Hemisphere 356 QBQ! ; )

Saturday morning we loaded the trucks up with all of the RV gear we've been putting aside for months, picked up the RV from the church, and headed to our first official camp site! Jonathan set the thing up like he's been doing it for ages. I'm so impressed! I would have made a huge mess of the thing, but my husband,the super genius, had it up and running in no time, without a single problem. Swoon!!! My hero...

We spent the rest of the day organizing everything and unpacking as much as we could. Then the kids and I got a chance to explore the RV park for a while before dark. I have to admit, I've had this idealistic picture in my head of what our RVing days with the kids will look like, and I've been afraid I was totally building it up in my head and would be really let down in real life. Well today I think God just brought my mental picture to life to bring me a sense of peace about this crazy decision we've made. As the kids and I walked down to a beautiful little pond and had a picnic, the kids threw a few French fries into the water, which in turn attracted a jillion little fish, turtles, and minnows! The kids were in awe, lying on their bellies on the pier, watching the fish, and oooo-ing and aaahhhh-ing at tadpoles and minnows. The weather was perfect, the sun was shining, and the kids were so happy. And there wasn't an electronic gadget in any of their little hands. It was like my goofy perfect mental picture came to life right there on that rickety old pier. I couldn't help but snap a few pictures of them, living my little dream.

Dinner with Mom and Dad in the RV, all crammed around our tiny little table was a wonderful end to an already wonderful day. Day 1: DONE! 

- Molly

We Got the RV!

After officially deciding to embark on this journey, we had to figure out what kind of RV we needed. Initially, we thought about just snagging a mid-level travel trailer; if we decided it wasn't working out, we could get out of it pretty easily, and if we wanted to continue but increase the size or type of trailer, we could upgrade at any time. A few conversations with some experienced RVers, plus the lack of space ended up pushing us away from going with a travel trailer. We next considered going with a motorhome, especially after touring several of them. No doubt about it, a motorhome is the way to go for comfort on the road, and the idea of living and driving in the same unit appealed to me. Unfortunately, motorhomes aren't really designed for families our size, and especially not for full time use. The kid's "room" would simply be bunks in the hallway, and we would be stuck with only one bathroom. Not to mention, we would have to spend quadruple the price or more to get anywhere close to the same amount of space we would have in a trailer.

That led us to fifth wheels! The stability when towing, extra space that really worked for us, and the reasonable pricing all lined up to funnel us toward purchasing a fifth wheel. Over the last three months we've researched, searched, and studied on different manufacturers, dealerships, makes, types, styles, and options. Because of the space we knew we would need, plus knowing we were looking for a bunk house RV (a fifth wheel designed with a bunk room in the back to accommodate several children), it helped us to narrow down the field, giving us fewer options to sort through. After finding a couple of models we liked and touring them at a few different dealerships, we finally settled on the Forest River Salem Hemisphere 356QBQ, a 42' long monster with a master bedroom and a bunk room, two full baths, and several nice amenities that we knew we'd appreciate while on the road, including an outdoor kitchen.

After a lot of research, haggling, finagling, playing hard ball, and working the system as best I could, I ended up getting the trailer for almost 40% off of the MSRP! Now we have one full week to get everything loaded into the RV and remaining items out of our house. We'll let you know how the week goes and post pictures of the trailer soon. Stay tuned...

~Jonathan

It's Coming Along...

Well, the last few weeks have been interesting to say the least. As mom of this crazy crew, I've had the unenviable task of downsizing our 2500 square foot home, (which is packed to the gills with 10 years of hand-me-downs, toys, mountains upon mountains of clothing, keepsakes, decor for every holiday imaginable, and the byproducts of my very sad twice-weekly love affair with Target) to a more manageable 400 square feet. It's truly appalling how much "stuff" you can cram into one house. There have been moments in the last few weeks where I could have earned myself my very own episode of Hoarders...well, minus the Hoarder's cliche 68 cats, and canned foods that have gone all puffy.

In all seriousness, I never imagined when we said "let's sell everything we own and travel the country!" that it would be one of the hardest things I've ever done. Both physically and emotionally. We have worked harder in the last few months, packing, garage selling, moving things to storage, organizing, etc. than I ever imagined we would have to in order to get this whole process underway, but the hardest part is the emotional side of it all. For example, a few nights ago I found the baby Boppy pillow I used for all of our babies, and made the mistake of smelling the stupid thing. You moms all know what happened next - it smelled like baby lotion still (or at least my emotions told me it did) and I had a good long ugly-face cry in my kids bedroom, hugging a stupid $19.99 baby sleep-positioning pillow from Babies R Us that should probably hold zero sentimental value to me, but boy, did I dig some up!

But, in spite of all that, it's only made me more ready to get this show on the road. It's taken an insane amount of work but now almost everything is in storage or has been sold, and we are almost ready to begin our crazy adventure! I'm starting to get seriously excited. Let's go already!! ; D

- Molly