Join Molly, of We Plus Threee, a determined mother tired of the monotony of her old life, as she embarks on a full-time RV journey with her family and faces the challenges and joys of life on the road.
In this episode, you will be able to:
- Discover the benefits of embracing full-time RV living and fostering meaningful connections.
- Learn the significance of deschooling on the journey to homeschooling success.
- Unleash the perks of incorporating flexibility and spontaneity in your RV travel planning.
- Understand how embarking on RV life can have a transformative impact on relationships and family bonding.
- Recognize the importance of taking risks and making self-care a priority when pursuing your passions.
My special guest is Molly of We Plus Threee
Introducing Molly, a seasoned full-time RVer with a knack for embracing the unpredictable nature of life on the road. As a mom of three and wife to a roofing contractor, Molly’s journey began when she decided her family needed a change from the mundane routine of everyday life. Over the past four years, Molly has expertly navigated the challenges and rewards of RV living while prioritizing flexibility and spontaneity in her travel plans. With her wealth of experience and passion for adventure, she’s an ideal guest to share insights and tips on making the most of your RV travels.
The resources mentioned in this episode are:
- Check out Molly’s Instagram page for updates on their RV adventures and connect with her: @weplusthreee (all links below)
- Consider purchasing their renovated fifth wheel or Class A Motorhome, both currently for sale.
- Consider living debt-free, selling it all, and living small to have the freedom to travel and live life on your terms.
Embracing Flexibility and Freedom
Adopting a flexible and spontaneous mindset is a valuable aspect of full-time RV travel planning. This approach allows families and individuals to adapt to unexpected changes and make the most of their journeys. From altering routes due to weather conditions to embracing new destinations, the ability to pivot plans is essential for a fulfilling and enjoyable experience. Prioritizing flexibility also makes it easier to explore different regions and form lasting memories. In the conversation, Molly highlights her family’s commitment to embracing flexibility and spontaneity in their full-time RV life. By planning their travels around storms and shifting weather patterns, they’ve been able to explore new places and feel more connected to their surroundings. Their willingness to adapt their plans has also led to the development of strong connections with fellow travelers, showing just how essential this approach is to the overall experience.
Common Travel Misconceptions
It’s important to address the common misconceptions surrounding full-time RV life and travel in an effort to provide a more accurate representation of the lifestyle. By debunking myths surrounding safety and other concerns, travelers can help others understand the true nature of the experience, encouraging more people to explore different ways of living. During her discussion with Kate, Molly debunks several misconceptions about travel life, such as the fear of being pickpocketed or having one’s children stolen. She points out that most countries with tourist boards are welcoming and safe for visitors. Molly’s insights reinforce the idea that happiness and fulfillment can be found in various paths, including outside of the traditional American Dream.
Impact on Relationships
RV life can have both positive and challenging effects on relationships, making it essential to examine and prepare for these changes. As with any lifestyle change, open communication and understanding are necessary to navigate the complex emotional landscape that comes with embracing full-time travel. Molly speaks candidly about the impact full-time RV life has had on her relationships, specifically with her husband and children. She shares that living and working in close quarters has brought her family closer together and fostered a more profound understanding of one another. For Molly, the experience has ultimately strengthened her relationships, illustrating the potential benefits of embracing RV life and prioritizing meaningful connections.
From Her Social Media:
Molly & Jaren | RV Family
inspiring others to live for the adventures
renovations ⊹ destinations ⊹ minimalistic
fulltime travel | RV family since ‘19
Where to Find Molly of We Plus Threee:
https://www.instagram.com/weplusthreee/
https://facebook.com/weplusthreee/
https://tiktok.com/@weplusthreee/
https://youtube.com/@weplusthreee/
OTHER EPISODES YOU MAY ENJOY:
08: Living Life On Their Terms Through God’s Lead with Kristy Janzen
06: Uncover the Story of How Brenda Left Suburbia for Self-Sufficiency
03: The Life-Changing Adventure of Living Full-Time in an RV
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Quotable Moments from the Show with We Plus Threee:
00:00:00
I just felt like we were like in groundhog day of just like, do everything and try to get it done and wait for him to come home. And I didn’t like that life anymore. I want to be a family again that I’m going with you. I don’t care about the house. I just want to be with you and the kids.
00:00:12
Welcome to the Morris sunsets please podcast. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live debt free, sell it all and live small, travel the country full time or raising animals and growing your own food as a sustainable family? My name is Kate, and these are just some of the stories of those who have jumped outside the box and living life on their terms. This is more sunsets. Please.
00:00:37
Welcome Molly to the more sunsets please podcast. I’m so excited to have you here. I’m excited to be here. Okay, so first we always start off with where are you right now? We are in Bluffton, South Carolina.
00:00:49
So that is close to Hilton head island. So, like, at the very corner of South Carolina, I wanted to go up the east coast. And so the first stop out of Florida, we were like, we’re going to hightail it up to get to South Carolina because we’ve already done Georgia. And I was like, I need to check that one off. And so we’re here for two weeks.
00:01:06
It’s all about that map check, marking all of them off, filling in those stickers. Yes, exactly. So who all is a part of we plus three? I have my husband, jaron, myself, Molly, and then Lily, Jackson and willow. And so Lily is almost 14, and then Jackson’s ten and willow is five.
00:01:27
Let’s go a little bit back on your story. You guys are currently in a motorhome class, a big, beautiful thing, but you’re towing a dually because you had a fifth wheel and you’ve had so much more. So let’s go all the way back to the beginning of your journey and what got you guys on the road? So Jaron was working out of state and I was at home with the kids for like five to six months. I say six months, he says five months felt like an eternity.
00:01:53
And whenever he was gone, I just felt like we were like in groundhog day of just, like, do everything and try to get it done and wait for him to come home. And I didn’t like that life anymore. I was just like, I want to be a family again. And so to go with him and the RV was totally up in the air. I said, I’m going with you.
00:02:12
I don’t care about the house. I just want to be with you and the kids and just be like, stuck in a small place because I have missed out on so much while he was gone. I just, like I said, felt like I was in Groundhog Day. Every day was the exact same thing. Wake up, send the kids to school, do all the daily chores, them, come home, feed them, sleep, repeat.
00:02:33
It was exhausting. So whenever we started, like six months, whenever he came home, we went to the RV dealership, and within like a week of him coming home, I was like, we are trading in this RV that you have, and we are going to get a bigger one that can accommodate us all. We were going to renovate it. It was like a 25 foot fifth wheel that I never camped in. And he was like, and you’re going to have all five of you in there.
00:02:59
We’re just trying to figure out how this was going to work. And so he was like, we’ll put bunks in the living room, we’ll take out the couches. And as we were looking at it, we’re like, let’s just go look at the dealership, see what they have. We found a three bedroom, two bathroom, fifth wheel. We have to have everything that we had in a house.
00:03:18
And so we got that. We lived in it for a year. And then we were like, well, we don’t really like how there’s like, two bathrooms and three bedrooms, and one bedroom was turned into an office. So we decided to trade that one in and buy our current fifth wheel that we have. And it’s a one bedroom, one loft with a bathroom.
00:03:38
But we renovated the entire thing. So now there’s two lofts, there’s a bathroom and a bedroom, and it’s like a front living. And we absolutely love it. It’s for sale right now, but if we don’t have to sell it, we’re not going to sell it. If the money comes along, we’ll sell it.
00:03:52
But if not, I’m totally fine with keeping it. And then after two years, we were like, let’s try a motorhome because there’s so many families that are out there in toy haulers and motorhomes and travel trailers, and we just kind of wanted to see what it was like to live in something different, that we could just put the slides in, drive it off. It is so much simpler to do it in a motor home. But I do love the aspect of the fifth wheel where it’s a living space, completely separated. Right now, I’m in the living room and the kitchen is right there, and we’re in one little area right now, but it’s fine.
00:04:29
We live outside and we go on adventures. So it’s a little bit different. But if we were in colder weather or rainy weather all the time, I would take the fifth wheel back. Yes, well, and your fifth wheel design is probably the most functional, like a house, because you have a separated living space and then a separated kitchen. And it’s so much more functional than any other setup you can get having that front living room, or even if it was a front kitchen and a separated living room.
00:04:57
Just those layouts are just they’re phenomenal. So I decided against the front kitchen because if we were to walk into just straight the living room and the kids have all their toys out everywhere, I would have to still maneuver around that area. And with having the front living room, the kids can leave their toys up there for days, and we don’t ever have to crawl over things to get to the next area. That’s right. It’s so exciting.
00:05:22
So you kind of glossed over the fact that Jaron is working on the road. Can you touch on what he does and why he’s always on the go? Yeah, he’s a roofing contractor, and he also has his insurance adjusting license. So he will either pick to do the roofing contracting where he goes in, works with the local company, and then he will go and have a crew reroof roofs. Then if he’s not doing that at the time, then he’ll go be an insurance adjuster, which he’ll go and pick a storm that just happened and work with a local adjuster, insurance adjuster area and get those done.
00:05:58
He just recently started that, so I’m not really too educated on that part since whenever we started this full time life, he was doing the roofing contracting. We would follow the hailstorms and the windstorms and then just go and stay there stationary for the summer. When everybody else is busy in RVs, we would be stationary working. And then when everybody else goes back to school, we would go and explore everything when everything is open again. And you guys started out from Texas, right?
00:06:25
Okay, so Texas is home base. You’re exploring all over, following kind of his work, but then at the same time, you guys split off. Kind of like right now. Yeah, since we started, he left whenever I was in the house. So he would go out of state and he’d stay out of state, and then he’d fly home for like two to three days out of the month, and then he would go back to work.
00:06:44
Well, I was tired of doing that. Well, right now a storm hit, and so this is the first time out of the four years we’ve been doing this that he actually has left us at an RV park and gone to go look at the storm for like a week. He was not going to be gone for months. I was like, I can do a week. I’ve done this mom life forever.
00:07:03
Right. That’s the easy part. So I’m like, I need to possibly cook all the meals. He went to the grocery store beforehand, so then I don’t have to worry about going to the grocery store. And I already have everything.
00:07:17
Kind of like what my list was for what I was going to make. And we have friends that are here at the RV park, so it’s easier to kind of have the kids with something to do while we’re here. So it was nice that there’s other Rvrs here that can actually hang out with my kids right now. That’s where they’re at. Keep them busy.
00:07:33
So you can do a podcast. Exactly. So you touched on the fact that you guys hit the road so you can actually spend time with your husband and their dad and do things more as a family, but then the bonuses you get to explore and see all the things. What are some other reasons of why you chose doing this RV life? I was tired of not being able to hang out with friends and family and trying to schedule in everybody’s schedule.
00:08:02
I would go and plan something like two months out to go hang out with a family member or a friend, and then the day before they’d be like, I have to cancel my love. Language is quality time. And so whenever I wasn’t getting what I needed, I felt like I wasn’t worthy enough of friendships or family. And they didn’t have time for me. But yet they have their own lives that are so jam packed.
00:08:24
And so the only time that I was able to go and find conversations and stuff was if I would go sign the kids up for dance or they go and do cheer. I had to pay in to have these friends and be able to talk to them. And I was tired of just having to go go schedule things out. And so now this life like the friends here at all the RV parks we go to, I’m like, what are you doing tomorrow? They’re like nothing.
00:08:49
I’m like, you want to go to the lighthouse down the street? They have a museum. They’re like, yeah, we can do that. It’s freeing. Nobody has the set schedule unless it’s like specific work things that you’re doing or you have it in time, but you will work around other people’s schedules because the conversation and the connection that Rvrs have is just so amazing.
00:09:09
And this community is like, I’m here for this community, for sure. Yeah, it’s so true. And we touched on it on many other conversations throughout this podcast of just that we don’t care to have the light flighty conversations. We just dig right in the hot button topics so that you know where you sit. Are these your people?
00:09:31
Is it worth investing your time in? Because you may only have two weeks together, but then you’re going to keep connecting down the road so many more times if they’re your people. And it’s just those connections are deep, fast, and they are so good. Such good quality connections. Also nice that a lot of us can connect on Instagram.
00:09:51
And that’s where I found everybody, because it’s like if they were posting in stories, I would see their family or I’ll see their posts and they post something like specific in stories. And I’m like, okay, we can be best friends. We do the same thing. We mean the same.
00:10:08
I love it. And it is it’s so true. You make such amazing connections along the way, and it’s it’s phenomenal. And you really grow I hate the word tribe, but you really do. You grow your people, and then the kids kind of fall in as well because the parents connect, and then the kids connect because we all connect online first, typically.
00:10:28
Or the kids are playing at the playground together at the same park, and then you happen to run into parents. Okay. You’re cool, too. All right. I’m a full timer.
00:10:37
We can be friends.
00:10:42
Oh, goodness. Now, along your journey that you guys have had, you’ve been on the road for how long now? Four years. Four years. That’s amazing.
00:10:51
At what point did you feel that this was the right path? Probably the first day. Right? Really? I don’t think I had any fears going into this other than, like, my goal is to be with my husband, be with the kids altogether.
00:11:07
I didn’t want anybody to be depressed anymore. I didn’t want to be in the schedule. It drained all of us just trying to follow everybody’s schedules and follow the work schedules and just being on everybody else’s time and not actually being on your own time. Let’s touch on a little bit of fun here. You guys have kind of explored a little bit all over.
00:11:29
Where has been the most exciting spot that you guys have gone to? We went to Glacier National Park for, like, one full day, and I was obsessed. Okay. I tell everybody. I’m like, you have no idea until you go.
00:11:43
It just looks like a Bob Roth painting everywhere you look. And I’m like, it is so beautiful. Even if I was only there for one day, I had the best time going on this hike with the kids. We were picking some raspberry looking berries and eating them and not even caring if these were the bears berries. I was like, we are eating these things.
00:12:05
We’re going on this hike. We’re looking at these beautiful views at the water, and I absolutely loved it. I probably will live there if it didn’t snow. Yes. But I really enjoyed Utah because we stayed there for multiple months, just being able to be by the Provo River.
00:12:22
And Jaron would go fly fishing, and the kids would go tube down the river, and I’d just go sit out and watch or hang out with friends. I absolutely loved Utah, but I still have Glacier as number one just because of my one day experience. Little trees just send me somewhere where the mountains are. Where the mountains are, yes. We just had friends cross over from us into Canada, and they were driving through all these mountains I miss them so much.
00:12:51
Versus this flat. Miss those mountains. They’re beautiful, but same thing. I would live there if there wasn’t snow. But gosh darn it, I’m not Canadian anymore.
00:12:59
I don’t do snow. Was there anywhere that you guys went? Because you guys chase storms, so is there anywhere that you went that then you got caught in any storms? So we were in Illinois and whenever that duration came by, which was like 155 miles per hour winds, we got hit with the 65 miles per hour winds to like the outside edge of it because we were on the coast of Illinois and Iowa. And when we were there, I was in the fifth wheel and these storms came out and it was just wind.
00:13:28
It was like hurricane levels of wind that came by and it was 65 was hitting our RV. The wind opened our door lock on the RV and I thought Jaron was coming in because I was like, oh, well, I’ll just corner the kids in the back area. We’ll protect ourselves. And it was terrible and frightening and if anything’s over like 45 mph, I’m going to go hide inside of a concrete building. Because that was just like we were saying our goodbyes to my husband while he was on FaceTime, while we were all freaking out because we didn’t know what was going on.
00:14:03
I was pretty sure we were in a tornado because I didn’t know that there was such thing as duratios that were like hurricane winds on land. I didn’t even realize that. And so we were like in the back of the RV, like huddled up and I was like, I need to put a mattress on if it’s like a tornado. I was trying to go through all the systems of everything and I couldn’t figure it out. And we were just kind of huddled together, set our levies and goodbyes.
00:14:30
And that was probably the worst experience that we’ve had on the road. And that was one out of the four years we’ve been doing this. And that’s very off. That’s not a normality, especially if you’re not following storms and you’re doing the opposite that you’re clearing out from where the storms typically are. That’s the bonus of having wheels when you do travel full time.
00:14:49
You can avoid tornado alley during tornado season. You can avoid hurricane season in the south. You can avoid the snowstorms in the north. Right? You can avoid it if you’re traveling, but you guys do the opposite after.
00:15:04
The storm has happened. So we get there and like, okay, now we’re here to help and nothing else should be going on.
00:15:13
He’s up there right now when it was snowing yesterday. It’s really hot here.
00:15:21
I’m like, I got a sunburn at the beach yesterday. Nice. That’s the perfect thing to tell him when he’s in the snow. I was rubbing it in because he left and I was just like, you could have waited. Oh gosh, now you did touch on a low point.
00:15:36
What would you say was like the highest high that you’ve had so far along your four years of this journey? So my highest high would be of the friendships that I’ve made along this entire RV journey. The community, it’s more than I could have ever dreamt for. The friendships, they last longer than just like seasonal times. You can go and meet them in Florida and be like, hey, where are you heading this summer?
00:16:03
And then we somehow cross paths again for a few more days or a few weeks. And the kids have so much fun together. They keep up with online messenger. I keep up with everybody on instagram, watch their stories. It feels like I’m never lost in their world.
00:16:19
I feel like I’m right there with them and we keep up with all of our friends. And so I would say is my highest hive. Just the community and the friendships I’ve made. That’s a good one. All right, let’s go all the way back.
00:16:33
So you have four years worth of travel in here. Can you just go over kind of not necessarily your exact route, but how did you guys travel over these four years? Where all have you gone? So we started with the first storm that we needed to go to, which was in Utah. So we left Texas and headed up to the top of Utah.
00:16:52
And so when we were going up, you go through and do as many national parks as possible in new Mexico. And then we went up to Utah and did those national parks and stayed there. And then another storm hit three months later and so we hightailed it all the way over to Michigan. It was just like we just were like, okay, that’s where they need us. We need to go there.
00:17:12
And so the very first year was go to Utah and then go to Michigan. And then once Michigan was cold, we went down to Florida. And so that kind of like came over on this side and then went across and then went down and then came back to Texas for the holidays. And then the next year we went up to Iowa and then we went over to Utah again because I wanted to go and explore while it was during COVID And so not all of the materials were coming in and we were kind of waiting around. I’m like, well, if we have to wait for material, why don’t we just go and explore?
00:17:49
And that’s where I went up to Utah and then glacier and came across south Dakota and did all of the west side except for California, Washington and Oregon. We didn’t do those, but we did all of the west. And then we went back down to Texas. We kept going back down to Texas to visit family for holidays. And then I decided we don’t need to do that because we’re spending so much fuel to get back and we just see them for the holidays.
00:18:16
And we’re there for three months and maybe see family four times. And so I didn’t see that it was worth the time because of their busy schedules. Everybody has such jampacked schedules that they don’t have time. It’s like open up like RVs do. And then we were going to do the East Coast, but we’re here in South Carolina and there’s a storm.
00:18:38
That is where Jaron’s at. And now we got a high tail. It over there. After we’re done here. This is the first year because last year we bought a property and completely gutted it, renovated it and sold it in February.
00:18:51
And so that was like last year. We didn’t go and explore, really. Last year we stayed put, renovated, tried it out. Now we’re back on the road working again. Just an adventure all the time.
00:19:06
We can’t be set on our schedules. We can’t be set on our routes. Because if I have a plan to go up the east coast of Maine this summer, a storm is going to hit and we’re going to go somewhere else. I don’t plan very far out, and that’s okay. But that’s the whole point of this life of why you travel on wheels is so you can be flexible.
00:19:28
Yes, completely flexible. Yeah. That’s amazing. So you guys have kind of touched on a little bit of here and there, but you haven’t done either coast yet. I know.
00:19:40
Yeah, we’ve done South Carolina and think when we leave here, we’re just going to go to Tennessee and go up to Iowa. But we’ve already done these states that are over here. I’m like, we’ll just go do that again. Just do a different part of each of these states before we get there. That’s right.
00:19:56
And that’s also kind of a bonus because you’ve been there, you know what you can explore and what you still need to explore. So if you could go back, you said Utah and Glacier, where else would you go back to if you had the option? I would say possibly South Dakota, because when we went over to Sioux Falls, we were just greeted by so many people that were not Rbiers, but just like the community was just so nice. And we walked around. We felt like we were kind of like in a movie set and everything just it felt surreal over there.
00:20:29
And the people that would just be bystanders walking by and, you know, normally you kind of put your head down and you walk by or you look up and look away because you don’t want to make the awkward grocery store aisle eye contact. These people were like, hi, how are you? Like, walking by them. We’re like, we’re good. Oh.
00:20:47
People are actually conversating like we do at RV parks. I like this. Yeah, they actually talk to us. South Dakota. Okay, what about is there somewhere you would never go back?
00:21:00
I just did not enjoy this place. It’s not my cup of tea. Where would that be? I don’t think there is a place that we have been that I would just be like, I’ve had such a bad experience. I haven’t found anywhere where it’s like, I felt scared or unsafe or anything like that.
00:21:17
Okay. We don’t know what day of the week it is. We don’t know the holidays. We don’t know if there’s kids out of school. Like, every day is a Wednesday.
00:21:27
That’s what it is. We just were like, hey, do you want to go to this national park today? And we’re like, yeah, we went to the Indiana sand dunes on July 4. I don’t know. We don’t pop fireworks at the RV park.
00:21:43
I don’t know. And so we did that, and then we went up to South Dakota and went over to Devil’s Tower, and it was a free entrance day to the national park, and so there was no parking. And so we’re like, I don’t want to look at the schedule. I just want to go on a random Wednesday, and it be Wednesday every day of the week, because that’s how. We live half the time.
00:22:05
If it wasn’t for always doing this podcast on a specific day of the week, I would probably not remember what day of the week any day was. Well, and even when we started RVing, we left and got to our first RV park on the Sunday of Memorial Day. Long weekend in the north. And for anybody who camps, you know that’s the kickoff of camping season is Memorial Day in the US. And then it’s the week before in Canada.
00:22:31
Yeah, we did that for Big Bend. We try to book something on Big Bend in Texas. That was, like, the first time that I couldn’t get any reservations. And I’m like, okay, I’ll find something else to do. And I’m like, oh, it was a holiday, right?
00:22:44
Yes. I don’t understand. I’m like, we’re free birds. We’re not supposed to be on any set schedules. That’s right.
00:22:53
It’s back to that freedom again. No schedule. We just roll, literally roll it. Something happens. You pivot.
00:23:03
Like, we were supposed to go out yesterday, go and to three different things, and we didn’t even do any of those three things because there’s a golf tournament going on here in South Carolina. I don’t know. I don’t know schedules. I don’t even know my own. No.
00:23:22
Now you have four years under your belt. Do you see yourself doing this long term? Do you see yourself getting back into a house? Do you see yourself switching up rigs again? What do you see for your future?
00:23:35
I see us selling it all in world traveling, because world traveling. World traveling. We have almost done it before in 2020, of course, we closed the RV slides. We put the truck and the RV in storage, and we were set to go to Europe for three months. We get over there we do France for a week, and then we go over to Germany and do Germany for two weeks.
00:24:06
And then we were set to fly to Rome, and then go up from Rome, go over to the mountains of France, and then go down the coast of France, down to Spain, get on a cruise ship for ten days, then get back to Barcelona and then fly home. We made it to France and Germany for those three weeks. And then we were on the last flight out of Frankfurt before they shut down the airport, before they shut down Germany and all the other countries. The borders were closed on all these countries. We just kept watching the news, which we never do, but we had to do it.
00:24:39
When we were over there, they closed off Italy, and then they closed off Spain, and then they closed off France. And I was like, well, that’s it. Germany is going to be next. And so we booked a really expensive flight, one way flight back home that we had to stop in Detroit to get back to Texas. And then we missed that flight because there was so many protocols and checkpoints that we had to go through.
00:25:02
I ran 30 gates to try to catch the flight. We still missed it. So I was like, oh, this is lovely. Maybe we’ll go back one day. But if we go back, I want to be able to pivot, and if something happens, I want to be able to catch a plane and go to a different country and go and do something else because there’s so many countries in this world and so much rich history that I want to absorb.
00:25:23
And I know my kids would really enjoy it too, but I kind of dragged my family along. I’m like, you’re going to learn, you’re going to go and do this history stuff. You’re going to like it because one day whenever you’re older and you’ll be able to tell, oh, your friends like, oh, I went to Israel for this and learned about this. We only read it in books. I would want them to learn a different way.
00:25:42
And that’s why we started RVing too, just to give them the chance to home school or world school or road school, any of the options, just to be able to learn and find a love of learning. Because going to public school, it was repeat or it was memorization, it was never do this. So you will learn it and absorb this information so then you can use it in your life later on. I’m really good at memorizing things, and other than what I did yesterday, I don’t know what the day of the weeks are, right? But I’m good at memorizing for tests.
00:26:14
Like, I can hold up a piece of paper, make notes of what each thing is going to be, and memorize it enough to finish the test, the quizzes, whatever’s going. On. And my oldest is the same way, but my son is not. He can’t memorize things to figure it out. Like he is an audible learner while myself and my oldest are visual learners.
00:26:35
And then my youngest is Tactile learner. She’s like hands on everything. Like, I need to learn this way. How would I have known that if I didn’t start homeschooling them? I didn’t know.
00:26:44
Because in school you learn the same way as everybody else. It’s cookie cutter. You learn this way. If you can’t learn this way, then you’ll be put in a different class to try to get up or go to summer school. That just makes the kids feel like they are unworthy of knowledge and then they don’t want to learn anything else.
00:27:03
Whenever we started homeschooling, I just wanted them to actually find a love of learning and want to research things or want to dive down deep in something that they’re interested in. I was like, I am not a teacher. I don’t know how to do this. And so I doubted myself of trying to teach. So I just had to do the deschooling pretty much on myself to figure out how to teach my kids.
00:27:24
Because I was in the idea of you need to learn for this many hours. You have to have work, you have to send in tests. Let’s grade your stuff by the number of cross things out that you got wrong instead of correcting it. I had to relearn school. I was glad I did because now the kids, they’re excelling in almost all of their things, which is amazing.
00:27:50
Yeah. And it’s so true for both Mike and I. We were both raised by teachers. And it’s funny because Mike was actually homeschooled for a while, so he already understood what homeschool looked like for them. But then trying to figure out what home school looks like for our kids was different and in this technology era and in this tiny space and on the road.
00:28:17
So just learning, like you said, how to deschool ourselves and our structure of it has to be in a book, it has to be gradable and it has to be regurgitatable. That is officially a word hashtag that you have to be able to regurgitate what you were taught. And that then means you obviously learned. And if you can’t regurgitate it, obviously you didn’t learn it. And it’s funny because our kids, like you said, they all learn so different.
00:28:47
I’m totally a kinesthetic learner. I have to do to remember. If I don’t do it, I will not remember it. And I was terrible in school. Terrible.
00:28:57
My grades like, were average unless it was a Tactile class. I aced doing shop class and art and music because that was all Tactile learning and I could share the Tactile knowledge I had. So the English and math was terrible. The science was okay because someone was Tactile, right? But it’s just finding our kids learning styles and working on that because it’s how they grow and how they learn.
00:29:27
And this is a huge tangent, but that’s okay.
00:29:32
The deschooling for us is so important because there’s so many outside forces. Like, we even have somebody across the street from us right now. And she’s like, you must be grading them, right? You must be testing them, right? I’m like, no.
00:29:43
Were you tested this week on your knowledge? I would have family members that would quiz my kids when they would be on FaceTime and they’d be like, so what did you learn today? And my kids, I would have to get them ready for to give them an answer. They’d look at me and I was like, oh, do you remember you read today? I have to remind them what they did.
00:30:03
And so then I was tired of listening to it and listening to them say it. And so I just told my kids, I go ask them what they learned today. Yeah, they didn’t learn anything. So then they’d start explaining about what they did at work. I go, no, you do that every day.
00:30:17
What’s something new you learned today? And they would never be able to answer it. And so the more times that they heard my kids ask that question, they stopped asking. Yes. Then they wouldn’t ask them, they would ask me.
00:30:28
And they’d be like, I’m just worried that they’re not getting what they need. And I know they’re struggling. I’m like, you don’t know anything. I’m doing everything that they need now. And it’s hard to try to prove to family members how much they’re learning or how much that they are excelling in life and social skills and being able to do real life experiences, because they didn’t know anything we were learning in school.
00:30:55
They saw the grades online. That’s all they saw. And they saw that I was making ninety s and one hundred s because I’m a visual learner that can memorize the test. And then they’re like, oh, we’re having a test tomorrow? Okay, I’m going to make those notes.
00:31:08
I’m going to just get it through and memorize. And that’s all I did. I did it like the day before of memorization. And so it’s always like a struggle whenever I get on the phone and then I have to hide and then make sure my kids don’t hear that. They’re like, oh, well, I’m just worried about their learning.
00:31:25
I’m just going to start telling my kids. And so then I ended up telling my kids it, and I’m like, yes, this is what they think. I’m like, if you want to hide it behind their back like you were doing it in front of them and now you’re doing it behind them. I’m like, I’m done trying to explain myself. I’m done.
00:31:40
And it’s funny because I came from the world of homeschooling. People were weird, right, that their kids were antisocial, that they’re not getting any socialization, and they obviously weren’t learning. And talk about total 180. Once you get to the other side and see, we don’t do structured schooling anymore at all, every once in a while we’ll get the kids to pull out a book and just see where they are in the structured schooling format of grading and correct and incorrect answers. But outside of that, Ellie, without pushing her or coaching her, she’s literally taught herself to read.
00:32:21
Yeah, that’s crazy, right? And it’s not by exactly this age because in school in Canada, well, at least in Ontario, they start school as young as three years old, and they’re expected to be able to read by three and four years old. That’s crazy. That is crazy. He was depressed in kindergarten.
00:32:44
He went to pre K. He absolutely loved pre K. And then whenever he got in kindergarten, he was crying every morning. He did not want to go to school. He begged me to keep him at home because he was depressed.
00:32:55
His teachers were just like, one teacher, his main kindergarten teacher was forcing him to try to read, and he couldn’t figure out the letters. He was like, I don’t know the sounds. And I’m like, I’ve been working on it, and I can’t get him to do it. It’s not connecting in his brain. It was too early.
00:33:10
That was the main thing that was just, like, struck for my family members of Worried About Jackson. That’s it. They were worried about him reading. And I’m like, I looked at all the unschooling things because I’m like, if I push it, he’s not going to want to do it at all. Like jaron doesn’t like reading.
00:33:26
He’s like, I would rather listen to an Audible book because you’re an audible learner or you’re like a visual learner, whatever he is. But Jackson didn’t learn to read till ten. And I felt like a failed parent because I was like, I need to put him in some type of Dyslexia school. I tried every single app. I bought stuff.
00:33:45
I was just like, you’re supposed to be able to read by, like, seven years old, and all these kids that are his age are reading. And I’m like, well, maybe, I don’t know, something’s going to click. Well, then this past few months, he’s just been reading signs on the side of the road while we’re driving. He’s like, mom does this. And I’m like, Jared and I look at each other, we’re like, say, but see, we won’t feel like that.
00:34:12
Whenever he gets older and he’s reading on his own, we’re not going to be so excited. But the moment right then and there, you’re just like, I didn’t fail. I waited. I was patient. I tried everything I could possibly do.
00:34:26
Give him guidance, bring letters out, let his little sister do it because she’s like, looking at letters and sounds and writing things out, but she’s not writing words or anything or knows how to comprehend that. She’s five now, so I’m like, we have till ten if they they’ll figure it out. They’ll figure it out. Yep. And they’re developing their love of reading because they’re interested.
00:34:48
Now, I hate reading. I hate reading. I will not read. And I will fall asleep when reading, like, anything, and it could be something I’m totally interested, something super exciting, and I will still fall asleep at three sentences in, and it could be the middle of the day. Right.
00:35:04
And then even our teenager, he was pushed to read so early. He hates reading. He’s now coming around to reading, like, anime books that he really likes. But I find those who were pushed too young don’t end up enjoying reading. And that’s where so much of your learning comes, is from the love of reading and the love of learning.
00:35:24
I look at Mike, and he’s a book worm. Yes, he is. Right? Both of you, total book worms. You guys are also both memorization people because he can regurgitate just about anything he’s ever read in his life.
00:35:36
But just know that if I’m reading a book, I’m reading the words on the page. I don’t visually see anything in my brain. When people are saying, like, imagine a rainbow with a horse in the background of green grass and blue sky, I cannot see that. I can ride it out in my brain of just my memories of, like, yes, I know what a unicorn is. Yes, I know what a blue sky is.
00:36:01
I know that. But I cannot see anything. So if I’m reading a book and they start giving details of the character’s physique and trying to figure out what they look like, I’m like, I don’t see it just reading it on a page. I’m like, I like reading it, but I cannot see any of it. So it’s kind of funny if I’m like reading, because you guys are both.
00:36:23
Big readers, both of you. You love reading. You and Mike, that is. I was like, Jaron is not Jaron’s like me. We’ll listen to the audiobook.
00:36:34
I’ll listen to the podcast if I’m in the car, and I’ll put it, like, two times, and so I’ll just hear I’m like, just speaking as fast as possible, and I’m like, I can hear it because I’m focusing on what they’re saying. I’m not focusing on imagining things. I’m just like, what words are they saying? Whereas I’m like, okay, what are they talking about? Let’s visualize the place that they went.
00:37:00
You described Glacier by saying the Bob Ross painting and this and that. So you’re describing it just, like, how you would read it. And I’m visualizing it the whole time. These happy little trees and fluffy clouds and those snowcapped mountains. Right.
00:37:14
Because I’ve seen a picture of Bob Ross. I’ve seen all of his paintings and stuff, and I’m like, that’s what it was. Yeah. So when you’re talking and then I hear it in a podcast. That’s what I would totally visualize it, and that makes me also really good at Tangrams.
00:37:30
I can see things and visualize exactly how it would go into a space. And Mike’s like, I don’t know, but he can do sudoku no problem, because that’s just numbers and graphs and memorization of how numbers go in a row. Right, in math. Exactly. It all goes back to your style of learning and how you learn, and you don’t push it, because if you push it and push a certain style of learning, it throws it out the window for these kids.
00:37:56
So that deschooling coming back full circle. That deschooling is so important for us as parents to get away from what we’ve been taught and how learning happens to then let our kids blossom and flourish in a way that is so much more beneficial for them.
00:38:15
They develop a love of learning because it’s so much easier for them. And not a chore. It’s the chore of learning that nobody wants to do. Look at us now, as adults, I will dig into all these different things, whether it’s a rabbit hole or a peak of interest, so hard. I’ll dig into them so much because it’s interesting to me.
00:38:33
Well, that’s what you need to find in your kids is what is interesting to them so that they learn and dig and find and ask questions, and that’s how we learn. Not just, all right, let’s read a book that we were told to read that I have no interest in. Right. Books that we had to read in school. But I have two of them in our library, our tiny RV library.
00:38:58
I kind of don’t want to let the kids read these books. Like, one is Tom Sawyer Huckleberry Finn, and I’m like, they have so many bad words in it, and it’s so hard to read. Everything is just, like, butchered of how he’s speaking. And so I was reading it out loud, and I got, like, a chapter in reading it to the kids, and I was having difficulty because of how hard it is to read non words. And then another one was The Great Gatsby, and I was like, I kind of don’t want my oldest to read that either.
00:39:36
We had to read in school. Yeah, it’s like, controversy of what you want to home. And I’m like, I feel like I need to just get rid of them and let them watch the movie when they need to ever see it on TV, but not now. It’s crazy. We started reading The Lion, the Witch in the Wardrobe with them because that was one of the suggested books in cultural reading in all these home school forums.
00:40:02
I’m like, okay, well, it’s a great story, and then we start reading it. I’m like, These are big words. I’m stumbling over them. You don’t want to bring a dictionary out and have to explain things. You want it to be simple enough, but yet add some words in there that kind of gives it spice, but not just like, put a dictionary in the book.
00:40:21
Yeah, because I get exposing them to some of these big words is helpful, but at the same token, I struggle. And then if I struggle, then the story doesn’t come out as nice. So Mike does all the reading now because he can just regurgitate all these words ever so eloquently, and he’ll change. The words if he needs to. Like, if I see one, I’ll be like, oh, this is what that is.
00:40:44
That’s right. But they’ve moved on to other stories now that are a little bit more on par with their level of learning than the big book. But yeah. Wow, big tangent here. But I think that’s really helpful for the listeners to know that deschooling ourselves is so important, but then also just road schooling, learning and getting out of that box of structured school, even on the road, is so beneficial for our kids because you’ve seen some amazing leaps and bounds because your kids are like ours.
00:41:17
There’s quite these gaps in ages that you get to see how they learn differently in each category, which is phenomenal, and see how they benefit with this life of living on the road and learning as you go is so beneficial. I don’t have another term for that. But it’s very beneficial. They get the socialization that they don’t get in school. They get the real life learning experiences.
00:41:42
If you have a popped tire on a bike, yes, you can look it up on YouTube and learn how to do that. You can be the Tactile learner. You’d be able to research that and be able to experience it. But when we were talking about world traveling, I want to be able to go and take the kids and my husband to each of these locations to immerse ourselves in the culture and behold our economy and be there longer than just what a vacation would be. So we’d be there from anywhere from a month or more.
00:42:17
In Europe, you’re only allowed like, three months in all that area and then three months out. So we would have to go three months in and then go find some other country to be in until those three months is up to go back. I would just want to be able to have them learn with the world around them because the United States is not that old. The rest of the world has so much rich history that I’m ready to explore, and I know my kids will thank me for it later. How did they like it when you were there for those few weeks?
00:42:45
What did they love about it and what did they not love about it? Oh, like when we were walking, because everything’s, like, walking distance to anywhere. They loved absolutely everything. We were walking 30 minutes in the rain and they did not complain at all. We made games up or we’d put our hoods on and we start walking and then we’d find a random church and go inside of it.
00:43:06
And then we’d go to the grocery store because we’re walking by one and like, oh, we’ll just get out of the rain here and go grab a snack or a baguette and we just made the most of it. And the kids are old enough where they can look at the history or look at something and ask me a question. I try to answer it or I’ll go and research it on my phone and try to find the answer to what they’re asking. We went to the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower and the Saclocourt in Paris and then Jaron’s, part of his family, live in Germany. And so we went to Heidelberg, Eagersheim, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Bad Mergenheim and all these different cities that are around their home and just were able to immerse ourselves in that culture and go to the farmers market and ride the trains, which were so fun.
00:43:55
The kids were like, we only want to do this now on no more car rides. We will just travel by train. They were on their tablets and we would just be in there snacking on stuff and we could get up and go. And it was nice having a different way of life that we would live here and everything is just busy schedules. Everybody is angry because they’re not on time, they don’t leave that any time left for mistakes.
00:44:19
And so it’s nice being somewhere that’s more slow and family centered and community based and Europe was like that for us and we really enjoyed it. It’s so true. I think it’s a whole give and take, especially myself and our family coming from another country already into the US. And people always say, oh, what’s so different about Canada in the US? There’s a lot, there’s a lot.
00:44:40
Even just that one step away is a little bit more European in Canada. And then you go to Europe and it’s obviously well, European, but it’s different coming to America. But on that same token, there’s so much value in America that other countries can learn from as well. So it’ll be exciting to see you guys go to all these places. And what’s your hopes?
00:45:05
When do you plan to take off to head to Europe? Well, we have the truck, the fifth wheel and the motorhome all for sale right now. So if the motorhome sells first, then we can just put the truck and the camper out because they’re paid for. So we’re just like they’ll just be in storage. We can go explore, that’ll be like our home when we come back.
00:45:24
But the motor home, I don’t want to have to pay the payment each month for this while we’re gone. So this thing sells, then we can start really kicking in high gear. But if the truck sell before then, we’re going to travel a little bit more on the motorhome until this thing sells. So it’s all just if this one sells, then we’re good to go. That’s exciting.
00:45:44
And then you’re also going without payments. So whatever you make on the go is just your travel money. It’s your life expenses that’s amazing. We have our rental property. We own or finance the home that we renovated, and so we get that monthly payment each month.
00:46:02
And then whatever money Jaron makes for this storm will last us for two years.
00:46:10
If we’re not living on the Ritz kind of lifestyle of rich and famous, I can go and whatever. I’m like, no, we have the money. We’re just going to go live what we need to do. If we want to go on an adventure that day, we will just go and do that. Where would you go to first?
00:46:26
Let me get back over to Europe. We need to finish that trip. So whenever I’m looking at flights, I look at what the cheapest is to get there. And so if I fly from New York over to Europe, the last time I looked, it was Norway and it was Oslo that I would have flying to, which was like, one way, was 156 per person. And that’s it.
00:46:48
Yeah, just like one way to get over there. 156? Yes. $156. I look for flights.
00:46:56
I look for the best deals. You’re going to book me some flights? Because that is so much I’ve always seen them as like, 800 to 1000. Maybe it’s the difference of flying from Canada to Europe. But you have to fly out of New York because New York, you have to go from one of the major hubs, which is, I think it’s Orlando International Airport, new York DFW, which is our home base, and then Las Vegas, I think California might have one, but we haven’t flown from there.
00:47:28
Seattle Washington lax. But that would still be Seattle. Washington is one of them, but you just try to find the ones that are, like, further out, closest to those countries. And in 2020, whenever I booked the one from New York to Paris, it was 136 per person. That’s crazy.
00:47:45
But that was 2020. What have you seen recently? Well, that was Oslo, so 156. Oh, my gosh. Yeah.
00:47:52
And so we’ll either fly into Norway and then I saw another one that was London, and then another one I think was possibly Athens. But as long as we can get over there, then we can go on the flight, because the flights are like, 36 hours. And so I’m like, as soon as we get over there, then we can do whatever we need to go to or get on a train and go and explore whatever area. So I don’t know what the first one will be. I just need to get to the other country first and then we’ll explore from there.
00:48:24
That’s amazing. Oh, my gosh. I had no idea you could get that cheap of flights. Again, probably was the difference of flying out of Toronto because that’s our international airport. Extra fees are always so much more so yeah, new York, who would have thunk wow.
00:48:39
You know how much how I spent getting over to Europe, right? 136 per person. So whenever COVID hit and decided to kick us back and we had to go to Frankfurt, we bought the ticket the night before on the last flight out, right? Yeah. To get one way back home, detroit, Texas, $2,600.
00:48:59
Yeah. That sounds more like what we would have paid as an everyday flight. Just like, okay, I’m the saver. I try to find the best deals. I only look at like that our entire trip for those three months, the plane tickets were only going to be $2,200.
00:49:15
All of us, we were going to be on seven different flights. And then that one trip back to the States was 26. That was $400 more than and I was so upset because I’m like, I don’t want to spend that money. I was like, I’ll stay here in Germany, like the next whatever, I’ll learn German or something, maybe not leaving. And I’m like, I’m glad that we came back, but man.
00:49:37
So again, you’ve done four years of this travel. What is one piece of advice that you would give to somebody who you think, they’re doing the same thing as you guys. They’re doing this travel, they’re wanting to get out there. What little bit of advice would you give to them to get out there and do this? I would just say stay out of your comfort zone.
00:49:54
Like, get out of it. Because whenever you’re just stuck in the groundhog day of doing everything over and over and over again, then you will never be able to live out those dreams that you’ve always dreamt of or see those amazing places that everybody’s sharing and going to these places and saying, I wish I could do that. I want to be able to do that. It’s just nice to be able to be afraid a little bit. But as soon as you step out of that, you will be so comfortable and you will absolutely love the journey that you’re on.
00:50:23
It’s true. Step outside of your comfort zone to find comfort. I was scared of Europe, and we went to China whenever my youngest was ten months old. We had a tour guide and everything was planned out, so I didn’t really plan anything, so I didn’t feel as uncomfortable. I was just like, yeah, let’s go.
00:50:41
Okay. But then whenever I went to Europe, it was me planning everything out. And if something went wrong, it was my fault. And whatever I planned, I was going to be the one to blame. But then as soon as I got over there, I was worried about being able to get an Uber to our hotel.
00:50:57
It was easy. You have the app, the Uber app, and you just go right there. It was like a normal thing. And then I was worried about the miscommunication of French and English. Everybody spoke English.
00:51:09
I don’t feel like I was overprepared and over scared of going to another country, and I shouldn’t have been. I knew the risks, and I just over projected them of how scary they should be and how I should be afraid of this country and everything’s going to go wrong and I’m going to be pickpocketed, and I’m going to be mugged. And none of that happened. It was so calm and peaceful, and I just thought, everything worse, I guess. Just make a list of all the worst things that could possibly happen and just start making a red line through each of them because none of that’s going to happen.
00:51:43
So you’re a Texan? Yes. You ready for this? When we told our friends and family that we were going to sell everything and head to Texas in an RV and then start travel, they’re like, oh, my gosh, you’re going to the most racist planet. You’re going to be treated awful.
00:52:01
The most racist state on the planet. You’re going to be shot. Because they all love their guns and all these things. And we’re just like they were some of the nicest people we have ever met and the most welcoming people we have ever met. The exact opposite happened.
00:52:18
We weren’t scared by any means of coming to the US. We were more excited because it’s something different of what we don’t know and pushing, like you said, outside of your comfort zone. And we found so much beauty in this, and it’s so true. Just write that list. Listen to all those things that people tell you to be scared of and just, no, that didn’t happen.
00:52:44
No, that didn’t happen. Definitely didn’t happen. The exact opposite happened. And it’s so funny. You’re going to be pickpocketed because that’s what everybody says happens in Europe.
00:52:54
You’re going to be pickpocketed. I’m sorry. There’s not a whole bunch of little Oliver Twists running around ready to pick your pocket. You’re like putting everything in in the weirdest parts ever. No, that’s not how it works.
00:53:07
Like your kid’s going to be stolen because we watched the movie Taken, and they just put fear in us to make us not go to these countries. For the most part, all the other countries that are completely open and welcoming and have tourist boards and they’re wanting you to spend your money there and wanting you to explore, they’re not going to just go and be crazy. We’re all humans. We’re all doing this life together and wanting to explore, wanting to see these cool places, and you just got to get out there. And you’re so right, though, about the tourist boards.
00:53:37
If there is a country that. Has a tourist board, the likelihood of you going and having issues is going to be slim because they’re going to provide you options of places that are safe and that are tourist friendly. Just like we’ve got friends, I think they’re common friends who just did a big tour of East Asia, all these cool places that some people would say, oh, that’s very dangerous. How could you go to Indonesia and all these other places? And Taiwan, right.
00:54:06
Like, they’re beautiful. Yeah, they’re beautiful. And they’re looking for tourists to come and explore and it is totally safe. I even have a niece who has traveled all over just backpacking and staying in hostels all over the world. But again, those fear mongering movies and ads and all these things, they’re there just so you don’t see that they.
00:54:30
Just want you in your country to stay in your country and spend your money in their country and not anybody else’s. Yes. Right.
00:54:39
Not to not see the beauty that’s out there and that people live different and that you can live this way and not that way and still be happy. That you can live with less and not be involved in so much consumerism. Not that consumerism is such a bad thing. It’s more the materialism than anything. But that you can live in all these different ways and still be happy and that you can live outside of the American Dream and still be happy.
00:55:06
You don’t have to have your white picket fence and 2.5 kids and two cars and two jobs and this and that to be happy and oh, man, I’m so excited for you guys to travel and for everybody to get out there and just explore and go see something different. That is not the standard, right? Yes. Out of Norm. Yeah, exactly.
00:55:30
So there must have been somewhere along this journey that you’ve had that has been a pivotal moment for you guys that has really just changed you and there’s kind of no going back to the person you were before. What would you say that was for you guys? I would say the scheduling of other friends and family. So whenever I would go back to Texas and we were there for practically like seven months, whenever we were flipping the renovated house and I was in the area where everybody used to live that I used to have a house in, I saw maybe two of my friends once for those seven months. And so I saw more of my RV friends that made a trip to this specific city to come see us because they were like, hey, I’m going to be in Texas.
00:56:13
What city are you in? Oh, well, let me go book an RV park over there and we can hang out. I saw four of my friends come in. They drove up there. Are you kidding me?
00:56:21
Like, my own friends that have houses won’t even do that, but an RVR that I have met in two different states, like, maybe for like, a day or two will come and meet us because that’s how much they value friendship and community and communication. That was like a pivotal point of just like, I’m not worth somebody’s time that has to schedule me in and then cancel on me. And my husband was like, quit rescheduling, quit doing this. Quit wasting your time. And I’m like, but I can’t because I’m like, that’s what friendships are.
00:56:49
You’re trying to work with them and do this. He was like, you’re wasting your energy, and it’s not worth your time to try and be on somebody else’s schedule. I’m like, if they cannot squeeze you in and figure something out, they’re not true friendships or they don’t prioritize you at all. And so I finally listened to my husband because I hold on so tightly, because I’m like, this friendship is going to work. I’m going to hold on to it forever.
00:57:16
And then I just finally just let go and started doing my life again of just, I’m going to hang out with people that want to hang out. I’m not going to try to hang out with somebody just because we have past friendship or past dates or memories together. That season is gone. And until they figure out that they need to see us as friendships and worthy of our time, then I’m not putting my energy in it. I almost dread going back to Canada and having that feeling of we’re not worth anybody’s time anymore because not just because we’ve been gone for a long time, but even once we left, there’s some who have really reached out and keep in constant contact and check how we’re doing during hurricanes that my family don’t even reach out for.
00:58:01
Are you okay? In a hurricane in a trailer?
00:58:06
Because we came down for Hurricane Ian and then we were there for was it Hurricane Linda? Was that the next one? Nicole. Nicole. So, like, the next one that came by, we’re like, buckling down, deciding if we’re going to go hightail it all the way up to Florida or past Florida to get to Alabama because we were in Bonita Springs, like, at the bottom.
00:58:23
So we would have spent like, a day to go up there. We were watching the storm, and my mother in law calls and she’s like, hey, what are you doing? And my husband’s like, oh, we’re just buckling down. We’re trying to prepare for the hurricane that’s coming. It’s going to come here in a few hours.
00:58:38
We are making sure it’s just kind of windy and rainy here. And she goes, okay, that’s cool. So what were you even listening? That was a hurricane that was like, we’re about to die. Why won’t you give us some emotion?
00:58:52
Like, oh, no, are you okay? Is there a plan set in place? And it was just like, okay, that’s cool. So I need your help with, right?
00:59:02
You’re just calling for something that we would help you with. Not actually worried about what’s going on in our life that’s actually important. I don’t know. I think she was just like trying to make conversation and just not really listening and had a goal in mind of asking a question to finish the conversation. It’s so strange, but it’s almost heartbreaking.
00:59:25
And it’s difficult to know that you’re walking away from friendships that you have built over all these years right. And that you have put in so much time and effort and emotion into these relationships to just go, okay, they feel I’m not worthy of their time. So we’re just going to move on. And that’s very hard. That’s very hard.
00:59:47
I would say each season you have friendships and our being season, I think since we live online most of the time and our friendships last in different states and different times, and even if we don’t see each other for a while, we feel like we can pick right back up. I feel like our season lasts a little bit longer than what their season does because they’re doing the mundane of everyday life, of school and sports and stuff like that. Their schedules are packed. Ours are online and RP and freedom, so a little bit different. Which can also be very packed, right?
01:00:21
Our schedules can be very packed, right? Like, look at where March your schedule can be very packed. But that said, you had no issues fitting somebody into your schedule of what you’re already doing, to just say, oh, come on, join us then. Right? And that’s totally different.
01:00:40
If you were in a sticks and bricks and you’re going to a basketball game for your kid, why don’t people just say, well, then come join us versus, sorry, we have a basketball game, you can’t come. It blows my mind. So it’s two very different mentalities of we’ve got all of this going on versus we’ve got all of this going on. I love it. So the most important question, marriage.
01:01:04
Marriage and the kids. So how has this this is like full circle here, I guess. Not even full circle, but if we just go from the friendships to your household, how has this impacted the relationships in your household? Whether it be the kids or your marriage, how has this impacted you guys living? Very tiny.
01:01:25
So I’ll say the kids first because they become more bonded. Like they actually play with each other because whenever they were in school, they’d come home, they’d fight every single day. And it was torment for me and the kids and it was constant bickering all day after school, on the weekends, they wouldn’t know how to play with each other. They would just watch TV and binge out. Now they enjoy being outside and going to explore, find new friends, go on these adventures.
01:01:52
And so it’s been so much like it’s a different world now for them, there’s fighting. Sometimes they’ll be like, he did this, she did that, and I’m like, okay, they’re sitting too close to each other in the truck on travel days. Okay, well, there are certain times where they do it, but I mean, that’s what we all end up doing anyways. As we were kids, we would do that, but they’re closer now more than ever. And whenever people would say like, oh, well, they need more space, they need their own room, I find them all three on a recliner, sitting together, playing video games.
01:02:24
They have an entire RV together or outside in the world, and they’ll be sitting in one little recliner squished, all three of them together. It’s not that big. And they’re all together, just they could be separated, but they want to be closer together. And I think that this RV and RV life has brought them closer together to actually be siblings and not just kind of be estranged siblings whenever you get older and not really talk to anybody and know what your siblings doing. But for the marriage, since he was gone for like six months, whenever he was gone, we just talked on FaceTime.
01:02:59
I wasn’t there to listen to his hopes and dreams. We weren’t able to talk about this together. Yes, you talk about it like when you first get married and then a couple of times later. But he was going to work every day. I was taking the kids to school, doing out activities and going and running them places.
01:03:14
Then he’d come home, we’d eat dinner, and it was more of a fast paced life, and it was teamwork or partnership instead of marriage. And now since we live and work in the same RV, there’s no arguing. I mean, the kids will tell you, why are you arguing? It was just like difficulties of deciding, yes, I’m right and no, you’re wrong, that kind of thing. But now I feel like we’re so connected with our dreams and our hopes and our aspirations and everything that we’ve clicked so much better.
01:03:46
It’s a complete change and shift from what it was before. I would say it’s better now than it has ever been before. And it’s true, you’re not necessarily fighting, you’re having a disagreement, a talk, whatever. But we all do that. Just like the kids, you can’t get along twenty four, seven all the time, then that’s not a relationship.
01:04:08
I don’t know what that is, because you can’t get along all the time. You’re human. We are going to have disagreements whether it’s you put too much coffee in my too much coffee in my cream. That’s what I would drink. Okay?
01:04:24
I only drink the creamer part and he puts too much coffee in it and I’m like, please make that go away because it is too strong. So yes, that’s for me. Okay, there we go. You would have a disagreement about that, or you would picker about it, but that’s the whole point. That’s how you grow.
01:04:42
Otherwise, if you’re just always agreeing with each other, that’s not normal. You can’t always agree on everything. The whole purpose of the podcast is somebody out there could be listening that has a very similar story to yours and just wants to be inspired or hear the right word to just get out there and do this. How would you inspire them to get out there and make this big life change? Just go for it and see how it works.
01:05:06
Even if you’re testing something out and trying it out, you’re trying something that you wouldn’t have done before. You’re going to be fearful, you’re going to try something different and be able to experience something new, but you’re just doing this for you. And if not now, when? There’s no perfect time. No, there’s never a perfect time.
01:05:29
No, my gosh. We never would have left if there was a perfect time.
01:05:34
Oh, gosh. All right, so if anyone is looking to connect with you and wants to find you, how can they find you? We are on all social media platforms at we plus three. That’s three with three E’s at the end. Our YouTube, we’re trying to get back to long form, and so we’ve been able to post like 15 this past month.
01:05:54
And that was work, but we absolutely loved it. And so now my husband is back into the groove of editing and uploading. And so I’m excited to show more of long form content, but you can find us mostly on Instagram and I’ll post in stories daily and post on the wall. All right, so Instagram and YouTube mainly, and then all the other platforms as well. So I will add those links to the Show Notes page that you can find linked below.
01:06:22
And I just appreciate this conversation so much. This was wonderful. Thanks for sharing your story today. Yeah, thanks for inviting me on. Thank you for listening.
01:06:31
If you’re enjoying these stories, please leave us a review as it helps our podcast reach more listeners. For more information about this podcast with Show Notes link and more, please go to our website moresunsetspleas.com. If you know of someone with a great story, send an email to info@moresunsetsplease.com and I’ll be sure to get back to you. Until next time, keep taking time to enjoy more sunsets, please.
