So not going to lie the second time heading out on the road lacked the WOW factor that the first time had for me. I guess it’s like most things in life that once you’ve done something once it’s kinda the “been there done that” mentality plus this time I almost felt guilty. I had doubtful and guilty thoughts this time about taking the kids away from school and their friends meanwhile trying to get back into the swing of living in a trailer again (200 sqft of shared space) when something amazing started to happen. We just started rolling again, getting into rhythm of making snacks for our daily hikes, exploring together, getting all tanned and sandy from the summer beaches we’ve visited so far and looking forward to the next stops we will be visiting. All this worry and doubt quickly vanished and now I am truly HAPPY and feel ALIVE again and so very very grateful we are doing this. Things that are different this time around is a new truck upgrade to a 2500 dodge ram and what a difference that vehicle has made on gas savings and easier towing and less stops! We can move quicker which is a total life saver because who wants to be in a long car ride with 3 kids longer then you have to right? Also we personalized our trailer a bit this time with a bedroom ‘reno’, it’s amazing what a little paint (ok a shit ton actually 6 coats!!!!) can do to lighten up our space. I’m loving our kid’s bunkhouse with a Dr Seuss wall decal and the kids love their personalized bed space. I have no idea why we were so afraid the first time to touch the trailer. Honestly if we could hire someone to paint the entire trailer we would do it in a heartbeat! Painting the trailer walls especially the almost black cupboards turned out to be way more work then Alex and I want to do so the rest of the trailer will stay in its original colours for now LOL. Lastly and probably the biggest change is, Alex is working from the trailer now and I have to keep the kids busy and quiet which is not always the easiest thing to do, but so far we are managing so keeping our toes crossed it keeps running so smoothly. Alex has all his gadgets and antennas on the roof to get a better wifi signal. We look like legit full-timers now! LOL. And while Alex curses over lack of internet in some places, I on the other hand have read a 1400 page book and not watched one ounce of tv, Netflix or anything at all since we hit the road 20 days ago. Besides thinking of “what the hell is happening with “Offred” from the Handmaid’s Tale” I’m loving the disconnect again. So the first few weeks of readjusting is over with and I’m really loving this lifestyle just as I was the first time around. This week in Maine we’ve done over 12 miles of hiking and swam in the freezing (12 degree) Atlantic ocean! I LOVE LOVE LOVE watching my kids climb mountains, jump in waves, spend quality time together making incredible family memories. Yesterday Madden carried a caterpillar in his one hand all the way down a mountain hike we did and talked to it the ENTIRE descent (over 1 hour) only to lose it while we got into the truck!! Lol I love watching Lennon and Shyla play name all superheroes in order of the alphabet while we hike and make up games together using their imagination. Last week we were in Old Montreal and besides the beauty of the old city and seeing my kids speak some French and learn a bit of Canadian history in the flesh, Shyla and I got to see a Barbie Expo with over thousands of Barbie dolls dressed in designer clothes, clothing from different eras, movie star remakes and more…it was sooo much fun and my inner child was squealing! At the end of this week we head to the Bay of Fundy and I am super stoked to explore the East Coast of Canada together. So here’s to my first blog on round two of 5freespirits and looking forward to all that is to come! Thank God I didn’t listen to those voices of doubt in my head! Xo
Its been almost exactly 10 months since we've been back from our previous 7 month RV journey and we've decided to do it all over again! It seems almost perfect that we're starting this next journey off on Canada Day as we had so many fond memories of last years Canada Day where we spent it in the beautiful Jasper, Alberta...to now kicking off our much anticipated East Coast adventure! We've been out East before, but never with the kids so we're really looking forward to showing the kids the beauty of Canada's East Coast including PEI, Bay of Fundy, Cabot Trail and so much more. This journey will be slightly different than the previous one given that we'll actually be true 'full-timers' this time around meaning we don't really have an end date in mind and I'll of course be working virtually as we travel while Wendy will be homeschooling the kiddo's as we move from one amazing location to another. We feel pretty fortunate to be able to do this again, but this day and age you can run a business from almost anywhere as long as you have a decent internet connection so why not try something fun, exciting and different? The 10 months we spent back in our hometown was really fantastic getting to reconnect with our close friends and family. That is definitely the biggest drawback to this lifestyle in that you can't bring your friends and family with you wherever you go so there certainly will be times where we'll miss everyone...so thank God for Facetime/WhatsApp/Skype etc. It helps for sure! We'll miss you all, but looking forward to staying connected at least virtually. Shyla and Lennon have even decided to stay in touch via the traditional snail-mail by sending postcards every once in a while. We'll see how long that keeps up, but I think its pretty cool that they want to keep in touch by writing their friends letters. I'm sure some of our friends and family are pretty surprised that we decided to do this AGAIN! But the truth is, despite having a great time when we returned home, visiting and hanging out with everyone, we also continued to long for more fun and more incredible travel experiences. Even when we managed to previously achieve such an incredible life-altering goal of quitting the 9-5 job, buying an RV, traveling all across Canada and the USA and opening my own business we still wanted more!! I guess that's the great thing about life...when you achieve something meaningful and rewarding, it shouldn't end there right? I mean how sad would that be if once you achieved an incredible goal you just packed it in and had no more dreams to fulfill in life?? That's just not how it works...at least not for us. We've just made our dreams even bigger this time around and I imagine once this adventure ends there will be another huge one waiting around the corner. So for those of you interested in our tentative travel plans...below is our general route and itinerary of where we'll be. After this East Coast loop we haven't yet fully decided where to next...we just know we need to avoid the winter :). Alex |
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