We May Be a Little Crazy

Man, it's been awhile since I last blogged. We had a very busy summer (so lots of blogging to try to catch up on), and our second year of homeschool is back in session. But those posts will have to wait for another day. Instead I thought I would share a bit about our upcoming trip.

Earlier this year, Daniel was looking into training he needed to schedule for work and an opportunity in northern Utah looked like the only option. Once he got approval to go, we started talking about how we might incorporate a family trip into his work trip.

Initially we considered just the two of us flying out for some quality time together, but the more we discussed it, the more we thought that it could be a good chance to take a big, amazing road trip as a family.

The idea of a road trip of this magnitude isn't completely new to us. We have hauled the kids (and our dog) to Canada multiple times, so we know they can handle long drives. But this trip would be more than double the length of our trips to Canada.

Throughout the summer we would periodically discuss our options, but the idea of a big road trip continued to come up during each conversation. Before we knew it, we were discussing the possibility of buying a camper and heading west.

July 4th was a test for us. We rented a camper and hauled it with our Land Cruiser for a camping and float trip with friends in the East Tennessee mountains. We had a fantastic trip (I still need to write about it), but the camper we rented was pretty small and the Land Cruiser really didn't have the towing capacity that we needed. So this led to a discussion on what kind of tow vehicle we might need (so now we were considering buying BOTH a camper and another truck or SUV).

I had actually been in a wreck earlier in the summer that totaled Daniel's daily driver (not my fault), so buying another car had been on our radar, we just hadn't committed to what were going to do.

After a lot of research, we agreed that an older Infinity QX56 would be a good fit for us (Daniel really wanted a big truck, but I pushed for an SUV since are planning to take our dog with us). In our hunt for this new SUV, we test drove an Armada, but felt like it wasn't comfortable enough for such a long road trip (we may be a little spoiled by the Land Cruiser).

The hunt for the right SUV, and subsequently the right camper, began in earnest at the end of July. Daniel had a chance to test drive a QX when he was in Kentucky for work. He didn't have a way to bring it home and ended up waiting the week before committing. In the meantime, the seller contacted him and said he would take any reasonable offer.

So on a Friday at noon, the kids and I picked up Daniel from work and headed to Bowling Green to buy the SUV. Before I left the house, I printed off a list of camper sales from the Nashville area Craigslist that we could look at if we had enough time.

As we made the drive to Bowling Green, Daniel voiced concern that maybe this plan to go to Utah in September was a little hair brained. I believe his words were, "Do you think all of this is really feasible?" Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. I'm the personality type to just go with the flow and believe that things will typically work out. Daniel is more the worrier and over planner.

Daniel leafed through my list of campers and one in particular caught his eye. It was a Sunline Transport Toy Hauler. It really matched our needs for a really reasonable price. So he made some calls to see if we could see it that night.

Unfortunately for us, the camper was located in West Tennessee, near Pickwick Landing. After our new SUV was purchased in Bowling Green, we headed back to Nashville to drop it off at my brother's house before driving further south to look at the camper.

We were hoping to arrive before dark in order to look at everything in good light. Between a stop at Chick-fil-a for dinner, Daniel going to buy a ball hitch for the truck, and multiple potty breaks (yay potty training!), we ended up arriving minutes after the sun set.

The couple selling the camper lived in a remote area, at the end of a bunch of twisty turns on a gravel road. Thankfully they were really nice people. They had set up spot lights all around the camper and answered all of our questions while the kids roamed around.

In the end we negotiated a price and they asked if we wanted to spend the night in the camper instead of trying to make it home since it was pretty late already.

Since we had been going to buy an SUV and not planning on anything else, we didn't have anything with us for an overnight stay. The couple offered to bring us sleeping bags and we spent the night in the camper (no water and no electricity). The kids thought it was a fantastic adventure!

When we woke up the next morning we realized we were right next to 80-feet of waterfront on the Indian River. It was a beautiful spot. I'm glad we got to see it. The kids had a blast fighting imaginary enemies with huge sticks and dipping their feet in the river before we headed home.

It was quite an experience and we came home with the two vehicles we needed for this big trip we plan to do. So, to answer Daniel's question, "YES! I think it's feasible that we will be heading west in September."

Since bringing the camper and SUV home, there have been several mechanical issues that have had to be addressed on both. Because Daniel functions as our in-house mechanic, this work has rested heavily on his shoulders.

The biggest issues with the camper were 1) it needed a brand new water heater (the old one was rusted), and 2) the axles are bent. This has really been stressing him out (from both a cost perspective and a time perspective). Thank goodness for internet businesses, UPS being able to ship almost anything, and friends who are willing to help him change out the axles when they arrive next week.

The current plan is to leave 11 days from today! Crazy! I have been working on our itinerary (the first iteration was 5,500 miles!). Daniel and I recently had a chance to sit down and talk about the trip, and he wants to add some places... so it may get longer! Realistically our kids and Sophie will be the deciding factor, and we may not hit all of the highlights we hope for. No matter what, I'm pretty sure it will be epic!

The first time Daniel backed our camper down our crazy driveway (with tight turns between trees and a retaining wall that drops off on one side), it took 45 minutes. Last week he did it in 15 minutes. That is encouraging! (Then yesterday he got it stuck and had to be creative to get it unstuck). We are excited and nervous and tired and hopeful about this trip. Sometimes you just have to jump into your dreams and push through the harder parts.

Back before the tiny homes craze (and before we had kids), Daniel and I lived in a camper for 3 months as we transitioned to living in a new state. It looks like that experience is going to come in handy for our upcoming trip...