Should someone else travel like we do?

(For an indepth article on this subject, go to our on line magazine - http://thelemonadedigest.com)

I had a question recently about whether or not we recommend people selling their home and going on the road. It is a very personal choice. Circumstances are so different for everyone. For us it has been wonderful and difficult at the same time. I have to ask myself continually if the difficult times would be any better in a home or is that just life with six kids. Does living in the camper help us to see the issues my children have and better enable me to deal with them than if we owned a home and I would not see all of the character problems they have?  Now, I am not saying my kids have a ton of character issues, I just mean that there is no hiding a bad attitude in 42’ with 7 other people.

A big difference for us is the age of our children. It seems that most full time travelers have older kids. Not us, we have ages 5 months, 2, 5, 8, 15, and 17. It is difficult to travel with the little ones. They get sick of sightseeing and being in the van too much. Yet, they love it at times also. It is hard, but yet I know this I what we are supposed to do. We do not want to go way in debt for another home so we will continue to travel until we decide not to. I think if I could have at least 10 acres with a pole barn or cabin on it to go back to, it would be just about perfect. We could travel 3 months then rest 2 months. It seems like after 3 months on the road, we are ready for a month break. There is so much involved in this. My husband works full time from his lap top, so we have to go where he has good internet, so we are in campgrounds a lot instead of the national forest like we had dreamed. We can't afford satellite internet that would make it possible to camp more remotely, so sometimes I am disappointed how much we stay in “parking lot” type campgrounds. Although, we have stayed at some pretty awesome ones, too.

Having the new baby was a bit of a surprise, a wonderful one though. He certainly has changed things. I have to constantly deal with bears, mountain lions, alligators, scorpions, and other creatures. It is hard to have children that are perfect size for a predator to eat. Being out in the forest hiking, I have to really watch out for the young ones.
Visiting people is one of our favorite things. We really enjoy spending time with family we have never met.
Oh, I could go on and on. I guess I would recommend keeping a home if you have it paid off or can afford both. We couldn't afford it, so we had to sell our home. I am going to start looking for a little land to build a little something on, for short stays and then get back on the road. Do you have an extra 10 acres?

I love traveling full time. Like I say, it is "wonderfully hard". I am happy we did this. It is days like today that make it worth it. I saw my daughter play her guitar on stage at a youth group. She sang and played a song all by herself. Oh, she was so beautiful. She looked like an angel singing to God our Father. Her voice rang and her smile spread love through the whole building. My son played drums and rocked the room, while I, mom, sat in my seat in tears at how wonderful my kids are. I walked back to the camper to find a 5 yr old "Rescue swimmer" with goggles and flippers on. My 2 yr old had goggles on with her princess dress. When we had a house we didn't have as much time together or time to do some of the little things in life. We are able to help many people and spend lots of time together. It is great, hard at times, but great.

(0ct 2012 - I wrote this post about 3 yrs ago.  I hope you go to our magazine to read my thoughts on the subject now.)