Over the mountains and thru the woods to Missouri we go...

After spending many hours researching campgrounds and bible camps to do missions work at, I thought I had a pretty good plan. We'd leave the Mesa Verde, Colorado area and spend the winter wandering around New Mexico, western Texas, back to parts of Arizona then north again in the spring to explore Utah and then Hwy 50 going east thru Colorado again for the fall.

But, what was I thinking?  Why do I even waste my time making plans?

My dear hubby sat me down one morning, about a week before we were set to leave Colorado. He told me that  he felt we needed to go back to Missouri. There was a camp there that we loved and they would be needing new camp hosts next fall.  Shae wanted to look into taking it over. It is on about 1500 acres with two beautiful lodges, four large pools, outdoor activities, and a five bedroom log home.  The wages aren't great, but we thought Shae might be able to keep engineering some to bring in extra cash.

When I heard him say, "I think we need to go back to Missouri."  I almost tipped over.  What about my plans for the grand adventure around the south and then west again?  Zion, Bryce Canyon, off roading in Moab and Colorado.  Visiting family in Texas, Arizona, and again in Colorado. I was hoping that maybe, just maybe we could rent a condo on a beach in Texas for Christmas!

Missouri!  I love Missouri, but I had no desire to go back.  We had just been there in May and it was only November.  We hadn't been gone that long!

I controlled my tongue and facial expressions.  I love my husband dearly and decided I really needed to consider what he was saying.  Here was a great opportunity to honor him and his ideas.  Boy, I must admit, it wasn't as easy as I would have liked.  I knew I needed to be open to this not just in my facial expressions and lack of words - but also from my heart. 

If honor is not from the heart - it is not honor.

We discussed the idea thoroughly and I never really liked the thought of going back, but I love my hubby and trust his judgement.  The camp we were going to was wonderful,  a great place for everyone in the family, except not everyone in the family was looking forward to going back.  Only Shae and Cody wanted to go. 

It was growing for all of us.  Trust.  Peace.  Love.  Joy.  One thing I have learned on this trip and in life is that our happiness should not depend on where we are camped.  Our happiness comes from the Lord.  Our happiness does not revolve around our circumstances but instead around our inner peace and joy.

So, off we went. The four day trip back to Missouri was a tough one, but we made it.  The fall colors were gorgeous and we were welcomed by so many wonderful friends and family. 

We rode our ATVs and UTV in the Ozark Mountains and hiked the trails that wind through the hills.

Seeing my mom is always wonderful.  She lives in the Ozarks and looks forward to our coming back every year.  Usually we all put on weight from her wonderful cooking. 

Camping with off-road vehicles

Recently a question came across the Facebook page for full-time traveling called Families on the Road. A gentleman wanted to know how campgrounds and state parks react to off road vehicles, ATVs in particular.

We have been traveling full-time for over three years and during that period we have hauled our off-road vehicles across the country. As we made the hard choices of what to bring on the road and what not to, our ATVs were something that had to come. Off-roading is something my husband and I have done since we were very young and is a family hobby we all enjoy. It was hard to imagine traveling to so many beautiful places and not get to experience from the seat of a four wheeler.

There is something different when you experience nature while being in it rather than driving by it in a vehicle or taking the same tour that hundreds others have taken that same day. Sure, we do those things, but sometimes we come across a place that is only accessible by off-road vehicle and that is when the fun begins.

Before I get all weepy eyed telling you the wonderful adventures we have had together in the wilds of America, I will get to the logistics of traveling with off-road vehicles.

This is how we do it.

We have a 42’ Toy Hauler fifth wheel camper. The back end of the camper comes down to form a ramp that we can drive our ATVs into. The room is 8 ½ by 12. The floor is rubber and has places for tie downs to attach. We payed the extra money to get a gas tank that is under the back room. It has a nozzle to put the gas into the ATVs. I must admit, we rarely have used it. I don’t like to have gas fumes in our camper. Call me crazy, but I like all our brain cells. I think my husband and son have lost enough siphoning gas out of our van for the ATVS.

When we started our trip we actually used the garage area to store our ATVs. After we had our last child we decided to take them out and make that back room into a permanent kid’s room. It has carpet on the floor, toys everywhere, and school books on the desk.

We bought a second vehicle, a 15 passenger van, which I drive. It hauls a 16’ flat bed trailer with four ATVs, 4 kayaks, a Kawasaki Mule, and bikes. My husband is a master at putting them all on like a puzzle. Tie downs, straps, and more straps are used to hold everything snuggly in place. He checks and re-checks each strap before we head out and at every stop to make sure it is safe.

My husband drives a Dodge Dually one ton pickup that pulls our camper. I drive in front of him with the van and flat bed. He stays behind to make sure the trailer is pulling right and everything is secure.

Not all campgrounds like two vehicles and two trailers. But, most don’t mind a bit. They usually have a spot for us to park our extra vehicles.

State parks are different. Usually they charge per vehicle and trailer. Some have even charged per kayak and ATV even though we weren’t going to use them there. Needless to say, we didn’t stay at those.

National campgrounds are more tolerant. They usually don’t care if you park on the grass, how many vehicles you have or how many people. They almost always are friendly and courteous. Some have a two week limit but others do not. Camping spots are usually larger and more space in between.

As far as riding on state or national campgrounds – they do not allow it. No riding on their property. They do not mind us parking our flat bed with the toys on it but by no means are we to ride them around.

We try to always let them know that we have no intention of doing that.

So, sometimes we have to trailer our off-road vehicles and other times we try to camp near a national forest so we can ride from our camper.

Each state has different regulations as far as stickers required to ride there. Different counties have different regulations also so be sure to check out local laws before making your camping reservations.

Now, to the cry me a river part of my post. I just have to write it, though. I want you to know why we go through the trouble of hauling these expensive toys across the country.

Life has never been easy for us. My husband was severely ill for 13 years with nerve damage to his face. When he was finally well, he decided to do this trip. Once again, life was not easy. Our first year on the road was really hard. That is why we did year two. The first year was not what we thought it would be so we wanted to keep going so we could experience the wonderful times on the road that we had sacrificed so much for.

Badlands of South Dakota

We love traveling now, but it is still hard. So, when things get tough, we leave our camper and go into our huge back yard, the United States. When I jump in the Mule with my kids and we head up a mountain to explore this amazing country of ours, all the troubles of yesterday, today, and tomorrow just melt away. Nothing else matters when we are traveling down a road with the wind in our hair and the dust at our back. We never know what is around the next bend; sometimes a mud hole and other times the most beautiful aspen forest or mountain.

We have ridden in deserts, mountains, forests, and near lakes and rivers. I love to bike ride, but I cannot take six kids on bikes 40 miles around a mountain or desert in a day. Driving through the landscape in our van is nice but how much better when we can get off the main road and be in the landscape instead of just viewing it.

I pray that God would give us a treasure when we head out on an adventure. We might find a beautiful tree or a sparkling stream. Sometimes the treasure is a rock worn smooth by the wind or a deer that lopes through the woods. Treasures are to be found everywhere if we just slow down our busy lives and take the time to look.


ride to the San Juan Mts outside of Mancos, CO

I can hardly wait for hunting season to be over so I can grab my kids and head out into the woods to learn about trees, fishing, hiking, beaver dams, deserts, drought, floods, and sun…by being in it, on our off-road vehicles.

Gabriel and I go for a winter ride in Mark Twain National Forest , Missouri

Cody on his ATV enjoying the desert in Arizona

Shae misses his KTM. He sure enjoyed while he had it!

Our family enjoys picnics up in the mountains.

We love to ride where the van can't go.

Wild, Dangerous Beasts are Everywhere!

One of my bigger problems is all of the dangerous animals we encounter in our travels.  I have kids of all ages and it seems that most places we go they are like bait.

Last year we spent the winter in central and south Florida.  I couldn't believe all of the alligators!  They were everywhere.  One campground had a pond in it, and guess who lived there?  Yes, an alligator!

The parks we walked in and playgrounds we played in had signs everywhere that said to beware of alligators!  Why in the world have they not killed them or at least relocated them?  Kids run right by those ponds every day!

This sign is found on the way into the Florida Keys!

Then, of course, there were the sharks in the ocean.  I have never let my kids watch Jaws, and never will.  We had a lot of fun playing in the surf and kayaking the waves.  Cody got a little freaked once when he saw something swim by him in a wave, while he was on the kayak. 

Cody on his kayak at Playa Linda, Florida

I actually paid to hold an alligator!  I rested it on by pregnant belly.  The kids thought I was crazy!
 But then they did it, too!

We can't seem to get away from snakes.  I grew up in the northwoods of Wisconsin.  Nothing deadly can live up there, except bears, lymes disease carring wood ticks, and millions of mosquitos.  But, when I was a kids I didn't even really notice them.  Up there, though, no poisonous snakes.  I could walk through a swamp and not even worry about it. 

Living in Missouri, I have had to get used to copperheads.  We had 13 on our property one year!  We saw one in northeast Kansas, in Marysville.  It got real close to Shae and Josie.  Shae was so mad at it, he chased it down the hill with a tree branch, trying to kill it!

There was one, huge rattlesnake at Superstition Mt. near Phoenix.  He was right on the side of the trail, all coiled up.  Nasty thing. 

Heading into South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana brought a whole nother' level of beast.  Mountain Lions are down right evil.  I hate the way they watch us at the zoo.  Then the black bears, grizzlys, and moose, sure keep us on our toes.  I remember hiking in Glacier National Park.  We all sang, "This is the Day", clapped our hands, rang bells, carried bear spray, and stayed together as we walked to see an amazing water fall.

While at Yosemite, we giggled that the sign said to not even leave food in the open because bears will break into our cars! 

We did see a grizzly and two black bears at Glacier National Park.  I was thankful we were in our van, but just in awe of those magnificent creatures.  Now, if I had been on foot, it would have been another story!

A grizzly at Glacier National Park

A black bear at a bear encounter in Bozeman Montana.

 A black bear at Glacier National Park eating huckleberries.

Black bear in Glacier National Park

Yummy huckleberries

Grizzly at bear encounter

Since being in Missouri, we have killed 3 rattlesnakes and two or three copperheads!  I can't believe it!  I have decided there is nowhere safe, no place is free of its beasts, I just have to learn to live with them, or at least in the same forest as them.  Now, if they come after me or my kids, well, that is another story.  I have hunted my whole life and am not afraid to kill an animal of any sort.

I remember in Key West, there was a scorpion.  It was on my kid's toys.  I took their play hammer and beat it so badly that the only thing that was left was a claw!

I unloaded a whole clip on a copperhead, just to make sure it was dead.  I didn't want to get close to check, so I just kept shooting.

Now, I did check the law, and it is illegal to kill poisonous snakes in Missouri unless they are a threat to people.  Well, all of these were in our yard and where the kids play.  We had to kill them.

Speaking of scorpions, there was a very poisonous one sitting on our atv tire when we were in Arizona.  Cody kept it in a cage for a while until it climbed out.  It was a good thing he didn't have it in the camper! 

Lastly, Cody was riding his atv this afternoon and came across a huge tarantula.  I am thankful they aren't very harmful.  He wanted to catch it of course.

We try to read up on what are the dangers in a particular area or state.  Education is the one of the best deterrents to fear.  We try to learn all we can, and then do all we can to not be a victim.  Beyond that, it is out of our control. 

We pray and trust and have a lot of fun!

There is always something, everywhere.  We enjoy our trip and deal with what each day brings.

Sorting the camper and taking a break

Thank goodness the worst is over.  I can't believe how much stuff we had crammed in 42 feet.  Bad news is that we filled our storage trailer.  We have had to stuff boxes in my mom's attic.  She has been so great to let us do that.

Traveling full time can get exhausting.  We have hardly gone anywhere the last five weeks.  It is nice to just park it for a while. 

We have decided to wait to buy some land for a home base.  We do want to keep traveling, but would like a piece of property to come back to.  But, at this time, we decided it is not right for us.  My husband told me he is concerned about his job.  His company is very successful, but might have to lay some people off this fall if a few things don't change.  He has had two job offers recently and turned them down, so I hope that if he does get layed off, there will still be some opportunity there for him.

Of course, he would love to write about ATVs and ride them for a living.   Cody is doing great with his writing for the ATV Magazine Blog.  We are so proud of him and hope some doors open up there.

We still don't have a clue where we are going next.  We have narrowed it down to North, South, or West. 
Guess that is still pretty vague...ha ha ha

One of the reasons we did this trip was because we felt that our possessions were holding us back from doing the things we needed to.  But, I feel like we may have missed out on visiting some dear people while back in Missouri because we had to sort out so much stuff.  Of course, it takes extra long to do anything with six kids and one being a baby!  After all of this work, we are going to go have some serious fun and do some visiting.

Maybe we'll come see you next!

Gilbert Ray Campground, Sonoran Desert Museum, Saguaro National Park, and who broke our door?

Driving to Gilbert Ray Campground northwest of Tucson was quite a ride. 

Read my earlier post about getting lost and then add this story to it! 

We came in from the north.  We took W Avre Valley Rd from I-10.  Went west on it and then turned south on Sandario Road.  That goes for 10 miles or so until it reaches Mile Wide Road where we turned left.  That brought us past the Sonora Desert Museum and to the second entrance to the McCain Loop Rd where we went right to get to Gilbert Ray Campground. 

Let me go back to Sandario Rd.  It is so full of dips!  I was following Shae who was driving the truck pulling the camper.  I saw our things flinging up and down as he traveled somewhat slowly down the long road.  I just prayed the Lord would put angels to hold our things in place.  One of the hard things about traveling full time is that we got rid of most of what we owned.  We either gave it away or sold it.  I still have some in a storage trailer in our friend's cow pasture but not much.  I was always reminding myself that "I can't take it to heaven".  There were days that were more difficult than others as I saw things that I liked leave my home.  It was very character changing for me.  So, as I saw our things getting tossed around in the camper driving down the awful road, I had to keep reminding myself that it is just stuff.  I can't stress about it or worry.  It is a constant choice to keep things in perspective.  Yet, I know that we are to be good stewards of what God has given us.  Shae works hard to make the money that pay for everything we own.  So, I pray for God to protect our things from breaking, yet know that if I do lose something it is not the end of the world.

Shae was the first to go into the camper.  Things weren't terrible in the front.  The back was a mess.  Stuff had been tossed everywhere, but thankfully nothing was broken.  After about an hour of cleanup, the camper was back to normal.

There was a nice concrete pad at our site.

My teens do sword fighting for exercise in our campsite at Gilbert Ray Campground.

Gilbert Ray Campground is very nice.  I didn't ask if they had a shower house, I just assumed they did since they didn't have full hook ups.  I won't make that mistake again.  There is no shower house.  We planned on taking showers the day we arrived, so instead, we continued to stink.  Sink baths only last so long, so we did eventually take turns having showers outside.  I washed the girls hair with the outdoor shower.  One night, I went out after dark and started my shower.  The wind was so cold and I kept screaming quietly when the air would blow on me.  I found out there was a star gazing group just through the bushes.  I am sure they had a good laugh as they heard me freezing. 

The cactus were in bloom, so hikes were beautiful.  The bad part is that the rattle snakes were coming out and being found all over the campground.  That makes it hard with the kids running everywhere.  I had to be watching out all of the time.  There are also a lot of mountain lions in Arizona, so we had to watch the kids on any hikes we went on.  It makes it difficult with so many little ones.  I don't know how many times Gabriel almost fell into a cactus.  The spines on those things are huge!

We stayed in campsite C1, which is the biggest site in the campground.  They gave it to us since we had so two vehicles and two trailers.  It was nice to have some privacy.  It used to be the camp host site.

Of course, we loved the Sonora Desert Museum.  We bought a family year pass, so went 4 times in a week.  Josie loved all of the bronze animal sculptures.  She kissed them over and over.

There is so much to do there for everyone. 

The Saguaro National Park was just a few miles down the road.  It is amazing to drive through so many stunning cactus.  They have a great Junior Ranger Program there.  We always have Josie do the programs, even though she is a little young, at 3 yrs old.  But, it would be hard on her if Gabriel and Naomi always got badges as she didn't.  So, Shae took her and read her the questions and helped her find the answers.  When we went back inside to get their badges for completing the book, the Ranger at the counter looked unsure about a 3 yr old actually completing the older kids booklet.  She took Josie's book and began to ask her the questions to see if she could really do such a difficult book.  Josie answered every question correctly!  The Ranger told me, "I was sceptical that a 3 yr old could actually do this program, but I was wrong!  She did great!" 

We went for the drive around the scenic loop.  Shae stopped the van so we could look at the holes made in the ground by animals.  I opened the side door so the kids could see them.  As I went to close it, Shae told me he would do it by driving forward and then putting on the brakes.  Then, the door would slide forward and shut.  This is something he and I have done for years with different vehicles.  So, I sat back as he pulled forward, but he slammed on the brakes!  Wow!  We flew forward, thankfully in our seat belts.  The door rushed forward and smashed into the lock.  Well, it closed, but we were all a little surprised at the force of it.  He just cringed and kept going.  We enjoyed the rest of the drive down the terribly bumpy dirt road.  We were almost out of gas and I had read the map wrong.  I thought the scenic drive was a lot shorter than it really was.  So, when we arrived back at the visitor's center, we were very low on gas and now our sliding door wouldn't open!  The door jammed when Shae put on the brakes too hard!  The kids and I went back inside and left Shae alone to fix it.  I have learned over the years to leave him be when something like that happens.  We try not to bother him when he is fixing broken items.

He did fix it, though.  I was not surprised, he can do just about anything.  That is what is nice, if he can break it, he sure can fix it!

All in all, we had a wonderful time in that area.  We shopped at a grocery store that made me feel like we were in Mexico.  It was fun to try to figure out what to do with all the different foods they sold there.  We left the area ready to get to a new state and maybe some trees!