Wanna Big Life? Big life big decisions. But what if we’re wrong? What if God had different plans?
I used to think there was one partner, one church, one home, and one city for me. I’ve found that God is much bigger than one…He is the One.
It’s been 15 years since March 3, 2004, the accident that changed my life (for the positive). I’m grateful for that day, because though it started one of the hardest journeys I hope to ever have to live, it also was the beginning of a life I love now. A gateway and perfect marker for the old and the new.
The day following the memorialaversary, March 4 this week, I read this passage sent by Mom, as we contemplate a big move and big decision. It speaks to who I am, am becoming and where God is in the midst of Charity’s and my BIG LIFE family decisions.
For the week of the 4th of July the Bonga’s let us crash at their Lake Michigan “Cottage”. This is what the beach looked like – All toys galore! So much fun!
Kiki’s beach take off for waterskiing!
Beach Volleyball!
New Friends!
Dune Buggy rides with the crew!
We stayed up late every night – but how could you not?
Do not skip Louisiana & Mississippi Travel. Several of our friends warned us not to stop in Louisiana as we fired through the South. Glad we didn’t listen. The history is so rich and the food is so good.
Coming from the deep cultural abyss of Orange County, CA Louisiana has been a refreshing look at American history, deeply rooted cultural foods, and a look at some amazing bayou and swamp habitats full of grasses, osprey and alligators.
What to do in Louisiana & Mississippi Travel?
Eat some serious Cajun, Creole, and Beignets –
Food! Yum. Sadly when I think of American food, I think, Pizza, Tacos, and Espresso…guess I don’t think american at all…but reach to the South and you’ve got all kinds of goods.
Cajun crawfish season is at its peak in April. Two of our favorite places we tried them were Crawfish Town USA, near Lafayette, LA…a recommendation of a friend from LA and this really quaint little town of Ocean Springs we found this big dish of Crawfish by the pound at Crawfish House. Both places served crawfish by the pound (about 2.85 per pound for 5 pounds or more). 4 to 5 pounds of boiled crawfish per adult was what we ordered…but met a guy who put away 15 pounds after fishing all day. (There’s mostly shell, not a lot of meat to the crawfish)… one lady was sitting a table away sucking the brains out of all her 5 lbs of crawfish…we didn’t.
We all got a taste of Cafe Du Monde and Cafe Beignet’s signature beignets. Cafe Beignet was our favorite, but we were all happy to participate in the comparison taste test.
Visit some of the richest American History
New Orleans is full of all kinds of flavorful, mixed, old and new history. It’s very obvious the recovery from Hurricane Katrina is still in motion, though it happened in 2005. New homes, and broken pieces of docks dotting the area (and even into Mississippi). We visited the Presbytere Museum (Katrina Museum and Mardi Gras exhibits)…and was a reminder of the wild power of God’s created earth, and the wild craziness of people who live to party.
Learning about Hurricane Katrina & the devastation.
A quick horse-drawn carriage ride guide gave us the history of Jean Lafitte — a 19th century Robin Hood privateer, pirate, entrepreneur, diplomat, spy, hero of the Battle Of New Orleans.
Tour Swamps, bayous and see Alligators:
No visit to the south would be complete without a swamp tour. We got to see the giant lizards (actually aren’t lizards, and bite harder too) from a boat at Breaux Bridge with Champagne’s Swamp tours. Tons of wild life and NO Mosquitos thanks to the swamp trees natural repellent. Coming from little San Clemente, these creatures are as impressive as bears, but tons to see, and they are right near the boat…wouldn’t want to swim here, but people do.
So great! We saw more than 20 Alligators. This one is just a few years old.
Our next stop down at Ocean Gulf Islands National Seashore. The park was awesome, showers in the campground rocked, clean and warm. But the most fun we had was riding the local bike trail through town, and visiting the Visitor’s Center, where we happened on a free one hour Bayou by Boat tour from the National Parks Ranger. They offer it every Monday and Saturday. Free, but by Reservation.
Yeah, we’ve heard it more than once. “You full timers?” What is a Full Time RV family? That’s us, we’ve been on the road from San Clemente, CA February 28 to now April 6, 2017. We won’t have a brick and Mortar house until at least March 1, 2018 unless we take to the life of Nomadism as a family…we’ve really enjoyed the flexibility and joy of spending time watching the girls discover…(we’ll be back, but this experience is one of the best we’ve ever had as a family.
We’ve been having fun, learning a ton, and hopping around the states; currently in Houston, Texas and headed to the NASA center. We are loving time as a family, and have been blogging pretty infrequently *of course you’ll see more updates on the Wenginit Facebook Page .
We had some fun this week, as Charity went producer, director, and choreographer on our first month on the road.
Thanks for joining us and we’ll send more along the way.
It’s difficult, to pack a family of 5 for a Year living in a trailer around the United States?
Yikes-Packing a family of 5 for a year living in a trailer makes this real! Funny as it is, Charity has a thing for “little”. Tiny houses, tiny people, and well that’s probably why she married me…who knows. So this is a BIG tiny dream come true for her.
So how do you do it? Ever wonder How to Pack a Family for a Year in a Trailer…we just finished packing our 1,600 feet four bedroom house into one Pod storage box. 3 kids, Mom and Dad all moving from our house into our 224 square foot Airstream Travel Trailer. You take all the essentials and pile them up, then go through it 6 more times jettisoning everything that even crosses your mind as a “will I need this?”.
Irony is we are doing what I’ve made fun of my whole life. I spent countless jokes at the expense of mobile home dwellers and making stupid comments about “trailer trash”, and later joking that I’d probably end up “living in a van down by the river”. Here we are taking my 3 girls and wife to “live the dream” of living in a trailer. And lately I’ve been thinking the dream might just be in the nightmare genre…I’m a little scared…naysayers have been few, but vocal. But, I keep holding onto this: traveling lights up every piece of life’s passion I have in my body. Since I was a little boy, every time I’ve jumped on a river guides raft, or skied, or been on a hike in the mountains with a guide, or carved through single track on my mountain bike, I have thought if only I someday get to do “that” (insert cool 20 something adventure guide summer job), or conceded that in the passing of time I might have missed the opportunity to live a grand adventure. But that’s short-sighted and lame…a weak-ass excuse for living a passive, static, and stuck life. I’m done with that thinking. I want to live big and take my family along for the epic adventures, too.
So “why” really boils down to this. Charity is “down” for the adventure of living, working, playing, and schooling on the move; and we have work flexibility that allows us to do it from just about anywhere. We (and Chase Bank) own a home in San Clemente. This is a a year of firsts, we’ve become first-time land lords and given up San Clemente residency till March 1, 2018.
I made a quick journal entry February 25th, 2017 – 3 days before we launched from San Clemente
We load up and roll in 3 days, discovering the U.S as a family of five in our 31′ Airstream trailer. As excited as we are to start our year long “tiny home” adventure it’s beginning to settle in. I am a bit scared…how will the girls do? Will I still be able to be as productive as I need to be as operate a truly “mobile office” as we roam? I’m gonna miss people and regular SoCal life by the beach. Community is something I take for granted but need to thrive. How are Charity and the girls going to fare with the “homeschool” life?
Lots of questions, but a ton of fun to challenge status quo and GO!
Pods really made our Short term move easy…short term moves are normal for college kids; everything fits in the back of a hatchback. But for good reason, families settle down and steer clear. This move was easier than ever – skipping the garaged boxes and loading directly into the Pod sitting in the driveway. We loaded, locked, they picked up, and all of our stuff disappeared for a year. Then, magically, when we come back the ONE Pod will reappear … and the move is done. (Thanks to Dave Jansen’s persistence to use literally every inch of the pod), we sent one back empty and jammed our whole earthly belongings into one 8×16′ Pod…with the exception of what we’re taking with us for the year. There is a possibility we’ll just dumpster dive 50% of what we packed and paid to store this year, when we get back.
We’ve done a lot of consolidation in order to keep things light and small enough to fit all 5 of our “wares” to live in 224 square feet for a year… nice , but I wonder: “I might want my clothes back from Goodwill after we got home.” Nah, who am I kidding, 90% of my clothes are T-shirts from Over the Hump, Ride for Rwanda and Revolution Bike Fest ..the rest are clothes Charity brings home, when she realizes my boxers are showing through the holes in my jeans… [Here’s a little fun fact…I actually have not had to downsize my closet space a lotted to me in our home to fit in the trailer). My closet space at home is only 8 cubic feet bigger than the closet space in the Milly the Airstream. Charity has the other 224 cubic feet in the home closet.
With all that consolidation it’s official, after this trip, I might need to buy 2 new pairs of jeans to get my wardrobe back to what it was before we left. But I am not going to miss any of the crap in the attic or garage.
The end of our year is about Launching our Family Camping Adventure via Airstream.
We’re getting ready!
Short version… we’re taking our family on a long-ish roadtrip in 2017
We love the life we live. Hard? Sometimes. Hey that’s part of the adventure.
Just bought a used 2006 Airstream 31 foot trailer!
Next we will be making some interior updates, and modifying the main bedroom into a bunkhouse.
Our house will be rented. We may need a place to come back to if we don’t take a permanent detour. (Hey Mobile Home living sounds amazing if it comes with river front property, right?.)
Haven’t lost you yet, ok, here’s the missionary slide version (read and your own risk).
Why? Life moves at light speed with commitments, friendships and work; AND we have always loved to travel. Camping with our 3 girls the past 4 summers has cooked up som quality family time, while challenging our everyday routine. Middle school is coming, so we’re slowing down the clock, shacking up in a 224 square foot Silver Bullet, while cruising the America!
WHY?
“If you can… you must.”
Call it moral a obligation! Are we crazy? Maybe, but we want to take the “dream” life to the road?
THE HOW: Matt will work from the road, and Charity will home school the girls. Caves, crocodiles, and the Smithsonian will raise some pretty world-class educational experiences and tall tales; and yes we plan to have some grand adventures along the way.
WHEN: First it was 2018, then we blinked and said, “WHY WAIT”. So we targeted March, 2017; the departure date is a touch suspect; we’ve had some life shifts that have made us keep the date “flexible”, so we’ll keep you posted on details. Yeah, we’re gonna Bloggggg.
WANT TO COME?: We may not be able to take you, and hey, you may not even “want to go”. But if you read this far please consider to discovering the road with us. Stay in touch and let’s keep sharing life together. We love doing life with you, and are so blessed you are a part of our life (not just our Christmas Card List).
WHERE: We’ll start in the South and head to the East…we’ve made some loose plans, but the specifics will be worked out along the way; part of the adventure.
ARE YOU COMING? Jump on the Virtual Reality Camper