Adventuring with different lifestyles...

That title could be taken in a wrong way. What I'm talking about is suburban vs. urban vs. rural vs. nomadic vs. small town living. We've done all of the above!

Suburban: When our boys were growing up we lived in the suburbs of Denver and loved it! Our jaunt with rural living had me wishing that our boys could have experienced that and I was telling my oldest this and he responded that he LOVED living the suburbs as a kid. So not knowing anything different I guess it was the best for them! We lived in one middle class subdivision for 9 years, then "moved up" a bit into a newer neighborhood and my boys enjoyed it there. We did too! It was what we needed and wanted in that season. 

Urban: We lived in urban areas when our boys were babies (Denver); for a 6-month stint when Austin was a Sr. in high school and loved it both times! I loved being able to walk to just about anything we needed. Homes were older but had way more character!

Rural: When we moved back to Texas we wanted rural... and we LOVED it! We had almost 3 acres; had chickens and a garden; were neighbors with goats, sheep, donkeys and horses. We loved the quiet and how bright the stars are at night. We loved not having to keep up with the Jones' with our "yard". We loved the slow pace and the down home folks. The only reason we left this lifestyle was to venture into nomadic living.

Nomadic: As most of you know, we lived and traveled in a fifth wheel for a year. We knew that this was probably a short term arrangement for us but we loved it all the same! 

Small-town living: Where we are now. We live in a town with a population of about 6000 people. We can walk to just about anything and can actually walk to the end of town in any direction and it wouldn't be hard at all! We love the quiet, the simple, the down-home folks. We have multiple Mexican food restaurants as well as many other very good places to eat. We have a very nice HEB, hardware store, department store and lots of convenience stores. We have a town square and a library and many churches. We have big store shopping anywhere from 15-40 minutes away depending on which big store you want to shop. We've only lived here 6 months but we feel like we have enough to realize which one we really like the most. 

Which one do you think we like the most?

Travel bloggers...

My two favorite travel bloggers are back on the road! I really enjoy reading about their adventures! You might too!

Rantin n Raven (A Life Made Simple)

We had the privilege of meeting Derek, Teresa and Cassia earlier this year as they passed thru Central Texas and we are hoping they pass thru again this year!

CozybeGone

We haven't met Jer and CJ YET... but she has followed our blogs for a while when they were preparing to hit the road and now they are living their dream! They have plans for Texas and we are hoping to meet them soon!

Change is in the air...

I've heard (and I'm sure you have too) that the only constant is change. We experience a change in seasons faithfully every year... but not only a change in seasons but changes within seasons. We've been experiencing the changes in nature with the coming of Fall... And we've experienced the newness of it over and over as we've driven south. One of our favorite drives recently was thru South Carolina. I know that SC is not a "known" beautiful Fall place but it was gorgeous! And we are so blessed to be able to experience it!

Change is in the air for David and I too! We are headed back home soon! Actually we are headed that way right now... and will be there before Christmas... Well before Christmas. Our extended stay in Wilmington took the wind out of our sails so to speak. We'd been missing home before our blow out accident and that was just what we needed to put our priorities back in the place they belong. In my last post I talked about being tired of chasing the dream life and stopping to building one... Well, I heard a song on the radio recently during our drive... It's an old Ronnie Milsap song... Smoky Mountain Rain... One line in it is "I've had a change of dreams I'm comin' home".  That pretty much says it!

One thing we've struggled with is feeling somewhat "obligated" to our readers... when you share an adventure with the public, other people who have similar dreams say they are "living vicariously thru you"... so being the people pleasers we are, we don't want to let those people down. But then we start talking about not living our lives for others, but living the life that we are meant to live and what is pleasing to God. We can only hope that our adventure inspires and gives our readers courage to do what it is they dream about.

I started this blog a little late in the game to reflect on how I see this adventure and how it changes me... While the traveling adventure may be coming to a close, I hope and pray that my life is always an adventure. So for the time being, I hope to continue blogging here about our new adventure (whatever that may be). 

Perfect?

And our life right now is FAR from perfect! We had a blow out yesterday of our front driver side tire on the truck. You can read the details here. So at this point we are sitting in a hotel room waiting. I have a feeling we are going to be doing a lot of waiting in the next few weeks!

Blessedly we are both okay, no physical injuries or soreness whatsoever; we are by the ocean; we have a place to sleep and bathe and eat until our rig is "cleared" for living in; and we have lots of people praying for our situation! And we are trying to be aware of why God has us here in this place at this time.

Homies...

I am a part of an online group of very special ladies... I've "known" some of them for 6 years now. Prior to our road trip I had only met one in person. She lived in the Dallas area when we were in Austin, so we met halfway two different times. So fun to meet an online friend and turn them into an "irl" (in real life) friend!

During this year of adventure, I want to meet as many of these ladies as I can! Our road travels are unfortunately not coming close to some of them so those meetings will have to take place another time.

However, I have met two of these ladies so far!

Back in April (our first month of travel), I had the privilege of meeting Raquel and her family!

We stayed in Bakersfield CA for a week so I got to spend more than just a day with her! She's a wonderful wife and mom and a divine cook! We more than enjoyed her creations!

This past weekend, I got to meet a Canadian friend, Annie, and her family!

Annie and her family are on their own adventure. They've recently moved from a small town in Canada to the big city of Toronto! We were parked not too far away in NY and couldn't resist the opportunity to do a bit of travel in Canada and visit Annie, Rob, Shaylin and Cheyenne! It was so fun spending an afternoon with them in their 7th floor apartment! (Another "lifestyle" I think would be fun to live).

All of these ladies have been an important part of my life. Who says online friendships aren't "real"! I know that I have an awesome opportunity to meet some of them in person and I intend to enjoy every minute! While we all lead different lives, are different ages (I'm old enough to be Raquel's mother), and obviously in different seasons of our lives we have a bond that is awesome! I told Annie, it was like we had known each other in high school and recently got back together! Except I did know what her house looked like (we share lots of photos)!

I'm looking forward to meeting up with two more in the next month or so! So you will see updates!

Let my soul rise up to meet you as the day rises to meet the sun...

 Sunrise: from the inside in Gordonville, TX

 Sunrise: Albuquerque NM

 Sunset: Bakersfield CA

Sunset: Caldwell ID

 Sunset: Twin Falls ID

Sunrise: Loveland CO

Sunset: Golden CO

 Sunset: Littleton CO

 Sunset: Ogallala NE

Sunset: Greenwood NE

 Sunset: Sandusky OH

 Sunrise: Sandusky OH

As you may have noticed... there are more photos of sunsets than sunrises... I'm awake for sunrises... just not out taking photos!

Travel day...

Haven't had one of these in a while! And it was great getting back on the road after a month-long stay! D got back into the hang of pulling our home and we had some great conversation! We tend to get into a philosophical mood and conversation when traveling. Sometimes we use 365 Thought Provoking Questions, other times we come up with our own.

So we are settling in here in Sandusky, Ohio. Very nice campground, very empty. We are close to the highway, but we don't mind the highway hum.

D's already gone down to check out the pool... uh, it's 75 degrees (air temperature)! I can just imagine how cold that water is! This is Fall weather! And I love Fall!