It's been a while since I dropped by here because we have had some really busy days lately. As we are living in this in-between stage of "in the camper" but not "on the road," there are some challenges we still have to deal with that won't be present once we are traveling.

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Our oldest son, Bennett staring back at us through binoculars

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Checking the Mail - For us to check the mail we have to drive 45-60 minutes to pick up our packages or important letters we are still receiving from a relative's house. Not ideal to say the least, but she is giving us the assist by collecting our mail for us and sending us important things digitally once we are on the road. Right now, we are still ordering things from Amazon (that's going to be a hard tie to sever on the road) and it necessitates us going to get our packages at least once a week (depending on how immediately we need the item).

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Yoga Teacher Training - Hi. My name's Kate, and I'm soon-to-be a registered 200 HR Yoga Teacher. I am in fact still finishing my program while we are in Ohio, and that means that one weekend a month I am driving an hour away from the camper for training sessions. Fridays are hard nights because my training is 6-9pm, and I usually take my kids to my mom's house on those days to visit because Fridays tend to be "Mail Collection" days (see above). So Friday we all crawl back into the camper around 11:30, try to have a normal Saturday, and then I'm gone again on Sunday for the entire day (I leave at 7am and get back around 6/6:30 pm). Long, long days, between the driving and the physical exertion in the yoga training.

Family - While in this time of Covid-19 and social distancing, we do from time to time see family. That means at least an hour in the car, one way, every single time. While we will miss our family when we leave, this in-between phase is a bit exhausting because we are just close enough to still make space for those visits and just far enough away for it to be a full-day production (read: exhausting).

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Are any of these things terrible - hell, no. I'm grateful for all of them, but that doesn't mean that they don't exhaust me. In fact, the weekend before last, we should have gone to get our mail and I literally slumped my shoulders and asked Alex, "Can we just have one weekend where we don't leave? Please?" And we didn't. And it was nice to have nothing more to deal with than our responsibilities here at the camper.

Truly, there is enough going on here for us to keep busy with, and that's really saying something. But, today has been a good day. A full but well paced day that has felt more like a day of rest than many of the days preceding it.

Outdoor photo of Alex's outdoor cooking table. On the table there is a rectangular griddle cooking 2 bagels, bacon, and eggs.

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8AM - Devin wakes us all up. We start the routine.

Kate gets Devin up and changed while Ben talks Alex's ear off (yes, every morning).

Kate does her morning personal clean-up (wash face, put in contacts, brush teeth and hair, wipe down/ shower and generally freshen up) while Alex gets up, makes the bed into a couch, and makes eggs for Devin and gives Ben cereal and milk.

Kate makes coffee while Alex makes breakfast.

We eat breakfast, finish school, and clean-up. About this time we either go do something outside or quietly do something inside and Devin naps.

Indoor photo of Devin sleeping in his bunk. The view is largely obfuscated, and there are many blankets around him.

Between 12 and 1PM Devin wakes up from his nap

I make coffee and throw together a simple lunch.

Alex works, kids play, I usually do the dishes and tidy up the floors (vacuum if it's super crumby, clean the litter box, or broom up the linoleum).

A dutch oven hanging on a tripod over a campfire. Alex can be seen lounging in a chair, drinking from a cup in the background

4PM Devin sometimes naps and the rest of us shift outside to start thinking about dinner

I write a blog/ read/ hydrate and catch my breath/ make the side dish for dinner

We hang out around the fire until bedtime

Looking down at my rain boots while I am standing in a shallow pool of water in the woods. It is muddy, rocky, and there are leaves around my feet.

It's really not a lot on paper, but there are a million little things in between. Our days involve a lot of "set-up" and "tear-down" as we move all the Lego pieces of our life around to accomplish the day-to-day tasks. There are also frequent grocery/supply runs that spring up fairly spontaneously as a need arises for bread, milk, eggs, ice, or firewood are somewhat difficult to plan for.

But, I can honestly say, that even on my busiest days at the campground, I am more joyful and less stressed than I ever was in a traditional house. It's all the fresh air and sunlight. It is the best remedy out there for a bad mood, a bad day, or whatever happens to be causing overwhelm. We all have our weak moments, but it doesn't take much to snap out of it when I can walk out the door, walk into nature, breathe, maybe do some yoga, and just re-center my mind and emotions. It was definitely a lot more difficult to find that kind of space living in town. Sure, I could take a walk around the neighborhood if I needed it, but that kind of "nature" time is not the same thing. Out here it isn't manicured, it's more private, it's wild and natural and quiet. There's space in nature for whatever we carry with us, especially on our craziest days.

Camping-Life Before Traveling

A Day in the Life