The story of the 104sq ft RV that housed our family of four

To live in an RV fulltime with children, you need to spend at least $40,000 on a bunkroom model
that's at least 35 feet long. Right?

WRONG!

Hey, if you can find it and honestly afford it, great! BUT those are not prerequisites to fulltiming! We started out with those beliefs and even bought that RV. It was definitely nice and comfortable with 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, full kitchen inside plus an outdoor kitchen, and three slide outs to make it even larger. It was like a condo on wheels. But it was more than we needed and there were disadvantages to our size. 

Our 37ft fifth wheel was difficult to manuever, parks often didn't have large enough campsites, and it always required us to plan ahead when driving so we didn't end up stuck in a place we couldn't get out of. Have you ever seen a fifth wheel do a u-turn? There's a reason. 

We didn't plan on living in a 16ft RV for a year, it just kind of happened.

After living in our spacious 37ft fifth wheel for 3 years, we decided to begin traveling internationally the following winter. Not sure if you realize it, but not many people are shopping for RVs during the winter. We wanted to sell while the market was good and we needed a smaller RV to easily explore the narrow roads and low bridges in the northeast. We intended to only be in it for six months, just until we flew to Spain, so our biggest concerned was resale value instead of the long list of requirements we thought we needed for our last home on wheels.

We purchased this cute little toyhauler for $6000 and I immediately began remodeling. I painted EVERYTHING- the walls, the ceiling, the cabinets. My mom came for a visit and helped me wallpaper the outside of the bathroom. I recovered the couch, made fancy curtains (thanks Pinterest!) and finished it off with touches from our favorite store Hobby Lobby. Then with both RVs parked next to each other, we moved in. Easiest move ever!

[Photos to be added later]

Life in our little RV began in Florida and took us up the east coast into Canada's New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island before heading back to Florida.

After a bit we found the downsides to going smaller- the biggest being a wet bath, basically a toilet inside a shower. It's so small we never used it as a shower. The bunk bed was a nice feature, however the bottom bunk was just a tad smaller than a standard full size bed, so my husband and I cannot comfortably share it. The kids and I ended up sharing the bunk beds while daddy slept on the couch that opens into a bed. It wasn't perfect, but it served our purpose. This was also a great way to decide what we can and can't live without in our next RV.

As I said we intended this to be a 6 month transition, but upon arrival in Florida we realized we needed to be closer to family for awhile. Another benefit of living in a small RV is that when visiting family, you can fit in their driveway or in front of their house without attracting a ton of attention like you would in a big RV.

After spending some time with family, the road was calling to us again. This time we headed west to visit friends in Las Vegas, stopping at national parks and favorite places along the way.

Back in Florida, just before moving to Ecuador for six months, we sold the RV thru Facebook marketplace in ONE DAY for nearly the same price we paid!

During the year we spent in our tiny RV, we attended church with Jimmy Carter, stood in the bedroom of George Washington during his stay at Valley Forge, and learned all about Minutemen in Massachusetts. We witnessed the largest tide change in the world at Hopewell Rocks, went clamming in the Bay of Fundy, counted falcons and helped release tagged butterflies in Cape May, New Jersey. We hiked Clingmans Dome in the Smokies, Cadillac Mountain in Acadia, and White Point in Nova Scotia. We encountered a bear with cubs along a trail in Shenandoah. Asher rode a motorcycle. We visited two zoos, multiple nature centers and museums, LEGOland and Dutch Wonderland. Took factory tours of Cow's Creamery and Hershey. We tried raw oysters, discovered we love clams and mussels and fell in love with hot, butter-dipped lobster.

We explored 37 National Park sites, 7 State Parks, and 5 National Wildlife Refuges!

We visited so many states: Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, Tennessee, Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey,  Delaware, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, plus Washington D.C. and three Canadian provinces- New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.

So, don't let the cost of an RV hold you back. Be responsible. Buy something within your budget for cash (and have money set aside for repairs. If you're having trouble with this, I HIGHLY recommend implementing Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace methods.) You don't have to spend a lot, and if you find a used RV for a good price, you may just be able to use it for a while and recoup your costs. But the memories you will make are priceless!

Exploring Ecuador: Quito

We spent five months living in Ecuador while helping an organization named ITEC (more on this later). We spent our first few days exploring Quito where we'd found a nice high rise apartment on Airbnb with floor to ceiling windows, a gym on the first floor and a lovely rooftop lounge with a view of downtown.

The place in Quito that I was most looking forward to visiting was Pichincha Volcano, but at nearly 16,000 ft elevation, we were advised to wait a few days to first acclimate to Quito's 10,000ft elevation. In the meantime we discovered some interesting places.

Our first stop was the Basilica del Voto Nacional, a neo-Gothic Roman Catholic church in Old Town. This, the largest church in Quito, was constructed in 1892 and features animals like frigatebirds and tortoises instead of gargoyles on the exterior.

To reach the lookout tower, you had to walk this path then climb quite a few very steep staircases. I was the only one that went all the way to the top.

The virgin on El Panecillo can be seen from the church. Just look on top of the hill between the two towers.

Historical Old Town is filled with narrow, steeply-sloped streets and tiny sidewalks.

Our apartment's location next to Carolina Park, gave us lots of opportunities to enjoy multiple nearby parks and a short walk to the grocery store. Grocery shopping in other countries is always a fun experience to see what new items are available. My kids especially love the fruit section.

The dairy section in this store in Quito was HUGE and the variety of eggs filled an entire aisle. Asher was excited to try some quail eggs. By the way, none of the eggs are refrigerated. 

And lollipops the size of their heads! Nope, sorry kids.

Even though it was February, the midday sun was quite warm and a t-shirt was sufficient, but mornings and evenings we needed a fleece or jacket. We later learned that while most of Ecuador has similar weather year around, Quito experiences more extreme weather fluctuations including flooding, snow, and ice storms. Our last morning I took a trip to the San Jorge Eco Lodge to walk their trails looking for birds. I was not disappointed!

I also visited the serpentarium to see the local species of snakes. Once we arrived in Shell, I was lucky enough to meet a man who supplied most of the animals on display there. In the past he would pay indigenous people $1 to bring the snakes they came across to him instead of killing them. He would keep them in his own collection or release them in a safer area away from people. Eventually he was no longer allowed to give anything in exchange, so unfortunately more snakes are being killed again. The time came to give up his collection, so he sent the snakes to Quito for display and educational purposes. 

Asher was very curious about Ecuador. In this photo he was writing down the population of Quito and comparing it to Florida, a fun world schooling memory for me.

Five years

April marked FIVE YEARS since we sold it all and hit the road, and at this point we are currently living in Ecuador. How did we wind up here? I'll come back to that. We ended up spending four and a half years living in an RV full-time while traveling the US and Canada soaking in the gorgeous views and history North America has to offer. Our plan for year 5 was to spend more time exploring other countries, but that was postponed to spend much-needed time with family. We picked a spot near family that we could use as a home base when we aren't traveling. Last year we spent 6 months at our home base and 6 months traveling- our longest trip away being a roadtrip from the east coast to Las Vegas and back, plus a couple trips up to Ohio. We added two new states this year: Oklahoma and Arkansas, which leaves us 3 states short of the full deck: Minnesota, North Dakota and, weirdly, South Carolina.

This year we dug for diamonds in Arkansas, discovered a new favorite hike at Tent Rocks in New Mexico. We watched our kids gaze for the first time into the depths of the Grand Canyon. We kayaked with manatees and monkeys in Florida. In Ohio we held BlueJays and the largest bullfrog in history, ok, maybe not, but he was huge. I saw a Snowy Owl, a Kirtland's Warbler and a Shoebill Stork this year. We hosted two exchange students, one from Spain and the other from China.

We became active in recruiting potential bone marrow donors after meeting a very special mom and little boy who are desperately looking for his match. (See if you're a match HERE.)

We had some interesting things happen, like the time Asher had a scorpion on his neck, and when the kids were invited by a pilot into the cockpit on one of our flights.

Back at the cabin, we adopted two snakes (a ball python and a baby corn snake), a black bear became a regular visitor, a dog vs water moccasin showdown resulted in the death of both participants, and an alligator walked thru our yard!

We hugged our sweet Bella for the last time and left our sweet Asa with my mom. That was super hard, but again, we expected to be mostly traveling internationally which would not only be difficult, but not in her best interest.

We toured the offices of ITEC where they opened our eyes to a new way of sharing the gospel. This lead to an opportunity for us to join ITEC on a trip to Kenya to train locals while the twins enjoyed quality time with their grandparents and cousins. While there we learned much about Kenyan and Maasi culture. We went on safari and saw giraffes, monkeys, rhinos, and of course amazing birds. Then we spent time in Uganda with old friends.

We've been wanting to learn Spanish and give the kids more cultural experiences. An opportunity arose for us to help at ITEC Ecuador for 6 months, so here we are. Details of our life here will follow in future posts.

Hello Vegas

After two years away, it's nice to be back in Las Vegas, a city that was our home for ten years. We took the kids on a hike up Lone Mountain with Courtney and DeAnn for a new perspective of the city.

Visited our favorite horses and friend, Sydney, before taking a ride at Horses4Heroes at Floyd Lamb Park. The kids used to take weekly riding lessons here.

Floyd Lamb is one of my favorite places in Vegas. Aside from the animals at Horses4Heroes, there are tons of peacocks, rabbits and birds gathering around the lakes. It's a fun place to be.

A beautiful Ruddy Duck.

This gosling had something wrong with him. At this moment both geese were picking on him. We shoed them off, but explained to the kids what was likely to happen once we left. The circle of life is harsh sometimes.

Asher and Journey reunited with their friends Jett and Ava.

My friend Danyell blessed us with a night at Red Rock Hotel which we turned into a slumber party with the Durens. Danyell met us for a ladies night of Bingo which is actually quite fun! 

Our first night in Vegas we stayed at the refuge, so I could be out birding before sunrise. I met two birders on the trail and ended up birding with them for the next three weeks. Here are a few of the birds we spotted. Some from Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve.

Wilson's Phalarope spinning in circles

American Avocets

Black-Necked Stilts

And a lizard.

Marc and Eliana are Birding By Bus from Miami, Florida to Attu, Alaska and back during their big year. I had the pleasure of meeting them and birding together at the Desert National Wildlife Refuge on their way thru Nevada. Great people I can't wait to see again!

My friends Lansing and Mandy met us at the Discovery Center so all the kids could play together again. Super fun day playing in the nursery, the cafe and getting lost in the five story climbing tower!

We conducted our first Bone Marrow Registry drive in the hopes of finding our friend Heston's match.

While going thru the things we had left at a friend's house, Daddy found his medical records....this is only THREE years of documentation! Yikes!

We split our stay between Lisa and Dan's and Richmond and Robyn's house. Lisa's kids are so very adorable so we were happy to finally spend time with them. My kids were also happy to catch up on the Food Network's Kids Baking Championship. 

We found some interesting creatures at their house, like this large lizard.

One night after we had the kids lay down to sleep, Asher called for us saying there was a scorpion in his room. In 10 years of living in Vegas, I had never seen a scorpion inside a house, so I was a little skeptical, but I also had flashbacks of the time Asher found a snake in our closet! He told us it was on his neck and he calmly waited for it to crawl off before calling for us. After a frantic search, we found the little guy, a Bark Scorpion, the most venomous species in Nevada. It was a bit hard to sleep after that.

The next morning I went out to the refuge and bought a black light flashlight so we could check the house for scorpions. They glow so bright, you can not miss them with this light. We all slept better knowing the house was scorpion-free after that.

When we moved into our RV four years ago, Richmond and Robyn happily took care of our Bella. She could not handle being left alone in our old RV, so we knew she wouldn't enjoy living in one fulltime. It was a hard decision, but absolutely the right one. We were coming up on Bella's 12th birthday this year, and although we'd been warned about the weight she'd lost and her getting sick often, seeing her so thin was still a shock. I could tell she didn't have much time left. Saying my final goodbye to her was very difficult, but I'm so glad I had the chance, as she has already passed away as I write this. She was a great dog. She had so many adventures and the love of two families, more than any dog could ever hope for. We love you Bella!