Proffer’s RV Adventure

So, we’re currently pulled over off the interstate in an RV in Wyoming waiting out some rain. Seems like as good a time as any to start chronicling our adventures on the road, yes?

Perhaps we should start at the beginning. About 2 and a half years ago, a family in our church had decided to take an RV to California to help with the fires there (the hubs is a lineman). We stood in Panera listening to the wife explain how, since they homeschool, they all agreed to throw in and move there. When we got in the car, Dan asked me what I thought about that. Would I want to ever pack up and just go? Travel again like when we were first married? It was intriguing, but not exactly doable. Yet.

Fast forward about a year. Every other month or so, Dan would bring up the travel idea. What did I think (I loved it) and would it be good with the boys? The fact that the idea still hadn’t fallen by the wayside kept me locked in; could this be how God was leading us?

Not long after this the world shut down for Covid. It was almost like a trial run: could we be together (and with almost no one else) and thrive? Homeschool and do house projects and cook together happily? While it was a difficult time, it was also precious. Extra board games, movie nights, and dinner around the table pretty much daily.

Things started back up and, along with the usual struggles that come along in education, we dealt with masks and changing policies and learning loss in our respective school buildings (just like everyone else.) The idea of spending intentional time became even more appealing, and we realized in the next year, Caden would be finishing middle school, and Caleb elementary. It was almost “now or never.”

So we made a plan: finish the current school year, work like crazy completing some improvements in our house, do the boys’ final year in elementary/middle school, and give it a go.

And here we are. We sold our house June 30th. We stayed with friends in July while organizing and continuing to downsize in our RV. We did summer camp and swam, hung out with family and said “see you soon” to friends.

And we’ve been on the road 2 weeks now, starting with friends in Colorado, then Wyoming, and on to South Dakota. And to be honest?

It’s hard. Things have broken, windows have leaked in the rain, drains have backed up, levels have broken down, and we’ve irritated one another and complained about different things.

But we’ve also had 100 times more discussions, read the Gospels together almost every morning, and apologized a zillion times. We’ve taken family jogs, plotted out destinations, and compromised in more ways than we might’ve had to do in a 2,000 square foot home. We’re getting to use our teaching experience to teach our own boys and see awe-inspiring beauty.

We realize we’re in a privileged position. We don’t want to take it for granted or fritter away the time, but use it for Good. In fact, I’ve got 3 “W’s” to explain why we’re doing this (and remind ourselves when it gets challenging):

1. Wonder – to behold the beauty of creation and different cultures

2. Word – we want to take in God’s Word in intentional ways as a family

3. Why – when we return, it will inevitably get busy again. But we’d like to use this time to refine our family “why.” This book was recommended as a resource for that years ago, and this one is a favorite (affiliate link FYI). Saying yes to only the things that fall in line with our family purpose.

We hope you’ll join us in our adventure. He is unspeakably worth it.