Our Life on Wheels :: Group Blog Series

Once a month this summer (and hopefully beyond), this blog will host a series: Our Life on Wheels.   Fulltime travelers will be joining together to share on a variety of topics.

We start June out with - "A Day in the Life Of".  If you are interested in participating please see below.

And I hope you are interested in reading and seeing what a typical fulltime travelers daily life looks like, please check back here on Monday, June, 4 --- I will have my post live by then and others will be linking up.

Other topics to be covered are: How We School on the Road, Meals on the Road, How We Fit It All (Organization), Favorite RV Things, Our Favorite Place.  I am welcoming other topic ideas (whether you travel fulltime or not), so please comment or email me.

Interested in participating, here are the details:
My goal is to run a series of blog posts that connect all of us and our various ways of doing things, as well as giving fellow travelers, dreamers, family and friends answers to their most common questions.

The series is going to start with "A Day in the Life Of..." The post can cover your family doing ordinary and/or extraordinary things over an 8-48 hour time frame. The format is totally open, meaning you can use pictures, words, and/or any other variety of media to offer your readers a small window into your daily life.

The blog posts will be connected via We Choose This Life and your posts will link up at the bottom, I will also ask that you link back to the series (for now grab button below). My post will be live on Monday, June 4, so please have yours ready to be linked by this date. This blog series is going to be joined with the Group Writing Project on the Fulltime Families. 

:::GRAB THIS BUTTON:::

<a href="http://www.wechoosethislife.com/p/our-life-on-wheels.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-BBlN6KuADus/T8l4DgNguvI/AAAAAAAAGeo/_s0Qy7HhqCk/s150/our%2520life%2520on%2520wheel%2520button%2520copy.jpg" alt="Our Life On Wheels :: Group Blog Series" width="125" height="125" /></a>

Residency? Domicile? Or, How We Became Real Texans.

When we started traveling fulltime we stayed California residents, using our parents address as ours and a PO Box for our mail.  Once every two or so weeks sister would pick up our mail and forward the important stuff onto us wherever we happened to be.  We filed a private school affidavit that allowed us to homeschool the children.  This worked well, but it wasn't ideal long term.

We began to research what other fulltime travelers did for their mail, residency and homeschooling dilemmas.  We don't own land or a house anywhere, so that wasn't a deciding factor.  It came down to three states we were choosing from, South Dakota, Texas and Florida.  All three had mailing forwarding services that would fit our needs, all three were fulltime traveler friendly.  Out of the three Texas is the only state with no regulations on homeschooling, both Florida and South Dakota have moderate regulation.

There were a few deciding factors that led us to choose Texas as our new home state.  One, no regulations on homeschooling.  Two, low cost license and registration on our RV and vehicle.  Three, Texas is centrally located and has weather we wouldn't mind being in at any time of year (just because we travel fulltime doesn't mean we wouldn't ever have to have jury duty.)  The switch was pretty painless.  And it was only after we made all the changes did we realize we also have no state income taxes, so that was an added plus.

How we became Texans:
1. Became Escapees members and signed up for their mail forwarding service (we did this prior to arriving to Livingston, through the mail)
     -We were issued an permenant street address, not a PO Box.
2. Visited Livingston, TX
     -Got our Excursion and trailer inspected (at a local body shop)
     -Registered and licensed both, registered to vote,  received new license plates that day (at the Polk County Tax Assessors office)
     -Applied for Texas drivers licenses (at Texas Department of Public Safety)
3. Switched our insurance to Texas.  We were able to stick with our same companies, Ameriprise for vehicle and Progressive for travel trailer.  The switch took just a phone call to each company.  And our premiums went down dramatically from what we were paying in California.
4. Changed our address with employer, bank, insurance, cell phone, etc.

All in all we were running around Livingston for less than 3 hours to accomplish all of these tasks.  Which included some juggling of kids and ATM cards to get sufficient funds in cash.

A few need to knows:
 - Registering vehicles, applying for drivers license and registering to vote can only be done once you have a Texas mailing address. 
 - The tax assessors office (where you register and license vehicles and RVs) only takes local checks and cash.  We had not been residents long enough to have new "local" checks and our bank was not in town, so we had to make a few trips to the ATM.
- In order to apply for drivers license, all vehicles and RVs must be registered, so make sure you do this first.
-When you apply for a Texas drivers license they confiscate your old license and give you a temporary 8 1/2x11 black and white print out of your license which has to last you the 6-8weeks until your real license arrives (plus forwarding time).  We can say that this license even though this license looks as fraudulent as they come, Nick was able to fly from California to Arkansas and back with it.  (Although it was a little iffy on both legs of the trip if his ID was going to be sufficient.)  So I might suggest that if you are planning on doing any air travel make sure it is at least 8 weeks after you apply for your license :)
- From what I can gather, the licensing and registering of vehicles and RV's can be done through the mail.  Inspections must be completed within 10 days of entering the state.  I am not clear on how long you have to switch your drivers license.
- Yearly inspections are due on vehicles and RVs, however if you are not in Texas when registration and inspections come due, you can still pay registration.   You will then get vehicles and RVs inspected the next time you go to Texas, within 10 days of arriving back in the state. 

   Y'all we are Texans now.

 We received a lot of information on this process from the Escapees forums and  a document published by the Escapees RV Club called "How to Become a Real Texan", this is a newly updated version packed full of information.  The DPS and the Tax Assessors office were both very helpful over the phone, so that we could make sure we had everything in order before arriving.  

A Birthday, A Bayou and New Orleans

After Alabama we headed into Mississippi and then onto Louisiana.  The next day would be Coda's 8th birthday and we didn't want it to be a traveling day.  So we decided to stay two nights at the Fountainebleau State Park, which is located just across Lake Ponchartrain from New Orleans.

For Coda's birthday we decided to check out the Jean Lafitte National Park - Barataia Preserve.  There was a neat little visitors center where we picked up our Junior Ranger Booklets and our National Park Passport stamp.  Then we headed out on a walk through the swamp and bayou.  One of the activities in the JR Ranger book was kind of a scavenger hunt and the children were so wonderful at finding the little things.  We were mostly keeping our eyes our for alligators.  We did mange to spot one little one...he was so cute (from afar).  

 

Once the children had said their pledge and received their Junior Ranger Badges, we decided  to head into New Orleans.  We weren't sure what we'd find and knew we wanted to be gone before nightfall.  But we thought we'd check it out for a bit.  We parked near the French Quarter and spent a bit of time meandering the streets, window shopping and checking out the awesome buildings.  We ended up eating dinner at Hard Rock Cafe...the quality of the food (for the prices) was disappointing, but we went there to celebrate Coda's 8th birthday and that was great!  I had hoped we could find a restaurant that would be authentic New Orleans food with some vegetarian options, that didn't happen.  I welcome any recommendations for the next time we stop there.   We ended the evening with a stop at Café Du Monde for some beignets (read: fried dough covered in more powdered sugar than you've ever seen). 

 We woke up the next morning to quite the storm.  We had planned on hanging out at the state park and exploring, well that wasn't going to happen.  We packed it up and headed out --- next stop Texas.

Tuscaloosa and the Ticknors

We had a rough route to head down through Tennessee and across Arkansas and over to Texas.  I love "rough routes" like rough drafts they can be totally scrapped at the drop of a hat or and incoming Facebook message.  I checked in with Foursquare to Tennsessee at a Rest Stop at top of the state.  Within minutes Dana Ticknor (Ticknor Tribe - traveling family of 14) messaged me and asked how far south we were coming.  They were just outside of Tuscaloosa and invited us to come see (meet) them.  We have been trying to meet for quite some time now, so I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity.  And so our rough route was scrapped.

We decided to make the long haul all the way to Tuscaloosa, knowing we would barely make the gate closing of 10pm.  But we were determined.  Not even a horrible thunderstorm, Nashville traffic and a wrong turn could keep us from making the gate closing.  Well at 9:52pm we called and the nice gentleman said he would wait for us...we arrived at 10:02pm, whew.

And in the morning we woke to this, the Ticknor Tribe right next to us!

We spent the day chatting (moms & dads), running in the woods and fort building (boys) and flower picking (little ones). 

I think there were three times the middles aged kids sat down -- before the two meals we shared and during the campfire :)  If you were an outsider you would have been AMAZED at how well meal time went, since there were 20 of us eating.  Bigger kids were helping little kids,  Mamas and Daddys able to sit and eat.  I feel so blessed that we were able to be in the presence of another "large" family who has bigger kids and see how well they all work together. 

It was a quick visit, but so glad we were able to connect.  And the cool thing is they travel, we travel, so we are bound to meet up again!

Ikea & Louisville Sluggar Museum and Factory

After leaving Ohio we decided to head south to IKEA. You know, first things first, must organize our super tiny home. I love Ikeas motto, "A home doesn't need to be big, just smart.". I had a pretty detailed list complete with measurements, so the adventure through Ikea was enjoyable, not painful!

We purchased new bedding for the children, hooks, lights, drawers & a few other things. Here's a look into our bathroom. All items are from Ikea.

We had planned on turning west after Ikea and heading toward Indian Lakes Thousand Trails in Indiana. But, when I called to make reservations I was informed they were only open weekends until their actual opening in April 6. I was a tad bit irritated since the website says "Open All Year". So we changed directions and headed south, towards Louisville, KY.

We splurged and stayed at a KOA just outside of Louisville, it was about 4 miles from the Sluggar Museum. We did this for two reasons; #1 we'd be arriving late & they had large pull-thru sites and #2 we were making last minute plans and lacked research time. We stayed for two nights, our first day putting together our Ikea purchases.  And our second day we spent the morning at the Louisville Sluggar Museum and Factory.

I had visited the Louisville Sluggar Museum a little over 10 years ago and I knew Nick and the children would enjoy it.  The price was not too steep and there was quite a bit to explore.  We all learned lots about the history of the bat and baseball itself.  There were quite a few hands on activities and the factory tour was the best, not to mention the mini Louisville Sluggar we all came home with (that's 8 mini bats, still not sure what we're doing with all of them, lol).

Even baby Lyric got a bat :)

Introducing...Our New Home on Wheels

After spending four months in California, visiting friends and family, exploring old favorites and new finds and working, it was time for us to move on.

And we moved on fast. We moved out of our first and beloved home on wheels, packed our belongings into a Uhaul trailer and trekked (quickly) across the United States to Ohio.

We stopped briefly in St. Louis to deal with our storage unit, say hi to friends and play a little at the St. Louis Science Center.

We made it to Ohio and dropped our Uhaul trailer at a KOA.  After a day of a walkthrough, fan adding, paper signing and hooking up, we were on our way back to the KOA with our new home behind us.  It took us some hours but we unpacked and moved in.  We are all overjoyed with the newness and space our new home has given to us.

Here is a sneak peak...and yes! we've already started decorating and wall will be painted (I just have to decide on colors).

Sundial Bridge & Burney Falls State Park

For at least the next month & a half we will be traveling around Northern California.  Nick is on a short term project & we will be in an area for a week or so and then move on to the next area.  Since we are "from" Northern California, we are excited about this time to be able to visit with family and friends along our way, as well as explore.

Currently we are in Red Bluff, CA.  We've spent the past week getting back into our routine and reorganizing the trailer.  After spending almost 3 weeks at Grandma & Papa's house, we've been busy settling back into RV life.  We don't lay low for long.

Our week was also filled with walks along the Sacramento River, which is directly behind our RV Park.

One day after work we drove into Redding and took an sunset walk across Sundial Bridge.  Winter hadn't quite hit yet, so there were runners, bikers and walking families galore --- plus Ben the Knife Juggler.

On Sunday we too a drive to Burney Falls State Park.  President Roosevelt once called Burney Falls the 8th wonder of the world.  I can see why.  It was about 35 degrees, so we were all a but cold, but not too cold to hike the Falls loop. 

It is sure nice to be back in the land of mountains, trees, flowing rivers and the Pacific --- California you may be expensive & crowded, but you are SUPER beautiful.