Lessons Learned

We’ve been traveling full-time for over a year now and it would be an understatement to say that it’s been an adventure.  We’ve seen breath taking vistas, beautiful lakes with glacial blue water, quaint mountain towns, and major metropolitan cities filled with history.  We’ve met some amazing people along the way and really feel like we’re just getting started.  What’s been interesting on this journey is what we’ve learned about ourselves.  I’d like to share some of those lessons with you in this journal entry.  Many of which, I feel, apply to life whether you’re traveling full-time or not.  I hope you find these lessons useful.

We are currently camped in Ocean View, NJ and did some exploring this past weekend.  We visited Atlantic City on Saturday, and it was densely populated with a very fast, high-energy pace and we were there during the day.  I would imagine it would be even more so at night.  It had lots of cool shops, restaurants, and things to do.  We had lunch at a local sandwich shop (Whitehouse Subs) that we heard about, and it did not disappoint.  We walked along the boardwalk, and it was hopping.  You could probably stay busy 24 hours a day if you wanted.  On Sunday we visited a small beach town called Cape May that was moderately crowded but had a much slower pace to it.  It too had lots of shops, restaurants, and things to do but no one was in a hurry to do them.  We strolled down the little brick paved walkway bouncing in and out of shops enjoying the beautiful day.  I capped the day off with a scoop of cookies-n-cream ice cream from a local shop that also did not disappoint.  It was a pretty amazing day.  All that being said, we’ve learned that we enjoy a slower pace of life and really enjoy simple things.  We’re so thankful to be able to explore these amazing places but the parts we enjoy most are sitting in a park watching families chase kids, visiting farmers markets on the hunt for home grown tomatoes and veggies, or taking a drive along the coast looking for a pull off so we can get out and walk on the beach.  We love talking to new people, hearing a little bit of their story, and seeing kindness in their eyes.  The famous song writer Eddie Canter said “Slow down and enjoy life.  It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast; you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.”  I know life dictates pace sometimes but ultimately, we are in control.  We have the power to say yes or no.  It’s up to us to know what we need and to answer accordingly.

One of the hardest parts of making the decision to travel full time was that it would take us away from family and friends.  We’ve lived in Oklahoma almost our entire lives, raised our kids there, and have enjoyed a close community of friends for as long as we can remember.  To not be able see these friends whenever we wanted and to not have the comfort of this community made the decision extremely difficult.  However, there’s been an unexpected lesson we’ve learned that I think is so important.  We’ve learned that not being able to see friends and family as often as we did makes us value the friendships and relationships even more and maximize our time together when we are able to see them.  I sadly have to admit that I fell into the trap of taking relationships for granted and now realize how much of a gift it is to have a community of friends and the importance of the time you get to spend together.  We’ve also learned that when traveling you have to be intentional about keeping in touch and investing in friendships.  We’ve been able to be part of a virtual LifeGroup with some close friends and I do a reading plan on the YouVersion Bible App with a group of guys both of which mean the world to us.  It takes more time and effort, but it is worth it to be able to stay connected.  Can I encourage you to take an inventory of your relationships and recognize the value they bring to you?  Be intentional about the time you get to spend with them and don’t fall into the trap of taking them for granted.  It is a gift to have close friendships in your life.

When we were thinking about the decision to travel full-time, I had a conversation with a friend who told me she and her husband wanted to do something similar.  Their plan was to wait until they both retired and then travel and visit all the wonderful places they’d always hoped to see.  The problem was that when they were old enough to retire, they both developed health issues, the husband passed away, and the wife was limited to what she could do for health reasons.  We’ve talked to so many people over the last year who, when we’ve told them what we’re doing, without exception said how cool it was and that they would love to do this someday.  What we’ve learned is that there will always be a someday.  We had to decide how we wanted to live, what it would take for it to become a reality and be intentional about taking the steps to get there.  It may not be traveling full-time in a camper for you, it may be something as simple as taking a family vacation, owning a camper but only taking short trips, or just exploring your own state.  Whatever your dreams are, whatever you hope to do “someday”, it’ll never happen until you decide to make it happen.  When you do, before you know it “someday” will be today!