Full Year On The Road

A Rollingovis’ Odyssey

I’ve been a traveler my whole life and was fortunate enough to have a family that put emphasis on experiencing new destinations throughout my childhood years. Being on a road for a full year, it became evident that now it’s my turn to do the same with my own family.

Last month we completed 381 days on the road exploring America as a family, from coast to coast in our motorhome. In our previous post, we realized six months was not enough time to explore every corner of our country so we kept traveling.

There is so much I can say to capture our entire experience in one blog post, but the most important thing were the endless opportunities for our little ones to learn and grow. On top of that, we were able to provide a platform for them to build their character and open their world to experiences not available at home or in their classroom.

We don’t expect them to remember every single detail from every place we visited, but if they remembered a fraction of what we did, which will then aid with boosting their development, then I know we’ve done the right thing.

Travel Tradition

It took us a while to develop this habit but when we finally did, our kids instantly started enjoying traveling in a totally new way. They were excited to explore new things and most importantly, get out of their comfort zone.

Some of the most memorable traditions for us were recycling, collecting sea shells and sea glass, clamming along the entire Oregon Coast and searching for the ultimate hiking sticks.

Recycling was something the kids really enjoyed; especially in Oregon and Iowa where the whole recycling process is so convenient. We started collecting bottles and cans from every state we went to and to have them go through the whole process of sorting things out at the register, and talking about their favorite drink as they were scanning each item was priceless. At the end got a monetary reward for their effort and it was such a meaningful experience for them among other things.

Sea shells were also a hit. The kids collected sea shells all the way from Honeymoon Island State Park in Florida to Sekiu, WA and every stop in between.

Play time

Being able to spend as much time outdoors was without a doubt the main reason we kept traveling. The kids spent at least 4 hours each day exploring nature, riding their bikes, going on hikes and most importantly making friends all over the country. The best part, running into your friends months down the road at a different rv park.

In my previous post Six Months On The Road, I have talked about the level of effort we have to put forward in order to make things happen on the road. However, we always make play time a fun time for everyone and use this opportunity to thrive together and emerge in nature as much as possible.

No playtime activity would be complete without biking and hiking.

Our Route

Early on during our planning process, we had this idea of traveling cross country from East to West in a straight forward fashion. At some point after about a month on the road, we realized that was not the best approach to enjoy our adventure so instead we decided to head West bound in a zigzag pattern which proved to be much more fun and stress free.

In my opinion, taking a cross country road trip is something everyone should do at least once. There isn’t a right or wrong way of doing it and you can do it with your car or motorcycle. But if you want to add some fun to it and make it more adventurous, I recommend you do it in a motorhome.

Travel Planner

No trip is complete without tracking some sort of expenses. For us the most important type of expenses were gas, food, accommodations and a few other things related to keeping the motorhome in good shape. On top of that, I ended up tracking miles driven, distance from one campground to another, and duration of stay at each stop.

In the North East part of the country we stayed 19 days in August, 2020 and ended up paying $2,177.68 for our stays at a campgrounds and resorts. This is before we sign up for any kind of campground membership or discount programs. Gas expenses came out to be $349.00.

We spent 108 days in the South East and paid $1,960.87 stays, on top of that we paid $1,709.00 for gas.

We spent 55 days in the Midwest and aside from staying at campgrounds we leveraged some driveway when possible, so we ended up paying only $721.00. For gas we paid $996.15.

In the South West part of the country we spent 101 days, paid $2,582.24 for our stay and $1,859.02 on gas.

At the same time in the Pacific North West, we spent 98 days and paid $3,346.12 for our stay at casinos and resorts. Gas came out to $1,373.00.

Adding all this numbers together we are looking at:

• Total days on the road: 381
• Total miles driven: ~23,500
• Total amount paid for gas: $6,286.17
• Total amount paid for accommodation: $10,787.91
• Total amount paid for food: $12,025.48

Welcome to Roadschooling

It wasn’t until we got on the road and the kids did one virtual semester that we started thinking about the idea of homeschooling, or roadschooling to be exact.

The beauty of being on the road for so long is that you run into all sorts of people and you get to network. Networking with people who have ideas and lifestyle similar to ours. Since roadschooling sparked out interest we started asking questions.

It took us 3 months to get ready and right after Labor Day, we started roadschooling. Usually, Leslie reserves the morning for the actual schoolwork and the afternoon for exploratory education outside. The kids curriculum is pretty dynamic especially when we are at a national park or along the Oregon coast. This gives our kids the opportunity to learn outside, explore nature and get to experiment with science first hand.

Thanks to our dear friends Biba and Brandon McKinley who introduced us to “The Call of the Wild and Free: Reclaiming the Wonder in Your Child’s Education, A New Way to Homeschool” by Ainsley Arment, we were able to come across very useful information.

Final Thoughts

We have covered some serious territory this year and have learned so much from being on the road. Now it’s time to take a break, reflect on the experience and most importantly start planning our next adventure.

In the mean time, we are looking forward to spending the holiday season at home with family and friends.

On the same note, we hope you take some time to reflect on your achievements this year and have a wonderful time this holiday season with your family and friends.

Happy Holidays!!!