At Long Last

Our journey to hitting the road began without a hitch- well, I guess it quite literally began with a hitch- a bumper hitch.  Perhaps God knew it needed to be easy at first to make us feel brave enough to actually take the leap ('cause let me tell you- if the first part of this process was anywhere near as tumultuous as the second part, none of this would have come together!)  

Like many people in 2020, COVID opened ours eyes to the truly important, and unimportant.  We wanted more time together, more time in nature, more time to explore Texas, so we bought a travel trailer and named her Memory.  We were all in love with her- the kids with the bunk beds and the opportunity to poke at things with sticks, and the grown-ups with the weekend respite from the city and the sound of little kid laughter.

  

It was through our local travel in Memory that we met a couple from California who had sold everything they owned and were out seeing the States with two small kids and two dogs in tow.  The seed that encounter planted grew deep in fertile soil for months, unbeknownst to either of us.  By the time we finally came around to voicing this crazy idea to each other (could WE actually spend a year or so traveling too??), other major parts of the puzzle had miraculously already fallen into place.  We were both working remotely with flexibility from generous employers to continue to do so, the real estate market was ridiculously seller friendly, we were already successfully homeschooling our kids... it seemed as though there were far more reasons to give it a try than not.  So we ordered a motorhome with a delivery date of January, put the house on the market, put our furniture in storage, packed a small U-Haul with our essentials and headed North.

Fast forward 3 months. We have setup our new home-base with family in Amarillo.  The kids have been in heaven, with 24/7 access to family over the holidays, but as New Year's comes and goes, serious questions arise about how we'll make this journey with no motorhome to speak of.  Even with the deposit down on the new motorhome, we've continually explored a viable used option that could get us on the road sooner.  (I will spare you the drama of the used coach search, but suffice it to say, we explored just about every Class A option out there. Our faith in RV dealers, and in humanity in general, was seriously called into question during this time.)  Come January, the motorhome we ordered has been officially delayed- no one can or will say for how long. The motorhomes that are being delivered to customers seem to be fraught with issues. Parts for repairs are hard to come by and waits for repairs are long.  We wonder if this whole idea was just too crazy to work.  (I admit it.  I started searching Realtor.com during this period. It was a real low point for me ; )

Then, just as we're nearing the throw in the towel threshold, this beauty comes onto our radar:

It was an option we hadn't dug deep into (Prevost conversions), but it ticked all the boxes, was unquestionably a safer option than any of the motorhomes we considered, and had a totally different repair and supply chain than the typical Class A Motorhome.  So we took the kids for a tour, scheduled all the inspections and eventually made an offer.  There were ups and downs within this process too: it's ours, wait no it's not- we want it, wait, no we don't...but as of February 5th- we are officially the proud owners of this Prevost Marathon XLII!

She'll be in the shop having some final adjustments/enhancements made over the next few weeks.  We're hoping to be ready to hit the road by March.  Her name and the destination for our maiden voyage are yet to be determined, but AT LONG LAST- WE ARE REALLY GOING TO DO THIS!  We are equal parts excited and nervous, but are still trusting that there will unquestionably be joy in the journey. 

Here's hoping the next update we have for you will be a happy one- delivered from the road!

Until then, 

Jessica