Who we are, what’s going on and what the heck is the plan? We are a Full Time Camping Family!

We are the Hollands.  I am the husband, Steven, my wife Ashley, and our teenage daughter Sierra.  Our two dogs are riding along. Buford is a basset hound and Cassiopeia (Cas for short) an Australian shepherd mixed with a mutt.

My wife and I recently made the decision to drop out of the rat race. Therefore, we realized we must sell or store most of our belongings and in order to hit the road. 

A lot that went into this decision, not the least some gut-wrenching personal challenges for yours truly that you can read more about in the Introduction to the Introduction if you wish.  Otherwise, just buckle in and hang on.

We made the decision to do all of this, and as is our nature, pulled the trigger immediately and haven’t looked back yet.  We are new however; and that’s not to say there have not been tears and frustration along the way. 

Once we truly decided this was our path, I put my two week notice in at work and retired. The following day we drove our bumper pull travel trailer to KY from AR to meet up with my parents and my family for a surprise party for their 50^th wedding anniversary.

Getting ready to make the mindset change from homeowner to Full Time Camping Family Nomads!

We returned, packed up what little we were keeping, then sold or gave away the rest and put the house on the market 8 LONG days later.  A lot of work that went into getting to that point. We had to sort what we wanted to store, sell or throw away.

That was definitely the most difficult part. People spend their entire lives accumulating items and equate that with success. I was now working with my family to do the exact opposite!

We hired some teams to help with the process and got some winners and some not so-winners.  Due to this we ended up deep cleaning the entire house ourselves as the people hired were not up to the task. 

Our garbage disposal went out about a day into the process and the pool pump starting behaving like a water sprinkler at the same time. The pool came to resemble a pond in very short order.

We’d work on the house as we took care of the dogs and make trips to storage and Goodwill. It was non-stop and eventually cracks began to show.

One of our older daughters that was moving into her own apartment at this same time laid on the floor in the kitchen sobbing at one point and cried that it wasn’t her “fault that dad decided to sell the house in a week”.

What’s more, we were all exhausted. My wife and I decided everyone needed a break and came up with a plan.

Good food solves all, and after a late dinner at a steak house for everyone that night, we pushed the date back from Thursday to Saturday. 

Regroup and refocus, goal? Full Time Camping!

The garbage disposal was replaced by our trusted plumber. Then the best pool people in town came out, stripped the pump apart, removed some rocks (?!?), replaced a gasket and tighten everything up.  After that it was a matter of time, chemicals and effort to get it sparkling clear.

Some items we burned.  Wood, trash items where legal etc… I have made a lot of items around the house over the years, some of those were burned as well. 

It was cathartic, along with heart breaking – which is part of the catharsis so I guess it all worked out.  I remember looking into the fire and watching wood burn. Feeling sad. 

Each item was something I had poured hours of work and effort into, and I could see the items we kept in the scraps on fire.  Eventually I came to a realization.

The realization was that the burden of tradition, the burden of accumulating items and wealth and burden of just existing within the currently societal structure was truly that; a burden to be released.

Our family is now camping while the house closes, and will take a short trip of about a month in the interim. Sierra is going to return to finish 8th grade in her current school, however she is already looking forward to Road Schooling/Unschooling the next 4 years!

We will be living and loving life as a Full Time Camping Family in the meantime in our tow behind travel trailer! Reach out and say hi! We’ll bring you along on the journey.