How did we get here as a full time family on the road? Let's rewind our story.
It all started with Glenn and I wanting to leave California, where we could buy a house with land, and have the opportunity to enjoy our lives without the hustle and bustle of city life.
After a serious search, we decided to move to New Hampshire. For that move, we had to travel all the way across the country. For that cross country trip, we bought a 2019 Grand Design Reflection travel trailer. We needed to live in it while we looked for a house. Before we made it to NH, we stopped in South Dakota where we registered as residents due to South Dakota allowing us to be residents while living in our RV. America's Mailbox in Box Elder, South Dakota set us up with an overnight campsite, DMV appointment for our Driver's license, and assisted us in transferring all of our vehicles from California to South Dakota.
Once we arrived in NH, we found the most marvelous campground in Ossipee called Beaver Hollow Campground. The staff were incredibly welcoming and helpful as we transitioned from California to New Hampshire. We knew we wanted to settle somewhere with enough space to raise chickens, and we were fortunate to find our home in Tamworth, which sits on 2.5 acres and includes the house and three outbuildings. The neighborhood was perfect for our child, Reagan, and we soon met our friends Sam and Jen, along with their son Sammy and Jen's son Dominic. Before long, we became close friends, and to this day, they feel like family.
Glenn got to work building a chicken coop, and soon we had many egg-laying hens. As we embraced the homesteading lifestyle, we also started butchering meat birds. Before we knew it, we were discussing the idea of bringing pigs onto the property. However, we realized that our current space wasn't big enough, so we decided it was time to start searching for a bigger piece of property and a larger house. We were now full-fledged homesteaders!
In the winter of 2022, we discovered a property in Grafton. It consists of 103 acres, a farmhouse from the 1700s, multiple outbuildings, and even a stream with a waterfall. We moved in August and soon found out we were expecting another baby. By Halloween, we had settled in and were able to attend a trunk-or-treat event, where we met our next set of friends/family: Heather, Aurora, and Selena. In January 2023, Benjamin joined our family.
During our time in Tamworth, we decided to start renting out our trailer during the summer months. This turned out to be very successful, and we were able to meet many lovely people and even had some repeat customers. While in Grafton, we continued to rent out our trailer until Sam and Jen wanted to move closer to his parents and their property. We offered our trailer for them to live in while they figured out their next steps.
Since we still had rentals happening, we couldn’t just contact them and cancel those reservations. So, what did we do? We bought a brand new 2024 Grand Design Influence fifth wheel! Yes, we are that adventurous. The summer went off without a hitch, but we decided to take advantage of the RV we were paying for and blocked off a weekend in September to test it out ourselves.
Before the camping shake-down, Glenn and I had several conversations about taking our family full-time on the road. I was excited at the prospect—dreaming of a life without snow. As we worked out the logistics of what to do with our property, our friends Sam and Jen generously offered to move into our house and take care of it while we were away.
We moved out of the house and into the trailer a week before Thanksgiving; just as Sam and Jen were settling into our home. We initially planned to leave on December 15th, but after several inches of snow fell, we decided to leave a week earlier.
On December 8th, we departed from Grafton and spent the night in our church parking lot. The following morning, we set off on our adventure—Florida or bust!