What COULD HAVE been vs. what WILL BE

Woooooo! It's been a long year. Let's catch you up.

In September of 2020, we were SUPPOSED to go on an epic road trip. For 3 weeks, we were going to travel from Yellowstone all the way down to the Guadalupe Mountains in Texas. It was going to be a whirlwind visit to 13 national parks. It was going to be my first time seeing the Grand Canyon. It was the reason for purchasing James the Harp. We were going to stay in amazing accommodations like this:

Buuuuuut then the pandemic hit, and all epic plans went bye-bye, along with lots of deposits, non-refundable payments, and cancellation fees.
So there we were, in the middle of 2020, feeling sad and broke. This was also when we finally admitted to ourselves the hardest realization:
We just didn't want to live here anymore.

We had always planned on only being in our starter home for 5-10 years, and shortly after our West Coast Road Trip, I had started thinking about where I want to end up in my future. Then began Operation Mountain Home. A log home in New Hampshire, surrounded by nature, fresh mountain air, all the hiking we could ask for...ahhhhhh. Sounds dreamy.

So, during our pandemic thinking time, we started hashing out how we could make our mountain home dream a reality. The pandemic already forced us both to move our jobs online, so that part was easy. But, we'd need to sell our house. We'd need to find/buy land. Then, where would we go as the house was being built?
That's when we first considered  RV life. Buy a small trailer and live tiny while we build our home. Even that was an overwhelming thought at first. As we stayed inside socially distancing, we had plenty of time to watch YouTube videos and do research on all things trailer: building them, refurbishing them, buying them, living in them, traveling in them. I'd watch the full-time RV channels and think, I could NEVER!

...But here's the funny thing about never. As we dove further into our Mountain Home Plan, a very sneaky, but very real reservation kept popping up. At some point, this pandemic will end. Restrictions will lift. And we're still young. Are we REALLY ready to live up in NH, day in and day out, away from the hustle and bustle of life? Or is it too soon? We love the simplicity of the country setting, but we don't want to get bored. And we especially don't want to end up resenting the place we love so much. Then came the ultimate question.

"Well, what if we traveled for a while?"

When we started to really think about it, it's a great fit. We're young, child-free, with flexible jobs that can be done from anywhere. We LOVE road trips. We love the outdoors and adventure, but we also love the simple life. What started as a meek consideration became more and more a thought-out plan. We talked to a lot of fellow RVers. We watched more videos. We read dozens of books, articles, and tutorials. We went to local RV dealers and looked at travel trailers. The further we progressed in our research, the closer we got to our point of no return. Then, in December 2020, we committed, and we purchased our RV. We purchased one way more expensive than initially planned, one that without selling the house, would compound our debt - but would free us from our debt if we commit 100%. We decided to spend a little more to ensure the quality we would need to full-time RV. That was our point of no return.

So what has 2021 looked like as we prepare to take ownership of our trailer, downsize our belongings, and hit the road? Well, it wasn't quite the straightforward journey one would hope for. Stay tuned!