“Few places in this world are more dangerous than home. Fear not, therefore, to try the mountain passes. They will kill care, save you from deadly apathy, set you free, and call forth every faculty into vigorous, enthusiastic action.” ~John Muir
This quote has taken on a special meaning to our family this last year. You see, about nine months ago, leaving the comfort of our home, our family, and our friends, we set out on a new, exciting and at the same time, scary, adventure. We packed up, grew wheels, and headed to south east New Mexico pursuing a job opportunity for my husband that would change our lives financially.
We are now a full time RV family. Myself, my husband, 3 kids, 2 dogs, and a cat continue to grow cozy in about 400 square feet, between the four tin walls we now call “home”. It’s true what they say, “Home is where you park it.” I wish I could tell you we are roaming the US but that still remains on the bucket list.
We’re actually stationary.
Now here is where this beautiful quote really comes into play. At first, it seemed like there wasn’t much to do in the area that we chose to park. We felt like outsiders. BUT...we learned that adventure can be had anywhere.
We discovered that there are many mountainpasses, wild country, and desert roads that, “call forth every faculty into vigorous, enthusiastic action.” After homeschooling for almost 8 years, our “classroom” has never been so big. So far, our classroom walls have extended to every corner of New Mexico!! Within a 30-60 mile radius, we’ve been able to cover the Pecos River, Lincoln National Forest, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Sitting Bull Falls, the Guadalupe Mountains and all of that is right here in our own backyard. There is definitely so much more that we even discovered yet. Right now, we’re working on Texas.
Don’t get me wrong, not every day is an adventure. There are days that we are homesick and miss our people so much. But there has been such a freedom in living this way. We do things we would have never done otherwise and go places we would have never gone had it not been for this leap of faith. As our kids grow and get older, we realize that there has never been a better time than now to live small and adventure big. Let go of things and hold fast to each other.
I hope at some point, you step out and adventure big. Not necessarily in an RV, a 1000 miles from home...but climb a mountain, look for a waterfall, explore a cave, hike among giant trees, jump in a river.
It’s okay to be an Outsider.
With love,
The O'Neills