Post #100! Guest Post: The good, the bad, and the ugly! (by… “Mom”)

Over the past 8 months, we received oodles of questions from friends, family, those we've met

on the road, and Jaela’s blog readers. Many have also requested a tour of our living space.

So, as we begin winding down this EPIC adventure, I’m going to address as many of the questions as I can, and take you on a photo tour of our little home on wheels.

1. Where do you all sleep?

*Mom and Dad in the back master bedroom

*Randall on the jackknife couch that opens into a bed

*Dominic on the lower single bunk across from the bathroom

*Jaela & Maleah on the cab-over queen-size bed

*Samuel & Levi on the kitchen dinette that converts to a bed

*Lucy sometimes on the driver’s seat but usually sprawled on the floor in the way

*Nellie sometimes on the passenger seat but often sneaks onto Randall’s bed

2. How do you give each other space when the weather is bad?

*Usually, we don’t! Lol… It works most of the time. I might escape to the back bedroom

to work online planning our next road trip steps, doing family business-type stuff, etc…

but most of the time we are all in the main living space. Dominic can tuck into his

bunk when we’re not going down the road, as can the girls, but that’s about it.

3. What chores are the same or different than home?

*Well, there’s far fewer chores, which has been wonderful, and makes it a bit hard to

think about going back to home and yard responsibilities when we return to the

Midwest. Once we found our groove, I feel like life on the road is so much simpler in so

many ways! Usually though, we start the day by putting beds/bedding back away,

feeding the dogs, making phone calls if needed, sweeping/shaking rugs/vacuuming the

RV, getting the bathroom and kitchen garbages out, putting away the windshield cover

if we used it overnight, etc…Occasionally I’ll direct my humans through a more thorough

cleaning, which involves dusting, washing windows, wiping down the front end/dash of

the RV, etc… Mark does a weekly checklist of maintenance items on the weekend

(smoke alarm, CO2 detector, brake lights/turning lights, etc…). Once a month, he and

the older boys go through a maintenance checklist that is more extensive but not hugely

time-consuming (fluid levels on the vehicle, checking the roof for damage, etc…).

4. What does a “typical” day look like for you?

*There isn’t a lot that’s typical, to be honest. It all depends on where we’re going and

what we’re doing. Sometimes we’re driving a long distance, sometimes a short distance.

Sometimes we’re staying put! On average, we have to dedicate one day a week to

logistical things such as stripping beds & doing laundry, a large grocery run, crockpot cooking for the dog (yeah, that’s another story…), dumping our black & grey tanks and refilling our fresh water tank, other miscellaneous errands, catching up on finances and paying bills, repairing something minor, etc…

5. Where do you shower, do laundry, cook, etc….

*We eat in the RV most of the time, leaning towards simple meals for brunch and dinner. Sometimes we use the Blackstone griddle we carry in an outside compartment, but usually it’s the stovetop and the microwave. We do not have an oven. We also have a crockpot and electric fry pan on board. The fry pan gets used a lot. The crockpot requires running the generator for 4-8 hrs. straight if we are not plugged into a campground, so we don’t tend to use it very often.

*We use laundromats about every 7-12 days.

*When we’re hooked up, we use either the RV shower or a campground shower. We’ve

also been blessed to use showers in friends’ homes that we’ve visited along the way.

When we’re not hooked up (which is most of the time), we occasionally shower on

board, and most often go the route of the big personal, disposable washcloths. It’s not

ideal, but it works for this season of life.

6. How do you manage your water and sanitation needs?

*It’s SO awesome to have a full bathroom on board. We love it! And… we try to

minimize use when we can because that allows us to stretch out the time between

needing to find a dump and fill station. This means we try to use gas station bathrooms,

Walmart bathrooms, wherever we happen to be doing activities, etc…

*As for drinking water, we can use our fresh water tank if we need to, but we try not to

so we have that water for the toilet, shower, hand washing, teeth brushing, etc.. We

purchased gallon water jugs at Walmart and refill them along the way.

*We conserve water by using more paper plates on board than we would at home, and

by doing dishes every 2-3 days vs. every meal. That’s a killer for me, but I’ve learned to

adapt for the season.

*As for our fresh/black/grey water tanks, if we’re plugged in a campground (rarely), it’s

easy. Just like being at home for the most part. When we’re not though, and we get low

on fresh water, or our grey/black tanks are getting full, it’s time to find a dump and fill

station. We’ve used state parks, Camping Worlds, private campgrounds, truck stops, city

dump and fill stations, etc… Often it’s free, and on rare occasion we’ve had to pay up to

$20 for the service. When we’re dumping and filling, we can also get dishes done and

run several family members through an “army shower” at the same time, if there’s no

one in line waiting for the station.

7. How do you manage electrical needs?

*When we’re plugged in at a campground, it’s just like home.

*When we’re not, we have both a house battery and a generator to power our

electrical needs.

8. What do you do to keep busy on drives?

*Mom does the driving (yep, it’s true!)

*Dad does the map navigating and the homeschooling of the little boys

*Randall plays bass guitar

*Dominic does photo & video editing

*Jaela writes and plays her ukulele

*Maleah does online college classes and plays her violin

*Samuel & Levi do school and play various things

*All the kids play many games together, read, knit, talk, listen to podcasts, play with the dogs, etc…Occasionally nap. We try to minimize “non-need based” screen

distraction on the road the same as at home, so the 3 oldest with cell phones will limit

themselves to an hour a day for entertainment sometimes such as texting friends,

watching a ball game, music videos, etc…

And now for your photo tour! Be sure to check out the captioned explanations.

The girls sleep behind this curtain and have open stacking baskets at their feet which contain their clothes, books, personal items, etc...

No explanation needed. Lol....

Who says you can't make early morning forts with your bedding when the big people are still sleeping?

Games, school, meals, etc.. happen here..At night it converts to a bed for the little boys. Big storage compartments under cushions hold Dominic's clothes & personal items on one side & bedding and case/jugs of water under the other.

Large cabinets above the dinette hold games, little boy toys, coloring bin, etc...

Most Sunday mornings look like this, streaming online church service from Grace Church in Waverly, Iowa.

Usually 4 people on the couch and 4 at the dinette for church, meals, etc... Sometimes one of us will sit on the floor by the couch or in one of the front cab seats.

Couch opens up for Randall's bed. We throw bedding on it every night & put away in the morning. His personal items and clothes live in the cabinets above the couch. Storage under the couch for bedding, life jackets, etc...

A few books can fit above the door. Pantry on the side holds a wide range of miscellaneous items. Dog leashes on a hook in the corner. Black garbage can on stairs functions as a shoe drop when people come in the door.

I'm used to 2 refrigerators and 3 freezers in the house/garage. Look at this teeny tiny unit we manage fine with! Storage above freezer holds miscellaneous kitchen items. Runs on electricity or propane, depending on circumstances.

Cabinet above sink holds dishes, coffee pot, etc.. Everything has to be be secured for traveling down the road. The fruit & veggie hammocks have been FANTASTIC! Storage cabinet under sink holds crockpot, paper towels, dish soap, etc..

Drawers under the stove hold towels, rags, snacks, etc... LOVE the snap in place wood cutting board as it extends counter space. Three burners but we rarely need more than one at a time. Run on propane.

Our hallway that decreased by 50% when the back slide stopped working in November. Bathroom across from bunks. Dominic sleeps in lower bunk. Removed mattress from upper bunk so we could use for storage. Shallow kitchen pantry under counter on the right.

Upper bunk storage: box of school supplies/curriculum, big fry pan, keyboard, etc...

Bin of piano books, printer, WIFI set up, Jaela's ukelele, etc.. (Maleah's violin lives in her "bedroom".)

Our little bathroom... It works. What you can't see is the cabinet across from the toilet. I was able to find little baskets that fit in there and organize personal care items, medications, bandages, etc...

Perfect fit for 3 laundry baskets. They get relocated to the front cab when shower is needed and at night to be used as obstacles to contain the dogs where they're supposed to sleep.

Curtain tension rod across top of shower holds a clip for every family member to hang washcloths.

One hanging pocket for each big kid holds phones, sun glasses, ear buds, wallets, etc...

Prior to loosing our back slide, this hallway allowed for two people to pass each other. Not anymore! One at a time, and if someone is on the keyboard, it gets very interesting. Lol...

It works...

Mark now has to crawl over me for middle-of-the-night bathroom trips. The walkway is gone. Randall's bass guitar is hiding behind pillows for traveling & then sits on the floor along back side of bed when we're parked..

Hanging pockets in our bedroom holds paperwork and much more! Lots of cabinets & drawers in the bedroom contain our clothes, the little boys clothes, everyone's hanging "church clothes, etc...

Love my nightstand...Two drawers below hold the little boys clothes.

We don't always have this much laundry! This was after beach time and we had lots of sandy clothes and bedding.

We have two plastic storage bins under the black cover. One serves as our "outdoor pantry" for dry goods & the other holds tools. We have lots of outdoor compartments that contain lawn chairs, kids outdoor toys, dog food/supples, etc...

This pretty much sums it up!

So there you go! Hope this post answers questions for those wondering "how do they do THAT?!" Stay tuned for your regular blog writer to be back soon!

God bless! Jean (AKA, Mom/Director of Operations/Master planner & organizer of "all the things")