There is one thing you learn when you grow up living far away from family, when ever there is a chance to see family, you go see them. My Uncle Steve and my cousin, Seth, have a Texas Longhorn ranch near Tulsa, OK. Since we were heading west, it only made sense to go visit and see them and the ranch, Lochloosa.

I am so glad we did! Uncle Steve, Seth, April and their kids were so warm and welcoming! We parked our house at the ranch, saw some beautiful cattle, and were given a tour of the ranch property. Their ranch is beautiful. I had no idea that Oklahoma has hills and mountains! I know that sounds ignorant, but whenever I think of Oklahoma, I think of prairie and grasses, not boulders and hills. But there they were. And it was beautiful. Steve and Seth explained a lot of what they did to develop their property, including building roads, miles and miles of fencing, moving boulders, and the constant hard work to improve and maintain such a vast undertaking.

After the ranch tour, Seth took us to pick up some Oklahoma BBQ (which was outstanding), and we went to his and April’s beautiful home to have some time together over dinner. Seth and April’s kids were just adorable and sweet and fun and so full of personality and energy. I was engrossed in the moment and connection that I didn’t think to take out my camera. And I am regret that a lot. We had an evening of laughs, and great conversation and reminiscing about our younger days when we were the energetic kids that our parents had to wrangle. And the hijinks I exposed my cousins to when I was a young, trouble making teenager. I did introduce Seth to Guns and Roses. He still thinks I’m cool for doing that…or at least I think he thinks I’m cool. Eventually, it was time to head back to the ranch and our house on wheels. So we bid Seth and April and the kids goodnight and headed back to our house on wheels.

In the morning, before I brewed coffee, I remembered that I own a camera, and took a few pictures of the cattle. And the sheep and the goats. I didn’t get a picture of the very awesome ranch dog, Wrangler, but I fell in love with him immediately. I had just brewed coffee, and Uncle Steve brought us breakfast. We had a little more time together. Precious time. And then, it was time to hit the road again.

I will say again, family is EVERYTHING. And probably the hardest thing about the journey Aaron and I have chosen is that we won’t often be near our family and loved ones. We have the freedom to go where we want and when we want, but, we won’t always be geographically close to family or friends. That is the main reason I have decided to write a blog. It will keep our loved ones better updated on our lives than a Facebook post. I’m not knocking Facebook, it is the main way I am able to keep up with family and friends. But, it isn’t the right platform for detailed posts like this.

We are just a little over a month into our new life, and hopefully I can get the blog caught up to be more current. Maybe I should have started this about a month ago….

We left Three Rivers State Park in Florida very excited to head to Louisiana. We drove through Alabama, past the navy vessel Aaron and the boys had spent the night on, under the Mobile Bay (yes we honked the horn in the tunnel…a must for safe passage), into and through Mississippi, and then, finally, crossed the bridge over the Pearl River into Louisiana. There is just something about the air of Louisiana that welcomes and embraces you with its thick humidity, decaying sweet smell, and the feeling of life. Aaron grew up here, we raised our children here and called it home for the majority of our lives. It felt so good to be back. We had family to hug, friends to enjoy and food to be devoured. So we set up camp at Fairview Riverside State Park.

As we sat in stand-still traffic on I-12, I started to remember the other side of life on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Traffic, traffic and more traffic. EVERYWHERE. TRAFFIC. The population there keeps expanding and the infrastructure (even with constant expansion) can not keep up. I put that on the list of the very few things I did not miss about life there. The list also includes the blood thirsty mosquitos, and wet, humid winters that made the cold temperatures feel brutal and chilling to the bone.

Aaron and I had a tough decision to make. Do we sell the house there or do we hire a property management company and rent it out? Would we ever want to live there again? That home was built by his family, for his family. He and his brother, Jason, grew up there. Jason’s family lived there, our family lived there. Other family members stayed there for extended time. We have rented the house to friends and family. It has been a safe haven for many. A home of ties and memories, of family and friends, of gatherings and quiet peace, is something hard to let go. On the realistic side, it was a house that needed updating, money, time and attention that we did not have the resources to give to it. We decided that, like us, the house need a new start with someone else, hopefully, giving it the love and care that we could no longer give it. As difficult as it was for me to say goodbye to the house on Destin Street, I know it was even harder for Aaron. One thing we are learning with this new life is that the memories are there even when we let go of the things that were used to create them.

With that decision made, it was time to see family, friends, and EAT! We spent time with Jason and his son, Zack. Jason was so kind and gave us some much needed camper stuff, advice and knowledge he had accumulated over his many years of owning and enjoying a variety of campers. We were discussing what I was planning to do with my time, and I told him about the camera I purchased with asperations of photography as a hobby. Jason generously loaned me his professional grade camera to learn and play. My hope is that, eventually, I will be able develop the skills to be equivalent to the camera. Jason also took us to a great BBQ restaurant in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Unfortunately, his wife Ginger wasn’t able to join us. She was missed.

Our next stop was to see my life-long best friend, Anita. She is the sister of my heart. She also has a washer and dryer and was kind enough to let me do the last free load of laundry for the foreseeable future. We had a great afternoon of catching up, supporting each other in our life choices and just being together. No matter the distance or time between visits, we are each other’s rock and that will never change. It was with tear filled eyes that we said goodbye. I know we will see each other sooner than later, but sooner is relative in this life.

Aaron’s Aunt Peggy and Uncle Ed hosted a delicious brunch for us to see and spend time with family. Their house had been pretty much destroyed in a hurricane and after a very, very long time and process they had just moved back into their beautifully rebuilt home. We had a wonderful visit with cousins and their kids. It meant so much to Aaron and I that Danielle, Ellen, their kids, Lisa and her daughter, Brooke took time out of a very busy weekend to spend with us. As I have said before, family is everything. And we are so grateful for ours.

On our way out of Louisiana we had one more stop to make. We couldn’t leave without seeing his maw-maw. Mrs. Panvelle is 102 years old and incredible! She insisted on cooking us lunch, and is was so, so good! We got to hang out with Aunt Evelyn, Aunt Henrietta, Uncle Timmy and Uncle Sonny. Again we are so blessed that we could spend time with family. His maw-maw also gave me her peanut butter cookie recipe that is one of Aaron’s favorites. I have already made two batches and he destroyed them. They weren’t quite as good as hers, but that is because she has something magical about her that I can’t quite replicate. It was hard to say goodbye, but we knew we had to hit the road. Adventure was waiting and it was time. More hugs and love and well wishes were given and we said goodbye.

I was so enthralled with our time with our loved ones that I forgot to take pictures of the actual people. Apparently, that is a lesson I had not yet learned. And it will take a few more times to get it through my head. Hopefully, I will learn it soon.

Full of family love, drive thru crawfish (yes it is a thing and super delicious), and home cooked Louisiana meals, we stayed just shy of the Louisiana/Texas border that night. The next day, goodbye Louisiana, we were heading west. We had one more family visit planned, my cousin and uncle’s ranch in Oklahoma. So with that destination in mind, our family and friends in our hearts, and our home hooked to our truck, we drove west.

We set a target leave date of March 1, 2023. Aaron did have to be at his company’s office in Freemont, CA by March 15. That gave us 2 weeks to spend some time in Louisiana with family and friends and get from the east coast out to the west coast. Tentatively, we planned our route and started saying goodbye to the house we knew and had called home for the past seven years. And as we said goodbye, we also started to say hello to our future of freedom and the unknown.

A week before our leave date, I completely moved into the camper. Boy am I glad I did! It gave us some time to figure out the functionality of living in a much smaller space and after a few days, we made some changes. We added shelves in a closet, found that a mattress topper actually worked more comfortably under than on top of the thin camper mattress, added hooks inside doors, added finishing touches and bought decorative pillows. After 30ish years together, I was surprised to find out that Aaron is quite picky about decorative pillows. TJ Maxx didn’t have what we wanted, neither did HomeGoods, Walmart, Bed Bath and Beyond, Ross or Hobby Lobby. We did find some cool arrows at Hobby Lobby that we hung in the bedroom. A few days later Aaron and I ventured to Target. Finally! We went with a sunshine and rainbows feel with a lizard pillow thrown in for good measure. The inside of our Airstream was quite brown and grey. We needed some color to liven it up and make it feel like a home, because home it was becoming.

February 27 came along and we were ready to go. The kids had settled into the house, we were settled in our rolling house and anxious to get started. Originally, we had planned on making the drive from Florida to Louisiana in one day. After talking it over, we decided that was not the best idea. So, I booked a spot at a campground about 4 hours from our launching point and we left the next day, February 28. A whole day early!!! And the journey began.

Lesson learned…checklists only work if you utilize them. Aaron loves his plants, and I have the black thumb of death. We had these 2 cute dog shaped planters with tiny air plants in them on a ledge above the table and sofa. Guess who forgot to take them down and secure them? You guessed it, black thumb of death strikes again. One of the poor doggie planters lost 3 of his legs and the plant didn’t fare too well either. The other escaped unharmed, that time.

We settled in for the evening, enjoyed the lovely Three Rivers State Park and relaxed. We both agreed that driving 3-4 hours (according to Google Maps) made for a long enough day, as we had to stop multiple times for work calls, gas, and restroom breaks. It was more like five to six hours in total. We prepared our dinner, toasted our new journey, went to bed. Ready to move on the next day.