Time has been flying on this trip so far. It’s brought lots of laughs, new adventures, a few frustrating moments and readjusting to living in 450 square feet as a family of four, but we’re already 2 weeks in and about have even moved to our next destination for the trip. There are so many things on this trip that are far, far different than last year’s Nomad Summer, and I can’t wait to see what else we get into on our Colorado leg of this adventure. Utah (with little adventures into Nevada and Arizona) was an absolute dream, as always. I’ve had a handful of people ask some questions about our adventure thus far, and I thought I’d share them here.
How Do We Have This Much PTO?
Here’s the thing, we don’t. Matt has a job that allows him to work remotely. He is very lucky in that sense, so he takes PTO days here and there around our trip, and in addition to those days, we can explore in the evenings. I don’t have PTO at all. I work for a brewery back home that gives me a really flexible schedule to take time to travel, to raise my kids, all of it. They’ve always been great about that for me. Plus, I have some remote marketing work for them that I’m able to do to still bring in some income while traveling, in addition to this blog! It’s grown enough – thank you for reading and helping with this – that I’ve been able to make a supplementary part-time income on here, which is a dream come true.
If You Can’t Explore The Whole Time, Why Bother Going for So Long?
I’ve been getting this one a lot. The kids and I do our best to make the most of our days. Some of it is adventures that Matt unfortunately does have to miss out on, some is more educational focused and some is just playing at a park, going to a library or even a museum while he works. Yes, he misses out on more than I do, but also, we have all evening long to explore as soon as he’s off. Especially when we go out West we have even more time in the evening to explore when he’s off of work, since he works in Central Time Hours. I have him pick the one thing he wants to do in an evening and he gets to pick a good chunk of what we do on his days off if there’s a highlight adventure. Instead of working back home where we take a neighborhood walk or hang out in our back yard, we get to go to a National Park, hike a new trail or experience something in a town that’s totally different. So even though it isn’t all day of adventuring – especially for Matt – it’s far more than we would get simply taking a 1-2 week road trip.
What Do I Do All Day with the Kids?
I touched on this a bit above, but here I’ll put it into more detail. To put it simply, I live with the kids with some adventure sprinkled in. We strike a balance of time at “home” in our camper and exploring the new location we’re in.
Learning Time – We spend time doing educational things. Sometimes that’s simple like working on reading with CJ passing the draw pad back and forth. Sometimes we work in preK and Kindergarten workbooks, and somedays we work on their Junior Ranger books from national parks. This is done partially out and about and partially back in the camper. We also read. A lot. I love to visit local libraries while we travel too. We find really unique books from local authors sometimes doing this. Plus, many libraries have play areas and even programs kids can do. This is a huge travel with kids hack for us.
Play Time – We have a lot of play time. If the weather is nice, we typically start the day at a park. I try to research a really cool park in the area where the kids can play and make little friends for the day. I try to make this a minimum of one hour, but shoot for two hours. When we’re in the camper, I try to limit screen time – they’ve only had TV time 6 of the 16 days we’ve been on the road. I pack fairly minimal toys. Lots of color/craft activities, blocks, legos and magnetic tiles. These can be used imaginatively in so many ways. We do play card games, simple board games, and do puzzles as well.
Explorations! – I spend a good chunk of the time exploring. I try to do easier hikes with them – I can’t yet do more challenging trails or trails with drop-offs with both of them on my own. I do love to take them on little adventures that we’ve already done or Matt doesn’t mind missing out on. We did things like Glitter Mountain, Junior Ranger Programs, or trails we’ve already done, saving our bigger adventures for weekends and days off Matt has taken.
Is It Hard Living in Such a Small Place with Two Kids?
The answer is yes and no. Honestly, we’re pretty lucky. Our kids can be turds – as all kids can – but they’re generally really good, curious kids. Sass is the hardest part of living with them right now, and that would be true whether we were living in 450 square feet or 3000 square feet. So, it is what it is. Honestly, the hardest parts are play space (the magnetic tiles take up a lot of space) and bedtime because they share a room in the camper. It isn’t terrible, but it does get frustrating to have to check on them arguing at bedtime far more here than we do back home.
How Do We Pick Our Destinations?
Honestly, much like any other trip. It’s mostly based on what we want to see. We do make concessions from time to time based on price. We loved our campground in Ouray, Colorado last year, but the cost was insane for us and we couldn’t justify it again this year, as we’re on a tighter budget. But other than cost, it’s just is there somewhere we’ve never been and want to explore or are there destinations we love and want to dive deeper into? I will say, I do find that a place I’m familiar with (like Moab) was intentional for weeks when I have the kids on my own. But we are learning that Utah is getting way too hot in May. So, the weather is going to factor into next year’s choice.
Why the Tighter Budget This Year?
Well, look at the economy! It’s an insane world out there. We haven’t been the best at buckling down at home or on the road in years past. But really taking a good hard look at our expenses, we’ve learned we need to stay on a tighter budget to get to continue this lifestyle. That looks like choosing more affordable destinations, spending lots of time outside, eating more meals at home and cutting waaaaay back on souvenirs. (I’m a sucker for a national park gift shop, but I’m doing much better this year.) I believe in transparency when sharing my experiences like this, and I want you to know the economy and money is effecting us as well!
What’s Your Favorite Part So Far?
It’s so hard to choose! I love new experiences, so anything new is always a highlight. But I think either doing the Alpine Lakes Trail in Great Basin National Park, Nevada, doing the Navajo Loop to Queens Garden Loop trails in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah or the Ouray Perimeter Trail in Colorado. I am always in awe of our parks and then this loop trail around the town of Ouray over bridges, across mountain ledges, and through a tunnel. These stand out so much, especially doing them as a family of four – with all of us on foot for the first time this year. Our kids are really making me proud!
Are there any questions you have that I didn’t answer about our Nomad Summer? Leave them in the comments and I’ll update the post with answers!
My hope with these posts is that others can see that they can live their dreams too. Sometimes it may look different than us, and that’s okay too! But I also want to try to be honest about the way we do this. Don’t forget that while it’s incredible to get to travel like this we still annoy each other, the kids still fight, and even though we love our life, it isn’t perfect. It’s just our regular life, but on the road.
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