Holy $&!+, We Did It

There is just no other title fitting enough for this blog post, so I apologize for the profanity.  Actually, Dave says that I have to curse in our blog because, well, that’s just what I do, and also he’s been taking in a lot of Tony Robbins lately, and believes in the way that Tony’s uses profanity to shock the brain in order to make us hear things differently. Really, that’s what we hope to inspire in this blog, to create a breakthrough in the limiting beliefs that so many have, in order to show them their opportunities are limitless. I’ll save the philosophical stuff for another blog entry, but have no doubt, it’s coming. I mean, would you ever expect anything less from me?!?!

(Picture of the day we left Dave’s parents house, from the exact same spot we got married. It was so nice spending our first few days in the trailer in their driveway, adjusting things as needed, and getting ready to go. We will be meeting up with them next month in Milwaukee, and again in Maine at Acadia National Park.)

Lets start with the down and dirty truth, and work up to the good stuff-The last month has been really freaking hard, and we are so grateful to be on the road and on day two of  “full-timing.” The girls like to announce this phrase to perfect strangers, randomly in the car, and while walking throughout the trailer, like the realization has just hit them…..repeatedly. I can’t say I blame them, I feel the same. It has all seemed very surreal until yesterday.

The House-As most of you know, moving is said to be as stressful as death and divorce. Since we just moved into our beautiful home that we LOVE, only three years ago, doing it all again was a bit traumatizing. If we didn’t have the excitement of what was to come, I think Dave and I might have lost our minds completely. The end is always the hardest, when you start finding random things all over the house and all of the boxes that you thought were packed full of your stuff, get more boxes added to the stack titled, “Random Shit.” Everything in the house starts to break, the help that you hired to paint or clean the carpet throws the whole schedule off, and the curve balls just keep on coming. Again, if we didn’t have our eyes on the prize-the dream we were creating, we might have been easily thrown off course. I know this to be a very real life lesson in everything we do. Always stay focused on the end result, and knock every other curve ball out of the park!

The Trailer (AKA “Spirit”)-Having been part of many full-time travel groups, we knew that the trailer was bound to have issues…..we just didn’t know they would happen before we even hit the road. On our first trial trip, we discovered that our refrigerator wasn’t working, so we started the process of getting it covered for repair through warranty. Hallelujah it was, because replacing compressors ain’t cheap! Once fixed, we discovered that the lovely young repairman, also put a big, (unrepairable without replacing the entire main flooring,) gash in our flimsy trailer floor. Thank you Costco for beautiful rugs, problem solved for now. However, the refrigerator then decided to stop working again, and after waiting until 10:30pm on the night that Dave and the girls were supposed to leave, they decided to sleep in the trailer in the driveway of our cul-de-sac, and leave the next morning. (I had gone to Moab that day to spend a few days with my Grandma, and then on to Montrose to spend another few days with my grandparents there.) A little prelude to what happens next, Dave is really big on towing safety, and I am so appreciative of him protecting our family. He has installed airbags on the wheels of our truck, and spent a small fortune on bigger and safer tires for our trailer. So, he made sure to take our entire rig to be weighed prior to departing Denver, only to find that we needed to lose about 500 pounds in the trailer in order to stay below the recommended weight. UGH!! If you ever want to learn how far your limits can be pushed in the exercise of letting go, take your entire living space and all of it’s contents from 5,000 sqft, down to 450, and just when you think you’ve taken every dish, clothing item, shoe, food, and bathroom accessory to it’s most basic need, go through said 450 square feet again and scrutinize everything inside until you find 500 pounds of the contents to leave behind. Yet again, we found the baggage we hold on to, (literally and figuratively,) to be quite freeing when released.  These are just a couple examples of obstacles we’ve had to overcome, and as you can imagine, communication has been key. The old saying, “It’s not what you say, it’s how you said it,” may or may not have been spoken or insinuated a couple hundred times in the last month. One of MANY ways our family will continue to learn to communicate with each other and the rest of the world, over the next year.

(Picture of late night repairs and additions the night before we were SUPPOSED to leave.)

My Car-If you did not catch my Facebook Live video, I quickly want to touch on what we did with my car, because I think it could be an awesome source of income for people that want to travel. My Suburban  now lives near DIA at Fine Parking.  We’re renting it out on Turo and it’s being managed by Hassle Free Car (www.hasslefreecar.com).  Turo rents cars like a rental car company, except it’s peer to peer, kind of like AirBnB for your car.  Hassle Free Car handles all the booking, cleaning, and repairs so you don’t have to.   We liked this option because first, I absolutely love my car and worked hard for it. Second, by renting the car each month, we may not be making a fortune on it, but we are paying the monthly payment and any extra is going to pay more principle on the car loan. While we think this is going to be a great option, we are giving it a 90 day trial run, and will check back in to let you know if we stick with it based on the income it is or is not generating. Either way, check out their website if you’d like more info, and here is the link for $25 off your first rental. https://www.turo.com

I could literally write for hours on all that it took to make this happen, but I just can’t include it all. If you have specific questions or topics you want us to cover, type them in the comments and we’ll either answer them in a blog post or on Instagram. @WeissLifeJourney. The girls also have a new Instagram account, where they’ll be posting about this journey from their eyes. They’ll also have a link on Insta to their YouTube Channel. Make sure to follow them @JAMFamSisters

We’d like to end this brief update, in the way we plan to end all of our blogs, with the “Finding Joy” section. We’ll post our favorite moment between blog posts, and a moment we CHOSE to find joy. (I.E. the hard stuff, the place where we could have gotten lost in the negativity and self pity, but instead found the gratitude, the joy, the lesson.)

Terra:

(Pic of me watching the washer/dryer combo very closely the first time we used it, to ensure it didn’t flood our trailer, like the horror stories we’ve heard about. Success!)

Favorite- When the girls sat down on their shared bedroom floor together to do their laundry, without being asked. I about fell over and died of shock.

Finding Joy-There sure have been a lot of these moments, from the refrigerator, the stress of maintaining a business while making this dream happen, arguments with Dave (yes, we are a real couple, in a real marriage,) realizing just how little counter space is in my new kitchen, the trailer weight issue, and on and on, BUT the greatest example my heart can think of, was when I GOT to watch someone else move into our home. That was really hard, so hard I couldn’t even go back inside once they started moving in. However, I’m so grateful that we have wonderful renters in our home, that I know will love it and take care of it, and most of all, I’m so glad that we even have this opportunity, and therefore, have someone else living in our home. It’s all about the perspective I choose to see it in, and I know our home will be there when we’re ready to go back to it.

David:

Favorite- Taking Miyah and Jaelyn on the Green River through Dinosaur Natl’ Park.  This trip was very nostalgic for me and getting to share that with my kids was special.

Finding Joy – After all the stressful moments leading up to our departure and all the hurdles we had to jump.  After all the doubt and wondering if this was really going to happen and if we can really make this work, we arrived in Thermompolis and while setting up the rig for our first three night stay, I said to Terra, “Holy Sh!t, we’re actually doing this!”  Nothing has felt more right for our family than this…ever.

Miyah: 

 (Miyah in her bunk, setting up their YouTube channel.)

Favorite-Hiking up the mountain on 4th of July and watching fireworks over Steamboat Springs with our family, as we sat on blankets.

Finding Joy-During our raft trip, I was having a grumpy afternoon and when everyone wanted to go on a hike, I didn’t want to go, but went anyways. I was really grateful that I went and got to see the waterfall. Even though I might not want to do something, I might miss something amazing if I don’t push myself.

Jaelyn:

(Jaelyn foregoing her favorite cookies and cream ice cream to get gluten free strawberry ice cream.)

Favorite-Going on a walk with Grandma and seeing Boo (her dog) get in the river water and laying down to cool off.

Finding Joy-Not being able to have gluten on our river trip, but feeling really appreciative of it when I found out that my Dad and the guides made sure I was able to eat gluten free the whole trip. I didn’t feel different from everyone else. Also, leaving Sprout with Grandma, but I know she’s going to be so happy with Grandma. (And she’ll get Pupachino’s! #Starbucks.)

Aubree:

(This is how Aubree spends as much time in the truck as she can. She’s happier than a dog.)

Favorite-I’m grateful that I was able to become a better swimmer during my time I spent with Grandma, while Dad and sisters were on the raft trip. I got to take private swim lessons at the hot spring.

Finding Joy-Tonight they ran out of blueberry cheesecake ice cream, but I’m thankful I got an Oreo cookie blizzard instead.