Everything is on track for the Billy Goats to depart on June 1st for the “Big Trip,” as it is known around here. Most of our belongings have either been stuffed in the storage room off the carport, or sold on Craigslist, or donated to Good Will.
And we finally got this blog set up. Whenever we tell people about our plans, they ask us “so, are you going to have a blog?” Yes we are, and here it is!
1. How are you going to get your RV to Alaska? You can’t drive there!
We are not sure why some people think you can’t drive to Alaska. Is it because they think it is an island? Maybe because when you see a map of the USA (not North America) Alaska is floating off to the side like Hawaii? Or do they think there are no roads to Alaska? In any event, there is a highway through Canada to Alaska (called the Alaskan highway). In fairness though, there are some cities in south eastern Alaska that can only be by reached by plane or boat.
2. Where will you stay?
We will stay in state parks, national parks, forest service campgrounds, and “boondocking” spots. Boondocking is staying for free somewhere where camping is allowed but there are no campground facilities, like by the side of the road in a National Forest or on BLM land.
3. How do you shower?
Most RVs have showers, but we converted ours into shelves and a dog crate because we needed storage space and we prefer showering in a real shower. Now we shower when we are in campgrounds with showers. When we are not in campgrounds with showers we take bucket baths as needed (bucket baths are were we go somewhere hidden, dump water over us, wash ourselves,and dump water over selves again). And sometimes we are just kind of stinky.
4. Where do you sleep in your RV?
We have a dinette (table) which coverts into a small bed, a sofa which folds out into a queen sized bed, and above the cab there is another queen sized bed.
5. What are you doing about schooling? Can you just not go to school?
In Arizona you simply have to submit a notarized affidavit saying that you will teach your child. We are going to have Big kid continue using the same materials she is using in class now for math, reading and language. Her teachers have been a wonderful help as we plan the curriculum and gather materials! We anticipate formal school work taking two hours per day. The rest of her education will include writing in this blog, reading lots of books and learning about the places we visit.
Little kid is not yet in school; but he too will participate in real life learning. Also, lots and lots of books will be read.
6. What about your mail?
We have been shifting bank statements and bills over to electronic delivery for a long time, and these days we hardly get anything other than junk mail. What little mail we get will be forwarded to Ma’s awesome sister in Georgia and she will scan and email anything important.
7. How are you going to pay your bills?
All of our bills except for credit card bills have been on autopay (amount due automatically deducted from our bank account) for years. Our credit card bills are linked to our bank account so we can pay them online from anywhere.
8. Are you going to bring your car?
At first, the plan was to leave the Jetta behind, but then we realized that it really would be convenient to have a dinghy for side trips while we are in camp. We thought about just driving both vehicles, but then decided to spend the money for a tow rig. One of the reasons we decided to tow the Jetta was that many state parks charge a daily fee for a second vehicle unless it is a toad (RV speak for a towed car).
9. Are the kids free to move around the RV while you are driving?
Nope, they are belted in when we are under way.
10. What the heck does “chop chop billy goat” mean?
Ma kept saying that to us and then Pa asked her what that meant. She said it was an expression that means get moving, but Pa said it wasn’t (try googling it). They are still disagreeing about it now. Then when we were trying to find a name for the blog everything we thought of was taken. Then Pa suggested we use chop chop billy goat because it wasn’t a real expression so it wouldn’t be taken (of course Ma insisted that it was) …. but anyways, that is how got the name of our blog.
11. What about your house?
We found awesome tenants through Craig’s List. They will be renting the house for the entire eighteen months.
12. What about the animals?
The mammals – crazy dog and funny bunny – will be joining us on the road. Chickens (Sage, Doodle, and Pepper) and one tortoise (Bruno) will be staying home with the tenants. The other two tortoises (Penny and Sal) will be staying with friends.
13. Have you mapped out the whole trip? Do you know where you will be staying every night?
We have reservations in Denali and in the Florida Keys, because without reservations we would probably not be able to get a spot. The rest of the trip is wide open (chaos?). If we love some place, we can stay as long as we choose. If horrible weather is predicted we can just leave.
14. Are you nervous?
ma says …. not at all. the only thing I am a bit nervous about is running out of books to read!
pa says …. what, me worry!?
big kid says …. Nope! I am totally excited!
little kids says … what’s nervous mean?
The plan for the”Big Trip” is to live on the road for eighteen months in Billy Goat, our 2001 Jayco Eagle Class C Motorhome.
In the summer of 2014 we are going to make a beeline for Alaska and spend all summer exploring it. When it gets cold up there we are going to drop down, probably along the Rockies (Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico) trying to stay ahead of truly wintry weather. Once we hit the southern border, probably at Big Bend National Park in Texas, we will work our way along the Gulf Coast, getting to Florida in December/January. We already have campground reservations in the Florida Keys for February 2015. In the spring of 2015 we will slowly follow the nice weather north along the East Coast, eventually ending up in Canada by early summer. We haven’t planned where to go for the summer of 2015, but probably head west across Canada and/or the northern states of the US, and then explore the Rockies and/or the Pacific Northwest, before returning home in December 2015just in time for Big Kid to start sixth grade.
Why go on a trip like this? There is no one single reason, and digging into all the reasons would take a lot of time. Short version: Doing something like this has always been a goal of both Ma and Pa Billy Goat, and over the past few years various things have fallen into place that made it possible.
Ma says …. why not?! Also, it is time to bust out of suburbia for a bit ….
We will be departing Tucson on June 1, 2014 (Ma and Pa’s 13th wedding anniversary) and returning home December 2015.