When did you decide to do 50 States in 50 Weeks?
Colter has been wanting to do this for about a year and a half and I have never really said no because I didn’t think it would happen. Colter is pretty determined though and wanted to go to a travel blogging conference to see how we could get some sponsors to do this trip. The blog conference called TBEX was in the spring in Huntsville, AL.
It was here where we started to tell people we were going to do this trip. At that time, Colter had mentioned starting in November. We had looked at RVs after the Alabama trip and never really found ‘the one’ perfect RV until the total solar eclipse in September. We were coming back from my sister’s house and I told Colter that we should go look at RV’s really quick. We went to Bish’s RV and looked at some used class C’s. There was a really old one that we thought would be pretty retro but it was really expensive for what the RV was. I guess retro is expensive! Then we looked and a larger 2012 RV and really liked the layout and the storage space. From here we looked at some new RV’s. There were all different types of layouts and beds that slid down and tucked away. One of our favorites was one from Camping world that was more of a van on a Mercedes chassis. The only problem was that it had white leather. White leather and kids don’t really go together. Plus it was small and didn’t have a lot of storage space. After all the looking we wanted to go back to the 2012 RV. When we went back, there was another older couple just finishing up viewing the RV.
Thankfully for us, we had a good salesman and he mentioned to us that it wasn’t this couples first time looking at the RV and if we wanted to, we could put $500 dollars down to hold it. This was perfect because Colter had told me multiple times that he didn’t want to make a decision that day and wanted to think about a potential purchase overnight. This was a win-win situation for both of us. We could use the money put down for any RV that we would purchase.
We came back the next day and both felt good about purchasing the 2012 Tahoe. Our salesman mentioned to us the older couple decided they liked the same RV and if we hadn’t put the money down to hold it, it would have been sold. Talk about slipping in at the right time! So it was after we purchased the RV in September that this trip was definitely going to happen, it was just a matter of when.
Which things or places are you excited to see?
Like I said previously this was Colter’s idea and I never really gave it a second thought until, well, until now! I kept busy and come December I started going through our house trying to minimize. I was able to talk to a friend of mine that did a similar trip for five weeks on her bike and she said, “I’ll tell you, for me, it was like riding through every patriotic song I know. Purple mountain majesties, amber waves of grain, oceans with foam. It really was/is America the Beautiful. In the south [there are] so many country music references. It was a constant soundtrack of my favorite songs.” You can read about her trip here. (whitskirides.blogspot.com) So she got me excited to see the different scenery.
I think what I am most excited about is not necessarily what I am going to see, it is more of what I am able to do with my family. To spend some quality time and have them be my main focus.
For Colter, Yosemite, and the East Coast because he has never been to these places. He is excited about the unknown. The places he never knew existed and opportunities to see all the cool places this country has to offer.
Where will you be staying along the road?
We are really not sure yet where we will stay. My guess is RV parks, campgrounds, and boondocking (free places to park without hookups for the RV) whenever we can.
Will you ever stay in hotels?
Probably. It will be a nice change of scenery from the RV.
What part of 50 States in 50 Weeks do you think will be the most challenging?
Driving in big cities. Being away from ‘home’, family and friends. Having such a small space to live in.
How will you keep your girls entertained?
They are pretty good at entertaining themselves with barbies, babies, and coloring. When they get tired of those activities, they have their Kindle that they can play on. Thankfully Saylor is getting big enough where she can play with the older girls and enjoys watching them.
Will you drive your RV everywhere?
No. We are towing our car. The plan is to find a place to park the RV and then use the car to get around and do the activities. We obviously cannot drive to Hawaii, so we will fly there. We could drive the RV to Alaska but that would take longer than we have time for so we will fly to Alaska also.
Are you going to mostly eat out of your RV?
We are going to try but talking with another couple who has done a lot of RVing, he said that we will want to experience the local food and most likely won’t cook a lot. We think it will save us money if we can eat out of our RV. I did get a lot of cool cookware that I am excited to use!
How will Colter manage work?
Luckily he owns a social media marketing company and a videography company so he can work from anywhere as long as we can get cell service or WiFi. The plan is that he will work his 40 hours the first part of the week and we can go do camping and hiking later on in the week/weekend. He will work out of the RV or find a business that has a WiFi connection and the girls and I will go explore so that he can focus and be efficient with his work.
Why are you doing 50 states in 50 weeks?
I am doing it because I love Colter and want to support him in things he wants to do/accomplish. I would not have done this trip if it wasn’t for him. I really like the stability of my home staying in one place and having consistency around me with friends, activities and family.
Colter wanted to do it because we could visit one state every year and to get through all 50 states, it would take 50 years. So his thinking is why not visit them all in a row and to do it now when our girls are not involved in a lot of extra activities, and while we are still young enough to physically be able to do hikes and climb and enjoy the great outdoors. So 50 States in 50 Weeks began. I think he wanted to do it because he loves adventure and the thrill of doing something totally different.
We hope this Q&A helps everyone see our vision and understand the ins and outs of this exciting adventure in 2018!
What an amazing adventure! It is a great time to do it now while your family is young and you can create these amazing lifetime memories! Happy and safe traveling!
Thank you! We are really enjoying the trip so far. One month down, 11 to go!
Wow! What a great travel adventure! I would love to do something like this 😀
Sounds like quite the adventure!
Wow, what an adventure! I never thought I’d want to do something like that, but reading about your plans here actually makes me kind of get the itch to do it. There are definite perks to working from home, aren’t there?
WOW!! What an incredible adventure you have in store. I will be fun to “see” your trip as you share it here!!
What an exciting an adventure you’ve planned out! I’d love to do something like this…Have a beautiful and safe journey. Can’t wait to read about your travels.
What a fun adventure!! I can’t wait to watch your journey!
This seems like such a cool concept. I would love to see so many of the states as I have never really gone outside the south. I love that you have a good amount of time to see each state you will visit. Good luck on your journey to see all fifty states!
This sounds like a great adventure for you all. Happy travelling. I would love to have this experience some time too.
It was great to meet you when you came through Miami a few weeks ago. I am the one who spoke to Colter about things to do in Swizerland” as we just moved from there. What an incredible adventure you are having! I hope that you are safe and healthy and happy. Have you had to worry about medical care on the road? How do you handle that?