What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.

I live on the road in an RV with my family... any questions (1 Viewer)

How many different churches have you attended?
We go to church most Sundays, occasionally we'll do a weekend camping trip or have some event to go to, but we almost always try to catch Sunday service. We also have gone to a few mid-weeks. Sometimes we find a church we really like and we'll go all month. Sometimes we pop around to try out a few places, like here in Socal. We went to big Calvary last week (so sad I was 2 weeks late for the Chuck Smith memorial :cry: ), we'll probably visit Joey Buran's church, we may check out the Refuge in HB, our friends go to Hope Chapel. So we'll pop around because there are interesting pastors, places we'd like to visit, or people we want to go to church with. We went to a church in Foley, AL and loved it so much we went for about a month. I actually ended up leading worship at the church filling in for someone before I left, we made a really great connection there. So it's a mixed bad. I've probably been to several dozen churches, probably not a hundred but definitely more than 20. Not sure, interesting question though.

It's actually been pretty awesome. In addition to seeing some of my favorite teachers, I get to go to some REALLY bad churches. The best conversations we've had with our kids after church have been in these places. Why are they saying what they're saying, what the Bible really says, why do we or don't we believe in this or that. Pretty cool stuff. I almost walked out of a service in the Grand Canyon, actually almost stood up and yelled Blasphemy, but I held it together. We left quickly and quietly. It ended up being one of the best conversations on faith we ever had with our kids. Pretty cool.

I think kids grow up in one church their whole lives and they don't know that there are so many different kinds of Christians doing it so many different ways. Things like false gospel are hard for a kid to understand until they see it, know something is weird, and then talk about it after. Some children don't experience that until college or later and it throws them for a loop. WE've loved the diversity we've come across in some of the out of the way places. It's been great for the kids.
I would love to hear more about your faith and how your experiences have helped your children! I am a "church going individual" but have always been of one denomination. I have thought about attending some different "types" of churches while on vacation to see what its like but have always backed out of the idea as I do not attend church just for me but to worship Him!
In Essentials Unity, In Non-Essentials Liberty, in All Things Charity

It's been really cool fellowshipping with brothers and sisters from all kinds of Christian traditions. The body of Christ is very diverse and each church (little 'c') is an expression of the people who worship there. Different styles of worship, teaching, tradition, and each has their own unique relationship with their community and how they serve it. It's just really interesting and I think enlightening for my kids and myself to see so many different interpretations of how to "do church". Some good, some not exactly what I would do, but for the most part all doing their best to worship and honor God. We're all part of the same Church (big 'c') and I think it's good for everyone to step outside of their tribe once in a while to see how other people, who love God just as much as they do, spend their time of worship on Sunday morning.

 
By the way, does anyone else here have a feeling that this is a Joe Bryant alias? For giggles:

-resources to do something like this, and doesn't have to worry about the hiatus affecting his career going forward

-strong Christian right leaning

-can do his job from anywhere

-family man

-handles challenging questions from other posters with grace and that signature JB touch

-JB has been missing in action here on the boards for some time now, and Dodds has even been sending out some of the daily updates

The NJ thing could be for cover. The only hitch in the story is that I thought Joe had older kids. Still.
:tinfoilhat:

That would have to be a pretty long set up considering I've been around since the 'ol Yellow days
Keyser Soze

 
Every time I open this thread it reminds more and more of the movie "Grapes of Wrath" I wonder if the kids are picking peaches

 
my wife and i are kinda hybrids i guess. every other vacation is sit by the pool and drink, eat way too much food and get a couple month's worth of sex crammed into 1 week. then the next vacation is touristy/action-packed. europe, disney, us destination cities, etc. wake up early and don't stop until late at night passing out in bed. rinse/repeat.
How do you have sex .25 times in a week?

 
Gopher State said:
Every time I open this thread it reminds more and more of the movie "Grapes of Wrath" I wonder if the kids are picking peaches
We just spent the week with some friends who own a farm in Salinas. He is a writer and I asked him about Steinbeck (one of my all time favorite authors) and he said Steinbeck used to come over to his grandfathers house. His grandmother was a socialite and she would invite him over but the grandfather absolutely hated him and wouldn't speak to him. Just pretended he wasn't there.

Apparently there was a lot of bad blood in that area between Steinbeck and the land owners, well how could there not be if you read Grapes of Wrath. But he said most of it was because so man of the characters and stories in the book were based on true stories, or one sided representations of true stories, and people in Salinas in those circles felt like he was airing all of their dirty laundry.

Just thought it was interesting when you brought up Grapes of Wrath. East of Eden is my favorite, but travelling around with your family I guess is more applicable to GoW. I think we have it just a touch easier though.

 
So a few people asked about difficulties or disadvantages to being on the road. Last night was one of them.

My son, my wife, and now I have all come down with a stomach bug. Fluids are retreating from our bodies at tremendous speeds from any possible exit.

We have one small RV toilet. The room is so small that while I can sit on that toilet I cannot kneel in front of that toilet (for anterior expulsion) without the door being opened.

So it's not always sunshine and rainbows.

I'm afraid someone is going to walk by and, between the sounds and odor, report us to the police as a mobile-Walter-White-meth lab.

 
Do you ever check into a hotel for a night or two? When everyone is sick at both ends, that might be a good time to spend a couple a couple nights in a decent hotel room.

 
Do you ever check into a hotel for a night or two? When everyone is sick at both ends, that might be a good time to spend a couple a couple nights in a decent hotel room.
Every once in a while we do. We've taken some side trips like a weeklong trip to MN for company retreat, a trip to Disneyland for my daughters birthday last year. We stay in a hotel for a week or so. We've also stayed for some nights when there are problems, maybe something getting fixed on truck or RV.

This kind of caught us by surprise last night. IF we had a really bad flu going through that lasted more than a night I would definitely consider grabbing a hotel room. I already feel better, it was just a horrendous night. Whatever it is was quick.

 
Congrats to you and the family Lombardi - sounds really cool and your kids are getting an unbelievable experience. As others have said, I'm kind of jealous.

 
So a few people asked about difficulties or disadvantages to being on the road. Last night was one of them.

My son, my wife, and now I have all come down with a stomach bug. Fluids are retreating from our bodies at tremendous speeds from any possible exit.

We have one small RV toilet. The room is so small that while I can sit on that toilet I cannot kneel in front of that toilet (for anterior expulsion) without the door being opened.

So it's not always sunshine and rainbows.

I'm afraid someone is going to walk by and, between the sounds and odor, report us to the police as a mobile-Walter-White-meth lab.
There's a messy poop thread, you know...

 
I had a very slow morning and read this entire thread. My husband has always wanted to do this. So any updates? When did the trip officially end? Where did you guys decide to find a home for the kids to go to high school? What was your favorite stop? Exactly how long where you gone in days and how much did it cost you in total?

 
This sounds just amazing. At the very least, I'll keep this on the backburner for when the wife and I retire.

 
Hey all, Tdoss texted that someone bumped my thread. I figured I would log in for an update.

The family and I officially moved into a house (rented) on August 2nd of last year. We moved to Flat Rock, North Carolina which is about 25 minutes south of Asheville, 45 minutes north of Greenville (SC). It's right outside of Hendersonville. Awesome little town just close enough to drive to visit family in a day but far enough way to.... well, far enough away will suffice. My daughter entered 3rd grade, my middle son continues to home school, my oldest son entered high school. The kids are doing great in school, my oldest is really kicking ### and blasting through all his honors courses and now an AP History course this semester (they do 2 semesters at these schools, weird for high school). So far we've felt really good about how well they have done re-entering the public school system. If anything my daughter has kind of been held back a bit because she was so far ahead in math, although in reading she was right on target. My middle son has joined a local homeschool co-op, plays on a travelling basketball team, and just started an acting class. Kids are great, life is good.

The family has found a really awesome small church that's just starting to grow and although we've only been here about 6 months we've met tons of people. have a house full of local friends for the Super Bowl, and we've really started laying down some serious roots. We love the area so far and plan on looking for a house in about a year and a half. We still rent our house in NJ and we're really hoping to hang on to it when we buy down here.

Overall the trip was pretty extraordinary. It's hard to even talk about with people, it's such a unique experience and the things people are interested in aren't even the things that I remember most fondly or that were the highlights. Every single person asks the same question.... "so what was your favorite place?". It's impossible to answer but I usually say the big national parks and talk a little bit about it. Some people are really interested and you get to have a nice conversation, re-live some of the things we did, encourage people to take similar type trips even if they're much shorter. But a lot of people find it kind of odd and it's hard to talk too much about it without sounding like some kind of braggart or topper. I could literally link "oh, and then there was this..." stories for hours if I wanted but I would never do that to somebody.

Every once in a while someone REALLY wants to talk about it, about the experience. Or my wife and I will talk at night, reminiscing. The more interesting part of the trip for my wife and I was the time. For literally 2 solid years we had a completely blank calendar. No birthday parties to remember, no practices, no back to school nights, no work functions, no meetings, nothing. Each day, each week was "what do you want to do now?". Outside of work/school hours and church on Sunday mornings, every hour of every day was family time. We just adventured together with our kids and each other for two years in some of the most amazing and beautiful places in the world. I saw beautiful things, checked a bunch off the bucket list, had some epic days... but what I'll always carry with me from that trip more than anything else or any place or any experience was the time with my kids. We've only been here in NC 6 months and already our calendar looks like a bingo board and we're running all over to place to bake sales, 5k's, basketball games, church events, friend's kids birthdays, etc., etc.. Sure I miss the road, I miss being at Mardis Gras this year, Snow is falling and I wish I was in Florida or Arizona right now, but honestly we're really content in our new home. We love this area, we really fit in with the pace of life and the people down here, we like the schools, there's a lot to do. What makes us miss the road is the time. Buckets overflowing with glorious time. We really miss sojourning together, it was a truly golden time I don't think I'll ever experience again, at least not with my whole family together for that long.

So to answer a few questions...

Our total travel time, not including a half year or so say at home after hurricane Sandy, was just over 2 full years. I have no idea how much it cost, I have lots of receipts, expenses, and other information in boxes and spreadsheets but I just haven't had time to do any actual analysis. As mentioned above, favorite place is almost impossible. My favorite places were the big national parks and we saw almost all of them (in the contiguous U.S.). Olympic, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Zion, Yosemeite, and on and on. I think we've been to 30 of the actual national parks now. So many other things though, all the really big cities, tons of events and festivals, concerts, games. Just really hard to nail down a favorite.

Oh and we haven't murdered any hookers. (well, at least I don't think they were hookers).

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I know I sound like a cat lady, but you should scrapbook this. Preferably something online, then you could post a link.

 
I'm sorry but the dude took time to give us an update and share his experiences with us and some of you feel compelled to point out how you don't like church. Sure adds something to this discussion.

 
sounds like an awesome experience that no amount of money could replace. glad you had that time with family and now have an area you seem happy with. as another northerner who transplanted to nc...be careful driving in this snow. I feel more comfortable driving in 2 feet of snow in new england than I do 2 inches down here....

 
Thanks for the update Lombard! This is one of the most unique threads I've read around here. I have a lot of respect and admiration for you in deciding to put the treadmill of life on hold for a bit and go out and create memories and relationships that will last a lifetime. What a great gift to your kids as well. Glad to hear that everyone is assimilating back into the normal life with ease.

 
As someone that loves to travel and live all over, this sounds fantastic. What a wonderful experience for a family imo. Your kids will never, ever forget this. Bravo.

 
What a unique and life changing experience. I don't mind saying that I am envious of the freedom and time with family you enjoyed. Thanks for sharing your experiences and I'm sure you'll maximize the new path you've set for yourself and your family.

Way to live the dream fellow FBG.

 
sounds like an awesome experience that no amount of money could replace. glad you had that time with family and now have an area you seem happy with. as another northerner who transplanted to nc...be careful driving in this snow. I feel more comfortable driving in 2 feet of snow in new england than I do 2 inches down here....
I was laughing when everyone was acting like armageddon was upon us after hearing 1-3 inches was on the way. However, these ice storms are no joke and apparently when you only get to drive in snow once every couple of years you either lose the ability to operate a vehicle or there are some kind of bumper car/mad max type laws down here I'm unaware of.

 
Thanks for the update Lombard! This is one of the most unique threads I've read around here. I have a lot of respect and admiration for you in deciding to put the treadmill of life on hold for a bit and go out and create memories and relationships that will last a lifetime. What a great gift to your kids as well. Glad to hear that everyone is assimilating back into the normal life with ease.
Thanks! I think normal life is doing us all some good after a couple years of travelling.

Although I always have the next "big plan" brewing in the back of my mind. I don't know if the wanderlust ever really goes away.

 
Very cool. Sounds like the way to live. If I hit the lottery I might do this.
Yeah I can't remember, did this guy ever say how he pays for stuff?
I think he works remotely.
Yeah, I covered this all in the thread I'm sure. I work from home, I'm a programmer. So I work a 40 hour week like anyone else but I was able to do it from different places every week (or month).

My expenses over the two years of travel were less than my expenses living at home. I know it sounds ridiculous but it's definitely true. RV'ing is a cheap way to live, especially if a lot of your fun and activity involves the outdoors.

 
Thanks Lombardi for this thread. Big props to you for taking your kids on these adventures.

I'm blackdotting this thread.

Our only child is in high school now, but I totally want to get an RV and travel after she starts college. Preferably before I'm too old to really enjoy the travel. I can work remotely a lot in my current job, if I could only find a truly remote job then my wife and I could pull this off in a few years. Definitely a backburner plan.

 
Where do you go to make fist-kabobs? You can't retreat to the basement and masturbate behind the boiler like a troll (credit-Louis CK,) steal off into the guest bathroom for a quick fap into the sink or go up to the attic and lope the mule out that cute little window over the wife's tomato garden. So what do you do?
As always, I abstain.
I picture you folding yourself like a contortionist into some little dry goods storage cabinet under the sink to snap one off. Every 4-5 strokes, your elbow hits the back wall. Your wife and kids keep going to the door of the RV, thinking someone's knocking. You're cursing under your breath and sweating profusely as you attempt to power through.

Then, just as the moment of truth is barreling down on you like an 18 wheeler going 75 miles an hour in the wrong direction on the freeway, little Suzie decides she needs a big honkin' bowl of Apple Jacks. The cabinet door swings open, and there's Dad, his red face contorted in a rictus of ecstacy and spinal distress. All she can see is head and feet, you're so folded in there. For her, it's like seeing "Dorf on Golf" for the first time, only instead of Tim Conway and golf, it's her dad beating his pecker like it killed his parents.

Cut to : overhead shot of the RV with sound of daughter's tortured scream of horror played over it.

Cut to : overhead shot of RV park with sound of daughter's tortured scream of horror played over it.

Cut to : overhead shot of Newport Beach with sound of daughter's tortured scream of horror played over it.

Cut to : picture of Earth taken from the moon with sound of daughter's tortured scream of horror played over it.

-End-
I don't remember writing this at all, but it made me laugh now. I feel like when I was 19 and would hide a joint or something, forget I had it, and then find it 3 months later. It was like a gift to myself.

 
If you have any questions just post or PM them. We stopped and settled last August, living in West NC area now, but I just pulled the RV out yesterday to get it ready for a summer trip.

Of course my roof had a leak and it fried my power cord, there's always SOMETHING to fix. But roof is sealed and just some wiring to do now. Should be ready to roll soon!

 
Last edited by a moderator:

Users who are viewing this thread

Top