We are in the process of unpacking here in Virginia right now. I haven’t updated lately because of the move, but we’re here now and our internet is hooked up, so updates will be forthcoming.

I wanted to post my Electoral Vote prediction before the polls started to close, so here it is:

This is just how I think today’s voting is going to turn out. I made this on October 7, 2008, but am only now getting around to posting it.

Making the decision to finish school before we travel “full-time” has given us a peace of mind we haven’t had in a while. We are moving to Virginia in a little over a week and so we are packing furiously and selling off applicances we no longer need. We signed the lease on our apartment last week and drove around Lynchburg and found so much to get the girls involved in. The area is beautiful and everyone we ran into was really friendly.

There are some pictures in our Flickr account for those interested. I’ll have more time in the coming days to get a full-fledges post up. In the coming weeks, this blog will move away from being a “travel” blog and more to being a “family” blog.

We’ll be updating this blog with our camping and travel adventures, though. That desire hasn’t abated.

Hannah and I just wrapped up the first term of the Fall semester last night. We now have a 9 day “break” before our second Fall semester term begins.

And speakng of school, I have an announcement to make about our Adventure… we’re still doing it, but we’re going to ease into it while we finish school. After months of prayer and weeks of planning and more prayer, talking, evaluating, more prayer, more talking, advice-seeking and research, we’ve concluded that yes, we’re still going to travel and be a “Family on the Road.” However, we will not start out full-time as originally planned.

Hannah and I are both not “getting into” the current degree programs we’re working through. The ones we really want to do are on-campus only… so… we’re moving near our college to be able to attend classes on-campus, opening up our options greatly.

We are still going to be traveling and camping every chance we get. We’re moving ahead with our purchase of an RV of some type after the first of the year and will make it part of our lifestyle. I believe we will be on the road full-time one of these days, but until we finish our degrees it will only be part-time.

All this is going to happen rather quickly, since the lease where we are living right now is up at the end of the month. I want to be in a house or apartment in Lynchburg, Virginia, by November 15. That’s my goal. Because its a college town, the rentals are so much cheaper than here in Mount Vernon. We’re paying $675/month right now. Houses in Lynchburg of the same size are $450/month. We just want a 2BR this time and those are $395-$410.

As for our studies, Hannah has had a desire to be an RN or get her BSN for the past 4-5 years, and we’ve always been able to come up with reasons why that would take too long, be too expensive, blah blah blah. But now, looking back, if we had gone in that direction when Hannah first wanted to, she’d have been done for three years now. So no more procrastinating with it. No more excuses. Hannah loves nursing (she’s a CNA right now) and has been told by every single one of her employers that she is one of the best care providers and employees they’ve ever had. And she loves it.

So what about me? I’m going to continue through the distance program, working on low-level prerequisite and foundational classes, and then transfer to the campus next Fall, when I will switch my major to English/Writing. Hannah and I both intend to continue through to our Master’s Degrees.

That’s where we are right now. We’re sorting all our crap, selling stuff and putting things into storage. I hate packing and I hate moving, but I have a gut feeling that we’ll be in Lynchburg for a few years, and its a feeling I haven’t had anywhere else we’ve moved. I finally feel the Holy Spirit giving us both PEACE about something we’re about to do.

Our adventure is truly going to be UNENDING, and for us, it starts in just a couple of weeks!

We finally have power and internet back in our house. It had been out since last Sunday afternoon. It was off for a whole week thanks to weather Hurricane Ike surprisingly brought all the way up to Ohio. At the peak of the power outage, about 1.5 million Ohioans were in the dark.

But the power is back on and I’m back with our Suburban.

I’ll post a more comprehensive update about my epic drive from Las Vegas, NV, to Ohio a little later. We’re about to clean out our fridge and freezer… Yuck!

Well, here I am in Las Vegas. Actually I’m currently on a shuttle bus heading to Mesquite, NV, where I’m going to pick up our new (to us) Suburban.

I brought my camera, but somehow ended up leaving without a card reader, so all the great pictures I’m taking will have to wait to get posted when I get back.

More to follow!

Well, well… we didn’t get a Class C. We were going to, but we came across a great deal on a 1994 Suburban 2500 with a towing capacity of 10,000 lbs. This thing is sweet and its going to make the perfect starter tow vehicle.

The interior is in great shape. The tires have about 80% tread.

It has a drop-down DVD entertainment system for the kids, which I’m sure will get a lot of use.

Somehow, we’ve ended up being one of those families who inadvertently ended up with more vehicles than they need, so we’re now going to be selling off our three other cars: a ‘97 Saturn SL, a ‘94 Nissan Altima and an ‘05 Pontiac Aztek. Money from those cars and other stuff we’re selling around the house will go towards a small, used travel trailer to use through late February 2009. We have until the end of October when our lease is up.

I am scheduled to start my temporary job at Amazon.com in Kansas on Nov. 2, a day after my birthday. Money from that job will go towards a travel trailer as well. Before we know it, it will be February and we’ll be ready to head out.

Hannah and I have been talking a lot lately about our upcoming RV plans. Our lease is up where we are right now October 31, so we recognize the need to have something lined up by then. Tonight I think we might have settled on a tentative plan that will increase the money we have in our RV fund and get us on the road sooner than anticipated.

I will most likely be working for Amazon.com through the end of October, all of November and most of December. It’s a temporary job through the holiday season, and the money is great. We will not, however, be in a position to buy our full-time RV in October. But, that’s okay, because we’re going to start small, with a used Class C.

In the next couple weeks, we will be purchasing a used Class C motorhome to start our little adventure in. We will use it while I’m working at Amazon.com (they’ll be paying our campground fees), and then bring it back to Ohio for Christmas and the New Year. We will be in it until the end of February when we’ll have enough saved to buy a nice tow truck and 30-31′ Travel Trailer.

Yes, we finally decided on going with a Travel Trailer. Since we will be docked more than we are on the road driving, it just makes sense to make sure our time in campgrounds is as comfortable and livable as we can afford to make it. In February, we’ll be able to afford a nice used tow truck and brand new travel trailer big enough for all of us. Then we’ll start saving up on the road to buy a Class A with bunks, like the Georgetown 350, which we’ve been able to find brand new in the upper 60’s. Which, If we workamp and I keep up my freelance work, pinch pennies and don’t splurge all the time, we could save up and actually buy a lot sooner than we originally thought possible.

But, we’ll be starting off in a 27′ Class C it looks like right now. I hope to be able to report something on that soon. So until then, keep us in your prayers!

Hi everyone. Just a quick note to say that our school work (Hannah and I are both full-time college students working and raising two kids) has picked up considerably since we’re now back in session. It looks like things are going to be a bit hectic for the next 2-3 weeks and then our schedules slow down again until the Spring term.

We both love school and attend Liberty University through their Distance Learning Program. It’s incredibly fast-paced and intense, and we love it (most of the time). Both Hannah and I are about 18-20 months away from finishing our first Bachelor’s Degrees and we both plan on continuing through for our Master’s, which will most likely be in Psychology for both of us.

Posting will also be slow because the hard drive in my three-week-old laptop went kaput. Turns out it was a model that was part of a huge recall that affected tens of thousands of computers, both PCs and Macs, so my Mac-hatin’ buddies can blame Western Digital and not Apple. Still, it has been very frustrating to lose my main computer while the drive gets replaced. Hannah and I have been forced to use our daughters’ computer for school.

“If they give you ruled paper, write the other way.“

~ Juan Ramon Jiminez, the Spanish poet and winner of the 1956 Nobel Prize for Literature

After doing some math this past week, we calculated that we could save about $20 per month by changing our internet and telephone services now instead of waiting a few months when we leave for wherever we head first.

I went ahead and signed up for Verizon’s BroadbandAccess service because even though I receive “only” 5GB of transfer, it’s $22 cheaper than what I’m paying for internet right now. We’re also going to cancel our cable T.V. because, frankly, the girls, Maddy especially, just watch too much “educational” programming that annoys the crap out of Hannah and me. Ever since Maddy figured out the remote, its been a battle. So, instead of prolonging this battle, we’ve decided to eliminate the battlefield altogether. Bye-bye cable T.V. Good riddance.

Hannah and I have switched to cell phones sharing 700 minutes, way more than we currently use on our current VOIP phone (which we couldn’t keep anyway since we’re getting rid of cable internet). Well, to be more accurate, we use more than 700 minutes, but most of the people we call all have Verizon cell phones, which, under our new plan would be free calls. I went through the last six months of our phone records and removed all calls to our parents and others we know who have Verizon phones and figured all other calls equal about 350-450 minutes. We concluded that the odds of us using more than 700 minutes was slim, and were able to justify getting the two phones.

In the end, we end up with about a $20 difference in our favor. Not a whole lot, but, hey, $20 is $20.

For internet, I decided not to incur an expense buying an ExpressCard wireless modem when Verizon offered some highly-rated USB models for free with the contract that I was going to have to sign up for anyway. I opted for the Novatel Wireless USB727. It was very easy to setup and within three minutes, I disable the AirPort in my MacBook Pro and surfing very quickly using the USB modem. And when I say fast, I mean FAST. I was getting consistent download speeds approaching 2.0mbps. Upload was about 600-700kbps which I was very happy with. I know that speed will not be consitent across the country, but I would be happy just to have half, or even a quarter, of those speeds. All in all I think I made the right decision.

As for phones, Hannah and I have completely different tastes. Here’s the phones we got; can you guess which one is mine?

Hmmm…

Anyway, enough with the boring technical post. When we get going I’m going to start a separate Tech Travel blog where I wax eloquent about all my gadgets.