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!

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.

So, like I said, the RV show was a bit of a letdown. Local media was reporting that this year’s show was about half the size as previous ones. Overall, however, it was a beneficial trip that gave us a lot to think and pray about. Even though the show was smaller in scope than we were expecting, we were able to poke around several models of RVs we hadn’t seen before, including several Class C’s and smaller Class A’s.

The more time we spent in the Class C’s and small Class A’s, the more Hannah and I began to realize that with our family, the two of us and two toddlers, we didn’t NEED a large travel trailer to begin our journey. In fact, starting out smaller would actually beneficial because part of our reason for embarking on this journey is to reprogram our way of thinking regarding possessions and living space requirements. Buying a used Class C or small Class A would also let us get going with less money up-front, vs. buying a truck and trailer.

So when we got home I started surfing the net and found HUNDREDS of used Class A and Class C motorhomes that would cost us about HALF the expense of buying a truck and trailer would. With one of these, we would be able to pull a car behind us, and we happen to have a 1997 Saturn SL2 that gets 29MPG that would be the perfect “toad” car.

So right now, I’d say we are leaning 80% towards finding a used Class A or Class C motorhome and pulling our Saturn behind it.

There are several advantages to a motorhome over a travel trailer. For starters, the girls would be able to work on schoolwork, watch TV, or play games while we’re driving. While actual traveling on the road will be something we do only once a month or so, the girls will have more freedom when we do so. Boondocking would be easier because we just park, pull the curtains and sleep.

We already have a few Class A’s in mind that are in excellent shape that just need a little “decorating update” with their interiors. We’ll keep you updated!

If we can find the right RV at the right price, we’ll be able to hit the road in November, when our lease is up on our house!

Well, God still knows what He’s doing. I had a couple questions on my eBay auction over the night. One person I made contact with earlier in the week said he wanted to use it in his photography business. I googled his name and found out his “photography business” was the adult industry. I did not want this computer to be used for that, since it was originally purchased to be used for ministry. I’ve done several videos for my church on it, and I wanted it to continue to be used for what it was dedicated to do. I prayed and believed God would line up the right buyer that was going to use the computer for ministry.

So about 45 minutes ago, I get a “Your Item Has Sold” email from eBay. Yay! Then about a minute later I get a message from the buyer, introducing himself as the pastor of a church in California and that he was buying it so his church could start making videos.

Praise the Lord!

In the end, I am going to pay eBay and PayPal a total of $182.48. Ouch! But… I am so very grateful that the computer sold so quickly. I’ll have enough left over to buy a great laptop and then some. God’s good.

Today I collected three bags of junk from our aptly named “junk closet.” I don’t even know why we’ve held on to most of this stuff.

I put my Mac Pro up for sale on Craigslist to see if I can sell it there before taking it to eBay, where I’ll have to deal with shipping three boxes weighing more than 80 pounds total. It’s not going to be cheap. Not to mention the eBay AND PayPal feels which will total about $100. I really hope I can sell this locally.

I also posted an ad on Craigslist to start looking for temporary housing after our lease is up where we live now. We are kind of thinking it would be best to leave on our adventure the first week of March 2009, after we receive our federal tax return, which is usually pretty sizable thanks to Earned Income Credit we receive for having kids and being middle-income. With our tax return, school refunds and money we can save from now until February, we should have close to $20,000 to spend on a decent truck and trailer or used motorhome. It all depends on the market at the time.

Most of the money we are making from the stuff we are selling now is going into a savings account to pay for our diesel/SVO engine conversion. I kicked around the idea of using biodiesel but there’s no real safe way to make it on the road and getting into biodiesel co-ops is difficult, especially for people who won’t be in the co-op’s area long-term. Still, even with a converted engine we can use biodiesel if we can get it or make it somewhere along the way.

Madeline and I sat down with Microsoft Streets and Trips yesterday and talked about all the places we could go and all the things we’re going to see. I’m not sure she completely understands the whole concept quite yet, but she’s processing it and knows we’ll be on the road staying at campgrounds and such. I don’t think she understands that when we come back to the area we are now, we will have to stay with grandmas and grandpas because we won’t have a house of our own here any more.

Madeline’s also very excited to start school. I’ve been working with her from an incredible book called Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. She is doing great! Every day she is gaining confidence and learning more and more words, actually teaching them to herself. At first I was skeptical of the book because it is a method of teaching children to read that is so different than anything I’ve seen before. But Madeline caught on instantly and is progessing through the 100 lessons right on track. 100 lessons in 100 days for 20 minutes a day. At the end of the 100 lessons, she’ll be reading a 2nd grade level. Amazing!

Hannah and I have started a major cleaning project of our house. This is step 1 of who knows how many in the downsizing process.

Earlier this evening, my wife and I had one of those moments when you’re reading something, think about what you just read for a second or two and then your brain goes into overdrive with new ideas and realizations.

See, the spreadsheet I’ve been working on to crunch the numbers for the lifestyle we’re about to embark on checks out. With our current income, we can afford it, but just barely. There’s one column that dwarfs all the others combined.

Fuel.

Whether we go gas or diesel, it’s going to be expensive. Really expensive. I’ve read other traveler’s blogs and a lot of people are spending $1,500, $2,000, even $3,000 a month on fuel. That we simply cannot afford.

That was until I once again hit the ole’ Internet to do some more research. One of the blogs I subscibed to last week when I started planning all this was the Live Lightly Tour. Well, the light bulb went off for my wife and I when we read about their rig.

We’re still trying to decide on whether or not to buy an older RV that needs some TLC in October (when the lease on our house is up) or find out some other kind of creative living arrangement through February when we’ll be able to buy a $15-$20k RV. If we stay in our current house after our lease is up, we’ll be esentially throwing away $1,000 a month on the increase rent (month-to-month costs more) and utilities.

If we have to buy in October, we’ll have about $7,000. In February we can do a lot better. We’d like to wait until February to buy, but need some suggestions about where to live from November until we can buy the RV. Anyone have an RV or trailer we can live in at a park somewhere? We’ll take real good care of it for you!

I just posted a rather lengthy tale about how we arrived at our decision to become a family on the road. Be sure to check it out, as it fills in a lot of gaps that aren’t obvious in the blog posts.

After another night of scouring the internet and reading dozens of blogs from other families doing what we are planning to do, we’ve decided that we don’t need a trailer with a separate bunk room for the girls. One of the reasons we are embarking on this trip is to get away from the standard American lifestyle because that lifestyle is, in many ways, contrary to what is needed to raise a close family.

For example, kids today have rooms that they could quite literally live in for several weeks without having to interact with anyone. They have their computer, their TV, their own fridges, games, phones, et cetera… all tucked away in their own little world. That’s what we’re wanting to get away from.

We do understand that our children’s “personal space” will be important, but not at ages 5 and 3. They don’t need an entire room, at least not quite yet.

We had initially decided against any trailer that has the bunks as part of the main living space. Why we came to that conclusion we’re not really sure, but we’ve changed our minds. We’ve also noticed that changing our mind on this non-issue sees us being able to get a trailer with a much larger living space for about $5,000-$7,000 less than a trailer with two bedrooms. And that means we could be on the road full-time in NOVEMBER instead of Februrary of next year.

Sooner is better, especially with our lease up here at the end of October.

This book changed the way we see the world virtually overnight.

Hi. We’re the Paulleys and pretty soon, we’ll probably be driving through your back yard, pulling a trailer and shushing two rambunctious kids that want nothing more than to run full-speed in any direction you point them in.

We’ve decided to become a full-time RVing family on the road. We’re still not exactly sure of all the hows, but we know it’s going to happen. The lease is up on our current house and we really don’t want to sign another one. If we have to, we’re going to get a popup and brave the bitter winter in Florida. After that, by February or March of 2009, we should have enough saved up to buy a truck and trailer and hit the open road.

We are looking at the rest of our lives as our Unending Adventure. A journey with no boundaries, no limits, and no plans except where the Lord leads us and where our hearts yearn to go. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a little scary. But, holy cow, are we ready!