Our first stop after Madison was Wisconsin Dells, home of America’s Largest Water Park. We spent our honeymoon amusement park hopping; it seemed only fitting that we celebrated 10 years together with water park hopping.

It wasn’t a perfect two days: Zeb crashed on his bike, my dreads gave me whiplash, we got all turned around on an incredibly long bike ride to and from the park and it was pretty darn cold. But it was still an amazing two days!

After the Dells, we left Wisconsin behind and headed into Iowa where we stopped to meet two new fiends, Niki and Toast in Decorah. They showed us around the many natural springs and beautiful countryside and we enjoyed the Vesterheim Museum, as well (Vesterheim is Norwegian for “western home,” what many of Norway’s emigrants called America…or Amerika.) We really enjoyed the small town feel mixed with the sustainable and artistic communities and plan to do some more research on the area.

Leaving Decorah, we headed toward Missouri with a short overnight stop with a Jen in southern Iowa, where we enjoyed yummy food and awesome conversation way too late into the night.

Then to the serious highlight along our path: Dancing Rabbit Eco-Village in Northern Missouri!

Oh my goodness, how amazing! Our minds are still reverberating with the information we tried to take in and process in our short two-night stay.

We were invited by Tereza, a 10 year resident, and I couldn’t be more thankful she emailed us. She was so gracious as to show us around, describing how everything worked and answering all our questions.

Dancing Rabbit is actually one of three eco-villages in the area, each doing things slightly different. It is also the largest. While Dancing Rabbit is cooperatively and closely built, Red Earth just a short walk away has a slightly more “homestead” feel to it, although still very community-oriented. (The third, which we didn’t have time to tour, is a more communal, income-sharing arrangement.)

We were especially intrigued with how Dancing Rabbit works:

• DR is built on a land trust and through government grants. This makes living their very affordable for Rabbits and residents, who each pay a small price depending on the size of their “property”.
• The diversity of their sustainable building is fantastic and inspiring! Anything from school buses to strawbale to Earth bag.
• Each person/family commits to certain covenants and guidelines, similar to how a Home Owners Association works.
• You can come and go as you please, and even sell your property to someone else. But it’s up to the community as a whole to “approve” new residents and members.
• You’re not required to live communally in any way, except for agreeing to not have a car and thus participating in the car sharing. That being said there are lots of other cool co-ops which were intriguing, like a phone co-op or a kitchen co-op.
• Both Dancing Rabbit and what we saw of Red Earth Farms seemed very comfortable, community-oriented and family-friendly.

Justin really liked Red Earth Farms the best. Each home was more spread out but still within close proximity to form strong community ties. And he really likes the independence it affords its members. I was really torn between the two. I liked the feeling of a close-knit town, but also really appreciate the ability to be more reclusive. Zeb had fun playing with the kids but wasn’t really sure what to think of the rest.

You can view a few more Dancing Rabbit photos here.

Our thoughts overall: If our experience at Ironwood Farm taught us anything it’s that we don’t want to go at something like that alone. Living within a community of like-minded families, all who agree to some same basic principles, really appeals to us right now. Knowing we have a support system, friends to share with, and social connections is really the only way to have a truly sustainable community. The scale of such community is something we still aren’t sure of, but this is certainly an idea we’ll be putting a lot more thought and discussion into in the future. Perhaps an intentional community of nomadic families? Or maybe just a caravan on the road?

If you’re interested in finding a nearby intentional community to learn more from, visit Intentional Communities online.

We stayed with Justin’s gorgeous cousin and her husband and son, enjoyed some homecooked meals in the evenings and several trips to Madison farmer’s markets. It was so incredibly kind of them to open their home to us over the weekend, and I know Justin especially was really grateful for the time spent with them.

I was also able to sneak in a bit of hooping with Denise and her family. I loved it! Being able to ask questions and even answer a few, and just have fun. I can’t wait to find more of these.

We “commuted” during the day to Jennifer and Mark’s home not far away to do some work with them. I had the honor of initiating a brand new dready mama! Jennifer’s long beautiful locks had already been started, so we spent a few hours tightening up the existing and finishing up the rest of her head. Isn’t she just gorgeous with dreads? I can’t wait to see them take shape over the next few months.

Perhaps the most fun was seeing and working on their very own 1982 Winnebago Brave! Look familiar?? Yup, that would be Benny’s big bro, sitting a little longer and with a much different layout. Justin really enjoyed doing repairs, comparing vintage quirks and getting Mark started on the rest of the refurbishing process.

Mark is a baker and they are looking to start a unique and inspiring mobile venture across the US with their four children. I’m super excited to see how their family’s journey unfolds! Hopefully they’ll be starting that blog soon. Hint hint.

Thank you both and good luck to you guys!

Current location: En route from OKC to Dallas for the Rethinking Everything conference!

After La Crosse, we headed back across Wisconsin to a small town an hour outside Green Bay. Zeb’s Gramma flew into town and we met her at her brother’s home for five beautiful days.

Tom and Mary live on a beautiful beach lake. We happened to reach them just as the weather cooled down. It could not have been a more serene setting.

We spent the first day playing with cousins, eating yummy food (they had a plethora of yummy gluten-free foods just for me!) and enjoying the water.

The next day was much the same: tubing, boating, playing in the sand, hooping, eating, chatting.

The third day was spent in one of Justin’s favorite places: Lambeau Stadium! We toured the stadium, inside and out. By far the most memorable part was walking through the players’ tunnel. As you start to walk down the door opens, you hear insane cheering and the announcer introduces “the team”. It was hilarious and exciting to have a taste of what the players must experience as they come out on the field.

The fourth day was spent on the lake again. This time we also did a bit of birding and actually saw a American Bald Eagle! I can’t describe how beautiful and majestic this bird was; a very powerful site to see. Zeb had even seen the nest on an earlier boat ride; apparently the nests are about 5 feet in diameter!

The day to leave came too soon. I was worried that Zeb would have a difficult time saying goodbye, like he did in Nashville. But he was impressively calm. Perhaps knowing we would see her again in a few short months for the holidays helped…or maybe, as he said, he’s just getting older. Either way it’s amazing to see so much change in him these past few months. He’s just such an amazing kid.

More photos from our time on the lake can be found here.

Current Location: Heading into Decorah, Iowa today through Saturday!

After Indiana, we headed into Madison, Wisconsin.

Justin was born in Wisconsin and moved away when he was 10. Even though he’s spent more time away than here, Wisconsin still feels like home to him. And I totally see why. It’s so gorgeous here and so comfortable (it helps that we’ve had nearly perfect weather every day)!

Madison was a place we’ve wanted to check out, a possible place to live someday. We stayed at Lake Farm Park, a gorgeous campground surrounded by wildflower fields. It made for plenty of gorgeous, quiet sunrise walks.

We met up with Denise, who is awesome! If ever there was a mom to look up to, Denise is it. She’s so laid-back, mindful and balanced. Truly inspiring.

They picked us up and carted us around, showing us the town and even taking us shopping. We played at their house and she really won me over when she made us dinner.

We also had another potluck at our campground. We met some soon-to-be RVers and some more fun unschoolers and we hooped and ate and relaxed.

The area was gorgeous and there was much we loved about it. Friday came too soon and we headed out to Mineral Point, WI, for Justin’s blacksmithing workshop.

Nope. No pictures of that one! But I can say he LOVED it. He made a coat hook, a hook for the awning, a set of pliers and a couple other things. He’s so interested in it, he was tempted to stay put just to learn more. I think if he could fit a forge in our trailer, he would.

On our way from Nashville to Wisconsin, we stopped in Indiana for a bit. We stayed at the Lincoln Boyhood Memorial campground. It was a gorgeous location, full of history.

Our stay was really rather wonderful. We invited several local families up for a potluck and enjoyed a day of hiking through the park, chatting and playing with new friends and dodging the lightening and the rain.

We also went to see the play Lincoln at the park’s amphitheater. It was way too much for us with the insanely loud gunshots going off a mere yards from our ears. And it’s was smoldering. But overall we really loved the strong, emotional performances and it was a nice treat for the three of us.

Walking back to the RV that night and in anticipation of leaving the next morning for Chicago, I mentioned to Justin how I was needing a couple days of downtime with nowhere to go and no one to see – time to just vegetate.

I got my wish the next day. Our engine started having problems. It turned out to be our alternator and if it weren’t for the solar panels keeping our batteries charged, we would have broken down somewhere in southern Indiana. We took this is a most definite sign to hunker down in Indianapolis while we searched out parts and got Benny fixed.

Instead of sightseeing or exploring, we took walks around the pond at night, played on the computer, watched the geese, talked and not much else. We enjoyed “doing nothing” so much we decided to skip the stress Chicago was showing itself to be and head straight for Wisconsin with a small stop in Illinois at a tiny little park: $13 for incredibly fast (cuz no one else was there to use it) wifi, a swimming pool, gorgeous weather. We didn’t even mind the 3am train whistle.

It was an easy and reaffirming kinda week. The kind that remind you that community exists in strange lands, that unprayed prayers are still answered, that life has a funny way of making you laugh and that with a bit of faith our needs are always taken care of.

I can’t help but feel full and thankful and at peace with the simplicity of this crazy life.

Justin and I have such a wide diversity of interests, things we do for fun or for the challenge; things we do for ourselves and to make a difference for others.

We discovered several years ago that when you actively follow your interests, things like money never become an issue. Sometimes we don’t even know how, but things just take care of themselves. This doesn’t mean we haven’t struggled. And it certainly doesn’t mean we have an abundance of money to spend. But our needs are met and we love what we do during the process. I couldn’t ask for a better “working” experience!

Last week we had the honor of “consulting” with several women. One women talked with Justin about searching for, inspecting and purchasing a vintage Winnebago. The other hired me to help her setup and secure her blog. In addition to that I also helped a friend design a new advertising button (you can see it on my blog – Caracol Inspired Jewelry!).

All of these things are things we love to do! Justin is passionate about RV’s, especially vintage rigs. And I love the challenge of web design, even though I’m far from being an expert. Neither are things we would have ever thought to place on our services page, but when asked we excitedly accepted.

Traveling full-time and working in such an unconventional job seemed so daunting before we got out here. I’ve always been an entrepreneur, but this is a whole different ballgame for me and it’s completely new to Justin. And we’re totally loving the experience!

We’ve been reading a lot about “unjobbing”. I hope to post a few reviews of the books and our thoughts on it all. In the meantime we’re spending our time in Wisconsin with Justin’s family and some new friends. Squeaky cheese, anyone?

Are you doing what you love?

We were in Nashville for several weeks. We parked Benny in my aunt’s backyard, but mostly lived in her house. We made communal meals, Zeb turned her den into his personal man-cave and we worked. Mostly we decompressed. We were so comfortable and relaxed with her and my soon-to-be uncle and I loved being able to spread out in her kitchen – oh counter space, how I miss you. It was just what we needed.

We met some long-time internet acquaintances, visited their farm, hooped with their family and ate their yummy food. It’s so amazing to finally put faces to the names of people we’ve talked to for several years. It’s great to share our similarities and passions with such honest, authentic, hard-working people as these.

My mom and step-dad came to visit! They didn’t have much time and it was tough to say goodbye so soon. We played at the water park and Zeb and his Grandpa had a couple Waffle House outings alone. We went to breakfast and Nashville’s Parthenon with my mom. It was such a good, slow, easy weekend. I’m not sure we’ll see them again until Christmas.

We took Zeb to Nashville’s zoo. It was a giant place and it was great to see animals with habitats, rather than just exhibits. Justin loved staring at those giraffes and Zeb adored the elephants. I wasn’t feeling my best physically that day and had a hard time keeping up or enjoying myself. Feeling like I was spoiling the fun was part of my motivation to start seeking some radical alternatives to my health.

Having all that time to sit and Be really gave me space to give attention and words to my physical struggle and find not only acceptance, but also the courage to seek physical therapy. I started Egoscue therapy at the Nashville clinic and finally feel as though I have the tools to recover.

But most importantly, we spent time with our Granny. She’ll be 96 in October and she’s lived an amazing and full life. I had the honor and the privilege to film full five hours of her talking about her experiences, the children she’s outlived, her childhood of poverty, the Depression and so much more. I can’t wait to start editing and sharing them with everyone.

You can see more photos of our time in both Memphis and Nashville here.
And more Nashville Zoo photos here.

We’ve been here in Nashville, staying with my aunt and visiting with my great-grandma, for a few weeks now. Shortly after we arrived my aunt had the idea of guilting sweet-talking my mom and step-dad into a visit. Mentioning their grandson always works well. They came for the 4th of July weekend and we spent the time chatting, eating, playing, swimming and tourist-ing.

It was good to see them again, but I didn’t realize how hard it would be for Zeb. He came to eat with everyone Saturday night but sat with his head down for only a few minutes before retreating again. When I went to find him he was curled up on the couch.

I’ve found my role in these moments tends to follow the same pattern: 1) Help him articulate the feelings he’s experiencing and 2) Listen and validate his experience. This time it looked a little something like this:

Me: Hey, what’s wrong?
Zeb: [No answer; he just looks at me. This is my cue to find the words for him.]
Me: Are you angry over something?
Zeb: [Shakes no.]
Me: Are you disappointed?
Zeb: [Pause]
Me: Maybe that no one was ready for the fireworks before dinner?
Zeb: [Shakes no.]
Me: Are you sad?
Zeb: [Nods head]
Me: Are you sad that Grandpa has to go home tomorrow? (He had to leave before Grandma because of work.)

As soon as I articulate the right words the flood gates burst open. It broke my heart to see him sobbing with homesickness. He told me how much he misses our family and friends, how he hated the RV right then and how he wishes we could be in Vegas.

I held back my thoughts and the urge to say “You were just telling us how much you loved being on the road!” Instead I listened and validated the place he was in. I rubbed his back and reassured him it was okay to feel this way. I agreed how hard it was and how much it sucked to be away from the people we love.

Justin came in and sat down beside us on the floor and fought his own battle not to justify or rationalize. Zeb just needed to be heard in that moment, so we did our best to listen.

As is our pattern though, once he felt heard Zeb slowly drifted toward discussion. He told us how torn he felt, wanting us to have our old life and our new one; wanting to stay on the road but not miss everyone; wanting our old home without losing his Dad to a full-time job again.

Sometimes it amazes me how much validation helps him. In the past we would try to talk him out of his feelings or even distract him from them. (at our worst times, we would even tell him he was wrong for feeling that way.) It was little wonder he responded by keeping his emotions to himself. Now he trusts he can express himself without fear of our reaction; our family powwows are his safe place to let go.

With our validation he goes through a rhythm of expression slowly working his own way toward a place of peace. And then he said he wanted to enjoy the rest of his time with his Grandpa, instead of feeling sad while he was still here.

And we did. We set off fireworks, wrote our names on the ground with sparklers and enjoyed our family. And early the next morning before the rest of us were awake he and Grandpa set off on their second walk of the weekend to Waffle House for an early morning breakfast by themselves.

We didn’t and still don’t have any answers for his feeling homesick. Being together as we are and traveling full-time is an amazing opportunity with gigantic sacrifices. How do we weigh such big decisions and know with certainty we’re on the right path for all of us? One day at a time, I suppose.

One of the key efforts of an unschooling parent is something usually referred to as “strewing”: keeping interesting things “strewn” throughout your home that may be of interest to your child. It’s one of the ways often described to create a rich environment and it’s one of the habits I thought we might miss on the road.

Strewing generally leads to lots of cool stuff rotating around the house…cool stuff we have neither the storage to carry, nor the actual counter/table/floor space to place. “Stuff” simply has no spot to occupy in a 22 foot RV. So strewing has taken on a different look for us now. Instead of things, we strew opportunities: people, places and experiences. The world is truly our classroom…or at least the contingent 48.

Zeb has had a serious interest in mythology ever since being introduced to a video game just a few months ago by some new friends we made on the road. Through means I simply don’t know he can now recite both major and minor gods, what they rule, who they married and their children, as well as many of their stories.

When the Percy Jackson movie came out I knew we had to get it for him. (We keep all our DVD’s in a large CD folder and throw away the cases; we love movies and this ensures we always have space for our regular movie nights.) If you’ve seen it you know that one scene is portrayed right here in Nashville: the Nashville Parthenon! Duh! Of course we had to go!

Zeb really loved it, although he was disappointed there wasn’t more there. Not much of what we saw was new to him, but it was fun anyway. And he hasn’t stopped talking mythology all day.

Some cool information Zeb wants to share (and me, too!) with his fellow mythology lovers:

• Nashville built the Parthenon as part of their Centennial celebration to highlight their being referred to as The Athens of the South, due to their high number of universities.
• It was originally built from plaster in 1897 and meant to be a temporary structure. Other monuments were also built and later deconstructed but the Parthenon was left. When the plaster began to deteriorate the decision was made to reconstruct it out of cement, a 10 year project that began in 1921.
• As soon as we finish the Harry Potter series, we’ll be starting the Percy Jackson books*!
• The Lightning Thief* was not actually filmed on location, nor was the Athena in the movie anything like the Athena in Nashville. And the lady at the front desk was obviously pretty miffed about this.
• Zeb *loves* the computer game Age of Mythology*. It’s fun, captivating and full of cool information.
• Youtube has some cool videos for you visual learners who want to know more.
• Despite lots of Greek Mythology love, his favorite god is Thor, the Norse God of Thunder.
• And right now we’re getting ready to read the stories in this kid’s book* my aunt loaned us!

What are your kids loving right now? Any other mythology lovers out there?

*Disclosure

Nashville has always felt comfortable to me. It might be the artistic vibe that flows through the city or just the comfortable energy my aunt encourages (she is mighty cool). I really enjoy it here and I can see this area being among the top places we might eventually settle down.

We’ve been here over a week and we’ve done very little. My aunt’s home feels a bit like our crash pad; we’ve all been needing a comfortable place to just be still.

Lisa explained it to me very well when she said our life was like breathing; we have to follow our exhales (outputs) by inhales (inputs) and right now all three of us are taking some really big inhales, inputting some quiet and relaxed time together and recharging our batteries in a place that feels like home.

Despite the Big Ideas that keep steam-rolling into our lives, we’ve been putting the work aside and just breathing in. In the past 10 days we’ve:

• Hooped and even got my aunt hooping
• Turned her den into Zeb’s personal man cave
• Watched endless hours of Disney Channel and Harry Potter movie-thons
• Played djembe
• Ate with family
• Met new friends, toured their homestead and hooped while the sun set
• Read and read and ruminated in it all
• Talked late into the night, processing new things together
• Updated Justin’s blog to better reflect his style
• Worked on a few blog posts together
• Enjoyed the amazing Nashville Farmer’s Market
• Went on a father-son breakfast date
• Sorted and organized tubs of LEGO
• Discussed Big Ideas…of our own and others
• Posted our Mobile Services page
• Began video-taping my Granny talk about her long and interesting life…

Don’t get me wrong; there is plenty of work that needs doing. I’m opening an Etsy shop, building a new website and helping Justin realize a few dreams. I have photos to take and to edit, orders to place, headers to create, decisions to make and SO MUCH to post about.

But today I’m breathing in…breathing in rest, comfort, reconnection, tradition, discussion…all the things I need like air.

What are you doing to breathe in these days?