Evans Family Road Trip 2021 - It has begun!

 

Some of you may be aware, but others may not, but Beau, myself, Gray, Caroline and Titus set out on Thursday, March 18^th for a road trip around the continental US. You’re probably asking “Why?” Well, here’s our why…

 

1. “Capture their hearts why they’re young.” Someone told us this a couple of years ago when we asked for parenting advice. We took it to heart by asking ourselves, “How do we do that?” This is one way we came up with.
2. Beau and I had the privilege of traveling to New Zealand a couple of years ago where we traveled the south island in a camper van for a week and had an amazing time! It provided so much freedom to our travels, was healthier since we could cook all of our meals and cheaper!
3. Camping become a regular for us during COVID since we didn’t feel comfortable doing much else for any sort of “get away”. Beau and I found ourselves talking and reading more and the kids were simply playing outside more, learning to make friends both in their age reign and with adults.
4. We wanted to challenge ourselves to live with less. Beau and I found our spending to be a reflection of someone we didn’t want to be. We want to change that.
5. We want to teach our children the world ourselves. There’s so much in this country we live that we have the opportunity to experience, see and introduce to them. Now’s the time!

 

God has blessed us both with jobs that allow us to work anywhere we are. God also led Beau and I to traditionally homeschool both Gray and Caroline for Kindergarten. We have found it enjoyable and made the decision to extend that teaching into 1^st grade. (I don’t feel like I can completely mess up their schooling at this young age. 😉 ) The remote working and the homeschooling is allowing us to be gone as long as we find this enjoyable to do without any restrictions being put on us.

 

We packed up our 200 sq foot 2019 Grand Design Imagine, hooked it on to our truck and set out for the country. Here’s what we’ve done.

 

1st Stop – Greenville, SC

2nd Stop – Pigeon Forge, TN

• We introduced the kiddos to Dollywood, which was a childhood summer tradition for the Kimbrell family. It was a great country time with funnel cakes, fried pig skins, roller coasters, candy apples and a bit of nausea. 😉

3rd Stop – Bardstown, KY

• Beau and I took a tour of the Maker’s Mark Bourbon Distillery. Amazing history and were able to dip our own bottle of bourbon in the red wax and take it home.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Kathryn breaks the pipe under the kitchen sink and Beau becomes a plumber. 😊
• We visited The Ark. If you’ve not been, it will blow you away at the level of detail and the actual size of this built to size boat from the Bible.
  
  
  
• Read a great quote, “If someone can convince you that Noah’s Ark didn’t exist, they can convince you that Heaven and Hell don’t exist.”
• We celebrated the kid’s 6^th birthday with cupcakes made in our tiny propane oven and sat by the fire.
• The bathroom and bunk lights stop working.
• We visited our 1^st National Park on our tour, Mammoth Cave.
  
  
  
• The kids received their 2^nd Junior Ranger badge after going on a historic tour of the cave and documented some of what they learned.
  
• We were surprised with a large storm coming through the area projecting 50+ mph winds and hail. For those who have not been in a camper with weather like this, it’s not fun. Friends in Louisville offered their home to us to ride out the storm so we packed up our site and drove NE to Louisville for the night.
• They blessed us with calling neighbor kids over to play with our kids, made a feast of slow cooked moose for dinner and fresh made croissants for breakfast and then sent us on with salmon fillets brought home from Alaska.
• Beau becomes and electrician thanks to our friends and fixes the bathroom and bunk lights. 😊

4th Stop - Clarksville, TN

• We spent the weekend with good friends in Clarksville, TN who blessed us with a weekend of rest and constant feasting.
• Our friends have twin girls that are the same age as our kids. Gray and Caroline enjoyed bike riding, arts and crafts, baking and sing alongs!
• Beau accidentally drops the camper off the blocks, which jams the ladder of the camper in with our friends’ trellis. This results in a broken ladder on the trailer and Beau having to cut off a corner of their trellis. …it’s funny now. 😊
  
  
  

5th stop – Springfield, TN

• We were hosted by my old friend, Amy and her family.
• Amy and I met 18 years ago as interns for Kingdom Building Ministries in Colorado. It was such a joy to spend time with her family!

6th stop – Memphis, TN

• Fort Pillow State Park overlooking the Mississippi River – I spent the time working a final presentation for a state customer while Beau and the kids spent the day hiking, cleaning the camper and bike riding.