 We left Maine on someone's very special, 13th birthday! She had already done all her celebrating in Kansas, with a surprise limo ride birthday party with friends, and a purity ring date as well with mom and dad. She knew it would be a low key day, but in true Ferguson tradition, would get to be the Queen of the day and pick out what we ate for supper and dessert. First thing she asked for was a cup of coffee. I said no, dad said yes, so she got a half a cup. Haha! I told her she has to wait until she is 16 or more to enjoy that again. ;)  Today, we continue with the New England States.....after Maine we headed to Connecticut. We had more adventures, not with low bridges, but with no gas stations that sold diesel that we could fit in. AND, we may or may not have gotten trapped in a windy hilly bridge road with no way to make the turn in a small neighborhood we ended up in. Dale says GPS is the devil and much prefers map study. He is such a champ, and figured out a way to get us out, avoiding a mailbox, telephone pole and a truck and house, and even managed to turn around a 7- foot rig so we didn't have to back back out. Needless to say, we planned to do the same as last time. STAY PUT in the spot we fit and hop in the car to do our state exploring! We got in kind of late afternoon, so we set up, relaxed and then read some reviews on Trip Advisor to decide where the birthday girl wanted to eat.  She picked Chinese. Well, in a town filled with sea food joints, italian bistros and gyros, I was afraid we'd end up at some nasty buffet. BUT, thankfully, the #2 place to eat with Thai food at the Lazy Leopard, it got great reviews, so off we went.
 The entire family groaned when we took our first bites. The depth of flavor, selection of spices and attention to detail, with fresh everything, made this over the top amazing! Dale and Ty both threatened to lick their plates. Dale got his 5 star hot, and told them to make him almost cry, and loved it. Crazy! I got a spicy Basil Shrimp dish that they said wasn't too hot. OH MY. I sneezed it was so hot, blew my nose, and felt the sweat beading up on my forehead, but I ate it, because the flavors were soooo incredible! Afterwards we walked around downtown for a while and check out the sites.  We spent the entire next day at the pool and just RELAXED! That is nice to do, we are totally into down time. Plus, RV Parks have such nice amenities for us to take advantage of like game rooms, bike paths, hiking trails, swimming pools and more, so there are times its just as fun to stay put. So for the remainder of our time in the New England states, we decided to stay parked in Connecticut, while we visited Rhode Island and Massachusetts for day trips by car. Sometimes traffic was CRAZY bad, and as far as the eye could see. Made us glad for wide open spaces back home in the midwest!   Did you know in Maine, they served Lobster Rolls with cold meat, and hot butter? Oh my gracious, it was AMAZING! So naturally, when I saw Lobster Rolls in Rhode Island, I had to get some. Told you I have a Lobster Roll problem.... When the man at the cash register asked me if I want my sandwich served hot with butter or cold with mayo, I said cold with butter. He literally gasped. "We don't EVER do that," he says. OKAY. OKAY. Hot with butter is fine. Guess what? Not as good! Funny, right?! Who knew it was such a state to state thing!  One of the highlights of our time, was the Cliff Walk. 64 privately owned properties with a 3 1/2 mile walking trail behind it. These properties include several Vanderbuilt homes that would make your jaw drop and so much history.
    Some parts of this walk is rugged rock to climb over, some parts are in a tunnel, some parts are paved; all really cool and pretty! 
We sat and just enjoyed the beach below for a while, before turning around to hike it all back. I have never seen such an interesting beach. There were some rocks that looked like those fancy show dogs with the long hair! Haha! And, during low tide, there was this spongy, bug filled, rotting crust that your feet sunk into, every step of the way. The regular shore line was rocks and rough sand. VERY different!   Next time we go, we want to take the $100 tour through the mansions too! By the time we walked a good chunk of the 3 mile long trail, we were hot and ready to head back the hour home to our RV. Have you ever had Dell's frozen lemonade? Apparently, its a "thing" in Rhode Island, there are stands everywhere!!!!!! Its a light, fine, white {no dye thank goodness} ice of fresh squeezed lemonade that is really tart and delicious. We pulled up to the stand to see a big CASH ONLY sign. Guess who dug out enough change from the center console to get us each a teeny one. Haha, everyone had a good laugh at the counter! It was worth it thought, very refreshing for the hour ride home.  I try to plan ahead easy suppers on adventure days, and this day was no different. I still love to try new recipes, so I am weekly digging out recipe books, or on my kindle looking up Instant Pot recipes. {That's a whole nother blog I could do...} But this one was a repeat from last month, because it was worth repeating! YUM! Check it out. Went perfect with the fresh corn on the cob we bought from a farm stand and grilled when we got home. Did you know they also stocked Humble Pie? Humble Pie IS a thing! Who knew! I have never eaten it before. ;) Dale however, does alot. Bahahahahah! Ok, so real Humble Pie is apparently, Peaches, Raspberries, Blueberries with a hint of lemon. It is AH STINKING MAZING! Hopefully, that's the only Humble Pie I ever have to eat...... 
  Enjoy! I made sure to over season, and you won't want to miss the extra flavor the cheese on top adds. I also went to an olive bar to get the best kind of olives, not the jar kind. I did green feta stuffed ones, marinated in italian dressing, and the marinated kalamata. It's all about fresh ingredients! Tomorrow, we leave the North East, and end our "East Coast Summer" leg of the trip. We are heading towards Ohio for a week of classes there. Then on up into Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota! We have never been, so we are super excited!
Hugs, T
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While up in the New England states, we quickly discovered, that the smartest thing we could do, was to stay put at the RV park we fit at in Maine, and just drive our car on day trips to all the different states near by. This blog is about New Hampshire and Vermont. One of the perks of the east coast, is that in an hour or two, you can be in the middle of an entirely new state! :) What a concept!  The views were beautiful and we were sure to hit small towns and window shop, as well as disappear into the beautiful mountains, trails and waterfalls in the area. We stopped at a farmers market, then Jeb's General Store, and checked out all the cool Maple syrup products and picked out a little maple leaf candy of pure maple syrup to try. DEEELICIOUS! I love all the old covered bridges, the rickety cemeteries along the road, and how all the houses have these super narrow double front doors. The local grocery stores aren't chains, rather these little bitty mom and pop stores along the road. LOVE that! New Hampshire is home of the oh so beautiful White Mountains, so we were sure to go explore up there too. We ate lunch at a little pizza joint in Vermont and enjoyed the views before heading to find a swimming hole or hiking trail to explore!  This was, by far, my FAVORITE part of this road trip. We found the coolest river spot where no one else was, and just had a ball. Sophie was hopping from rock to rock, the kids were splashing and cooling off. Then as I hiked up the hill for a shot of them playing, I discovered that the river split above and actually was flowing over an entirely separate rock section at the Y, making another cool waterfall place to play in. Everyone headed up, and before long, the dares were flying. Avery dunked her head in, and soon was all in. Well, if she did it, then Destiny was going to go completely under and swim in the ice cold water as well. The boys, at the very end as we walked to the car, decided they would NOT be one upped by their sisters, so they dunked in too. BRRRRR!!!! It was so cold, but SO refreshingly beautiful. All the pics are below in the slide show, take a peek.... Time to head back to camp, and get some cold, tired, smiling kids to bed! Tomorrow, we would pull out and head 4 hours to enjoy Connecticut.... See you next time, T  We are so excited to be pinning more and more states on our map this summer, as we travel the New England states for the first time. We have been to like 39 states now! First up, Maine! I have been wanting to come here since my Junior Year in highschool, when our family took our RV up the east coast for an entire month that summer. It was AWESOME! We didn't make it up as far as we had planned, so the desire to see Maine has stayed with me. I tell you, the HARDEST thing about traveling the east coast this summer is..... A) the low bridges we already mentioned in NY B) finding RV parks that can house us. And if we do find an RV park with a big rig site, most do not have full hook ups, because they are by the river. So no draining your grey and black tank without unhooking, tearing down and driving somewhere! Grey tank is anything that goes through the sinks, shower or washer. You can imagine, as a family of 6 that hand washes dishes and showers regularly, it can fill up quickly!  It's just different rules, because west coast water front still does. So interesting how all the different cultures live and do things! There also seem to be an abundance of quarter showers. I am not even kidding, you pay a quarter, get 5 minutes of water. I had only seen this ONE other time in the year we have been on the road. So, in general, people warned us that they aren't as friendly out east, but we sure had no problem making friends everywhere we went. Don't get me wrong, we got a grumpy server or two, and if you wave they look behind them like, what? but for the most part, people were super nice. That seems to be the culture of RV life though. Everyone is so friendly and you are like part of this cool secret family. I ADORE IT! If you are visiting the New England states, they will call you a "Flat Lander". Isn't that a hoot? And they don't say "R's". I ADORE IT! Like Bar Harbor, is Bah Habah. Eeek! I could listen all day...... When we first set up at an RV park, we go explore it's amenities. This one had a river front area with a beach and fishing area that was fantastic. 
Almost every RV park has a picnic table for you to use outside your site, so we utilize it for dinner alot, in these cooler temps!  I know it's no secret that Dale and I are TOTAL foodies, and totally love eating our way across the USA. {Yes we both gained 10 pounds this year, but never fear, doTERRA has an incredible line for this. So we do shakes for lunch and Slim and Sassy oil on our tummy, to keep things trim, so we can keep eating and we are back to our pre travel weight!} haha :) So one of the things we always do is see the local culture and eat the local fare, of the towns we stop in. Whatever they are known for..... Well, Maine is known for Lobster Rolls, that you better believe that was my FIRST order of business when we arrived.  Ah-stinking-mazing!!!!!!!!!!!!! The clam chowder was divine too! After dinner we walked around town, it kind of turned into a blustery evening, but still so beautiful. We must have looked like tourists in our shorts and tanks, because everyone else seemed to know to wear pants and bring jackets for evening on the coast, even though earlier it had been 90! We froze, but still hit the beach as you see in the pics below.
Did you see sweet Avery falling in those photos? Hahaha, we laughed and laughed that it was caught on camera, shocked face and all! They LOVE playing "Wave tag" whenever we are at the beach, and she bit it bad, when running backwards. She just giggled and jumped back up to play again. Day 3 we decided to road trip from Maine to New Hampshire and Vermont instead of trying to find another RV spot. So we loaded up waters, camera, and Sophie and hit the road! We drove through Old Orchard to check out the sea side amusement park. We just drove through, and then hit up a Lobster Roll stand. What!? I have to stock up on them while we are here! Breakfast, lunch and dinner would be ok, right?!  On that note, I need to go eat supper!
East coast summer, to be continued.... ~T :) Travel days are usually enjoyable and relaxing, with everyone quietly playing, reading or sleeping as we go. Some travel days are just, well, LONG and BORING! Especially when we get a late start. That happened to be the case as we were heading from Virgina to upstate New York. The RV was stuffy, and the AC units were struggling to keep up in the extreme heat. So, when we started to pass signs for the Hershey Chocolate factory, I looked over to Dale and nodded my head towards the exit. He smiled and a plan was formed. We came to the Hershey's factory last Mother's Day, on our first ever RV trip...we loved their free little Chocolate World ride, and decided that would do the trick to break up a long day. The kids were SO excited to have a break from the road and at such a happy place no less.....  After riding the cute free ride, we went shopping for CHOCOLATE. But alas, after seeing the hour long line snaking around the store to check out, we bailed on our plan. I am not kidding you, peoples carts were OVERFLOWING with candy and chocolate. This was supposed to be a 30 minute break, not an hour long one. Plan B was to go to the Hershey food court and hit up the Bakery. Turns out, that was a smart choice, and one we will do again. Mmm! Fresh chocolate cream filled cookies, iced cocoas and so much more. Each person picked a buddy to share their treat with. See those smiles? Ahh, chocolate makes everything better on travel day.  We hit the road again, and drove until it was almost dark. Once we realized we weren't going to make our destination in time, we pulled over for dinner and hit up a pizza joint we were still talking about from last year....Tedeschi's Pizza in Hallstead, PA. We got another photo like last years, so we could do a side by side comparison of how everyone has changed! :) Pizza hasn't changed a bit, still GIANT, and still delicious! This puppy costs $12 base price. WOW. Go. Eat. Thank me later.   We found a Lowe's to park in for the night, and planned on attending church the next morning with our friends the Vissers. Kristina and I met on the 4 little Ferguson's blog and have been friends ever since. I just had no idea I'd be seeing her several times a year, and our kids and husbands, would grow so close. What a blessing! She is one of the leaders in our doTERRA team now, so we have lots of excuses to go see them. Here is the photo we took of them as we left last year! Aren't they wonderful!? We have a growing, thriving team in their neck of the woods, so we were coming to do some Business Bootcamp trainings for them. We adore helping people grow in their oil knowledge and move towards financial freedom too!!!! Great things are happening in NY! :)  Ray and Kristina always have SUCH fun things for us to do when we come, and this time was no exception!!! First up, a lakeside BBQ, bonfire and fireworks show.... 
   The beauty of New York always takes my breath away, and its so nice and rural too. People imagine it ALL WRONG! We ended the night with fireworks and S'mores! The next day was a scorcher, even for them, so we decided to hit what they call "The Falls." We took a truck and one of those off road Rangers and headed down to the river. We packed up a ton of food, as several of the Visser extended family were joining us, and headed down. We packed cast iron pie irons for Pie Iron Pizza for an easy lunch by the water. I love those things! We use them all the time when we camp for breakfast, grilled stuffed burritos, even dessert. You can use crescents, pie filling and powered sugar and make one heck of a funnel cake like dessert. We only had 6 pie irons, so we got right to work getting them on the fire right away...  There is no sound I love more, then the sound of running water. I have already put in my request to the Father, to be privileged to own such a property someday! What a dream! We just sat with our chairs down in the water and relaxed. The kids had a ball splashing around in the water. Adults too! :) 
  Before we knew it, our days in NY were over. We ate together tail gate style before heading to the final bootcamp, and pulled out the next morning to head to our next stop on East Coast summer: MAINE! I have been waiting for YEARS to go to Maine, like 17 years!   Bye, Visser crew! Bye, awesome NY Edition DoTERRA Dorothy team! Thanks for being amazing hosts. See you next time.... So one of the trickiest things we found about the East coast so far, is the LOW BRIDGES. We found this out quickly as we headed into town to get a new rv tire before we got on the road, and found a bridge that was low clearance. We couldn't go under it. We couldn't go around it. SO what could we do but back up? That seemed simple enough except all the traffic backed up behind us didn't get the memo. Thank the Lord for some nice city workers that came by and blocked traffic with their truck and directed traffic until we could have room to back up.  Phew! This east coast stuff is not for the faint of heart, that's for sure!
Hugs, T   When I last left you, we had worked our way through our home sweet rolling home, right up to the kitchen and dining area!   So there is food storage above booth, as well as school boards flanking either side of it. This gives the kids a visual during our school year to know what comes next on the schedule. The papers taped up on the window box, are our timeline from last year, walking through the Bible and History together. I will have to do a school post when we start the next school year! Gotta have little pops of home! I adore this pillow from my good friend, Kristina. It lives on the bench in the kitchen and reminds me of the land of Oz, where we come from. :) Now, lets head down the hallway to the bathroom and master bedroom! One of the questions we get asked most is about privacy, and I always tell them we are good to go. Pictured is one of 2 solid wood doors that close on either side of the shower room, as well as functioning to separate the master bedroom, from the kids room. You know how fun and freeing it is to be on vacation and enjoy your marriage perks fully? Yup, that's pretty much life on the road. Woot woot! ;)  As you head past the fridge, you will see our Vision board. Making our dreams and goals visual and committing it to prayer, has been really moving and exciting! See the second wooden pocket door there? That's where it closes off the bathroom and bedroom....  So when you first walk in the bathroom area, this is what you see. To the left is the shower, to the right, the toilet room, and straight ahead, this sink space...... Its a really nice, open, bright space thanks to 2 skylights. These cabinets are super deep with tons of storage space! It has heated floors so in the winter, it's LOVELY!!!!!
 We are thankful for a second sink and toilet behind this door...AND .it's also a great place to hide away all the kids towels.
Toilet is tucked behind the door area of this shot. Again, nice and bright, just wish they had put an AC vent in here, it gets warm! It has heat, but no cooling. Strange!  The master is very spacious with tons of storage, but very very hard to photograph. You can walk around the entire bed. In our old RV, we had to sit on the bed to make it because there wasn't walking space. You walked in to the foot of the bed in that one. That gives you an idea of the different set ups of RVs. This one is pretty much wall to wall cupboards and storage too, which we are SO thankful for!    Dorothy/oz themed pillow #2 is from my friend, Brittany from Kansas. It goes perfectly with the bedding. She is also the one that made our Ferguson Family adventures pin board we track states on. Love it! We use this set of cupboards beside the bed for a coat closet and doTERRA storage, as well as school paperwork. This is to your right when you walk into the bedroom.
To the left of the door when you walk in, is Avery's closet, pictured below, as well as lot of drawers for the kids clothes. It also houses the TV. It used to be the box kind of tv, but once we got a flatscreen, Dale made it hinge thing {that is a super technical term, I know} that pops the TV up, so we have more usable space.    Movies, dvd player, and oils hidden away in the TV box area......  Kids bedding when not in use...lives up in this set of cupboards. They tear down and roll up their bedding each day, with the exception of the fold out bed. It can stay made except the bulky top cover.  Here is a pic of Dale and my side of the closet. We use drop down metal hangers to help save space {and be able to fit more clothing options, YESSSSS!} and shoe racks to make the floor of the closet more functioning for my shoe and apparently, my Chucks addiction. ;) Destiny, Tylan and Paxton shares the other side. It looks similar to this one, extra space, shoe racks and all.  See that grooved cabinet to the left of the closet? Guess what is in it? EEEK! a washer dryer combo. Let me tell you, I ADORE this thing. I think they should make a set of these for homes. Each one would do a load from wash to dry, and no wasted time when you forget to move a load to the dryer! Do you know how FAST a momma could get her laundry done?! We load it up, go about our day as it washes AND dries, then come back an hour or so later, dump it on the bed, so the kids can fold and put away, and start the next load. I am telling you, GENIUS!!!!! See that On Guard Laundry soap? Oh man, I love that stuff. That bitty bottle does 64 loads! It's that concentrated and amazing! We have been so pleased with every natural product we have tried from them. And no more chemical filled clothing! Once I found out my All Free and Clear got an F grade because of cancer causing agents on the ECW.org website, and its ingredients caused developmental delays in children, I threw it out! Gross. Everything in our home is now homemade from essential oils, water and vinegar, or bought from doTERRA's cleaning line, and I am saving a ton of money. LOVE it all, and it all smells amazing!  We are a 42 foot Class A diesel RV, pulling a 24 foot enclosed trailer. We are a BIG rig going down the road! But it works so well for us!!!! Another question we get a lot is why do we pull a trailer and what is in it? A cool car? Haha, Dale wishes!  WHY do we pull a trailer? Because we don't want to pull our car 4 down and wear out the wheels. We don't want an open trailer that leaves bikes and car exposed to weather. Sooo, what's in it? Well, its our Garage, per say. It houses our 6 passenger car, 6 bikes, 4 scooters, a bin of outdoor toys, a broom and mop, a grill, a massage table for aromatouch sessions, and more. Sweet Dale built me some shelving above the car, so we'd be able to have some bins of swim suits, games, Christmas decor, doTERRA paperwork and blessing bags etc. We also have our Christmas tree hanging from the ceiling for next December! :) Dale can't be without fishing gear, so it has a spot on a side wall. Everything has to be safely secured so we don't damage the car paint as we bounce down the road! Thanks for coming over! Hope you enjoyed your tour of our home!!!! :)
In the future I'd like to do a travel day post and a "day in the life of" post. Is there anything else I should cover? Any more questions I can answer? Leave me a comment! Hugs, T Hi there! Welcome to our home, come on in!  I have had repeated requests for a home tour, and now it's here!!! After 5 steep steps up, you are in the living room, dining room, kitchen, school room and kids room, all in ONE! haha :)  Two couches flank either side of the motorhome, a leather J Lounger and a fabric sofa....
If you turn back to the front of the coach, this is what it looks like. When we stay somewhere for more then a day or two, we turn the front chairs around to make a nice conversation circle in the living room. The passenger chair has a nice foot rest that pops out.   I like adding my own details like throw pillows, plants and wall decor whenever possible....makes it feel homey!  This comisioned wood plank art work is by Elizabeth Wood of Gracefull Home! Ask her to make this when I found out we were indeed going to sell our home and move into an RV. Check out her work on facebook, amazing pieces! https://www.facebook.com/gracefullhomeshop/ Everyone always asks me about storage space. And I tell them part of RV life is SIMPLICITY! It's very empowering to let go of excess..... But I understand their are comfort items you want to bring along, right? Thankfully, this RV has really nice deep cupboards for us to utilize! Some are for vitamins and oils, others for Bibles, crafts and Adventures in Odessey CD case. And an entire section to store our school in! Some of the newer ones don't have these deep cabinets anymore. I guess trading "pretty" for useability is a thing, but I'd rather have functioning space for sure! I also have to remind myself, most people that buy these kind of rigs, are 2 retired folk, not a family of 6. SOMEDAY, I am asking the Lord to connect us with an RV Company that would let us help them design a family friendly Class A coach!    I am so thankful to not have to run out underneath the RV to get cots or school books like we used to in our old RV. Everything fits neatly in one space! Above is an entire years curriculum for an 8th grader, 4th grader, a 2nd graders and a little guy who is skipping kindergarten and half of first grade, since he did it all with his sister the last 2 years. He will do the last half of 1st grade, while also doing some 2nd grade with Avery. The Lord using that mischeveous little mind that kept me hopping when he was a toddler, for good! ;) 
 Across from the kitchen is the booth dinette. This is where we eat as well as do school, color, work and play games.  The bin you see underneath is for bulky bags of chips. Usually everything goes IN it, but apparently the day I shot this photo, no one wanted to take the time to do so. I am just now noticing! haha :)
The little's legs are still small enough that they can fit back there fine with it under foot. I fit on one side with 2 kids, and Dale pulls up a folding chair we store in the bedroom, to the end of the table. Well, I should stop for today!T his post is VERY full of photos! I will pick up where we left off, in part II of the tour soon! Hugs, T   If you read the "Our Story" tab, you know how God moved 3 times in 3 days, LOUDLY, to show us His will for us to sell our dream home, 30 acres and a life we loved, and trade it for an adventure of a lifetime, on the road full time. If you haven't yet, go read it now! :) http://www.rvoilers.com/our-story.html The RV we live in now, is actually our second motorhome, since we left the midwest a year and 3 months ago. The Lord provided it for us while we traveled through Washington and Montana last year. It was SO cool how it happened! We were traveling for the summer with Dad and Drea, having a ball, caravaning and seeing the sights together for most of the summer. We saw some amazing west coast beauty!!! California, Oregon, Washington, and our favorite state, Montana!!! Here is a highlight reel of that summer trip..... So after a day of travel, we decided to stop for the night in Spokane, WA. As we pulled into town we passed row after row of used Bus RV's lined up at a huge RV dealership..... Now let me tell you, we about cracked our necks of swiveling our heads to see it all as we drove by!!!! There is nothing Dale and I love more, then looking at RV's!!!! Ever since we were courting!!! Dad and Drea love looking too, so we get set up at the RV park, dropped our cars and headed into town, just to see if they were still open. The dealership looked dark, but a man came out and said they were staying late to work on a big fairgrounds RV event coming up, so we were free to wander around. The friendly salesman asked what we were looking for and we kinda chuckled and said, "Oh, we are just looking for fun. My dad is interested in upgrading, but we own our RV outright and just love to look." We told him we are always keeping our eyes open for "THE ONE". He turned us loose on the lot, and we walk over to the row of used diesel class A motorhomes, and into a beautiful grey and black diesel first. It was awesome! Very roomy, light and airy, and a great set up for a family. We walked through the next 3 or 4 buses, but kept coming back to the first one.......there was just something about it! It was a 2005, and it had 17,000 miles on it. One owner, and still had original plastic on the carpet and tags on the lamps. An elderly couple bought it, tried it, stored it, and decided RV life was not for them. Sales guy says, "Gems like this only come once a year! It's rare to find an '05 like this, practically un-lived in, and such low miles" He said they had 40 new rigs coming in and had to clear the lot. {Right right, tell us more....} He said the owner of the dealership had stopped in while we were looking, and what would be our offer on something like this? He'd like to run it by him. For fun, Dale says a number and says if it comes back $1 more, we walk. We love our RV and don't HAVE to buy anything. I smile as the salesman asks us a few more questions about our RV that we owned, and took his clipboard inside to talk to the boss man, because I knew this was all just part of the game. We all crack up laughing, because there is NO WAY we are getting this big beautiful fancy RV with those kind of numbers, and our cute little trade in. This is like 5 steps up from what we have, and we know its always a process to grow equity to get there. The man comes back about 20 minutes later, holds out his hand and says to Dale, "Well sir. You have yourself a deal!!!! I gasped loudly, I swear I did. I swing my head over to Dale to see what he is thinking about this announcement, and here is what I see.... Dale staggers back, all the blood drains from his face, and his hand slowly moves to his chest: "Wha-what? We never buy anything on the first day. I didn't think you'd take my offer seriously." Salesman smiles and says, "I told you, we have to move the RV's on the lot before the new batch comes in. I am very serious!" It's super late at this point, so we agree to sign some papers and put some money down, making sure we could get it all back if the deal wasn't agreeable, and walked away praying for the Lord's will to be done. We set a number, commited it to the Lord, and agreed if it came back even ONE DOLLAR OVER, we'd know it was a NO, and told the sales guy as much. We ate dinner out, and as planned, traveled on into Montana the next day, while the RV dealership contacted banks and credit unions about a loan. Now, not many banks want to loan on an RV. We have high credit scores, but not a lot of credit, because we do cash only most of the time. Even our previous 14 year house mortgage didn't help us, because it was closed. We had sold the homestead and that part was done! We realize, we still may be walking away from this yet, and getting our money back, and we were ok with that. We loved our little RV and it was paid for. We just wanted the Lord's will to be done. So for 2 days, we wait and pray, pray and wait. Excited, trying not to be too excited, trusting His plan, feeling kinda nervous and trying not to be. Dale finally gets THE call while we are hanging out on the picnic tables outside, and walks away from the group to take it. (I HATE when he does that! I want to hear! hahaha) A few minutes later we hear a WHOOP! And we knew it was ours! Here we are with the Old home and our new one the day after moving day:  Old and NEW Homes Get this, they gave us MORE for our trade in then we asked, dropped the price on the RV we were buying AGAIN; all to make sure we stayed under the dollar amount Dale had given them, as our walk away monthly payment. God is so good! And Freedom RV is the bomb diggity! They did a 100 point inspection on our new coach, and let us live at the RV park, full hook ups, while we waited for them to fix the steps and a few other minor things for no additional charge. They gave us some store credit to go shopping in their RV store for supplies too . Then ALL of one day, we moved out of our old RV over to our NEW blessing from Him. That was a ton of work, but worth every hour it took to find new homes for everything! They even had us sleep in the new one there on the lot, one more night before we left so we could test it all out, and make sure they didn't need to fix anything. Everything was awesome, so we headed back to Montana to pick up our car trailer we had left at the RV park there, and headed to Wyoming to enjoy our new home with dad and Drea. We parked our new home, right next to theirs. Soon after we arrived, it rained, and not long after that, a rainbow filled the sky right above our coaches......... Looking at that rainbow of promise above our new home, we felt loved, thankful, and so humbled, by a Heavenly Father who gave us our hearts desire, that we didn't even know we were needing!
We absolutely ADORE our home sweet rolling home, with tons of room to fit everyone and everything we need, to live a simple wandering life we love. We still, a year later, wake up and look around and smile, thanking the Lord for His awesome provision for our family. So, I thought it'd be fun for me to give you a home tour.... NEXT TIME!!!!! :) Hugs, T Stop number 2 on our East Coast journey, was in Asheville, North Carolina area. Wow, the beauty of this place just doesn't quit! We had a terrible time finding an RV park to accommodate our 72 foot rig, before a holiday weekend, but thank the Lord, we called JUST after a cancellation, and got this little beauty... A spot with a VIEW!!!! :) We spent lots of time wading, relaxing and picnic-ing here. There is no sound I love more, then a gently flowing river....  We ate some AWESOME local Southern fare, as well as the best darn ice cream cone I have ever had, at Jack the Ripper ice cream shop, where they make you a fresh warm cinnamon cone while you wait. Um, holy amazing!!!!! We were blessed to attend the Highland Christian church service with our friend Sarah, Sunday morning. This is a church where kids are not only included, but welcome to be a part of the entire church service. Their motto is "We will not lose another generation...." They had a kids church up front before the main sermon, provided a craft that went with the message to work on during service, and had stations all around the room kids could sit in, or play in, while they listened to service with their parents. Before you came in church you could file through a line and get a toy, puzzles, scissors, glue, markers and paperwork to color and work on. It was super low key and super Holy Spirit filled! Wow, Pastor Jason BROUGHT it!!!!! We have absolutely adored visiting different churches and worshiping with them this past year on the road.  We also took several scenic drives through the area, as well as catching the Blue Ridge Parkway. STUNNING doesn't even began to describe what we saw..... Sorry to have to offer a cell phone image only. We didn't know we were going through, or I would've gotten out my big camera!  We woke up July 4th with an entire list of local, small town festivals to chose from! SO FUN! Before we left, Paxton wanted to participate in the Fishing Derby at the RV park. Guess who took all but one prize? Our littlest fisherman, Paxton! Papa Don would be SO PROUD!!! Daddy sure was. :) He won $10 and a bag full of goodies. Then it was time for a drive through the mountains to catch a small town parade..... As you can see from the photos, we also had family members participate in the hula hooping and watermelon eating contest. Overall, the day was just a ton of fun! And the weather here is so lovely, we didn't even sweat miserably in the heat. We couldn't end the day without bbqing burgers and catching some fireworks..... Hope you all had an amazing and safe Independence Day! God bless America, land that I love!
Hugs, T  It's going to be an EAST COAST summer! We are excited to be working our way up towards Maine, then over to Michigan and Wisconsin. We have been to 37 states so far, and the best time to go up that far northeast is summer, so off we go! We want some more pins on this pin board! Our first stop was seeing some dear friends in OKC, then off to Tennessee we went. Oh my, it is BEAUTIFUL! We stayed at a small RV park when we first pulled in, and had a fun lake side church service the next morning. Then worked on making up some more Blessing Bags. These have been such a hit this past year on the road. We have gotten hugs and tears, crazy looks and many thanks! Here is what we chose to include in our blessing bags: (we find the Dollar Store to be the best place to find these items!) *gallon ziplock *water bottle *a protein (we did some pb jars, some chicken salad packets with crackers) *applesauce AND a spoon *granola bar *gum or hard candy like jaw breakers (no Jolly ranchers, they melt easily and make a huge mess, trust us!!!) *travel pack of wet wipes *mini shampoo, lotion and deo *mini toothpaste and a toothbrush *chapstick *comb and hair band *couple of bandaids *safety pins *small paper devotional (found online) *$2, $5 or $10, up to you. We did a variety! The kids SO enjoy finding people to give them to! We figured whether the people we see on the side of the road really need our help or not, our job is to GIVE, abundantly and freely. That's what we are responsible for, giving. What they do with it, and what their true need is, is up to them. They answer for their actions, not me! We are tightening our belts this summer, in order to focus on debt reduction so we can GIVE more freely, we are trying to focus on mostly FREE things to do in the areas we stay. That means we did a lot of hiking and swimming, or playing games out on our picnic table, this trip, which was great! The Smoky Mountains are absolutely stunning and the weather was perfect. And no bugs. :) We hiked 5 miles! WOAH. These travelers have gotten SOFT. Ouchie, but holy amazing and worth it! Check out the above photos of what we got to see on our trek through nature. The whole time we were hiking, Avery and I asked the Lord to protect us from Bears. There were a lot of warnings and signs, and even no dogs allowed signs, that made us nervous! Dale said, but I really wanted to see one! In my head I just thought, "Ok Lord, maybe from the safety of our car we could see ONE?!" We stopped at the little grocery store on our way home to get a few things for supper. While I was inside, Dale helped a group of ladies in the parking lot, to get their car running again. It took a long time, but the kids were so tired from our big hike, they just lounged in the car and ate bagels from the grocery bags. Dale got it running again, and of course, wouldn't take a dime from them, so the Lord blessed Dale with his hearts desire:  Seriously! We watched this guy bumble across the road and walk alongside it up into the woods.
How cool is our Father in Heaven!!!! I love how He blesses us with the "little" things that make us feel loved and heard from. Today we are settled river front, in North Carolina!!! I am also working on a Day in the Life Of post as requested by so many of you, so stay tuned! :) ~T |
Tonya Ferguson
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