Background

We're already 2 months into our trip and this is the first blog entry from the Davies family - Tony, Nina, Rhys, Dylan and Anwen. It's going to be a brief summary of what we're up to, how and why we're doing what we're doing and some details on what we've seen and done so far.

My guess is that if you're reading this page, you're probably related to us, friends of ours or (just maybe) you've been given this URL by mutual friends. Whoever you are, we hope you enjoy the website, and would love to hear from you.

It's quite simple really - we've bought a Recreation Vehicle (RV) and we're travelling around the US for a year or so and homeschooling our children as we go. On the surface, it may appear a way to fulfill hedonistic tendencies. Or maybe Dad is having a mid-life crisis. Maybe, but right now we're focused on providing our children with an education and taking the opportunity to spend time with them.

Before we started on this journey, we were living in Roseville, near Sacramento, CA. We'd lived in the Sacramento area for about five and half years and, before that, in the Bay Area for eight years. I (Tony) finished work in April 2014 to prepare for the journey. Nina wrapped up her job in July. Rhys and I left Roseville on August 3rd and drove cross country to Des Moines, IA (where we had to pick up the RV we'd bought). Nina, Dylan and Anwen flew to Des Moines on August 12th to meet us.

We started our journey in the RV on August 14th and had decided to head back towards the West Coast. We still have some things in storage we need to pick up for our trip. Also, I liked the idea of heading west starting along the Lewis and Clark trail, just like explorers and pioneers. Right now, we're back in California, having left the Lewis and Clark trail and switched over to the California trail. Inclement weather and mechanical problems with the RV (i.e. the wipers didn't work) made us divert from our original planned route and stay further south than we had intended. That meant we had to miss out on Yellowstone NP, Glacier NP and the Columbia Gorge this time around. So far, though, we've travelled through Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada. We have seen some cool things and have some stories to share. For now, the best place to look to get a feel for the things we've been up to and the places we've visited is the Photos page. Over the next few weeks we'll be back in the Sacramento region and Bay Area and will take the opportunity to catch up with friends and family. After that, who knows? We have some ideas, but nothing is fixed yet.