Mr. & Mrs. Vandebilt + kids

So far this has really just been a place to capture the large events of the trip – the national parks, the sightseeing, the exciting bits. But really, the majority of the trip is made up of the moments in between: in the days at “home”, in the driving, in the packing and moving, the working and schooling.

We rarely stay in a place for more than six nights, it’s usually closer to four. I actually can’t remember the last time we stayed longer than that. We pack up and move. A lot. So much that we don’t even bother unpacking. We have places and spaces for everything. The kids know how – and for the most part now – pack all their own things each time. They know what goes in their suitcase, or their kitbags. What they should have in the car. We have bins for the “gear”. The extra school stuff, the games, the off season clothing, the cooking items, the hiking boots, the dogs stuff. It all packs in the van the same way each time.

Moving days suck. It means not only do we have to pack up all our stuff, which is always annoying, but it also means we need to empty the fridge into the yeti. It takes a wild amount of planning to make sure we use up all the right kinds of food at each stop. We need to make sure we haven’t forgotten anything – so far we’ve managed to leave behind a blankie, new earrings, a water bottle, a kindle, a phone charger and a set of headphones

Moving days also mean driving days. We are about two thirds of the way through the trip – 111 days on the road, 20 states, 4 provinces, 2 oil changes, 18 airbnbs, 14 hotels, at least 13,380 kms, $1M spent on coffee and road snacks, 5 time zones and at least 417 hours of whining.

We try and spend at least one full day at “home” in each of our locations, if we can. Sometimes it’s great – we all get a chance to recharge, get caught up on work and school, plan out the next part of our adventure, regular life stuff. Other times we are all cranky, there’s a lot of yelling, I’m the worst mom ever and we go to bed and try again the next day. Road schooling while working is no joke. So while we spend a lot of time trying to capture the big moments, this trip is really made up of a lot of smaller moments – making memories as the five of us, of trying not to lose our sh*t several times of day, crossing our fingers the airbnb is what it said it was going to be, surviving the dog smells in the van and mostly just living our regular life all over the place.