Forgotten Treasure's USA: Coffeyville, KS

A while back we decided we would start a blog series called forgotten treasures. Put simply this series would highlight the places or things that were at one time sought after, then obtained, and eventually left to rust. So much of the modern American life centers around consumerism. I find myself asking this question often: "How much is enough?"

Kayla's Modern American Dream

Part of our goal while traveling the country is to conduct a series of interviews with other Americans who are chasing the dream.

What dream? The get rich quick, become an American Idol dream? No, the one that so many people around the world see when they think of America!

Top ten holiday gifts for the RV'er

Now that we live full-time on the road we have a running wish-list of the items that would make life a little easier as we travel. We wanted to build a list that would help you when shopping for your RV friends or family this year. We already own most of the items and will explain how they have enhanced our lives. There are some items that we will be buying in the near future as well!

The life of a Nomad

The term Nomad is defined in many ways, the definition will change from person to person. Basically a Nomad is someone who lives without a fixed address. We are Nomads.

This blog post will be bitter sweet.

Link Love: October 2014

Hello friends, we were so busy adjusting to life in the beginning of October that I forgot to write up a link love post for September... that being said this one will be a little shorter than usual because I haven't had as much time to browse my favorite blogs this month either.. However, these few posts are definitely worth linking you all to!

What did WinterStead do for Halloween?

In 2013 we went as the Queen of Hearts and Mad Hatter.

We are usually known for mixing store bought, thrift store, and DIY pieces for stellar costumes and because our place of employment had spirit week last week we would have been allowed to wear costumes but...

My mind has been so wrapped around work, and doing my job right that I didn't want to show up in costume, and be more focused on everything staying in place and mascara running from sweat, than my job.

We heard all of our co-workers talking about their costume plans at breaks and we were excited to see them. However...

We stood at the feet of a Goddess

        I have always thought about how cool it would be to hit the road and see America. One of the things I was most looking forward to was road side attractions. My wife who knows me so well kept this in mind as she mapped out our ride. She plotted our route using Google Maps and a neat little feature to point out the sights along the way. She told me that a classic looking icon caught her eye.
        Anyone who knows me knows I have a love of classical culture. Nashville has a piece of classic culture reborn in America. A remake of the Parthenon in Athens. It has been there for over 100 years and I am just hearing about it now.

RV Life and Perspective

We have been living in our motor-home for almost a month now, each day we are faced with a new set of challenges and most days we learn valuable lessons. So far everything has been really great, even the parts that have been a little scary.

When you move out of a sticks and bricks home and into a motor-home you learn a-lot about needs versus wants and you experience more in one day than you would in one week. There have been times that I have missed living in a brick home away from the sounds of neighbors and with loads of space.

Maiden Voyage: Last Leg

Heading into Nashville

Thursday night was our first thunderstorm in the Defiant. I would like to say that it passed unnoticed but that would be a lie. The thunder seemed to shake the whole camper and the lightning lit up the sky like it was mid-day. Though the storm did not last long it was enough to jolt us from our sleep and keep us awake for more hours then I would have liked. The good news was there were no leaks.    

We got up much later than we had wanted and I wasted no time getting everything ready for the road. I had hoped that we would have made it to the Parthenon by the time we were just getting out of bed.

Maiden Voyage: Part two

We awoke to the gentle sounds of Mother Nature. The birds were singing, the wind rustled through the leaves of the trees, and the squirrels hunted for their morning nuts. The first thing that came to my mind was where am I? After a few moments of disorientated panic I remembered we were in Georgia. I have come to find that I have woken up like that every morning in the camper. I wonder if that will ever go away.

Our second day on the road promised to be better than the first. I had much more rest then I had the night before our maiden voyage. I was also much more confident in my driving; after all I had gotten us this far without running over anyone.

Campground Review: Victoria Bryant State Park, Georgia.

When we saw the sign on I-85 pointing left for Victoria Bryant State park we were exhausted and hoping for a restful nights sleep. I have seen several state parks in my life, some of them don't even have gravel in the campsites. We were exhausted and this seemed to be the closest place to stay for a night before we entered Atlanta.

We had to drive about twelve miles off of the interstate to find this hidden treasure. We arrived right before the office closed and the office attendant was ever so helpful. She gave us a map that included hiking trails and pointed out the spots where we would have the best views of the natural springs running through the park.

Our Maiden Voyage

                When you have a dream you build up an image in your head of what it will be like when you finally get to live it out.
                When I dreamed about our RV life I had visions of sing-alongs as we rolled down the road, pleasant chats with diner patrons, beautiful landscapes, and the feel of real freedom. Things are not always as you imagine them.

                Now I don’t want you to think I am not having fun. This has been a lot of fun and I am sure it will only get better. It is just things are not exactly as I had dreamed they would be. After our tearful goodbye that you can read all about in my last post I realized something. I had never driven anything this large that far.

                When we got the Defiant it was not far from where we were living. When I drove it home it was on back country roads that I knew well and we did not see many other drivers on them. After that she sat parked in the yard while we worked on her and raised money to start our adventures. We took her a few places locally, like the inspection station and Mammaw’s house, but again all back roads I knew well.

                Our first trip was 1000 miles to Kansas and most of it was interstate and driving on the interstate was a little different then country roads in NC. The defiant has a strong motor and I know that, but still a piece of me was worried that she might not

RV Makeover

As soon as we bought The Defiant I knew that I would want to make lots of interior design changes. It took a lot of hard work by a lot of people, and a long time but finally I am ready to share the interior make-over of our tiny home!

It felt as if the day would never come...

           All the talk, all the preparation, and all the planning let us know the day would arrive but it felt like it never would... Then the day came.

Just checking in with our friends!

Our home for the next week!

Hello everyone!

In the last four days we have traveled across seven states, we are getting settled in to living full time in an RV and learning the road in The Defiant.

We know that many of you are wanting to read all about our journey over the last few days and see all the awesome photos we took but for now we just wanted to let you know we made it safely to Kansas. The Defiant has been very good to us and a cozy place to call home.

Life in the present & My Dear Husband (DH)

As we wait for the answers to some big questions my lovely husband's birthday will be here in a few days.

The best present I could possibly give him are answers; when we will be heading out, when we will be able to fix the plumbing, when we will make it to warm weather and friends on the West coast.

Sadly, I do not have the answers right now and we will have to be patient together. He is usually very patient. I am, on the other hand, usually patient enough to bring the cookies out of the oven a little doughy in the middle..

Our roles have changed for the moment, I am being the patient one, and he is pacing back and forth.

Thank you XOMISSE!

This #BlogLife post was not on the itinerary but I had to take a few minutes to write up this supplemental post!

XOMISSE, is an amazing blog designer who takes time out of her busy schedule to provide blogging tutorials for those who want to be more hands on with their blogs, like me.

Don't get me wrong, she uses a lot of coding and I've learned to use the notepad program for my HTML code before I put it into my template, but her tutorials are very thorough and simple enough for those of us who haven't been to webdesign school.

Robert's Modern American Dream

There are a lot of people out there who feel like they want to do something to better the world. We would like to talk to all of them and see what they have in mind. 

The trouble with that is we can not talk to everyone face to face. So for those who have something they would like to tell us but we can not get to you for an interview we will send a little E-mail questionnaire.

So I thought that before we start asking America these questions I would answer them for myself. 

What you need to know about gadgets in Blogger

What are gadgets?

If you are logged into your dashboard on blogger.com there is a page called Layout.

In the layout page you will see several options all over the page that say add a gadget.

But what are they? Why would you use them, and how to know which ones to use when and where can be a headache!

Link Love: August 2014

This is a new month my friends and with that comes a whole new Link Love!!


I wanted to let you all know that you can find us on Instagram now!! Click here to follow us! 

I also wanted to boast about being on the front page of our local paper again! How cool is that to be featured in the newspaper!

Thankful Thursdays #1

Sometimes in life we seem to get wrapped up in our heads about all that life should be and we forget all that we already have in our lives. I (Kayla) was tagged in a Facebook post by a friend this afternoon where I was asked to list four things I am grateful for.

The funny thing is that I was just telling Robert this morning that we should make "Thankful Thursdays" a regular part of the blog. It just seemed to be fate!

Take me out to the ball game..

I am not a big fan of baseball. 

I own a glove and understand the terminology, but the professional sports side of it I do not understand. When someone asked me who my favorite player was I said Buck Bokai, for the London kings.

So why a baseball game? Well we were kind of enticed to go.

We did know the star of the show, the most talented hostess Halley Murrow Castleberry, and her invitation was hard to pass up.

Extra!! Extra!! Read all about it!!

A lovely reporter from the Lexington Dispatch, Dwight Davis, called me a few weeks ago with questions about my book and our upcoming journey! This morning I found the awesome article he wrote on their website and figured I would share it here with you all!! Thanks for reading and supporting our dreams! -Kayla & Robert

Click Here to read article!!

5 Ways to stay motivated as a Blogger!

While yes, we are in the middle of an RV makeover, I promised a while back that I would make time to finish the #BlogLife101 series.Motivation is a very important topic and if you are blogging already then you are well aware that it takes motivation to continue posting.

Even if you have tons of motivation now you should save this to your bookmarks or favorites in your browser for when you loose steam. So here we go..

Spray painting in our RV

Wow, looking back on it that tape and paper everywhere was a mess, and honestly it took me longer to tape everything than it did to spray paint it!

Welcome to part two of our RV renovations, the spray painting. Unlike the rest of the painting it did not take weeks. Luckily the Valspar spray paint we bought covered in one coat and I was able to do it all in the same day.

Painting tight spaces

I have had some experience with painting in the past. 

The first job I ever got paid to do, way back when as a 14 year old, was as a painting assistant. That did not start a lifelong career but it was the first of many hours spent painting. 

When my wife and I left our first apartment I painted the whole thing in 48 hours. So with all that experience and the best paint money can buy I thought for sure I would be done painting the Defiant in no time.  

Ants in our Pants.. or RV rather!

When we first found the Defiant she was parked in the woods with a few tree branches leaning on her roof.

We carefully inspected the RV to make sure she didn't have any mice, roach, or ant infestations before we drove her home.

The first night we had her we wanted to see how the loft space (the bunk above the cab) worked and when we went to slide the frame back we found a huge colony of wood ants...

Link Love: July 2014

It's that time of the month again! #Linklove time!!

For starters I want to draw your attention to an awesome cause/ kick-starter campaign that several of my bloggers friends are working on together. Known as #homesteadhub check it out by clicking here.

BIG NEWS & an IndieGOGO campaign! Ready, set, GO!!

Hello everyone!

We have decided to announce our plans to produce an eMagazine about our mission that will be free of charge to all e-mail subscribers!

We are extremely excited about this goal and we cannot wait to get started!

Progress is..

prog·ress

noun

noun: progress

ˈprägrəs,ˈprägˌres,ˈprōˌgres/

1.

forward or onward movement toward a destination.

Just to clarify I swore up and down we would have our new tiny home on wheels painted by 7/14/14 *cough* which was three days ago! 

However...

What is canva? Why is everyone talking about it?

Canva.com is a revolutionary *free* alternative to Photoshop. While you will not have all of the same photo editing features you will have enough to enjoy your time using this program.

Welcome to another installment of #BlogLife101, today I will be talking about an amazing website/ online design program I use.

I love Canva.com because...

How to use the advanced settings in Blogger template

Hello everyone! Welcome to another installment of #bloglife101! Today we will be going over the advanced settings in Blogger's Template section.

Our RV- Meet: "The Defiant"

Hello everyone!
This is a very exciting post as we finally found the right RV for our needs!

On 7-7-14 we drove home in our 1988 Fleetwood Tioga Arrow which is a Class C and 26 feet long.

A sound motor and safe structure were at the top of our list and I feel like this RV definitely has both!

This video is the "before" video that the car lot made for sales purposes.

Link Love: June 2014

With June being the first official month of summer and so many awesome bloggers writing about their summertime adventures I am very excited to compile this list of my favorite blog posts from the month of June for you all to read!

Why should I label or tag my blog posts?

I guess the question I should be asking is: "Are you only planning to share your blog with family and friends via your personal social networking or do you want to reach a wide audience?"

If your answer is:"I would enjoy reaching a wide audience of readers" then yes labels (aka: tags) are important. Here's why...

Forgotten Treasures USA

The car that you are working for to make payments on may one day be overtaken by nature, everything returns to nature. "Forgotten Treasures USA" is a new series we will be working on while we travel....

DIY Bike Renovation

Serendipity is an amazing thing.. so is the law of attraction! For instance, on our Amazon Wishlist I had two stainless steel water canisters that were a total of $39.00 and I found two practically new ones at the Salvation Army for $0.49 a piece... what does this have to do with bikes??

Amazingly enough I put two bikes on our wishlist. I have two AWESOME cousins who were no longer using their bikes and gave them to us! <3 The only thing is we had to use a little elbow grease and TLC to get them working properly! This post is about that process! (We just had to give the law of attraction a shout out!)

How to write your first blog post.

This will be a very short post because really, this topic is super simple. The secret is...

Change can be beautiful.

This weekend was a good solid reminder that we are getting ready to embark on an awesome adventure. We had a huge yard sale, met some awesome people, and discovered a sunflower growing out of our now abandoned chicken coop!

How a tornado saved my life.

Two months before our wedding, on March 28th 2010, an EF3 tornado ripped down our street. Luckily we made it out alright, but I would never know that in the fifteen seconds it took for this storm to condemn our home my life would change forever.

How to write an effective About Me page

Hello #Bloglife101 friends... I can hear the Cheshire cat saying: "Who. Are. You!?" Can you? As a blog owner your about me page will be one of the first impressions you make on potential readers.. is yours effective?

Homesteader's Giveaway, Multiple Chances to Win!!

Are you ready to take part in a GIVEAWAY extravaganza?

We have teamed up with several other bloggers to offer an amazing homestead giveaway! You can enter to win on each blog so you have several chances to win Ah-mazing books, kitchen gear, canning supplies, your own tea garden, and garden goodies!

May 2014| Link Love

I enjoyed my link love post so much in April that I decided to repeat it for May!

Link love posts are where I showcase the blog posts I enjoyed from the entire month, by some of my favorite bloggers!

So let's begin shall we?

Life is:

Life is crazy, beautiful, wild, exhausting yet effortless, and yes this will be another random post.

First: Our little lady (Judzia) wants to help me work today! Gotta love #Mahkitty!--->

I wanted to apologize to those of you who are following the #BlogLife101 series, because sometimes... life happens & I will try to keep up with the series.. but it may not happen on a week to week basis like I had planned. Again, life happens.

You all know that we are preparing for something new, and we had a very rigorous time frame to work with, but again... life happens and things have sped up dramatically.

Not to worry though... we (the husband and I) are aware that

Our 4th year of wedded bliss!

"Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend." — Albert Camus

What is the best layout for your blog?

Hello! Have you practiced blogging since my last post "How to set up a blogger blog in 4 easy steps"?

Today I want to go over layouts, and why they are important...

How to set up a blog on Blogger in 4 easy steps

Hola #BlogLife101 friends!! Are you ready to start your first blog?If you are new to the series you may want to look back through the previous posts before you begin! Other than that if you are ready, let go!!

Why I choose the Blogger blog platform

This post will be short and sweet, it is only a post to highlight my opinion on the blogger vs. wordpress debate.

How to name your blog, and why it matters!

Yes, your blog name could be asdf.blogspot.com or www.whocares.com but will that blog name help or hurt your reach?

Welcome to the last installment in week one of the #BlogLife101 series! Today we will be talking about why it is important to carefully choose your blog name before you set up your own blog. Let's begin!

Lazy 5 Ranch "It's got my bucket"

We took my little brother to the Lazy 5 Ranch today for his birthday and we had a blast.


Watch the video of our day below!! Thanks & Enjoy!!