BIG Adventure News!!

Can you guess where the Mulder family is going??

AROUND THE UNITED STATES on the ultimate Mulder adventure.  We will leaving Spokane shortly after Christmas and travelling until August 2014!!  YEP..7 months on the road.  Our trailer is in Las Vegas at a good friend's house, just waiting for us to come and pick it up and take it back on the road.  We will be traveling counter clockwise around the United States, mostly around the border states (you know how much I love the ocean).  We will make it all the way south to the Florida Keys, as far north as Acadia National Park in Maine and so many places in between.  We will stay in about 50 different places, from 4 days to a week, depending on the location.  We plan to reconnect with many friends along the way.  

Many people have asked...how did you come up with this idea.  About 1 1/2 years ago we were hiking at Riverside State Park and we started dreaming about what it would be like to take a "family sabbatical."  There were so many things that needed to fall into place in order for it to happen.  Lots of prayer, planning, and thinking have gone into this crazy plan.  We started with a huge United States map and sticky noted all the places we would love to see.  From there we narrowed it down to about 50 spots that we could reasonably see in 9 months.(We already did 2 months this summer)  We have spent the last year planning for endless hours, researching campgrounds, making reservations and seeing this dream come to a reality. We have narrowed it down to 6 pages of spreadsheets outlining our itinerary, campgrounds and some highlights in various cities. Truly, God has blessed each and every step of this process.  From the major, like getting a truck strong enough to pull a fifth wheel in a miraculous way, finding two amazing families to live in our house while we gone, to the minor, like getting a campsite in the Florida keys, all the doors kept opening for us.  

Another common question we have heard is, "Why?"  There are many answers that we think about but I think it boils down to a few priorities for this trip.  1)  We want to spend time together as a family, especially while our kids are still young and enjoy spending time with us.  We hope that this "break" from our regular lives will provide lots of opportunities to talk, learn, play and experience this amazing country. 2)  Jordan, our oldest, will start Junior High next year and we feel like it is now or never.  3)  We have seen over and over that life is short and you really don't know how long you have on this earth.  So why not take a year of our "retirement" as a family.  4)  On a lighter note...the boys want to ride as many roller coasters as possible across this great country!

We hope to update this blog regularly while we are travelling.  We know that many great adventures lie ahead!!  Thanks for sharing in our BIG NEWS!