Exploring America and Disney: Life as a Family of 5 on the Road
- Amanda Dixon
- Dec 29, 2023
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 12, 2024
Hi! I'm Amanda, and I'm the wife/mom. Welcome to our blog!
The photo below is in front of one of the small Christmas Trees in the lobby of the Grand Floridian Hotel & Spa at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL on Christmas Eve 2023. I've always loved Disney. I grew up in Orange County with an annual pass to Disneyland, back when they were under $200 (can you even imagine ?). I've visited the parks over 100 times in my lifetime, and many of my best memories are there. But that's a different story for a different day.
I'm also a homebody. Yep. Someone who likes to be at home. Well that's confusing, isn't it. A homebody who travels full time? Aren't those contradictory? Yes and no. More on that to come.
After I met my husband, got married, lost my mom to cancer, and had three kids....I had this overwhelming feeling of "life is short". I wanted to really live and see the country, maybe even the world. We tried moving to Seattle from Southern California. Seattle wasn't the place for us, so we moved back. We stayed in CA for a few more years but as anyone who lives or has lived in CA knows, it's very expensive and very crowded--which makes life stressful. So we moved to Texas. We lived outside of Austin for a year and outside of Houston for a year. And Texas wasn't for us either. Which begged the question, where are we moving now?
I couldn't wrap my brain around another cross-country move with three kids without feeling at least drawn to a place. I needed that gut feeling and just didn't have it. Brett (husband/dad) was feeling drawn to Idaho. But I wasn't convinced. How could we explore different places in this beautiful country while still working and homeschooling, but without actually committing to any single place until we were more certain? That's when the idea of RV life came to us.
At first, Brett wasn't on board. He works from home and didn't think that an RV with three children would be conducive to zoom meetings and 3 monitors (and he was partially right, it isn't always). But after researching and looking at dozens of 5th wheels we figured out a floor-plan and some modifications that would allow him to work from the road and give us enough space to make our daily lives doable. Once the research started and we saw how amazing RV life could be, we couldn't NOT do it. We started looking in December 2022 and by February 2023 we hit the road, listed our 3000 square foot house near Houston and haven't looked back!
Turns out RV life is the perfect way for a homebody like me to still enjoy traveling! I've got all of the comforts of home: my pillow, my bed, clothing, bedding, dishes and mostly importantly, my dogs. My home just comes right along with me.
Our scenery changes, and we get to spend time in the places we love and with the people we love. But more than that, we are seeing places and having experiences that we would have otherwise never seen or done had we not taken this leap. Memories of a lifetime. Life experiences. Broadening our horizons.
What started as a temporary way to check out different parts of the country and find our next home base has turned into a love for travel and feeling more confused than ever about where to "land". And we are totally okay with that for now!
So what questions do you have about RV life? About road traveling? About Disneyland or Walt Disney World? Comment below or have a look around our website! You may be able to find some answers there!
And be sure to join our email list for our latest travel updates and weekly Disney happenings/tips!
We're so glad you're here!
Hugs,
The Dixon Family
p.s. If you'd like some help planning your next family vacation (Disney & beyond!) click the button below to learn about my no-cost-to-you travel planning services!
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