Why we Roam (and our Travel Bucketlist!)

As much as it would have disappointed both of our families, last December we actually considered moving to the great state of Colorado within a year or two. We love everything Colorado has to offer and it's just so darn beautiful! After researching the housing market and job opportunities, we realized it'd be very difficult to uproot our lives and move several states over.

Enter #thehillsmobile!



We decided to purchase the Little Guy camping trailer in December 2015 as a means to satisfy our wanderlust needs. We ultimately decided that we should stay put in Texas and travel the country little by little in our mini RV.

We've always loved traveling together! As early as 2002, we began touring the country during our annual college choir tour trips to Chicago, Roswell, Alamosa, and so many other places.

College choir tour trip to New Orleans, 2004

Some of my favorite memories of our college years include us traveling and vacationing with our families.

Force family reunion in Cheyenne, Wyoming, July 2005

When we got married in May of 2006, we went on our first road trip together for our honeymoon to Roan Mountain in Tennessee near the Appalachian Trail.







We both agreed that it was important that we saved monthly for vacations. It wasn't even really a question for us, despite the fact that we made less than $4,000/month between the two of us. We didn't have much coming in, but we knew we would want at least a little extra money in the summer to travel and visit our families. 

We've continued saving each month over the last ten years and we don't regret it one bit! We currently save about $350/month for vacations. We've also earned over $1,500 in free travel money by paying most of our bills on the Chase Saphire Preffered card. Disclaimer: We wouldn't normally advise anyone to get a credit card or to go into debt, especially for the purpose of saving for vacations. However, this might be a good option for you if you're diligent about keeping the balance at $0. We pay our bill every Saturday morning to maintain a $0 balance and we treat it as a debit card, still very aware of how much is in our account to pay the bill each week.

We love to travel and roam the country for so many reasons.

Getting away from everyday mundanity and responsibilities, time for inward reflection, quality time with God and with each other, feeling closer to His creation, and being outside just makes us feel nothing, but in a good way. We realize that our tiny problems don't matter as much as we think they do whether we're sitting by a roaring, rushing river or gazing longingly at a new species of bird we've never seen before. What we consider to be big "problems" are actually pretty small. Nature takes the pressure off of us and our need for things to go perfectly. It gives us a chance to be ok with what's going on in our lives and to reflect on where we fit, how we should move, which steps to take. Traveling to new places meets our longing to gain new perspectives, meet awesome people, and challenge our thinking.

We keep moving because there's just too much to see and experience first hand right here in our own state and country!

-----------------------------------

Our Travel Bucketlist!

In no particular order...and to be updated frequently...

In State (Texas):
- Pernadales State Park
- Bastrop State Park
- Tyler State Park
- Big Bend National Park
- Marfa, TX
- Palo Duro Canyon (mountain biking for the hubs)
- Guadalupe River
- Lone star Hiking trail - Bry completed part of this while backpacking in the Sam Houston National Forest in December 2014
- Enchanted Rock
- Fredericksburg, TX (planning for Dec 2016)

Nationally:
- Petit Jean SP in Arkansas
- New York (not with #thehillsmobile)
- D.C.
- Rocky Mountain NP
- Yellowstone NP
- Grand Tetons NP
- Collegiate Peaks Colorado
- Glacier NP
- Olympic NP
- Highway 1 in CA
- Yosemite NP, Sequoia NP, Kings Canyon NP, Grand Canyon, Zion
- Great Smokey Mountains NP
- Palm Springs, Destin, Miami (not with #thehillsmobile)
- Wind River Range in Wyoming
- Black Hills and Mount Rushmore (SD)
- Arches and Canyon Lands NP
- Lake Tahoe
- Salt Lake City
- The Hamptons (not with #thehillsmobile)
- San Juan Hut System - 5 day biking trail trip for Bry
- Curt Gowdy SP in Wyoming
- John Muir trail backpacking trail for Bry (his ultimate travel goal)
- Alaska

Globally:
Side note...neither one of us is particularly interested in traveling outside of America. However, there are a few places we'd like to get to someday.
- Scotland
- Ireland
- Paris
- Italy
- Machu Picchu
- Australia (We're planning to start saving extra money each money so we can go to Australia for our 20 year anniversary!)