It all began one fateful trip to church camp…
He was in 9th grade, I was in 8th. The fairy tale actually stops there because we were not dating… just friends. I would love to say we were high school sweethearts that married right after graduation, but such was not our tale. However, we did meet back up a handful of years later. He had just separated from the Marine Corps and I had returned to our home town. We were married shortly after. That was 1990 and the beginning of a wonderful legacy that has blossomed into a beautify family including four grandchildren.
In early 2017, we decided it was time for a change. At this point we had been around the world on various assignments for his career (the most recent being the Kingdom of Bahrain). While we loved the experiences and memories we made along the way, moving our household from place to place had become a circus of boxes, packing, unpacking, and somehow never quite finding everything before it was time to move again. We began to realize that maybe less really could be more, and the idea of living a simpler, more minimalist lifestyle started to take shape.
In December 2017, we took our first step toward making that dream a reality when we purchased a 1952 Spartan Royal Spartanette travel trailer. Our original plan was to renovate the vintage trailer into our dream home on wheels, embracing a life of simplicity and adventure. But as life often does, our plans took a different turn. Instead of hitting the open road, we decided to put down roots and build our very own “tiny mansion” on a farm alongside our daughter.
It wasn’t quite the adventure we originally envisioned, but it turned into something even better. A slower, simpler way of life surrounded by family, animals, wide open spaces, and all the little things that make a house feel like home.
Today, our little farm just outside of Fort Worth is our home base, keeping us close to our children and family while still allowing us to satisfy our love of travel. Whether we’re wandering the busy streets of New York City, soaking up the sunshine in Mexico, exploring the history and charm of Europe, or escaping to the mountains, we still enjoy getting away and discovering new places whenever we can.
We may have traded our dreams of a nomadic lifestyle for putting down roots, but our wanderlust hasn’t gone anywhere. The difference now is that after every adventure, we have our own little piece of country paradise waiting for us back home.
