10 Year Nomadiversary!!
2020 - Eco Womb Family, Home is Where we Park It
10 years ago we left everything that we knew and tossed it all up in the air for an unknown. We didn’t have a five-year plan, we didn’t have a big savings, and we didn’t have it all figured out how we would actually live on the road. But, the one thing that we did have was a dream, an adventurous spirit, and the yearning to do it differently. As the Mama, who led the family into the depths of this beautifully wild and crazy ride, I leaned heavily on my intuition and the calling that I just couldn’t shake. The calling that said there is more out there, there is more for my kids to experience, and there is more of us to discover. I knew it would be a journey. I just had no idea what that journey would look like.
March 2010 - pre-Eco Womb, the day we bought the Live Lightly Tour Bus as our new home, Boca Raton, FL
10 years ago on January 15, 2011, we moved from a 1900 sq ft home in the suburbs of South Florida. We had a darling pink house on a cul de sac, with a backyard pool on a lake, lovely neighbors and a homeschool community that we adored. And, we moved into a 250 sq ft RV that could barely fit the stuff we decided to keep in the great big material stuff purge. It was hard to say those goodbyes, and we took the next two weeks pairing down even more, but we were also excited for the adventure, and the stuff became less and less important. We loved every inch of that tiny home and easily made it our own. We started to meet families on the road, we got those wheels moving and started to see more of the world, and we experienced life in all different places from right out the steps of our front door. The world became the kids’ classroom, we got to eat authentic, local, fresh food from all over the country, we visited farms and schools and small towns everywhere, we met some of the most amazing people who became our friends and road family for life, and we experienced such a wide range of people and diversity, from inner cities to midwest countrysides, from warm sunny coastal beach towns to snowy mountain getaways. We got to park our house in so many different types of places and habitats, and we were surrounded by so many different types of people and cultures, that our neighborhood expanded and diversified with every mile we traveled. While, at the same time, we would notice how much these small towns and sprawling city centers across the country had in common, how people all over lived very similarly, with common rhythms and values, and how that really made it seem like a small world after all, and all so closely interconnected.
2019 - At Home, somewhere along the Oregon Coast
The depths of our journey is still unfolding, and for each of us has been a bit different. The kids have literally grown up on the road, our two youngest babies that’s all they know, because they were born on the road!! Yes, literally born inside the Eco Womb Tour Bus! This life is their norm. They only know traveling and living tiny. When I asked our older kids, though, what they have learned after 10 years on the road, because they do remember life before wheels, our oldest teen said how to be resourceful, our daughter said where to find good food, lol, and our twenty year old said, “That wherever we go, we’ll always be home.” And, that right there, speaks volumes to the kind of life we envisioned. All of the uncertainty, all of the risks we took, all of the doubters and people that questioned us along the way, none of it matters, when our soul goal was to raise kids that would know this. Know that all of the earth is our backyard, that we must all protect all of her, that we have community all over, that we all have much more in common than we are different, and that our sacred waters and soil and air are for all of us, just as we must protect those resources for future generations. And, during our 10 years on the road we as a family have fought for this, marched for this, stood up and spoke out for this, and educated thousands on how to live more in tune with nature, and the importance of our connection to Mama Earth.
2014 - GMO Labeling Tour, Portland, Oregon
We have definitely had some pitfalls and doubts along the way, and have absolutely had the doubters, but never have we wavered from continuing on. We built a non-profit out of just an idea to connect with others on living sustainably, getting kids out into nature, and sharing the love. We traveled from coast to coast and back again several times. We made it to 49 states and through parts of Canada. Five years in, we bought another new to us tiny home on wheels and converted it into the Eco Womb, gaining another 100+ sq ft, yay! We have hiked thousands of miles with five kids. And, we have all grown in such immense ways, the kids growing up, and us parents, well, growing up, too, haha, but also growing deeper into who we are. Finding ourselves, breaking generational cycles, healing trauma, opening up new creative outlets, and growing deeper in love with each other than we ever thought possible. Funny to think one of the most common questions we get about living tiny is, “how do you live that closely with your spouse? don’t you fight?” Quite the contrary, we are best friends and have the absolute best time with each other. And, when we do disagree, because yes that happens, we have learned to listen and hold space for each other and allow all the emotions to be released, however long that takes. And, we acknowledge that we are a work in progress, just out here having this human experience, on this crazy revolving planet, not trying to reach a destination, but seriously just trying to breathe it all in and love it all up. And, oh my how we are also life learning right alongside the kids. From all the events we’ve worked and educational workshops we’ve taught, to studying and continuously practicing how to parent with empathy, to all the marches and protests and my goodness, our two and a half months at Standing Rock. Such an eye opening learning experience and growth there! We have learned how to bucket in water, compost on the road, turn sewer into humanure, how to go zero waste with bottle bricks, how to build structures with bottle bricks, how to source and filter waste veggie oil for use as fuel, how to work solar and conserve electricity, how to store food in a snow bank, how to live off grid for months at a time, and how to live in community with others. We have such gratitude for running water, hot showers, full hook-up to dump our grey and black tanks, full capacity washing machines and dryers, warm sunshine to warm our home on a cold winter’s day, a cool evening breeze through an open window on a hot summer night, a star filled sky, friends around a campfire, family dinners every night around our simple table in our tiny kitchen, and the feeling of being tucked in our own beds in our own home on wheels after a long day’s drive no matter where we land.
2016 - Standing Rock, Oceti Sakowin Camp, Cannon Ball, North Dakota
Even through the uncertainties and upheavals in the world, and there have been many over the years, we always know that wherever we are we are home. There is a level of safety to that that I am only just starting to really understand. And, especially after 2020, we are so very grateful we made this choice 10 years ago--- to travel full-time, to work remotely, to homeschool/unschool/life learn with the kids, to practice homemade and natural remedies, to eat healthy and organic as preventative healthcare, to live tiny and experience more, and to make the connections we have made creating community all over this country. 2020 was a wake up call for so many, and same for us, but all these other things we had under our belt already. In fact, we always say that "we end up where we are supposed to be, when we are supposed to be there” and like all of our past years’ travels, 2020 was full of those moments, too. We started off in Texas, celebrated the New Year with extended family, my sister and the kids’ sweet cousins and so much fun. Traveled to Florida mid-February just to dip our toes in the sand and then the plan was to go visit family in Maryland/Virginia area for about two weeks, before heading back west to Colorado. Well, as soon as we landed in VA, literally the exact day, we got word that my Mama had just been transported to the hospital. Ended up she had a triple lung infection, with one being a mystery and antibiotic resistant, hmmm??? This was literally right before the shit hit the fan. For the next two weeks, as she battled for her health, we stayed to be by her side, so grateful that we got there when we did, and thankful that we had the flexibility with remote work to stay there longer than anticipated. Then, she was released, with a nod from the doc that said she needed to get home before some big things happened, hmmm again... Yes, for real. She got home mid-March and two days later when we visited her to help her adjust back to her house, we got word of a lockdown. Having been off all news and really just focused on my Mama’s health, I remember thinking I’m not sure what this all means, but I think we need to stock up on food and maybe buy paint in case stores closed and we could busy ourselves with house projects. You know, trying to be prepared, haha. We also were dealing with some sickness that we either picked up from the hospital or wherever the past busy week, probably Covid to be honest, but it was so early no one knew anything, so we just tended to everyone and healed them up the way we do with what natural remedies we had on hand. Little did I know that a "world pandemic" was about to go down, and we would end up being in VA for a few months.
March 2020 - The Eco Womb in Quarantine, Richmond North KOA, Virginia
Never before in our history of life on the road did we run into what was about to happen. State and National parks started closing, even county parks, as well as many of the places we had checked out to stop at on our way back south and then west. We had wanted to see the Atlantic Ocean before heading to Colorado, but none of that was happening now. Even RV parks one by one started to not accept any other visitors. We had to make a decision and make it fast, leave and hope to get in a park south and a little warmer to ride this out, or stay there, if we could even stay there??? We were at a KOA just north of Richmond, somewhat close to my parents, and in quite the in between. We chose to stay a little longer to make sure my Mama was really ok, grateful our park had not closed. Then, we got word that they were closing and we literally had like three days to find somewhere to be. Unlike most of the world in lockdown, when they say stay at home, our home needed a place to stay!! And for a couple of days we were in limbo again. Living on the road being in limbo is not new to us, but under a world crisis, and a concerning health issue with a parent, and now with nowhere to park our home, we literally didn’t know what to do. We would gladly stay at home, but where could we park our home??? Ended up talking to the sweetest lady at the campground about our dilemma and in realizing that campgrounds were closing, she said “you will have to just stay here.” Long story short, they allowed us to stay there under the policy of a long-term stay, and we ended up quarantining there by ourselves! We were literally the only people there, on the whole 50 acre campground. We had room to breathe and run and climb trees and have solitude without bothering anyone around us, or risking anything that was going down. It was a blessing in disguise, and while my nomadic Mama heart at first panicked at the thought of being fenced in with nowhere to go for weeks on end, it was a time that we will all never forget.
Earth Day 2020 - Our own personal Eco Womb Earth Day event!
Eco Womb Papa Bear would take his work meetings at a picnic table nestled in the forest, we would go on daily evening bike rides, and there were many many many games of family kickball, basketball, and hide and seek. We started working out together as a family, after a half-joke about how Mama and Daddy used to do Billy Blank’s Tae-Bo together leading up to our wedding. Kids watched the 90s video on YouTube, laughed hysterically and then said let’s do it! So that’s how we started every morning, bigs worked out with the parents while the littles would create chalk art on the road or circle us on their bikes, there would be tree climbing, fairy house building, and some online classes here and there. Daddyman would grocery shop between every 7-11 days and stock up, and that’s all we needed. We spent Earth Day in quarantine which was crazy different for us, and our seven year old kept asking why we weren’t doing an event, why we couldn’t just go, and was super sad that we weren’t going to host fun and games for lots of people, that he missed it all so much. My heart burst at his sadness, because I was feeling all of that, too, as his Mama. And, at the same time, so cool to see his perspective and that is how he views Earth Day growing up on the road working events, that we create fun and games for people in celebration of honoring our Earth. So, I decided right then and there to host our own Earth Day in an empty campground with our family. It was full of chalk art messages of love, a picnic lunch in the sun, bottle brick bowling, skateboard/boogie board races, family kickball, tree climbing, earthing barefoot in the dirt, and earth day cookies! It was way different than in years past, but by the end of the day, we actually felt content with staying at home for Earth Day, as we didn’t have to drive anywhere or spend any money on anything. We missed community connection more than ever, but we made the most of it, gave gratitude to Mama Earth and all that she sustains and then took time to breathe in the stillness and find our rhythm in nature’s rhythm.
Earth Day 2020 - Our own personal Eco Womb Earth Day event!
Our 12 weeks or so of quarantine came with a lot of emotions, and a lot of reflection, and a lot of time to think and process and dream. One thing is certain, I will always remember that family time together in that quiet campground under the trees. It was simple and we felt grateful and we rode it out until the campground reopened for Memorial Day. To be honest, when people started coming back in it felt weird since we had had the place to ourselves. We took that as a sign it was time to move on. Celebrated my Mama’s big 70th Birthday with her and then we got wheels moving again. Honestly, moving our whole house felt pretty safe in the midst of crazy out there because we can travel without actually leaving home. And, so we did, traveling from the east coast back to Texas during the month of June. It was definitely different, though, towns we love and adore boarded up because of the BLM protests, some parks and playgrounds open, some wrapped up with caution tape and hazard signs, confusion and restrictions and masks everywhere, and the tensions and division could be felt as soon as you drove through a new town. People were hurting and scared and mad and anxious. The uncertainty was thick and there was a caution to people that I have honestly never felt before. As an empath, and as a Mama to a family of empaths, we feel people’s energies, and this past year, this past trip was ripe with loads of energies. A lot of negative, many reactions, and some pretty intense situations, but also so many connections and seeing friends and hugs with loved ones (yes, gasp, we hugged, a lot)! It was a year that brought what’s most important in life to light, and a year to make sure you dialed in to your people. Because connection is at the root of everything, and hugs are absolutely essential.
December 2020 - Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
We persevered through a crazy pandemic, loss of events and festivals which is the bulk of our work as a family non-profit, a major pay-cut for Eco Womb Papa Bear but holding on to that work through the shutdowns, a couple of RV breakdowns and loads of home repairs, travel restrictions, weird happenings in the world, handling the tensions around us as a family of empaths, living through and then evacuating the largest wildfire in Colorado’s history, reliving trauma because of the mask mandates and fear upheaval during all of 2020 but then tons of healing for this Mama, making our way through uncertainty and fear and a changing by the minute upside down world, our oldest son transitioning out and moving into his own tiny home on wheels, and huge shifts in our family dynamic and day to day as us nomads rooted down for a bit.
October 2020 - Cameron Peak Fire, Colorado
Even in a year of all that was difficult, though, there was a lot of good for our family. Papa Bear received an offer for full-time employment after contract work with the same company in mid-February, just weeks before things shut down, and even though he had to take a pay cut for a few months, he kept employment throughout 2020. Because festival season was over before it even started, we literally had no events to work the entire year. That was hard for our family non-profit, and we are still not sure how to reboot without in-person community connection, but we were grateful to be healthy and together with an income to support us. We also got to see extended family and friends and those heart to hearts were even better this past year knowing that so many were in situations where they didn’t have that. When we got back to Texas, we had more time with family and then our oldest continued working on the biggest surprise of the year… his own tiny home on wheels!!! He put a lot of physical work and money into that project and before we knew it we were caravanning together to Colorado. It was his plan to move out in 2020, and although the plan was April, and we didn’t make it there until August, he still did it! At twenty years old, living exactly half his life on the road, our firstborn Eco Womb kiddo moved out just four months ago, into his own RV! Pretty sure they won’t all choose that path, but we are so proud of him. He owns his own home, found a sweet property to rent to park it in the beautiful mountains of Colorado, and got a kick-ass job working as a Canvassing Manager for an amazing Solar Company, continuing on teaching others the importance of renewable energy. In a year of uncertainty he persevered and grew up, a ton! The first one flying the nest is hard for any Mama Bear, but in a crazy year such as this past one, it felt just weird, but good, and we couldn’t be happier for him and all that he has accomplished. Seriously kid, if you can do all of that when the world is upside down, you can do anything!
September 2020 - Oldest Eco Womb Kiddo moves out into his own tiny home on wheels, Colorado
As for the other kids, our oldest teen is an up and coming Photographer already with a following and community that supports him, has a print shop, a new magazine in development, and has all sorts of dreams and aspirations and we are so proud of him, too. Check out his work here - https://www.instagram.com/jackandstills/ . Our daughter turned 13 this year, crazy to have two teenagers again right when the oldest flew the nest. As the foodie in the family, she has gotten into baking and cooking, and after an awesome Zoom Theater opportunity with her aunt who runs Stagelights Theater Company - https://www.stagelightstheater.com/ - she found her passion in acting and now says she wants to become an actress! The littles climbed a lot of trees, played in a lot of dirt, met some new amazing friends, and grew a ton! And, overall, despite the crazy out there, these kiddos are rocking it right here. Eco Womb Papa Bear worked his tail off to support us all, as always ventured all over to drive our house where it needed to be, fixing all the broken things that come with a house that has wheels, and rocked it out as THE BEST Papa Bear out there, making time for all his kiddos and all the things that come up raising a houseful. He also, after 9 years of freelance and contract work through his own company, Letterbox Studios - https://www.letterboxstudios.com/ - accepted a full-time j-o-b! It felt weird and we all weren’t sure at first, but it provided a stability that we had been hoping for for some time. And, the fact that it happened in February 2020, just weeks before the lockdowns, well, we were super grateful for the timing and that he held onto that job successfully throughout the year. As for this Mama, well, I had a huge year of growth and healing, faced one of the biggest fears in my life head on, found my voice and the ability to help others out of that experience, took a 12 week class and then graduated from Emotional Sovereignty School, helped kick off some new creative t-shirt designs for our Family Activist Shop, wrote and wrote and wrote, and did my 24/7 Mama thing that is really the most important job in the world to nurture these humans that will be leading our future.
December 2020 - Eco Womb Family Christmas, Colorado
Whew! I knew this would be a book, and honestly, yay for me! Writing how I want in whatever form that takes. If you have read this far, thank you and I love you! If you just skimmed to the bottom, thank you and I love you. And, speaking of writing a book, I am feeling it in my bones that that is what is next on the agenda. After ten years on the road, thousands of miles journeyed, on open roads, along all sorts of trails, up and over mountains, along coastlines and through deep forests, as well as countless miles inward toward the heart, we have sure as heck seen and done a lot, but most importantly, we have grown and evolved even more. Because this living on the road thing was never really about how many miles we could accumulate or destinations to check off the list, but always about the people and places and growth we would discover. Looking back at all of that I feel wildly successful at what we have accomplished. And proud of my family for all that we endured to get here. Many have asked us, what’s next? It is the infamous question after celebrating a big milestone. But, those who know me know I absolutely like to sit with these milestones and breathe it all in for awhile before jumping to the next best thing. With that being said, we have dreamed up homesteading in the future, international travel at some point, and we definitely want to build a home or two or three out of bottle bricks. Oh and chickens, Mama wants chickens. Plus, we want to build out our store to share more of our creative endeavors, expand our programs to include Emotional Education workshops for families, absolutely host that Family Retreat we have been talking about for the past couple years, and we actually have a couple book ideas brewing. We don’t know when or where exactly all of these things will happen. So who knows? 10 years on the road full-time and we are perfectly content with letting it unfold how it is supposed to be when it is meant to be. And, we also know that we will land where we are supposed to be when we are supposed to be there, as it has always been. That peace and inner contentment alone was worth every mile it took to get here. Because even the here is not where we are currently staying, but rather the state our heart is in, our family rhythm as it matches the rhythm of nature, how tuned in we feel to each other and our world around us, and allowing it all to still be a work in progress, an emotional ride, accepting the ups and downs as part of it all, and simply celebrating this beautiful thing we call life. 10 years on the road and we are grateful for that journey and honestly all the amazing twists and turns still to come! Oh, and we made it through 2020, we can do absolutely anything!