In this spirit, it only seems fitting to carry on with our story, as we look at moving ahead to the next chapter, but first, let's start with an overview of what has happened since our last post. Over the last year and a half, life has been good for us here in Lompoc, CA. I settled nicely into a job as night-shift Charge RN at Lompoc Valley Medical Center. I work with a phenomenal staff at our small community hospital, and have been warmly welcomed from the first time I walked through the door. Tricia is more than a year in to her Associates degree in Psychology at Allan Hancock College. She is doing an amazing job, and has maintained a GPA that many would be jealous of, as she works toward a career as a Special Education Teacher. Aedan just started his school year as a 4th grader, and is reading at a 7th or 8th grade level. Supplying him with a steady supply of books has been a job in itself, and his teachers have had nothing but wonderful things to say. We live in a beautiful mission-style home, that we were extremely lucky to find, and it has been ideal as we have all settled in to our new version of "normal". All-in-all, I guess you could say that life has been pretty perfect, but with all these big changes and moves that have taken place, Newton knows best when he said that an object in motion remains in motion.
While our rented house has been great for our needs so far, we decided that that we wanted to start looking at getting a place that was OURS. We have worked hard to rebuild our credit over the past year and a half, and though we absolutely adore our landlord, we don't necessarily want to rent for the rest of our lives. We wanted something that was actually ours! Since Hancock College will only carry Tricia through an Associates degree, we found ourselves limited to looking at houses in areas that also had Universities. Were these towns places that we could see ourselves living FOREVER, though?! Let's break it down... 1.) We want OUR home... 2.) We need it to be close to a school so Tricia can finish her degree... 3.) It needs to be in an area that offers affordable housing... 4.) We want scenery and things to do that we all enjoy... 5.) We need a good school/neighborhood for Aedan... And 6.) we still want to be able to take our trips. We are adventurous people, and pouring 100% of our income into a "sticks-and bricks" house (usually with a $500,000+ price tag, for any of the places we found in California) for the next 30 years just didn't sound feasible to us. Enter "Plan C"...
FULL-TIME life in an RV! Yes, I realize that it sounds absolutely CRAZY to some of you, but I assure you that we are doing EVERY bit of possible research possible. Over the past several weeks, research is pretty much ALL we have done, and we have already learned a whole lot more than I ever thought possible. How can you possibly have ocean-front, mountain view, desert, lakeside, property with two bedrooms, two baths, a garage, and a basement, that is affordable and still matches your adventurous lifestyle? Easy... Live in a house on wheels!
We still have a lot of research to do, and we will do our best to "take you along for the ride" over the next few months, but stay tuned, because the Gambakeramps JUST might be coming to a town near you in the near future!
