Preparing for adventure

Today is a day designated for getting ready for what I hope will be the second of many wonderful adventures taken in our home away from home. We did take a trial run back in late June to Vermont.

I grew up camping and loved traveling. Before I started high school, my family had driven across the country at least 3 times and been to 47 of the 50 states (I am still at 47 states). Most of our adventures were tent camping. We often stayed in National Parks. This was an experience I wanted to share with my children. When my son, James, was diagnosed with autism and I learned more about the risks of wandering, I knew that tent camping would be like playing Russian Roulette and was not something I was ready to try. 49% of children diagnosed with autism are at a risk of wandering as opposed to 12% of children without autism. 91% of the children with autism who die as a result of wandering drown. Campgrounds are near water. Also, if my son had a meltdown, I did not want to disrupt the peace that others often seek when camping. I began looking into RVs over 5 years ago. When this one surfaced, it was too good a deal to pass.

I had been contemplating renting one for a cross country road trip. I have a very important wedding to go to in northern New Mexico and I am working on a novel about my experiences living at and attending a Navajo boarding school as a seventh grader. Combining research with the wedding seemed perfect timing to try RVing. James loves being outdoors and camping.

It is hard to believe that tomorrow our 6 week adventure begins. Yes, James will miss the first three weeks of school, but the school is working with us and gave me his assignments on his last day of third grade. We have already started on them.

Today we will be focused on packing clothes, food, schoolwork, writing materials, games, puzzles, and who knows what else. Of course in order to do all that comes laundry, grocery shopping, and cleaning. I also need to wrap up some loose ends for my everyday work.

James also enjoys traveling. Together we will be blogging throughout the trip and sharing our adventures. We are fortunate that we will be able to bring some of his staff from his self-direction program with us for parts of the trip. Please stop by often to see what we are up to and where we are.