RView RV and Travel Adventures
RView RV and Travel Adventures
Locate The Locketts- Full-time RV newbies with 2 small kids
This week we will be talking with Maurice and Allison Lockett about their new adventures as they hit the road with their two young sons and go full-time in their RV. Maurice and Allison have been on the road for six months now and they will share with us how they are making it work, what they've learned, and what advice they have for other parents thinking of hitting the road with kids. Sit back and join us as we Locate the Locketts.
Lisa RichartHernandez
Hi friends welcome to our view. We have a great show for you this week. we're interviewing locate the lockets Maurice and Alison locket. Originally from North Texas, they along with her two young sons decided to sell it all. Buy an RV and hit the road full time. So sit back and relax. Will they tell us all about their new life? How they decided to do it and their adventures so far.
intro
Welcome to RView with your hosts George and Lisa Hernandez each week listen in as George and Lisa talk about their RV and travel adventures all around the world. GEORGE And Lisa travel in their 40 foot class, a tip and motor coach and tow their Jeep Wrangler, always looking for fun and adventure.
Lisa RichartHernandez
Hi friends welcome to our view. We have a great show for you this week. we're interviewing locate the lockets Maurice and Alison locket. Originally from North Texas, they along with her two young sons decided to sell it all. Buy an RV and hit the road full time. So sit back and relax. Will they tell us all about their new life? How they decided to do it and their adventures so far.
intro
Welcome to RView with your hosts George and Lisa Hernandez each week listen in as George and Lisa talk about their RV and travel adventures all around the world. GEORGE And Lisa travel in their 40 foot class, a tip and motor coach and tow their Jeep Wrangler, always looking for fun and adventure.
Lisa RichartHernandez
Hi, welcome back to RView. I'm Lisa RichartHernandez.
George
I'm George Hernandez.
Lisa RichartHernandez
And we have some special guests with us today, Maurice and Allison. And they are originally from North Texas right outside of Dallas. Tell us a little bit about yourself and say hello, Maurice and Allison.
Maurice
Hey, what's going on? Well, this is Maurice here.
Alison
And I'm Allison.
Maurice
And we are the lockets we have two little boys Tyson and Elijah Lockett. Tyson have six years old, and Elijah is four. And yeah, we decided to sell our company, sell our house and buy an RV and get on the road full time. Wow.
Lisa RichartHernandez
I think so many people talk about doing this, but I just can't wait to hear your story. Because I just think it's like amazing that you would take that like huge leap and just jump out of what we call sticks and bricks it into the RV. So tell us like about what you did before you got into this and what led up to you guys making this whole decision to go full time in the RV.
Maurice
Yeah, it's crazy. So like Lisa said earlier, we started from DFW North Texas. And we own a catering company there where we cater to a partner community. So we serve the residents. We were hired on by property managers, the company there was equally yoked events and catering. And we loved it. We had a blast we had it for was 11 years. And it was our baby before her and of course our babies and we would go into apartment communities, we will serve the residents brunch on the weekends. And just get to know people. You know, it was all about the hospitality industry. It was a great, great little niche. Well, when COVID here, it really just took a toll on our business and took a toll on us. It kind of just slowed us down. And we started thinking about Alright, well what's the next move for our company for our family for life in general. So we had the opportunity to rent an RV for the Fourth of July to go see my family in Mississippi. And what originally should have been a three day trip turned into an 11 day trip because he just kept extending the rental that we had. We had a good time with it.
Alison
Yeah, we were having so much fun. Where can we go next?
Maurice
Right behind us. We were like, let's go. I know that we know
Alison
free. Yeah, we were just like we're free. Let's go Let's Where can we go?
Maurice
Yep. And I think the rest is history from there, like God just lined up our path for us. And what we like to say is we were thrown lemons, and we may eliminate, you know, we were able to sell the company. We then decided we sold the company and for like five months, six months. if not sooner than that. Then we put the house on the market. We were able to get an offer on that and found the camper that fit our needs. And we got on the road by December 28. We were on the road going full time.
Lisa RichartHernandez
Wow.
George
That's brave right there.
Alison
It happened very quickly. And we were motivated and focused on the goal.
Maurice
Yeah, we were with our boys being so young. We still knew that. They needed some sort of schooling. But we were open to the challenge of roads, road schooling, is that the term for homeschooling?
Lisa RichartHernandez
That's what I wonder, is it homeschooling or road schooling? Yes. Yeah, the
George
road scholars?
Maurice
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And Tyson, he would have been in kindergarten analyzer was just really starting. We had both of them in a pretty great program back home. So they were ahead of the curve, but they just picked up on schooling on the road, and we're still working on it. As parents, you know, we're still we're still growing and yeah, but we're able to teach them and train them. We're able to teach them in the way that we want them to grow up and teach them
George
exactly the experience that they're going to get any experience. Yeah.
Lisa RichartHernandez
So I guess that that was one thing that kind of helped with COVID is all of that online schooling and everything, you know, sort of prepared everyone for the idea that you can just do things virtually as long as you have an internet connection, you can really have access to all the things you need for schooling and stuff like that, I guess. Right.
Alison
Yeah, exactly. And what we were finding was, there was such a learning curve with that, that a lot of the schools were just trying to figure out what, what to do. And so instead of enrolling our kindergartner, we just basically decided that we were just going to homeschool, because of all the challenges like, I mean, we we saw neighbors that, you know, they were sending their kids to school, and they, they would go for two or three weeks, and then they'd get sent home because there'd be a positive COVID case. And it was just back and forth, back and forth. So we kind of were able to save them from a lot of the, just the, the the challenges that really took place this year, that it's nobody's fault. It's just It's just what, you know, what was happening. So for us, it was like, he's just in kindergarten, like, it's no big deal weighing it and be totally fine. You know, they need what maybe an hour a day a week and it's minimal. So, yeah, yeah. So we we took on the challenge, and
Maurice
yeah, that's crazy. When we realized that staff was kids in kindergarten, you know, you think about when we were kids growing up and going into kindergarten, like we were in school for, what, eight hours a day. Yeah. And it's like, for what when you realize the babysitter, 45 minutes a day of learning? It's like, wow, hold on.
Alison
Yeah, it's a babysitter. And they're so smart. They're little sponges, they pick up so much that they don't need, they don't they just don't need all that. And you know, they've, they've really shown us how resilient, resilient they are. And they're just incredible, incredible kids. So
Lisa RichartHernandez
tell us a little bit about the kids. I mean, four and six years old, like how did they take this whole idea of like, going? I mean, is it an adventure for them? Were they uncertain about it? Were they excited about it? How do the kids handle it? We use it, we're selling our house, and we're gonna go drive around and live in a scam. Yeah,
George
they probably jumped in. And so let's go.
Alison
Well, well, luckily, we you know, we had that trip in July. And so it was kind of a, you know, a little preview, and they, they really enjoyed it. But when it came to selling the house, and all their plastic toys, right, they have, you know, it's like Toys R Us, their bedroom, like all this plastic stuff. And so we went through this whole process of selling everything. And it was like, we gave so much away to the neighbors. And we just set it out on the front porch or whatever, you know, and we ended up telling the kids like, Hey, this is going to, you know, little Johnny, you know, so and so. And he's gonna really love to have this. And they got to the point where they were like, just giving it away and wanting to really pass it on and give to other kids. And they don't, they don't miss any of it. It's the wildest thing. It's like, they just, they, they have their bicycles, and they're Legos. And that's it. They're just, they, I think the, the biggest thing that we have learned is that they they find their security in mom and dad, and not in all their, you know, stuff. Yeah, because we we kept saying, we're not going to fit in the camper. And once we found our camper, it was parked in the driveway of our house, and we, you know, painted it and remodeled it and everything. So we kept saying like, this is your room, and you can take what will fit in here. That's not going to fit that's not gonna fit that doesn't fit in the camper. So every time we came across something, it was like, What didn't fit in the camper and they go, they finally got to the point where like, yeah, that doesn't fit. I found a fit. I gotta give it to Johnny, you know?
Lisa RichartHernandez
What a great lesson even at that alone, you know, just giving their things to other people that you know. Yes, yes.
Alison
Yeah. Felicity Yes. Yeah. And they really did not. They don't miss any of it. It's really wild. Because it's just like, you think, Oh my god, they're gonna miss that they're gonna miss it. They play with it, you know, or they don't play with it. You know, it's something that's just been sitting in there that they got for Christmas so long ago. Yeah. And you know, so it's just like, we just got in such a place where like Christmas, you know, they got all this stuff. And there's nothing wrong with that. But it's just like it was so excessive, that they really don't care about any of it at the end of the day.
Maurice
So a lot of families, they really do. You know, and I think the hardest lesson right now currently with them is knowing that Well, you can't take it for granted either. Because now it's, they have the stuff and it's like, oh, well, I'll just give it away. Or I'll just, you know, they don't truly cherish it or, or appreciate. They do have. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So that's like the new part of parenting and teaching.
Lisa RichartHernandez
Well, coming from two of us that have four well, five kids all together for teenagers, right now we've been through it, we're just starting, we're almost done hurting. But one thing that I always say with my parenting advice is like, you know, how those kids are and how they, they, you know, listen and and how they are disciplined, and how good you know how much time you spend with them. All of that those will someday be your teenagers. If they're good, now, you got a good foundation.
George
You're on a good path right now, right? There Texas boys, that's just a given.
Lisa RichartHernandez
You think when they get older that like, you know, I've got a 20 year old, do you think it would just you know, things get easier, but it's really, they still need you. And their problems are different, and they're just bigger problems.
George
What I like with our kids that they're getting older is that it went from need to want, they want to be with us, they like being with us, which is for us such a nice treat. They're older now there we got to in college, and they all they want to do is I mean, my son calls me more now than ever. Yeah, and they want to come home and they want to hang out. And when are we going to go on vacation? When are we gonna do something as a family? So that is just It feels so good. When? When that happens?
Alison
Yeah, yes. Good job. That's been my dream always like, okay, when the kids, I want them all coming to our house, I want all of them come into our house, we we have eyes on them. And everybody's having fun and a good time. But they're all in a safe environment. And they're all here. So we we, but also I mean, we Yeah, we just want to be able to invest and be a part of not only just our kids, but the neighborhood and who their classmates are and their friends and really invest in the kids of this next generation. So
George
yeah, we need it. Yeah.
Lisa RichartHernandez
So that leads to another really good question. Tell us about like you mentioned a little bit earlier that you said, You fixed up the camera that you have now. So what exactly are you living in? What's your camper, tell us about your camper, obviously. A lot of people that go full time have had years of camping experience. So you're pretty sounds like new to this. So how did you choose? And how did you find it? Like, how did you make those decisions?
Unknown Speaker
Well, I will say because Maurice can explain all the detail. Like my biggest request was that the kids had their own kind of separate area that we had a door that closed off their kind of own little room. Because that camper that we rented initially, it had bunks, but the bunks were kind of like open to the living area. Yes. And I knew because since the kids are so young, that we put them to bed at such an early hour that it was like oh my gosh, we'll we don't want to have to go to bed when we put them to bed you know, so we needed that separate space. So that was kind of the main thing that we were looking for. And then we just like went on the hunt for what we have now.
Lisa RichartHernandez
So what do you have now? Is it a fifth wheel? Oh,
Maurice
no, we are actually as probably minimal as you can be with a family of four. So we have a 2018 Keystone bullet, ultralight
Alison
Becky Her name is Becky Becky the
Maurice
bullet was named her Model number 287 SUVs so it does have a house in the back. It's not just bunk beds so they have a door that that closes them off. And technically you can sleep for it will be four bunks in the back but the fourth one is actually a dinette set. So they have their own area to do their schoolwork and everything but you can nice collapse it down into a dinette set and into a bed. I'm sorry, into a bed and I actually thought With a half ton truck I have a 2018 GMC Sierra so I'm not even in a three quarter ton or one ton truck pulling
Alison
yeah we do it well though we watch our weight and well eat salad like every day
Lisa RichartHernandez
so now we cannot tell that
Maurice
we're good and everyone uses the restroom wherever we stop
George
no but yeah I need room for my shoes. Oh let's not go there. Yeah, that
Lisa RichartHernandez
was the biggest thing I had to give
George
that's why we're not full timers because Lisa's not ready to separate Yeah, I would have I would have to buy a trailer just to pull behind the RV for her shoes
Maurice
Yeah, well when we figured this out the truck that we have is my dream truck like it truly is. And I just bought the truck probably like a month and a half two months before we even decided to do that before we took the first trip for the Fourth of July so we had to find one that we could rent the truck or full Indian Of course owning one we have to find one that was within well within the restrictions and weight limits and everything like that. And
Alison
just something you're like you just don't even think about when you're you know before you're even considering purchasing one you just no designate didn't even cross our mind
Maurice
as you start going down the rabbit hole you know the YouTube videos on weight restrictions on what you can and cannot do. Oh yes. Yeah, and I'm a researcher you don't have you know, I'll call friends that are in it and ask them to give their input or advice in Vienna, I'll start googling like crazy, you know?
George
Well, the good thing with this community is there's forms for every yeah every type of rig. We're in the tiffin owners group and I'll tell you what, if I ever come across something that I'm not sure how to do I just post it on there and in 10 minutes I have 50 answers and people said
Maurice
Yeah, good. You have to decipher what opinions and Oh yeah. Oh, we have a whole podcast on that so
George
Yes! So tiffin has a just quick side note tiffin has a red button on the dashboard. And that is the number one question on the tiffin website. What is this red switch for all the new people that buyer tiffin? So I typically lead all the true answers come out. And then at the end, I just, you know, I put in my comments and I'm always like, Don't hit it. It's the eject button. But all it is is a rear rear view mirror outside defogger but it's not the only like, read toggle switch. Like what?
Lisa RichartHernandez
We're on the phone. Yeah, I can hear one of your little men there. Yes.
Alison
He just came in because he's hungry, even though we've already eaten dinner and he wants to make a bowl. I don't know what kind of bowl he wants to make. But he's Oh, I don't know. They're always hungry. always hungry.
George
Yes, we know. wait until they're Teenagers.
Alison
I they're like always in their underwear, wrestling, and they're always hungry.
George
Well, ours are 18 and 20. They still do the same thing. Yeah. And every night, our son is in his underwear and our kitchen and making a bowl of cereal. Change. But you know what? I enjoy it. Because before you know it, you'll be looking at a 20 year old in his underwear. Are you doing both? Yeah,
Alison
we really are. We're soaking it up. Since we have done this. It has been wonderful to be together day in and day out and really soak up every moment. And I know that like just sounds like a lot. It's really essentially a test, especially for two parents that really just worked a lot. And then they went to daycare, you know, you miss all day, but it's like when that was happening. You don't see them all day. And it's like, you know, you go a whole week really without seeing each other. Yeah. And then Friday, you know, Saturday morning comes in, you're like whoa, you grew you know, were you. Yeah, yeah. And so it's like no, we Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. We are together all day every day and you know It can be challenging at times. But for the most part, it's just, it's incredible. And I'm just so grateful to get the snuggles, and squeeze the little bottoms and the little toes and just get it all while I can. No, you can't
George
put a price on that quality time.
Lisa RichartHernandez
Yeah. So tell us, as you said, You worked all the time and things like that before. So I think the next biggest question that people always have when they're considering selling everything, and going on the road is like, how am I going to pay my bills? Because you still have bills, you know, fuel and rent and things like that. So how do you guys, are you still working? Or how do you pay your expenses? Had you saved money? Tell us a little bit about that, that the listeners can understand, like, make it possible for their life?
Alison
Well, there are definitely so many opportunities nowadays, for online, even like working at, you know, temp jobs in certain cities. Lots of different work camping opportunities. For us. It just, it just worked out that it all the stars aligned really, for with our catering company, it literally changed from an event company to a food manufacturing company. And our passion was behind the events, the people connecting, it was not behind just the food and catering aspect of it. But there's still money to be made. So we were able to sell our company, which, which provides us income for the next couple of years. Okay. And we also sold our house. But you know, we don't want to spend all of our money we do joke all the time, like, people ask us, how long are you going to do this? We're like, until we run out of money. I think that's everybody's answer. You know, we don't want to run out of money.
Maurice
When we started this, I was just like, you know what, I'll see if I can find campgrounds where I can work, you know, and yeah, and become a part of and, and do something there when we're present. We just realized that some of the places that we're at, we're not at long enough to start that, you know, and and I'm really passionate about my career path in general. So I don't want to have a resume of just a bunch of places where I'm here in there, either. You know what I mean? So, I do think that can be a opportunity and possibility for us while we're on the road. So yeah, if it has to come down to it. friend of ours said it best other day, as long as I still have these two hands, you know, someone needs Yeah, dirt moved, or you know, what I mean? It's like, whatever I need to do to provide for my family. Exactly.
Alison
Oh, yeah. And our, our business revolved around breakfast, brunch, and connecting people. And like, we could, we could be at any campground anytime, set up our table and just start cooking eggs, pancakes, omelets, for the whole, you know, campground, that's what our business was where we would just basically, you know, introduce the neighbors and have, you know, and share a meal. And we could translate that from what we were doing at apartment communities to campgrounds, but we're just not quite ready for that yet. There's, this is honestly a time of, of healing for us. We lost our business, we lost our baby that we put 10 years into of all of our, you know, blood, sweat and tears, and we just we we could not sustain it just the economy. COVID just, you know, obviously, yeah. So we are kind of mourning the loss of our business. And this is been a really great opportunity for us to do that. And it's such a great way that like when we're ready to start and open up that next phase, like we know that, hey, that could be an awesome option. It could be an awesome opportunity. And the we feel the same way about like a house like all right, you know, the house was such a such a pain that we feel so free, you know that we're just like, we're not ready, you know?
Lisa RichartHernandez
Yeah. Yeah.
Alison
So we're kind of like, in this season of of letting go and healing. And and yeah, it's been beautiful. It really has it's been a really nice break. Have you so have you treated this?
Lisa RichartHernandez
So let's just say you guys spend like about six months now right? About six months? Yeah. Have you treated this? In your mind? Does it feel more of like a vacation or a new lifestyle?
Maurice
I'm in new lifestyle, honestly.
Alison
And I'm like at vacation. We're kind of in Yeah.
Maurice
I think I can answer that I say vacation is because we're doing things that we would have never thought about doing dreamed of doing or had the opportunity to do. And what I mean is by visiting national parks, visiting museums, monuments, going to the White House, like doing all these things, that we get the opportunity, opportunity to do when we're in new cities in the States. So that's the part where it feels like a vacation. Right? Because we're just yeah, we, I mean, we're in New York or LA, or whatever. Yeah, we do everything there is to do in New York for a week. Yeah, well, yeah, that's great. And that's the vacation part. But then again, it's also a lifestyle. We can't just go out, you know, throwing money down the road, either. It's okay, what can we do that's not going to cause X amount of dollars? Or if we spent this much for this campsite? What are we going to do in this city or state that doesn't cost as much to make sure that we're offsetting the cost in general. So again, there are some things that we really, truly do have to factor while we're on the road. But I can see both sides of it.
Alison
Yeah, we have found kind of a good balance, I think of like, ways to save money. But also, we're we are literally saying yes to everything. Like we're like, oh, yeah, we need we're here. We need to just we need to do it, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And we're saying yes to everything, because we're almost like, this is once in a lifetime. Like, yeah, we don't have a timeline, per se. And hopefully, yeah, we'll get to be back in the, you know, we're in Cape Cod right now. Hopefully, we'll get to be back in Cape Cod again. But we don't know that for sure. So we're like, do it all, you know, take the ferry to Martha's Vineyard. And, you know, like, just do it all. And that's, that's kind of the mindset we're in. But we're doing it all, kind of within reason as well. Like, we've I I've made more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches than I ever have in my life. Right, like, a snack bag and a cooler. We have all of our snacks and lunches, like, almost always made and with us.
Lisa RichartHernandez
It's amazing how so you can save doing that?
Alison
Yeah, yeah. And so we're doing a lot of those things. But but at the same time, we're, we're still being as cost effective as possible. But we're doing things like canoeing, which is not expensive, you know, when I mean it's just it just kind of bounces that it balances it out. And our memberships have helped a lot. There's just so many different opportunities to save in different ways. It's just
Lisa RichartHernandez
what are researching? What are some of the memberships that you're that you have enjoyed that event? Good, helpful? I'm sure people would like those kind of tip.
Maurice
Yeah, I think the main one, well, first of all off, if you have a family, the full time families membership that we have in the full time families group has just been phenomenal.
Lisa RichartHernandez
Amazing. I mean, it's like an actual program called full time families. Yeah, it is. Yeah, time families. Yeah,
Alison
they have get togethers. And then like all kinds of stuff.
Maurice
Family members have partnered with 1000 trails, or they have also have 1000, trails membership. So they say 1000 trails, campgrounds. And when you show up to 1000 Trail, and you're within the full time families group, and you post on their Facebook page, you instantly have a instant messenger to all the families that are currently at that location that you just arrived to.
Alison
We just got here today, for example, and there's like four or five other families at this campground. And they were all you know, planning on having a meet at the fire pit tonight at one of the sites and then they're all doing dinner together tomorrow night. So it's like instant community. Boom, right there.
George
Oh, wow. Yeah, idea.
Lisa RichartHernandez
I'm so glad I asked you that question. That's the coolest, like, I never heard of that. Yeah.
Alison
And the kids like, Oh my gosh, they've made so many friends like we pulled in today. And literally people that we saw at in back in Williamsburg, Virginia, like a month ago. We're here and we're like, you know, and they're like, hey, meet us at the bar tonight. So I'll add you to the chat. And we're like, Okay, awesome. Thanks. You know, so instant community, and it's just really cool. Yeah. And the kids. They have friends, which is really nice, because they have that. They recognize their friends that they met a few weeks ago. It just it's really nice for them.
Maurice
To add to that point that Alison's talking about that was one of my biggest fears for justice adventure was the boys not really having a core group of friends and relationships to build off of Wow, in the fact that we can go to one campground they can establish friendships, and then we come to another. And there they are there. Yeah. Yeah. And they have friends too. So now they have a bigger community. And it just all it snowballs from there. You don't I mean, it's just, they have this greater and bigger community of friends. That's Yeah, and this traveling state, you know, it's so weird, you know, because it's not foundational. It's not. When we get back home, it's Hey, wherever home is,
Alison
well, now. Yeah, now we have friends that are in Connecticut and Michigan and Florida, Utah, like we're gonna go visit them, you know, and they're, there's from all over just such a unique experience that I never thought you know, that would, that we'd be able to really experience but here we are. And what's even funnier is I mean, we're just about six months in, I mean, we they'll be sitting on the couch looking out the window, and they'll see a new camper pulling in the end, they'll yell, camper pulling in and they'll look for bicycles, you know, kids coming in
Alison
every day, camper, bloody camper pulling in, it's just, it's just so it's funny. So cute.
George
One of the things that we love as adults, when we go when we hit the road last year, every place that we stopped, we met the most interesting people, the nicest people, we have yet to have a bad experience. And I don't know, Lisa calls me the mayor, when when I pull into a campsite, I love to walk around. And I usually come back with somebody or I come back with us. We just got we just got invited to dinner down. They want to go out to dinner. And it's just that's the part that I love is the social interaction. And for the kids that's so important to have that social some I'm so happy to hear that. That that even exists. That is so awesome.
Lisa RichartHernandez
Yeah, cuz I definitely well, as a mom, yeah, after COVID all I mean, that was the biggest thing so many moms were worried about is the kids not getting any socialization, you know, with Yeah, other kids and being quarantined in their houses. You know? Yeah, yeah.
Alison
I it's, you know, it's really funny, because now I mean, you. Okay, well, being from Texas, go and be real, like, we spank our kids, you know, they're disciplined. You know, they're well behaved kids. And it's really funny, just going to all these places, and they're like, wow, your kids are so well behaved. I'm like, Well, yeah. Because, you know, because we don't play that game. Well, you know, play. Yeah.
Lisa RichartHernandez
I always, that's another thing. I always say, I've never had to hit my kids. But they honestly believe that I would beat them to a bloody pulp if they ever disrespected. But they know there are
Alison
some states that you're a little afraid or concerned, like, I don't know, if we come into this state, if this is gonna be acceptable, but you know, we're just gonna keep on going. Oh, yeah, we'll just see, you know,
Maurice
the hard part is getting them to know, like, Hey, you can't go into everybody's camera. That's
Alison
Oh, and that's also a really big thing, too. It's like, people just have different rules. As far as that goes. Like, there's no really real rule. You know, everybody has kind of their own thing. What people are, some people are comfortable with, and some are not. So he learned a lot. I mean, we're still so new that we are not exactly. Sure. And ours are still really young. So, you know, we're still kind of learning what, what families and kids do. And we have met families that have eight 910 kids in an RV that are traveling and we're like, Wait, what? Yeah, with a dog or two, you know? Well, because they're never in the camper. They're outside all the time exploring and doing their thing. It's just really funny to to meet all these different families and what a cool experience it's been for us.
Maurice
Yeah. That was to add to that I know we got off track. Another good membership is what was it when harvest host post harvest house has been awesome. Have you guys heard of that? Love
Lisa RichartHernandez
harvest OSU? Yeah. I mean, it's just that's just such a cool program. Yeah. So I mean, like, for $99 a year we got the upgraded golf one, you know? Yeah, we are. It's hard to for, I said, I think we went to this video. And the wine was so good. We ended up buying into the wine club got a whole wine. And I was like, so much for the $20. Right, right. Exactly. Yeah, you might not get anything, right. Yeah. It's so I love some of the places that we went for harvest toast. And like this one vineyard in particular, the lady like, told us a whole story of it and how they, her and her husband, they were engineers. This is like a passion project for them. And so now we're on the wine club. And when we get the wine, it just brings me back to that, like, wow, that experience. You know,
Alison
it was Yeah, the host, the hosts are incredible. And what's so neat is every state kind of has their own thing, right? So every state we're going into, we're like, Okay, what are they known for? Let's hit those up. So especially like being from Texas, we don't have the maple farms. Like in Vermont, we don't have the apple orchards. We don't have the lavender farms, the cherry picking thing, like just all of those types of things, that I'm like, I want the kids to experience this, you know, we didn't live on a farm. So we stay at all the farms. So the kids can like, pet the goats and play with, you know, just all the things and experiences that the kids have just loved. Absolutely. We have loved. So we would do more of the wineries and breweries if it were just he and I. But since we have the kids, we really try to seek out a lot of the farms and museums. And wow, it's just and not only has it been amazing for them, but it's been really amazing for us too. And the hosts have just been phenomenal. So yeah, that's been like it are our top. Yeah, yeah, I'm
Maurice
doing also good. Sam is is worked out for us too. Because with our good Sam membership that's helped out on the gas side of it. Yep. With given some kind of discount already on the gas and some of the campsites that we're not. Oh, yeah, we get discount. Just kind of right off the couch. Yeah. Well,
George
I dropped that card everywhere. Remember that more? I don't think we use it as much. I drop everything. Good. Sam, AARP. Military. Boy Scout. Take Costco card. Yeah, pick a card. Any card. Oh, I got them all for you.
Lisa RichartHernandez
Yeah. So tell us about like, so it sounds like you've done quite a bit of traveling over the past like six months. What are some of the places that you've been? And then what are some of your favorite places that you've been? Oh, wow. That'll be
Alison
another? Yeah. Well, so are we bought a national park passport book, which has been exciting, but also challenging, because there are so many historic landmarks that you find yourself driving all over the country to explore these places, which has been an incredible experience, but we're learning so much about our history of our nation. So that's been really cool. Florida was really neat. We went to the we went to dry tore to go. Okay, which was we got on the boat, and we were sober. For Jefferson. Yeah. Which was a long, two hour boat ride. Yeah, yeah. And that was really cool. Even the kids enjoyed it. It was expensive. But again, we were like, okay, we're, it's a once in a lifetime. Like we're here. We need to do it, you know? Yep. So that, for us was like a big deal. So we've hit a lot of the forts along the coast. And then we've hit a lot of like the major cities being from Dallas, we're used to like cities, right? We do big cities. Well, right. So we were kind of drawn to the cities, and we can manage them. But what we found is what we're doing, and this is what we did in Savannah was, we would find a campsite on the outskirts. We ditch the camper, and we get a hotel room for a couple of days. And so I get on hotwire and I get like the best rate, I don't necessarily care what specific hotel it puts us at. I just kind of care about area and then it gives us the best rate. Well, when I did that, for Savannah, it put us at the Marriott I think it was anyways it was it was amazing. It was so nice. And so we ditched the camper for a couple of days. We stayed it we stayed in town, and we were able to kind of just explore the city. And we did the same thing with New York where we, you know, parked on the outskirts of town, ditch the camper and stayed in the city for a few days and explored. So that's a great idea.
Lisa RichartHernandez
When you say you ditch the camp earlier, we're
Maurice
like our 1000 trails membership, we've, we've invested so much into it, when it comes to just the locations we've been to. It's almost like we're staying at some of these locations for free now, because we stayed at so many of them. So when we stay at those, there's not necessarily a cost associated with it, there is nothing for free. But granted, like there's not a cause to where we feel like oh, it's $70 a night. $100 a night like a hotel. Right. So then we feel okay with getting a actual hotel when we're in the main city. And that's another thing we start to budget that okay, how much does it cost to drive into New York and park your truck and do the everything? You know what I mean, versus getting a hotel room? taking the train? Yeah, you know, as we start to do your budgeting, as well. Yeah. And then on the outskirts. Some of the places not harvest harvest hipcamp we use tin cans. Yes. Yeah. Over Easter. Yeah, exactly. For like, what was it? $15 $20 a night? Yeah, it was cheap. We parked in our driveway. Basically, it was inexpensive, but there was no hook up with it go into town. Yeah. Yeah, the whole. So we're not saying ditch the camper. We're still parking it right in. We're still somewhere safe. We're safe. Yeah. Then we get to go into town. Where we can't bring all of that with us. Right. And or don't want to.
Lisa RichartHernandez
Obviously don't Yeah, yeah. All right. Okay, those big cities, but
Alison
also the hip camp. app is really cool. The gal we stayed on her property. It was over Easter, she invited us to her church. She invited us over to her family Easter dinner. We spent Easter with her family. Like it was so sweet. We literally like the Easter Bunny hid eggs in the front yard in her front yard, you know? So it was it was, so it was so unique and so cool. And we have gotten super creative, you know, there's not a specific way to do everything. Right. Um, you know, we, we've taken advantage of a lot of just the different resources that are available. Yeah. And really like, for us, it's like we, we want to experience. We want to experience New York, we want to experience Boston, we want to experience those same things. So how can we do it without breaking the bank? Right. But also, like, you know, in a safe way to like, we don't want to drive the camper downtown. Yeah, I was even looking on Long Island. I'm like, Oh my gosh, you know, there's campgrounds on Long Island. But how do you get there? You know, I know. It's, it's possible, but I don't know who you know. But yeah, anyways, we've made great friends along the way like our friends can, and Julie that we were initially going to be like going up through Massachusetts, and they're from Connecticut. And they just happened to be in Connecticut. And at the same time, so we just adjusted our schedule so that we could connect at the same time. And they showed us around their area. So it was like we wanted to see the city. And it was just really great. Being able to see it with, you know, people that know their city. So yes, being flexible is so important, because you don't want to miss an opportunity like that.
Lisa RichartHernandez
Yeah, yeah. Matter of fact, Ken and Julie, they were on our last interview on the podcast, and they actually we met them in Key West. And then we they said they're going to be in Hilton Head where we own a place that that island motorcoach resort. So we hung out with them here. They're really well you got to come to Charleston. And then so they stayed longer. And they came to Charleston Zadar house had dinner, we just had the best time. So it's just like great friendships like that. That. Yeah, love. Yeah, that is just kind of like, Oh, yeah, that sounds good. Let's do that. You know?
Alison
Yeah. You never know who you're going to meet and just fostering those relationships is it's just such a sweet reward. Yeah, with you know, it's just a great like part of the whole process, because we're already having such a great time. We're already really enjoying things. We're learning so much about our heritage, and our history. I have Native American history and my husband has African American roots. So we we are roots go so far back that we're just like, learning so much ourselves. And then to be able to teach the kids and to walk through this and go to all these museums in Virginia, Pennsylvania, you know, here, we're here, we're going to Yeah, DC here, we're going into Boston, we're just, we're just like, so grateful.
George
What better classroom than to actually take them to the places that you're? Yeah, you know, this is where the Boston Tea Party was this. This is
Lisa RichartHernandez
one thing I will definitely say, as just as an aside, when you just said that is, take tons of pictures, take pictures of the kids at those places, because they're still young. Yeah, I'll never forget our youngest son, Tyler, I
George
knew you're going there.
Lisa RichartHernandez
He's like, I've never been to Disney. Like you see this picture. And I tell parents that have young children this all the time, like in your kids, or the six year old is just barely at the stage, barely, they're gonna start making those memories with the four year old, to be honest, he's really not gonna remember all of those things. He's gonna say, my parents did this. And he's gonna live from the stories that you tell about the experiences that you had when you got older. But he's not going to specifically remember them himself. His memories will be about what you talk about when you do this in your time. And I'll tell you what, like, he came down one day Tyler, with this picture of himself, at Disney with his mom and dad, and he was like, This is me at Disney. I told you.
Alison
And so far for me, I'm like, we are shaping these little people, whether they remember it or not, these moments are just shaping them to who they're going to be as people. And those are the things that I'm just so incredibly grateful for because they, their minds are going to be so much more open to the possibilities. And when we were with Ken and Julie, we we went to Yale. And me from being from such a small town Yale was never even something I ever even knew about right here. I'm like, oh, we're getting a picture of the boys in front a Yale so that I can tell them like, No, you've been here and you can go here to this university one day, like it's possible. Yes. You know, and so those moments, I'm just like, no, look, here. You are standing in front of Gail.
George
That's funny. I went to Yale. He did not. Yeah. And I've got the same.
George
Exact. So how far west Have you guys been? Or are you just stuck in
Lisa RichartHernandez
Texas? Have you mostly been in Texas? Yeah, no, we we went east. I
Maurice
mean, we we've always been West. So I lived in California for a bit. I'm from Seattle.
Alison
I grew up in Seattle. So yeah. That was right. We always wanted the love. to party. Yeah, exactly. We wanted the whole experience and we just never forget. Yeah, so we're just yeah, we're doing it all
Maurice
Yeah. First, and then wherever the wind takes you over?
Lisa RichartHernandez
Yeah, we did. Yeah, we did sort of the opposite. Because I grew up in Michigan, and then I've lived in in South Carolina for almost 30 years. And George grew up in Connecticut, New York, New York. And and so you know, we've all we've been so east coast. So that year, we went from Key West all the way to Seattle, like wow country. And we did a 45 day cross country trip and I think our biggest like if I could, it was one of those kinds of things during COVID the same where we just said, we're never gonna have another opportunity where everything's canceled and we can just go let's just do it. Yeah. And it was me them. We took
Alison
our center West Coast so beautiful. I mean, it really is beautiful. So
Lisa RichartHernandez
any gals that I you just don't even believe you're on the same planet. I mean, literally, I just had no like we went to see the giant redwoods and and Utah. And all the national parks that way in Yellowstone, Oregon. That's
George
the one that blew me away the most. I wasn't expecting I wasn't expecting at all. I don't know what I was.
Lisa RichartHernandez
Watching. I wasn't expecting all the Yeah, the green and the free, right. The East Coast is so beautiful to the east coast. have to stay until the fall when you get to see the colors change. Yeah, that's a truly, really beautiful up there. Yeah, yeah, but
George
after the fall because we out. Deuces.
Alison
Yeah, exactly. If it gets below 70 and No, I'm not. Snow and all that, you know. Yeah, he's a Texas boy. So he's like, Oh, we should move there. Check it out like, Oh, I don't want my bones to get that cold.
George
Yeah, it's all it's all fun and games until that's no just doesn't go away. No,
Lisa RichartHernandez
yeah, snow is definitely something for to visit. I, you know, growing up in Michigan. Now, I've been down south for so long, if it goes below 65 degrees. I'm like, I need a jacket.
Alison
Yes, me too. I know, isn't it amazing? It's like, you could put flip flops on pretty much any day of the year and just walk out of the house. And I just love that.
Lisa RichartHernandez
So um, let's just kind of wrap this up with, I think we could talk to you guys for hours on end. And I can't wait to meet you guys in person sometime, which I'm sure we will. We'll have to definitely make our paths cross in the future. Tell us if you are going to give any advice to other families that have children that are thinking about going full time? What would your best advice be? What would you say to them? You're talking to our audience say? What would you like to tell these people? I would say be flexible? Yeah. Have a Costco membership so that you can feed them with unlimited snacks? Because they're always hungry? No, no. Have bicycles for them all. They need bicycles?
Maurice
Yeah, snack. So I don't we didn't talk about this. But my personality. Like I'm really some people. What do you call me? Like I'm a drill sergeant with the boys like with the family. You know what I mean? Indian travel days, travel days. I feel stressed me out, even though I don't truly feel it. But Alison will come back and be like, hey, you need to chill out. Yeah, oh, it's a travel day. But you need to calm down. So there's no time out there. Yeah, I'm out. There's so much that can go on. And that can happen within this lifestyle. And to go back to what Allison's first answer was, was to be flexible, and to be just calm and patient and know that when you do this full time, like you're not restricted.
George
Yeah, you're not gonna do whatever you want, like, time is actually your friend.
Maurice
Yeah, the next campsite telling you that hey, checking is at noon, you can get there at five if you want to. Yeah, the first, I think five times that we set up, I set up in the dark. In the first day that I was able to set the first time I was able to set up in the daytime, I was just like, oh, wow, this is so easy to set up in the dark. So it's just just know that you're not on anybody else's schedule except your own, you can really, truly stop and smell the roses and enjoy the time. There's been so many times that the boys being as young as they are, they want to help me set up or tear down. And I'm just like, nope, Daddy's got to get this done and get us on the road. When really I just need to stop and be like, Yeah, come on over here and learn how to work a drill or learn how to do something can be a teachable experience at that time. Ah, that's what I have to remember is that everything is a teachable experience, whether it's for myself or for the kids or for my wife or for anybody. Yeah. So let me stop. Take the time and do that. And really enjoy that moment, I think will probably be the biggest takeaway. Yeah, just realize that you're never going to be as stable as your breaking six. You're rockin right now.
Lisa RichartHernandez
We are rockin Yeah, it's so funny because like, there's just, it's not stable. Yeah. But you know, vodka helps. That helps with everything in life.
George
Well, you said before, you said before, like when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. I always say when life gives you lemons add vodka
Lisa RichartHernandez
to be a new t shirt. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Alison
Also, I will say on the like, flip side, you know, you have fanca but you also have God and Jesus and He is literally are like, Yes, we have been following his lead in what we're doing and giving us real true peace about the decisions that we've made. And it has been so incredible. Just to feel like we've had the protection and the provision over the decisions that we may wherever we're going, what we're doing, and yeah, just having saved the whole way through and not being worried about this campgrounds full or this one's full, or oh my gosh, it's summer, everybody's camping all at the same time. What are we going to do? We're not going to be able to find anything. No, we are not worried about a toilet paper shortage or, you know, campsite shortage or anything like that. We're like, it's gonna work out, you know, yeah. And it has the whole time, it has been completely fine. And I know that our kids can feel our anxiety. And so we try to keep as much peace as possible. Because, you know, they, they can feel that. Yes. And so when mom and dad are, are good, the kids are good. The house is good. And we're rolling. I mean, our camper, we really literally call it the house. So when we're out like, Oh, it's back at the house. You need to go go potty at the house. Go get your water at the house. Yeah.
George
What's that country song? Jesus take the wheel. Yeah, that's the one just let it go and see where the wind takes you.
Lisa RichartHernandez
Yeah, well, yeah. George is retired. You know, I still work and sell real estate, real estate brokerages. My dream life is to be retired, some actually wanted to be a trophy wife, but it just didn't work out that way. I'm still working but Georgia's retired. Throw me instead. But I tell you what, once we did that, 45 days, he was like, do we really got to go home? Do we really gotta go? Yeah. And honestly, when we got home, and we have a big house, like we have a 6000 square foot house and so much to take care of so much. I truly feel that once I did that 45 days, it made me really, I thought to myself, I packed for every kind of weather because it was gonna be 30 degrees, and it was gonna be 100 degrees between the desert and, and the mountains. And I packed all these things, and I didn't even use a halfway house. So
George
overpack.
Lisa RichartHernandez
Yeah, those do, but I still had a closet full of things at home. And then when I got back, I realize it's not the things that we have, that make your life like you work your whole life. To get all these things. It's kind of like you're talking Yeah, it's about getting rid of things. And, and and you realize at the end, like it's not the things that are important is the memories that you have and the experiences that you have, and, and learning that with your kids at such a young age and like so like, early on is like, awesome. Yeah. Our kids are 20. Like, God, I wish we would have done this with our kids when they were younger, because they just enjoyed it so much. And we enjoyed it.
George
We took our son and his girlfriend on the first two weeks of our 45 days. And they had the best time best experience. And when we came back, just recently, our son said, are we going to do that? Again? We can't wait to do it again. We were in we're going Wait, whatever you need us to do. We were we want to do it so bad. And as a matter of fact, at one point, I think it was around Christmas time we're talking about future and what do you want to do? And he said, I want to buy an RV and I just want to hit the road. And I'm like,
Lisa RichartHernandez
Oh, wow. Okay, well, he wants to be you when he grows up. Yeah. Oh, was it? Yeah, he's 17. Now.
Maurice
Yeah. Yeah. And that's one of the main things we get because we're so young doing this and we pull up to a campsite.
Alison
A lot of people are retired. Oh, yeah. And they're like, Oh, you guys have like you figured it out? Yeah. And for us, it was just like the circumstances. I never, I never even considered something like that. It was just with, you know, it's just the circumstances that we were in. Yeah, I'm really grateful for it. But I'm also like, Whoa, this is a lot of work. I can't imagine being 70 right. And trying to do all the things that we do this is this is a lot of work.
George
That's why you got to do it now. while you can. Yes,
Alison
absolutely. You also need to be mentally uh, you know, you like there's so much planning involved in scheduling and Oh, yeah, yeah, there's just a lot mentally, mentally and physically. So you want to be at the top of your game. I don't know. We're just we're having fun and meeting people and they both the boys want cereal right now.
Lisa RichartHernandez
Like, I could do like little guys in the background like 10 o'clock at night. There was supposed to be a better day. Cereal there, you know something's going on in their underwear. And I know though I can do something. FOMO Yeah, yeah. Yeah, let's, let's wrap this up. We really appreciate your time. This has been just just such a great conversation. And maybe we'll have to check in with you in another six months and see how it's been address on a year on the road with you guys.
George
Yeah, we need to meet up somewhere and have some fun.
Lisa RichartHernandez
That's right. Yeah. So tell our audience how they can follow you locate the lockets on Instagram. I know you were talking about starting a YouTube channel. I don't know if you have that yet. But I'm sure people would love to follow your adventures and travel especially other parents and if they want to reach out to you with any questions or anything. Just what would be the best way for them to get in touch with you?
Alison
Sorry, yes. He just killed a serial although the floor. Yeah, logo. Locate the locket Instagram and Facebook is. But also Hey, call us reach out to us to 147047599 and call us anytime. An email wants to Yeah, email us if that's all on the page. And we'll
Lisa RichartHernandez
we'll put all your information in the show notes.
Alison
Yeah, we're here. We're happy. Happy to answer any questions meet up and I think that's probably the best thing right now. We we have every intention of starting a YouTube channel. It's just wow. It's super time consuming. And we're living. Yeah, we're living in the moment. And so it's very hard because it's like, just like the restaurant that Ken and Julie took us to yesterday. We had hot lobster butter loves white hot butter. buttered lobster rolls love stuff. They were the best sandwich I've ever. Like, if you're a YouTuber, you should have video that whole thing, right? Well, we were so in the moment. We're like, Oh, it's amazing. We ate the sandwiches and everything. We didn't get any pictures. Or like, oh, shoot. Well.
Lisa RichartHernandez
Right there in the present moment.
George
We tried. We were talking about doing a YouTube channel and I started recording some stuff and I'll tell you what, it is so time consuming. It's so hard to make it look easy. Oh my god. It was just it. It took away from from at least for me it took away from what I was experiencing because I was more worried about recording and do this and do another take and do it. I just
Lisa RichartHernandez
I was just always worried that I had like a double chin or something and all the photos so yeah.
George
That's me coupon is not that angle higher or lower?
Alison
Right. This is truth. We're speaking right here.
Lisa RichartHernandez
Alright guys, I know you've got several spilled on the floor and kids to take care of so we're gonna let you go for tonight. And thank you so much again. And we will put all this information in our show notes. And you can always see all of our podcasts at RViewpodcast.com and listen and really anywhere you can listen to your podcast now we are on even Alexa so you can talk to her.
George
I know it's crazy
Lisa RichartHernandez
just ask her to play RView podcast, Alexa. All right. It was great. Thank you so much.
intro
Thanks for listening to another episode of RView. Don't forget to drop us a line at RVIEWpodcast.com. That's the letter Rviewpodcast.com and like, subscribe and follow us so you don't miss out on our next adventure.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai