We went tent camping with our four kids a few nights ago and it wasn’t the easiest task I’ve completed. Getting our GMC Yukon loaded with enough food, toys, books, coloring supplies, camping gear, clothing, tents, comfort gear, fishing gear, paddle board, and firewood took all day- not to mention that the last time we took the Yukon on a long camping trip it broke down. After an hour driving, Lyra Darling started crying like a baby does, and that initiated her brother to start crying, too. So we pulled over at Kenai Lake to feed them and take a break, hoping it would stop their crying for good. Thankfully, it worked, and then the same thing happened on the way back.

How can we ever take a road trip when we can’t go farther than 75 miles before having to take a long break? Of course, we forgot one of the most important items (rain gear) and brought some that didn’t get used at all (a kids tent). And when the rain came on the third day and we were stuck with two incredibly hyperactive toddlers and two crying babies, the fun quickly disappeared. For the first time in my 41 years I realized why people have travel trailers, because I would have happily piled the family inside of the thing and watched Into the Wild or Call of the Wild or anything else for that matter. But we don’t have the money for a trailer, not after buying the neighbor’s property, and we like tent camping. But how the heck do we do a better job of it?

I used to get in my car with a sleeping bag and a wallet and drive until I didn’t want to drive anymore. I’d pull over anywhere I found, from a Wal-mart parking lot to an incredible glacier viewpoint, to a rest area somewhere in California, to pitching a tent in some random yard on the corner of a cul-de-sac. I didn’t give a shit. I loved loving in Washington, Oregon, and Tennessee- I could get in my car and drive any direction while seeing things for the first time. I have been awaken by a police officer writing me a ticket for car camping at a visitor center at a National Park due to the campground being full. I’ve slept under trucks to hide from rain, inside abandoned buildings (only during war time), and directly next to a campfire on a beach. I’ve slept on park benches in Slovenia, under a bridge in Italy, on a beach in Croatia, and in cheap hostels full of bed bugs in Belize. I love it. I love the rush of not knowing where I’m going to sleep and the freedom of going without a plan. I was offered leave from Iraq during my second tour and a free plane ticket to go anywhere in the world- I was the only soldier who did not go home; instead, I flew to Croatia with a grade school backpack and a borrowed pair of shorts. I love to open my world to God’s plan rather than my own plans and to the different people and situations that will arise by going without a plan. But all of that has changed… Oh my, how it has changed! I NEED to start planning!

I am learning that part of my need for spontaneity as a younger man was due to my insufficient planning skills. Something I need to work on as a father of four who is the leader and idea maker when it comes to fun adventures. How does somebody get better at planning when all day is spent spinning in circles from one mess to the next? (Please email me any suggestions!)

Just because I am a parent, author, and wannabe farmer doesn’t mean I want to spend the rest of my life here in the neighborhood. I want to ride trains all over Europe, drive from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, safari in Africa, circumnavigate the Meditarranean sea, visit my new family members in the Philippines, tour the National Parks in the U.S., get a boat and learn how to drive it, spend a few winters in the American southwest, swim with whales in Baja California, backpack around Southwest Asia, return to India and Nepal, and ride a freakin’ fake log boat at Silver City in Missouri. But how can we legitimately do any of it as a six person family with a single dog?

It will cost us roughly $2,200 to fly one-way to Missouri, and that is with 2 crying lap-infants. That is not chump change!? How will we ever afford to travel to Europe? How long do we have to wait to take long road trips? Hikes? Boat rides? Does Daddy have to get a full-time job for a few years, put the writing and food growing on the back burner, just with the intent of making and saving money for trips?

If you have any experience in these areas, please give us some suggestions! We don’t want to be a family that only goes from here to Missouri every couple of years! No offense to Missouri and our lovely family there, but the world is big and we want to get out there!

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Thanks for reading, happy travels!