Catch Lisa live on Tucson’s 92.9 “The Mountain” radio station on Sunday, September 20, 2009!
Details:
Missed out? I’ll post a link to the stream for the show right here as soon as it is available! 
Looking for a non-autographed copy of “Wright on Time: Arizona” with free shipping? Then check out the new Amazon.com page for the book! This blog will be attached to the page very soon. I’d also love reading your reviews there!
Thanks!
Yet another great set of “20 Questions for RV Families”. To have your family featured, please read the questions and e-mail your answers (along with a family photo) to info at wright on time books dot com.
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Wright on Time Books: Tell me a bit about your family.
Tricia: We are the 5 Baehrs, twin boys age 10 Birke & Brandt and 7 yr. old girl Bailey. Dad John works in the industrial flooring industry (epoxies & such) Mom, Tricia responsible for the 3 kids, meal prep, campground procuring, adventures, art and domestic stuff.
Wright on Time Books: How long has your family (or did your family) live in an RV?
Tricia: We’ve been on the road for 1 year now.
Wright on Time Books: What states/countries has your family traveled to?
Tricia: TN, AL, GA, FL, NC, MO, VA
Wright on Time Books: Are you homeschoolers? Do you call yourselves roadschoolers? What type of homeschoolers are you (or do you prefer to not give your family a label)?
Tricia: We like the term Roadschoolers…we lean more to the unschooling instead of a curriculm based agenda…all of life is a learning experience and much more of it on the road, volunteering for non-profits and organic farms are a couple of things we particularly enjoy and seem to learn the most from the folks at these places.
Wright on Time Books: How well does homeschooling work while living on the road? How do you get new resources (DVDs, books, audio books, etc.)? Are you able to use local libraries, or do you have to buy everything?
Tricia: We use the internet quite a bit…on rainy days local libraries are fun and usually have a lot of local flavor to them. We find a lot of used text books in second hand stores, although my kids are 5th/2nd grade they’ve been known to pick up college text books. We are learning together that acquiring knowledge is a very personal thing and the ability to understand different concepts is not based on a person’s age or grade level. We love books and probably have too many although we do switch them out at times…and they are heavy to travel with.
Wright on Time Books: Do you have a “home base”? This is especially important for legal homeschooling, isn’t it? Did you sell all of your possessions, or keep things in storage?
Tricia: We do not have a home base…we have a state of residence where we umbrella under what our state calls a C.R.S (church related school) We sold 98% of our possessions and we do have a climate controlled storage unit with family heirlooms, photographs and out of season gear in it.
Wright on Time Books: What resources did you use both before you began your adventure and/or while you were on the road? Any particular books or websites that you couldn’t have lived without?
Tricia: The Families on the Road website was what inspired us to live as a FOTR. Whenever we read the stories on that site it touched our hearts in a way that we knew it was the life for us. Also The Story of Stuff was inspirational as well. Another book was Full-Time RVing…we planned for 3 years to live this lifestyle
Wright on Time Books: How hard is it to deal with the maintenance of the RV? What are the most difficult aspects? Who handles what?
Tricia: Well, let’s just put it this way…it’s much easier that dealing with a 5 bedroom house and a 3/4 acre lot!! Learning about grey/black tanks was probably the biggest challenge. We all work together as a team. The kids and I are able to do everything it takes to get the RV ready to travel…however my husband and the boys take care of all the outside stuff while my daughter and I work on “battening down the hatches” on the inside. It’s definitely a group effort; it teaches the children the importance of team work.
Wright on Time Books: How large is your RV? What is it like? We want to know where everything goes and where everyone sleeps. In an ideal world, would you have wanted a bigger RV, smaller RV, or something the same size but with a different configuration?
Tricia: Our RV is a 28 ft. travel trailer with no slides. It has a full size bed in the front and 3 bunks in the back. In the center is a couch (that can also double as a bed), a dinette (into bed also) and the kitchen area.
We purposely bought a used RV to start out to learn the ropes a bit. After a year we have researched quite a bit and visited many RV dealerships looking for the perfect match for us. What we’ve found that we think would be perfect for our family is a little longer (32-33ft.) with at least 2 slides…a U-shaped dinette and an outside entrance into the bathroom. We still think we like the travel trailer vs. a drivable RV or a 5th wheel. An arctic package is something else we need for when my husband has work in colder climates in the fall/winter season. Storage is a big factor too. We have found that several manufacturers are producing floor plans that we like.
Wright on Time Books: How often do you move to a new location? Do gas prices and campground costs affect this? Where do you usually stay the night? Do you have a regular route that you repeat, or do you continually seek out new places to visit?
Tricia: It depends on the job but the longest we’ve been any where without traveling has been 6-8 weeks. Gas is not really a factor. When planning this lifestyle we budgeted for up to $5 a gallon. Campground fees are a factor depending…if my husband is on a job, then his company pays for the campground which is still less expensive than they would be paying for a hotel. Occasionally we boondock at a truck stop if we get someplace late and leave early. We basically go where his work takes him – he has worked mostly in the Southeast since we’ve been on the road the past year.
Wright on Time Books: Who does the driving? Do you ever have issues driving such a large vehicle? Do you avoid cities or curvy/narrow roads up mountains, or do you take them in stride?
Tricia: I drive our F350 Truck most of the time pulling the RV when my husband is driving a work vehicle and his work crews. I was a little nervous at first but now it’s no big deal. Cities haven’t been a problem but we haven’t really been on any really narrow roads yet so I guess I’d be okay. If we are traveling to a new job/company then my husband drives unless he needs a break.
Wright on Time Books: How long have you been on the road/plan to be on the road? Has this worked out to your liking?
Tricia: We’ve been on the road exactly a year (Aug 08-09). At least until our kids get to be high school age and then we will let them take part in the decision about what we do next… Right now I would say this is the BEST way to live – maybe I have gypsy blood – We all love it!
Wright on Time Books: How do you handle privacy issues while living in close quarters?
Tricia: There are partitions, bathroom doors, etc. in the RV. We all have times when we just want a little space alone and we work that out together.
Wright on Time Books: How do you keep in touch with friends and family? Do you visit them? Do they visit you? Phone, e-mail, etc.? What about holidays and birthdays?
Tricia: telephone and internet…of course facebook!! We do visit when we can and if they are near they will visit us. Last Christmas we rented a cabin in the mountains. Birthdays are spent however the birthday person wants…I had the last birthday and we all watched the sunrise over the Atlantic ocean in the early morning then we watched the sunset on the river and the marshes off the coast of Georgia.
Wright on Time Books: Does anyone ever get homesick for your old life? How do you deal with that?
Tricia: Sometimes they miss the place and the people but not the life. We talk about living in the moment and enjoying each moment…that the past is the past. One of our twin boys wants to be an organic farmer and he would like to have earth that is his to grow stuff on – I circumvent this by letting him volunteer at organic farms.
Wright on Time Books: How do you pay for your living expenses? How do you make money while on the road? Do you work full-time/part-time? Do you work certain times of the year and travel other times? Have any of your children had paying jobs?
Tricia: My husband works full-time in the industrial flooring industry which required him to travel extensively prior to us being a family on the road. We just joined him! I do a little face painting for fun and a little extra cash when I can…but it is more for a creative outlet than anything else. The kids really haven’t discovered a way to make money yet, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t thought about it!
Wright on Time Books: Do you have a towed vehicle? Bicycles? Mopeds? Etc.?
Tricia: We have towable RV….big truck and travel trailer, we do have bicycles that we transport with us.
Wright on Time Books: Do you have any pets that travel with your family? How do they like living on the road?
Tricia: We had two cats but one recently got out at a truck stop and we lost him, it was very sad, we looked for hours. He was always a bit skittish and we kind of knew there might come a time that that would happen. The other cat is awesome, loves to travel, never gets lost and loves being with her family!
Wright on Time Books: How can we find out more about you and your family? Website, blog, Facebook page, Twitter, etc.? Please tell us also what the next great adventure for your family is!
Tricia: We have a web-site www.5bearsgousa.blogspot.com also a blog (not very good at blogging) we twitter/twitpics too. My husband & I both have facebook pages. We are getting ready to go to the Augusta, GA area for a week or so and then to visit family in Wisconsin…after that who knows??!?!
I went to the Post Office here in Texas yesterday and shipped out all pre-orders! One book orders went First Class, 2+ book orders went media rate. I look forward to hearing back comments and reviews from everyone!
Here’s a snapshot of my younger daughter, Teagan, and myself with our boxes of books to send:
Here’s another great set of “20 Questions for RV Families”. To have your family featured, please read the questions and e-mail your answers (along with a family photo) to info at wright on time books dot com.
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Wright on Time Books: Tell me a bit about your family.
Showalter Family: We are a family of Dad, Mom, Ashleigh, Ambir, Aric, Auburn and Austin. Only four of us are living in the RV though. Those four are Dad, Mom, Auburn-16 and Austin-14.
Wright on Time Books: How long has your family (or did your family) live in an RV?
Showalter Family: We have been doing this for a year now.
Wright on Time Books: What states/countries has your family traveled to?
Showalter Family: USA States we have visited so far: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Oregon
Wright on Time Books: Are you homeschoolers? Do you call yourselves roadschoolers? What type of homeschoolers are you (or do you prefer to not give your family a label)?
Showalter Family: We are homeschoolers, definitely roadschoolers and also unschoolers
Wright on Time Books: How well does homeschooling work while living on the road?
Showalter Family: It works beautifully!
Wright on Time Books: Do you have a “home base”? This is especially important for legal homeschooling, isn’t it? Did you sell all of your possessions, or keep things in storage?
Showalter Family: We do have a home base, without the home of course. Florida was our home state before we did this, so we still consider this our home base. We sold 95% of our possessions and have the little bit that we kept in a storage unit.
Wright on Time Books: What resources did you use both before you began your adventure and/or while you were on the road? Any particular books or websites that you couldn’t have lived without?
Showalter Family: We use all different resources so it is hard to imagine listing them all. We use maps, both online and hard copies, and we use google often. The library has become a favorite resource because we can download books and movies for free and view/listen to them at our convenience. We love books like the one you wrote, although your book is the first of its kind that we know of.
Wright on Time Books: How hard is it to deal with the maintenance of the RV? What are the most difficult aspects? Who handles what?
Showalter Family: The maintenance of the RV has been very minimal at this point. We bought our RV new so it doesn’t have many miles on it yet. The most difficult aspects of the handling of the RV are probably the hooking it up to travel and emptying the sewer. Dad does both of those things. When we get to a new place, the girls do the inside “set up” and the guys do the outside work. When we pack up to leave, we split the work load the same way. Dad takes care of the truck, Mom takes care of the inside of the RV and the teens each take care of their rooms and their bathroom.
Wright on Time Books: How large is your RV? What is it like? We want to know where everything goes and where everyone sleeps. In an ideal world, would you have wanted a bigger RV, smaller RV, or something the same size but with a different configuration?
Showalter Family: Our RV is 42 feet long. It is a fifth wheel which means the front end hooks onto a hitch on the back of our truck. We have a main bedroom, main bathroom with a shower, living room-dining room-kitchen combo and then the teens each have a bunk room of their own in the back with a half bath in between.
I would have wanted a smaller RV because they are easier to pull, but we do enjoy the space that our RV gives us and we each get space with the floor plan we have so we do think we picked the best possible choice for our family.
Wright on Time Books: How often do you move to a new location? Do gas prices and campground costs affect this? Where do you usually stay the night? Do you have a regular route that you repeat, or do you continually seek out new places to visit?
Showalter Family: We move, on average, about every 12 days. Gas prices and campground costs do affect this, but that is a minor consideration for us. Weather if the biggest factor on how fast we move. We like to stay long enough to get a feel for an area, yet move before we get too bored. We always stay in campgrounds. We always seek new places to visit.
Wright on Time Books: Who does the driving? Do you ever have issues driving such a large vehicle? Do you avoid cities or curvy/narrow roads up mountains, or do you take them in stride?
Showalter Family: Dad and Mom do the driving, although so far Dad is the only one that has driven while the RV is hooked up. It is an issue at times driving such a large vehicle. We have to consider our route carefully. Bridges can be an issue if they are too low. It is harder to drive in the mountains. We try to avoid the curvy/narrow roads up mountains when possible but we don’t let them keep us from seeing what we want to either.
Wright on Time Books: How long have you been on the road/plan to be on the road? Has this worked out to your liking?
Showalter Family: We have been on the road for a year and will do it as long as it is working well for our family. It has worked even better than we thought it might. We LOVE it!
Wright on Time Books: How do you handle privacy issues while living in close quarters?
Showalter Family: We have learned to respect boundaries well. If someone needs space, then we give it to them because we know we want the same in return.
Wright on Time Books: How do you keep in touch with friends and family? Do you visit them? Do they visit you? Phone, e-mail, etc.? What about holidays and birthdays?
Showalter Family: We mostly keep in touch through the computer and postcards. We have visited some family members and will continue to do so. We spent the main holidays with family last year. We have missed birthdays at times and that has been very sad to us.
Wright on Time Books: Does anyone ever get homesick for your old life? How do you deal with that?
Showalter Family: We do get homesick, but it is normally missing the people and not so much our old life. We deal with it by talking about it, venting when we need to and remembering that there is positives/negatives to anything in life.
Wright on Time Books: How do you pay for your living expenses? How do you make money while on the road? Do you work full-time/part-time? Do you work certain times of the year and travel other times? Have any of your children had paying jobs?
Showalter Family: We pay for our living expenses through Dad’s job. Dad still works full-time and Mom will work here and there part-time. We work all year long. Auburn has found paying jobs by doing dog training for people.
Wright on Time Books: Do you have a towed vehicle? Bicycles? Mopeds? Etc.?
Showalter Family: We have bicycles that we carry on a bike rack that fits on the back of the RV.
Wright on Time Books: Do you have any pets that travel with your family? How do they like living on the road?
Showalter Family: We have a dog, a bird and a cat. We didn’t get any of our pets until we went on the road, so it is the only life they know. They all seem to do very well with it.
Wright on Time Books: Where is the best place you’ve been according to each member of your family?
Showalter Family: Dad-Maine and Yosemite, Mom-Yosemite, Austin-Arizona, California, Texas and Maine, Auburn-Yosemite
Wright on Time Books: How can we find out more about you and your family? Website, blog, Facebook page, Twitter, etc.? Please tell us also what the next great adventure for your family is!
Showalter Family: You can learn more about us through our blog: http://showustheworld.blogspot.com/
Our next great adventure is to work our way up the coast of Oregon and Washington!
Thank you for letting us be a part of this neat venture of yours!
