We are the King family. Matt, Gesen, Keahi, Isaiah, & Autumn.
We are on an adventure exploring God’s creation finding joy, love, happiness & of course friends.
We lived on the island of Maui for over a decade. In our 5th year of marriage we both felt it was time to expand our family and were so grateful to quickly become pregnant. In anticipation of becoming parents, we knew that we wanted to be closer to our family. Matt’s family lived on the East Coast and Gesen’s family lived on the West Coast which made for long and expensive trips anytime we would try to visit, adding a baby in the mix did not seam feasible so we began to discuss moving. But where to? Do we pick a side and live somewhere neither of us cares for? Do we pick a random place on the map and hope for the best? We decided to take our chances and experience a life on the road instead. That’s where this new journey started!
After about a year of research, thanks to Keep Your Daydream and All About RVs, we decided to pull the trigger and jump! We had been saving for a down payment for a home in Hawaii, so we were blessed enough to pay cash for both the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 and 2020 Grand Design Reflection 312BHTS. Thank you Dave Ramsey for your teaching which allowed us to make this possible with our balanced budget approach!
* side note – we bought the trailer brand new, as the 2021 models had just came out & LazyDays was trying to make room *
How do we plan our trips?
Our first 6 months on the road we were determined to see both sides of our family and a lot of friends in between. We quickly learned that moving around so frequently was not going to be sustainable for our family so we decided to slow down. Since our families are on opposite sides of the country, we realized it would be easier to spend the majority of the year on one coast instead of trying to reach both every year. This makes it less stressful, saves fuel money, & gives ample time with the ones we love. Once we start planning our route we get excited and have a hard time stopping so we can easily get 6-12 months planned in advance. Planning so far in advance helps ensure we get a spot at the campgrounds we are trying to stay at since we can set a calendar reminder and make reservations on the first day of the available booking window. There have been many times we end up changing those reservations because when you plan a trip over 6 months in advance, life is bound to happen and alter some of those plans.
Below is our basic process of planning out the trips for the next year:
- Big Rocks – We talk about what are the main travel destinations we want to plan our year around, these typically include:
- Family
- Friends
- National Parks
- Activities
- What does the route look like? – Once we have listed our Big Rocks we get a general idea of what order makes the most sense geographically and that allows us to make our basic route.
- What places along the route do we want to explore? – There are so many places to explore and things to do, the possibilities seem endless! We try not to get carried away with too many things to look forward to, because in reality we are still living regular life and don’t get to play tourist in every location we stay.
- Where are the Thousand Trails along our route? – This has been a huge budget saver, we purchased the basic elite package which allows us to stay 3 weeks in a park at a time. We can go park to park so if we are in an area with a lot of parks we can hop from one to another and continue staying. We are trying to keep track of all of the costs associated with our Thousand Trails stays (Initial purchase, annual fees, premium site fees, etc…) so that we can do a cost analysis of how much we are paying per night. The more we stay, the more we save!
- What are the drive day logistics? – We try to keep our driving time under 5 hours per day with no more than 3 consecutive drive days. Of course there are exceptions, and the numbers change as the boy’s needs do.
How do we make money on the road?
Matt owns an online marketing business, Inquire Design, and can work from anywhere (as long as there is internet). If we are in an area long enough, he tries to find an opportunity to serve new clients with their online marketing needs. Thankfully, he is able to focus on his business because Gesen stays with the boys during the day.
Gesen is the stay-at-home mom with the attitude of creating affordable healthy food that nourishes our bodies. Home cooked meals cost a fraction of what restaurant meals and convenient pre-packaged meals cost. Saving money is essential for our one income household, especially with prices on the rise.
How do we divvy up the duties?
Matt does all of the towing, maintenance, set-up, tear-down, tank filling and dumping. Gesen does all of the laundry, cleaning, most of the cooking and most of the childcare. Matt helps with the boys during meals, naps and bedtime. Matt is responsible for all things related to Autumn although Gesen does help out occasionally – Autumn knows she is Matt’s dog and is still learning how to be obedient to anyone other than him.
Who are we?
Matt King – Husband, Father, Jack-of-many-trades. Enjoys hunting, hiking, biking, snowboarding & paddle boarding. Growing up in Maryland Matt moved around a lot, but never went on an official road trip until after marrying Gesen. He spent time working as a carpenter, electrician and landscaper before deciding to get his Bachelor of Science in Web Design and Development. While in landscaping he frequently drove a trailer with equipment, but nothing close to the size of our RV.
Gesen King – Wife, Mother, Creative-in-the-kitchen. Enjoys singing, cooking, nature walks, biking & time near water. Growing up in Iowa Gesen took road trips with her family in an old Class C to visit relatives in Florida and Arizona. Before becoming a stay-at-home mom, Gesen worked as a Project Engineer in the construction industry.
Keahi King – First Born Son, we love getting to watch as his personality unfolds. Some of his favorite things seem to be splashing in puddles, figuring out how objects fit together, picking up trash, catching critters and reading books.
Isaiah King – Second Born Son, we love getting to watch as his personality unfolds. Some of his favorite things seem to be snuggling with mom, swinging, clapping, climbing and chasing after Keahi.
Autumn – We adopted Autumn on October 30th, 2020. Keahi always expressed excitement when we visited people with dogs so we started an online search for shelter dogs and got puppy fever. Due to the pandemic we had to make an appointment at a shelter before seeing any dogs so we decided to make an appointment and at least see what was available. On our way to the shelter we both agreed that it was not the right time to take on training a puppy, we decided that we would still keep our appointment and just play with the dogs and then leave. Upon our arrival there was a very sweet lab that Keahi had a lot of fun greeting. There were also a lot of yellow lab mix puppies. There was one puppy that looked different from the rest, she was a small tricolored cutie with freckles on her nose. Matt held her for a while before we decided to go and check out the older dogs. No other dogs peaked our interest and we had agreed not to get a puppy so we said our goodbyes to the staff and got in our truck. We sat in the parking lot for around 5 minutes, then we decided to follow our hearts instead of our head and we went back in to adopt the adorable baby girl. She was (and still is) a total sweetheart. She loves everyone she meets and is always a buddle of energy. Because we were driving with her from day one, she does great in the truck. She is definitely a handful and stubborn as can be. She is extremely gentle with the boys, they climb all over her, even when she is sleeping and she just gives them kisses or gets up and moves somewhere else. We contemplated taking her back to the shelter but just couldn’t bring ourselves to do it. She is simply too good with the boys and we know her puppy energy wont last forever, so we endure. We think she is an Entlebucher mountain dog mix and that she was probably born early August 2020.