Autumn Changes

The leaves are turning and so is the latest page in our nomadic travels or, what felt like, lack of travel.  We have been stationary for quite some time now since we added our baby nomad, Jonathan James Devoe, to our roll.  He arrived August 12, 2016 with wonder and curiosity already filling his little eyes.  He brings such an overwhelming joy to our family unit with a simple way of reminding us how each day is a wonderful gift. 

I think we can all agree he has changed our family for the better and I can hardly imagine life without him now that he has made his grand entrance.  So, we turn the page to a whole new chapter with our little growing family of five.

Our time here with family has been priceless and it has been great to have a place to come back “home” to over the past year of traveling.  After two investment homes here in Pensacola, as well as having a baby here, it has literally felt like our home away from the road.  There is no doubt that spending time with family has been one of our favorite perks of traveling.  And, my family here has welcomed us with open arms and spoiled us with parties, tons of love and great memories, which makes it that much harder to leave! 

So, needless to say, being in Pensacola has been a great place to visit, but, while our hearts have been touched by this warmth and familiarity, the wanderlust is still burning inside of all of us.  And, now comes the time to bid farewell to our family on the emerald coast and see where the open road will take us.  It is bitter-sweet as goodbyes can be.  But we leave with our hearts filled with love and grateful for our time to reconnect with everyone again after many years that got away.  

Here is a quick recap of what we've been up to since the beginning of the year.  After many trips away to new exciting, as well as old familiar, places for the first few months of the year, we had to lay low and spent the majority of summer waiting for our little bundle of joy to finally arrive.  Since we had to be in Pensacola anyway, what better way to pass the time than to find another home to renovate.  We found a gem of a home hidden under overgrown landscaping in an adorable Pensacola neighborhood. 

 

This became known as our “Pensacola Pool House” flip.  We took this opportunity to buy it and after a few expected (and unexpected) delays we finished it.  Fortunately, we were able to entertain multiple offers within the first weekend it was on the market and went under contract right away.  We love finding homes, seeing the potential, bringing the house back to life and then knowing it will be a perfect place for the right buyer to call home.  We love our new career and over this past year have started to discover our own little path to continued travel and freedom.  It is weird to look back to a couple years ago and think of how much our life has changed, but packing all of our things and hitting the road has really opened up doors we would have never foreseen.  We are so blessed.

 

With all the wonderful things that have happened this year, on a slightly sad note, we still have our adorable foster dog, Bonnie.  We were able to find our other foster dog, Clyde, a loving home with a wonderful family, but Bonnie has not been so lucky.  After having her for an entire year and diligently going to adoption events for quite a while, she is still hanging out with us.  However, the change in her over the past year has been astounding.  She went from a sad, lonely girl to a grateful bundle of energy who loves every moment of every day.  We have high hopes that one day she will find a wonderful home (other than ours), but until then we are dedicated to loving her and dragging her around the country with us.

With all that said, it has been too long since we’ve had campfires with friends, explored new sights and we’re ready to see God’s beautiful creation beyond the Gulf of Mexico.  Of course, since we hope to close on our house soon, we are already longing to find our next investment home.  Who knows where the next one will be or what’s around the corner.  We sure don’t!  There is never a dull moment with the Devoe family.  We know no other way than to live life as one big adventure to the next and this is how we roll. Every day, all day. 

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the other summer highlight.  We had this grand opportunity that we just couldn't pass up. We love airstreams.  We love renovating.  I mean, who doesn't want to jump on the opportunity to buy an old vintage airstream and completely overhaul it?  (Ok, so we might be alone in this category.)  Obviously a match made in heaven here.  And, yes, we know...we have a problem. We are renovation junkies. We obviously see potential in EVERYTHING we lay our eyes on.  Well, as you can probably guess, it isn’t fully renovated, but I assure you that you haven’t seen the last of it yet.  We have big plans for it, but since we can only carry one trailer around the country it will have to stay back for a while until we can bring it to its full potential.  But, we will…eventually.  I think somewhere deep down we still have this dream to keep it and travel with it, but let’s see—a family of five, two dogs and a cat in a 30 foot airstream (no slides)?  That might just stay a dream. 

 

However, while we didn’t change trailers, we did make some big changes to Tinkerton, our trailer, which has made a huge difference in comfort and also allowed some space and functionality for baby nomad. 

 

So with our new truck, new baby and renovated trailer, there is nothing keeping us in Florida any longer.  Our time has come to head to new places and do what we love best--dive into the great unknown.  We don't have it all planned out, but we look to follow the sunset and see where we end up.  On we roll.