Our home on wheels: Desy

This past winter, Dave and I started thinking about buying a home. We were married last June and decided then that Dave would move into my small one bedroom apartment. The idea of buying a home while also planning our wedding sounded like a lot of hassle, and we figured we would be better off to buy a nicer home once Dave finished nursing school the following May. After surviving the winter of all winters, spring finally came and we started thinking about where we'd like to live for the next year. Our lease was up at the end of May and we knew we didn't want to stay in our teeny apartment, as wonderfully cheap as it had been. We began browsing homes online and discussing realtors, price range, location, and all the other considerations that go along with buying a home. As we started planning visits to look at a few places, I felt anxious and underwhelmed by the possibilities. Something just wasn't right. I timidly shared my feelings with Dave, worried that he would be disappointed. To my relief, Dave was feeling the same way! We agreed that we would hold off on buying a home, but then thought, "Now what?" As we pondered the possibilities, Dave non-nonchalantly mentioned traveling for a while. Could we really do that? For how long? Could we afford it? Abandon responsibility? After much deliberation, it turns out we could do it! Over the next couple of months, we hatched our plan. We quickly decided traveling in the United States was the best option for us. With little time to plan, a trip on our home turf seemed more manageable. Plus, there is so much we still haven't seen in our own country.

From there, we started thinking about how we would get around. Car camp? RV? Teardrop trailer? Ultimately, we decided that a minivan would be the best option for us. Not just any minivan. The minivan of all minivans: a Honda Odyssey. Dave has this wonderful tendency to throw himself into a project and research the pants off of it, and this was no different.  After reading website after website, Dave narrowed it down to the Honda Odyssey or Toyota Sienna. For those of you thinking you just might want to head out on your own adventure in a mini, know that these two vans are the largest, most reliable vehicles with a lot of stowing capacity. Trust us, we KNOW.

I'll leave you with a photo of us and our beloved Desy, the Odyssey, and continue the next post with the transformation of our new home on wheels.