Since picking up the RV we have gone all-in on preparing it for full-time travel. We have taken out some of the furniture and fixtures that came stock to make it more homey and have added many additional features to make life a bit easier in this small space. All the while we had been going through our “sticks and bricks” house and down-sizing our stuff room by room.

Downsizing has been quite an interesting experience. As we assessed each item of our once beloved “stuff” we realized that there was not much actual attachment to much of it. In just a few weeks worth of time we were able to fill our truck-bed full of items to donate three times. The vast majority of it has been easy to let go of. There have been some items that either would not fit in the RV or are not needed for this life that we have put aside to review again after most of it has been dealt with. But even with these pulled aside items we have found ourselves pulling items from there to place in the donate pile.

With the progress we have made we now felt that we were ready to start taking the RV out for a few trial runs. It was Hannah’s birthday week and we thought that we would surprise her with a trip to a Yogi Bear’s Jelly Stone Park . Since we have started talking about traveling full time in the RV Hannah has wanted to go to a Jelly Stone Park. So I began planning our adventure down to Branson for our first trip out. I was able to find an available spot and was about to book it when I decided to call the resort and check to make sure that the amenities would be available during our trip. After a short conversation with bookings I had learned that most of their amenities were already closed for the winter. With that information I was far less excited to spend the “character tax” when we would not be able to take part in all of the things we would be going for in the first place. And just like that my plans had fallen to pieces.

I have previously experienced bouts of anger and depression when plans would fall apart like this, but something we keep hearing in the full-time RV life groups is to remain flexible. Sometimes things are not going to work out the way you think they should, but that doesn’t mean that they didn’t happen the way they were meant to. So with that in mind I looked at the situation and figured out what else we could do.

“If you are depressed you are living in the past.
If you are anxious you are living in the future.
If you are at peace you are living in the present.”

― Lao Tzu

We had just signed up for a couple of RV resort membership cards and I began to look at resorts which were with-in a days travel, as this would be our first excursion and we didn’t want to be too far from our “stick-and-bricks”. I first began to look down in the same area as the Jelly Stone Park because it is near-by and Branson is a tourist town so there would be lots of things we could go and do. I wasn’t really finding what I was looking for from any one park in the area. I found myself becoming more and more discouraged, but determined to being flexible I widened my search and found Lost Valley Lake Resort. This resort had everything we were looking for and more. There was nature, indoor activities (which remained open year round), and even some kids events planned for the weekend we were looking to go.

Being flexible allowed us to find a great new location which we may have never have checked out otherwise. Being flexible also allowed me to be filled with happiness and excitement instead of a state of negativity. By being flexible I was able to let go of a part of myself that I did not like and replace it with something I did. We are all thrilled to be going on this first adventure out and are looking forward to all of the new things we will learn and do.

To see how our trip went check out our post about Lost Valley Lake Resort here.