Fam of 6 Escapes Expectations + Finds Time Freedom in RV Life

She Who Wanders

Nov 9

8 Questions with Allison from Escaping Expectations

Say hello to Allison! An adventure-loving mama of four, she is one inspiring lady. She travels full-time with her family in their home on wheels and is single-handedly helping to redefine the American Dream for families. Sharing everything from the how-to’s of the RV lifestyle to inspiring adventures with kids, she is super down to earth and keeps it real all along the way. I know you’re going to love her as much as I do!

Q: What is one of the greatest life lessons you’ve learned or realizations you’ve had since beginning full-time RV life?

I never realized until we started the nomadic lifestyle how much of my personal and family decisions were based on society/family expectations. It was really shocking, especially when it came to how we spent our time. It’s one of the lessons I have taken to heart and became my passion behind our brand. Even if my audience never travels, I want to inspire them to be more connected to what they want out of life and encourage them to go after it.

Q: The Great Wanderlust is all about women getting outside the box and diving deeper in both travel and in life. Our mission is to inspire women to feel more vibrant through adventure and exploration. So, what is your great wanderlust? What most makes you come to life?

Time freedom is huge for me. How and where I get to spend my time is absolutely soul-giving. I am always with my kids but 90% of my day is based on things I want to do. Going tiny and then learning to embrace minimalism has been an absolute part of this. I spend way less time cleaning and picking up so I have more time reading, exploring with the kids, and building my own business. I love waking up and for the most part, I decide exactly what the day looks like.

Q: What would be your advice to a mama who wants to travel with her kids but is afraid of the unknowns and what-ifs?

It’s totally normal to have fear of the unknown. It’s okay to have fear and concerns about the unknown but don’t let the fear stop you. Try to pinpoint what and where the fear is and then learn about it. My dad told us horror story after horror story about trailers flipping in car accidents. He scared me. But once I learned about the mechanics of our own truck and trailer and why most trailers flipped, I stopped worrying. We did our homework and learned the facts.

The great thing is that traveling is becoming easier than ever before and there are so many resources like reviews, youtube, and technology to help. Chances are you are only a google search away from finding information about your specific travel needs.

Also, as someone who has traveled consistently for the last 2 ½ years, I would say most people are kind and eager to help. This is especially true in the RV community. We have had so many strangers lend a hand and have done the same.

Q: What does home mean to you? How do you think your kids would answer this same question? Most people may see home as a geological location. Our home is our actual square footage.

Home is a haven. It’s still a place that gives us rest, comfort, safety and consistency. Our tiny home on wheels is one of the few things that hasn’t changed and funny enough it’s the place where we have lived the longest. So, I asked my 9 year old daughter what home was to her and she replied, “nature.” Our kids spend hours outside especially since our backyard changes every 2 weeks so I can see why she answered that way.

Q: Sometimes it seems that life, in general, is a constant game of curveballs being thrown from every direction, but it has to be even more that way as a full-time RV traveler! How do you handle it and stay sane when things don’t go as planned or are constantly changing?

Ha, in the beginning, the curveballs were too much. Every other month, for the first nine months, I wanted to quit RV life. The other month Todd wanted to quit. We had so many issues because we had never owned an RV and my husband had never fixed anything in his life. We had always rented our homes so traveling with 4 kids 6 years old and under, with our house on wheels was very stressful. I soon realized that I HAD to wake up expecting the unexpected. We also soon realized we had to learn to fix things ourselves because RV techs are expensive and can be hard to come by.

There are still curveballs but they honestly feel normal. And the curveballs are less frequent as we have increased our experience and comfortability with nomadic life.

Q: What is your greatest hope for yourself? For your family?

That’s really hard to narrow down as I have many but I really want to push myself to continue to do big and hard things. Our next season of travel, if we pull it off, will require me to overcome a fear of mine. It’s a big dream of my husband and I don’t want my fear to hold us back. Fingers crossed that we can pull it off and thrive doing it.

My hope for my family is to maintain what we have already achieved. Quality time together, learning, adventuring and growing together as a family. I want my kids to have what I didn’t. A family that loves deeply and chases dreams and adventures together.

Q: Where are you off to next and what are you most looking forward to about it??

We are headed to Montana next. We slow travel so will spend the next five weeks exploring different cities. But we are most excited about visiting Glacier National Park. It was on our bucket list before we started our RV journey so going will be a huge win.

Q: Is there a question you wish I would have asked or anything else you’d like to share with other mamas relating to travel or life?

Start small. Day trips. One night overnighters and then a weekend getaway. The more you travel, the more you will all get used to it. Trips and travel lend themselves so much to hands-on learning and there is something amazing about watching your kids experience something new for the first time.

Q: Who inspires you to dig deeper in travel and life?

The Bucketlist family. They were the first travel family accounts we stumbled on and we were just amazed. I love what they are instilling into their children as well as how they are inspiring and educating their followers.

I also recently went on a women’s retreat with Christina McEvoy and so many women along with Christina were so inspiring. Just attending the retreat and hearing everyone’s stories totally fueled me to adventure more.