Unplugging, Trusting Instincts + Finding Kinship on the Open Road

She Who Wanders

Jul 21

A Convo with Bridget from @itsahuntlife

Meet Bridget. She’s a wife, homeschooling mom, and the voice behind It’s a Hunt Life, a lifestyle account where she documents everything from wellness tips to thoughts on motherhood and homeschooling to her family’s 6 month trip around the U.S. in their RV. An enneagram four, she’s passionate about living life off-the-beaten-path and strives to stay in alignment with her own intuition, inspiring other women to find their own path too. She has been sharing insight and perspective for years, but after living as a family of four in their 24 foot RV for the last 6 months, hearing her story through this interview is extra special.

Tell us a little about you and your family like where you’re from, where you live now, how old are your kids and anything interesting or unique you’d like people to know.

Long story short, I’ve been in the Boston area for around 20 years now (originally Philadelphia area!) since college and then marrying my husband (once my college professor). Together, we have six kids, though four are nearly out of the house now. The four older kids are his with his late wife, and we’ve added two more together. The whole story of how that came to be is on my blog! They’re ranging from 30 years old down to 8 years old. When we’re all together it’s fun chaos as you can imagine.

Anyway, we are north of Boston, in a sweet seaside town with a historic brick downtown, and beaches nearby. It’s pretty near perfect except for the fact that the West is a really far drive from it and, now that we’ve taken this trip, I just need to get back to there over and over and over again.

The Great Wanderlust is all about moms stepping outside of the box and diving deeper in both travel and in life! The mission is to inspire mamas and families to feel fully alive through adventure and exploration! What is your great wanderlust? What most makes you come to life??

I didn’t travel much as a child (money was tight!), but somewhere along the way, I discovered that travel lights me up. It might’ve been a college trip to Israel––where culturally, it’s so different from anything I was used to. I knew if there’s Israel, then there is a whole lot more. Once I discovered that (and my love for it), it was all over. The travel bug was born. I’m really lucky Steve shares it with me. We’ve gotten to do some traveling through his college too which has been an enormous blessing.

Something about being outside of the normal noise of life helps me shed the endless to-do list and incessant unconscious narration about how I should be spending my time. You’re on a hike in Yosemite and you’re definitely not thinking about the laundry you have to do or the reel that would benefit your social media business or the meat you need to pull out of the freezer to defrost. You’re just breathing, moving your feet, feeling your heart pump, and looking around at the unreal beauty all around you.

Deciding to head out on the road with your family for 6 months must have taken a lot of courage and overcoming fear/uncertainty. What were a couple of your biggest concerns before taking the leap, and how did you push through them and take the risk anyway?

Looking back now, I’m forgetting all of them! If that’s not a push to just do it, I don’t know what is. But I do recall really hoping that my kids would enjoy the trip and that it wouldn’t feel like six months of us dragging them around the country while all they wanted was to get back home to their creature comforts.

My older son was probably the most cautious as the trip departure neared, and I remained optimistic and encouraging but of course I didn’t know how it would actually all pan out. This was a great unknown for everyone!

I’m happy to say our instincts were right. This was an enormous adventure that I think we will all be talking about for years to come. I think it’s also inspired them to think outside the box for their own lives. Parker is thinking about doing the van life when he’s older instead of having to pay for apartment rent, and working virtually from wherever (currently, he’s wanting to get back to Moab for mountain biking) and I think it’s a fantastic idea.

What is something new you learned or came to understand about yourself or about life from this time spent traveling the U.S.?

People are good. It bears repeating… people are good! I know we all want to believe it, but my goodness have the last few years highlighted the cruelty some humans can exhibit when in a space of fear or scarcity. Getting out into this big world, into states and places representing the spectrum of political and cultural and societal ideas, what we found over and over again with those we met (and we met many!) is that generally people are kind, they want to love and be loved, and we benefit so much from human connection. (Everyone, read Tribe by Sebastian Junger if you haven’t yet! Best book ever.)

How do you think traveling in an RV together for 6 months has impacted your family dynamic? Are there new rituals or routines you’ll take with you as a family when you return home? Anything you plan to change about your life back home because of something you’ve learned while away?

Oh my word, so many. It’s really interesting to find out how much time we really do have in a day, especially noticeable at those national parks where there is absolutely no service, no wifi, no nothing (Joshua Tree was one of them. I mean, nothing. So we just turned off our phones for three days!). So, time management would be one thing I’m thinking about as I head back home. Less time doing things that don’t have a great ROI. Time spent online is generally one of those. Oh, and definitely mandatory family hiking. Find the childlike wonder, and let your kids see you in that childlike wonder as often as possible. It’s soul food!

It’s so easy to get caught up in the hamster wheel of life and suddenly one day realize that you have built a life that you didn’t necessarily intend to build. How do you stay clear and intentional in making decisions for yourself and your family without getting distracted by the noise of what others are doing?

I love this question and think about this often! It’s so true. So, I don’t know what it is about me or my personality but I’m comfortable choosing differently than the norm. This is especially true when it feels like the writing is on the wall in terms of healthcare, whether it be mental health, physical health, etc. Something we (society!) are doing is not working.

Our two youngest are 8 and 11 right now, and while they’re not totally autonomous yet, I’m trying to instill in them (while they still listen to me) the value in not being overly scheduled, in family time, in moving their bodies, in the way they feel junky after eating crappy foods. The list is endless. I really try to help them recognize cause and effect. Spending time in nature? You feel better. Staring at a screen? You can start to get moody. Just helping them navigate that stuff before they’re making their own decisions fully. I think when you see the fruits of that labor, you know you’re on the right path and you just keep going.

My kids are not perfect by any means, but they make great eye contact, can talk confidently to adults, are interested and interesting, make friends easily, and are enjoyable to be around (most of the time). Other people tell me this too, so it’s not just me!

I am a big believer that values are one of the most important things we can establish for our family because they help guide us in our decisions and focus on what matters most. If you had to choose two top values for your family, what would they be and why?

This is not easy to pare down. Take care of your body, be kind, move every day, get outside, love nature, have low expectations… you can see here that I’m giving you a bunch of our values when you only asked for the top two!

On this trip there were so many days where things went wrong. I mean, six months on the road. Things were bound to go wrong. Where the weather got in the way, or the drive was endless, or where we had a security guy at a Costco in Bend, Oregon wake us in the middle of the night to tell us we couldn’t sleep there which led to Steve driving hours towards the Redwoods at 2 am (ohhh the stories we could tell!).

BUT one that puts a brighter perspective on literally everything in life is this one––be grateful. Have an attitude of gratitude. Having that mindset alone fixes 90% of life’s problems. Oh we’re driving exhausted in the middle of the night towards an undetermined location? Well, aren’t we lucky to have something to keep us warm while we do so.* It sounds cheesy but it is everything.

*That said, while Steve just kept driving, I did not sleep at all and I definitely whisper-yelled more than once, “WILL YOU PLEASE PULL OVER SOMEWHERE SO I CAN SLEEP?” Sometimes finding the attitude of gratitude is not as easy in the middle of the night.

If you had to choose just one place to return too after exploring so much of the U.S., where would it be and why? How were you impacted by it?

This is SO HARD! I just went back to my highlights and watched our dip in Avalanche Lake in Glacier National Park and immediately began to cry so maybe that’s my answer??

But also, Yosemite National Park was spiritual. I have no better way to describe it. It was inexplicable how present I was––mind, body, and spirit––while camping in that incredible valley in the spring. I didn’t realize how often I am not entirely present until suddenly I was. Does that sound strange? I thought of virtually nothing else that week besides the indescribable beauty all around me and how I couldn’t believe I was really there. The smells, the sunrises, the hikes, the water, the power of that place is other-wordly. If given the opportunity, I might’ve stayed forever. It was such a massive natural high that overwhelmed me. I had high expectations but it exceeded them. I have been loosely following Yosemite-happenings for years now, so I think that that made it extra special. Arriving by way of Tunnel View and seeing the expanse of the valley ahead brought me to tears. We all felt so loved by Mother Nature that week. So blessed by her, hugged by her, nurtured by her. It sounds weird, but it’s true.

But, we’re also planning a return trip to Glacier National Park so… that says something. I just know there is so much more to that park than we’ve seen so far. I need to get back to it and do some backcountry camping. Also, we didn’t do justice to Washington State, or Oregon for that matter. I want to see more of both of those.

If it’s not already obvious, I need to get back to all of them. I think many of my days will be spent figuring out how to make that happen, again and again and again.

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

There are so many reasons not to take the trip. From financial to logistics, on and on, there are so many. I’m telling you––put them aside and take the trip anyway. Short, long, in a tent, in an Airbnb, take a trip together. Put your phones down. See what you discover about yourself, each other, this world. It’s worth it.

I’m actually thinking about doing some travel consulting to help people take the trip. Planning out the six months was so time consuming. If that’s standing in anyone’s way, I’ll help. I want to make it easier for everyone to say YES!