Welcome to the Schmitt Show!

The journey begins...

If you’re here you probably already know us, but just in case you don’t, we’re Jess, Paul, Harvey (9), Roger (7), Betty (4) and Dale (2) Schmitt. Dolly, our 11 year old goldendoodle, is along for the ride as well.

The dream: Ever since I was a kid, I dreamed of traveling the county in a Winnebago. I had the good fortune of growing up in a camping family, but there was something so appealing to me about an RV! Move your home from place to place! What a life. Fast forward about 25 years, and that dream is becoming a reality. After several years of planning, Paul and I bought our 2018 Winnebago Vista, Winnifred; the kids call her Fred. She’s a vision of steel and aluminum - all 32 feet of her.

We decided to take off for about a year of travel, hoping to meander through the United States and cross a lot of National Parks off of our NPS scratch off poster (so far since we’ve been married we’ve been to three!). This means moving full time into our camper, figuring out how to homeschool, and downsizing in just about every way. I’m taking a break from my job as a pediatric nurse practitioner, and Paul is going to be with us most of the time, but will be doing some commuting back and forth so that he can get paid to do his favorite hobby (fly airplanes).

Pulling away from our home today and seeing our friends and neighbors wave us off got me a little emotional - we have a beautiful life here in Minnesota and I’m going to miss it! But as I type this looking out at the road ahead, I’m also filled with excitement and anticipation for what’s to come.

This newsletter will hopefully keep you updated on what we’re up to, give you a glimpse of our full time RV life (in real time as we try to figure it out!) and help us keep a journal of our year of travel.

Thanks for joining us for the journey. And now - Westward!

Love,

Jess