If you clicked on the link to this post, then I am guessing you have hard days too. The days that leave you raw and doubting and numb.

For awhile now we’ve been on the road and just returned home – We spent roughly 30 nights in our Airstream and two months gone from home. You can follow some of our adventures here (Lake Tahoe, Lava Beds, Oregon Coast).

You are probably wondering, “um… how do you have bad days when you are traveling to amazing places in an Airstream?!

Now don’t get me wrong. It has been amazing. Sunsets. Hikes. Mountain Biking. Exploring historical places. All with our kids closely in tow, excited and inspired and alive.

But sometimes things don’t go perfect.

Like Forest Fires…

Last week we visited Viento State Park in Oregon. Situated just west of Hood River, we scored a few last-minute nights over Labor Day weekend and had glorious plans of mountain biking in the morning and paddling all afternoon.

Day 1 was exactly that. But then on our way home we noticed a plume of smoke to the west. Forest fire… and what has now become the Eagle Creek Fire blossomed. Blossomed is too nice a word. Raged is more like it. We woke up to ash falling on camp. We gave it a day, incase it was easily contained, but then bailed, just hours before evacuations began and I-84 closed both directions.

We drove across Oregon all the way to Boise, but the smoke did not lessen. Everything was grey and we couldn’t see anything more than .25 miles away. It was truly depressing.

After 24 hrs of getting our trailer back to go at the Boise KOA, we continued on to Sun Valley, ID and free dispersed camping just minutes outside of town. But what would have been perfect became depressing as smoke levels reached hazardous levels and all hope of outdoor recreation vanished.

And then the crankiness set in. The disappointment that our travels were coming to an end at such a low point.

You can’t escape the lows.

To be honest, while we have had many more amazing days than not, we haven’t escaped the bad just because we are traveling.

We still have the same school challenges, the same sibling fights, the same problems at bedtime, and the same wrestlessness as we do at home.

Why do I share this?

I certainly hope I am not depressing you with this post. Rather, I find that there is this social media culture that assumes just because we shared a perfect photo, that our days are perfect as well. Often times we feel bad sharing and even more often we feel awkward when someone else IS sharing about something hard. But we shouldn’t feel like this.

Many parents struggle to believe they aren’t alone. They might think, “why can’t my kids be like that.” But that doesn’t exist, friends.

So what now?

I certainly don’t have all the answers. Every hard day I have to stop and ask myself how I am going to respond. And somedays I fail. But first, I start at a place of thankfulness. I am still with my family. Our home is safe, our possessions are safe. We are doing what we want to do, which is travel. Life is good. God is good.

Then we move to action. On this specific day in Sun Valley, our family came together to find fun. I went to the local gym, we ran some errands, we found the local swimming hole and jumped in and then went to a movie. Sure, indoors can be fun sometimes. 🙂

We are still struggling as we wrap our mind around being home. While we miss our friends and our constant A/C, road life suits us. We are hard pressed to leave it behind, if even for a few months. But the road will always be there, waiting for us. In that, I find peace with whatever life throws at us.

Talk to ya soon!

-Alyssa