Looking back on 2025, I gotta say we were able to meet most of our short-term goals and make progress on our long-term ones as well. For us, 2025 wasn’t too bad of a year at all.
2025 Stats
- National Parks and Monuments Visited: 5 (Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Craters of the Moon National Monument, Grand Canyon National Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park)
- States Visited: 13 (Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida)
- Nights in our RV: 103
- Total Spent on Campgrounds: $1,861 (that’s only $18 per night!)
- Miles Traveled (September – December): 9401
- Total Spent on Diesel (September – December): $2729 (about $0.29 per mile)
Winter/Spring 2025 (January – May):
The year started off real quiet with nothing much to note. Work, school, business, the usual every day stuff. One of the things we committed to doing this year was to say “yes” more often to extra activities outside of our everyday life. So in February we took the kids skiing/snowboarding for the first time at Bottineau Winter Park. They had a blast learning how to ski and snowboard alongside friends.
Before the year had even begun my husband, Matt, was having trouble with his internal nerve stimulator (one of the ways he controls the constant pain he is in). We made appointments, determined that the unit needed to be replaced, and proceeded to make arrangements for surgery in Minneapolis in April. The first several days after surgery were rough but he made it through and has recovered with a fully functioning unit again.
It was after that surgery that I reduced my days at the office to one day a week (I had previously been going to the office 2-3 days a week), mainly so I could be more available as Matt recovered and partly to make the already-planned-on transition to full time remote work.
May was the highlight of our spring as I watched my son turn 18, graduate from high school, and begin his career as an apprenticed electrician. Shortly after that he and I began in earnest to get our camper ready for the fall/winter travel season that was quickly approaching.
Summer 2025 (June – August):
This was our busiest summer yet. Since my husband was still recovering from his surgery it was up to me and my two oldest kids (along with some much appreciated help from friends and family) to make sure our camper was ready for our test trip in August and get new siding up on our house.
The month of April was spent installing the spindles on the railing on our front deck, just my daughter and I. In May through July my son helped me wire the new equipment we bought for the RV and my daughter (just 11yo at the time) helped me install new vinyl siding on the house once our extended family got us started. We also had to paint window trim and some of the wood above the new siding. We bought a new front door for the house, painted it red (because why not?) and had it professionally installed. And finally we got an electrician out to install a new 50-amp RV plug at the garage so we had a place to plug our RV in during the hot summer months.
In mid August we took a week-long trip with our RV to test out the new electrical equipment and make sure everything was working properly. This doubled as a last trip to see my parents before we left for the winter. We returned from that trip, finished up what we needed to on the exterior of the house, and began moving into the camper.
Fall/Winter 2025:
The first two weeks of September were spent getting in those final appointments for the year (dental and vision) and getting the truck ready (oil change, fuel filters, and dash cam!). On September 20th we said see ya later to our church family and on the 21st we left our North Dakota home for the winter, leaving my newly adult son in charge of keeping the house from burning down or flooding while we were gone.
Our first 15 weeks of travel have been spent visiting many of our previous stops from our first few years of travel. We followed the familiar route west and south, with just a few new places visited such as Craters of the Moon National Monument, Tumalo State Park, and Oak Springs Trilobite Area. We visited family first and have used the time since then to slow down and focus on our own family and our future goals.
Looking Ahead to 2026:
We have some big dreams for the future and we plan on continuing our RV travels for as long as it makes sense for our family. We’ll be looking for a new trailer next year since our current one has been de-laminating (a big problem that’s not easy to fix) and we are ready to find a better layout to fit our smaller family of four.
We have a couple more things to finish up on our house next year, such as siding the dormers and finishing up the front deck by adding a pergola, and I’ve committed to working at the office for the next summer or two before we decided to extend our travels to elsewhere during those warmer months (New England is on our summer bucket list!).
Our plan for 2026 is to buckle down on our finances to begin saving for that long-term dream and focusing on what God is calling us to do. Slow down, keep the peace we have fought for, and look ahead to even better years. The freedom we have achieved through our ability to travel and work remotely will continue to motivate us to show others that it can be done.
Tell us your favorite memories from 2025 and what you’re looking forward to in 2026. We really would love to hear from you!
You can find us on Instagram and Facebook @simplejoyfuljourney, or email me at alicia@simplejoyfuljourney.com. And don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of the page before you go. Have a great week!