Rices on the road- October

In September of 2026, we sold our house & bought a 2026 Brinkley 3610!

Randy & I both work remotely, so we are now living in our camper & working remotely from wherever. I say it’s not a “forever” decision, but a “for right now” decision. All of our chicks have left the nest & it just felt right to us! We know there will be ups & downs, but we are feeling incredibly grateful to be able to travel & explore during this season of life. I will be sharing monthly about where we’ve been & what we are up to.

We spent several days visiting our son, Ethan in St Louis.

Our campground views were less than stellar, but the view across the table was one of my favs!

Things we loved:

Lots of one-on-one time with Ethan!

catching up with a long time friend that we’ve watched grow up over pizza & beer + a camper tour!

lots of great food!

our favorites were Small Sliders

the best fish tacos ever!! at Taco Buddha

it was a super cool place too! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!

& funnel cake fries from Rally’s. They were equal parts delicious & greasy! So good!!

Something we learned:

Be sure to put your campground in google earth before making a reservation. It was right by train tracks, a highway, & on the flight path to St Louis airport. (Take note of the creepy campers just down the row from us. 3 entrances & no windows ) We are not city folk! We stayed at Sundermeier RV Park. It wasn’t horrible, but we had certainly gotten spoiled by our first couple of campgrounds.

From there, we headed back to our first spot at Milford. I had picked up some fresh flowers at Trader Joes in St Louis & I was so happy they traveled well in the sink. Now Randy gets to make sure I always have fresh flowers, ha!

The night we arrived, Bethany brought out dinner for us! Apple cider chicken & butternut squash mac & cheese. It was delicious!! & we were so thankful!

I had bought an outdoor tablecloth & seat cover & was so excited to put it on since the picnic table there wasn’t in great shape.

OOPS! That didn’t turn out like I planned lol

Such a peaceful place to have some quiet time God!

We have a small storage unit in Manhattan where we keep all of our tailgate supplies. So the night we drove in to get it all, we had dinner with Bethany at AJ’s Pizza! My new fav is the Popeye Pie with no chicken. So good!!

The Cats won & it was a beautiful day!!

On Sunday, we went to church in the park with Bethany & Avery. The only pic I got was this one of Avery’s jeans after she spilled her coffee lol.

The message was so good! Reminding us to make sure we are attracting others to Jesus & not distracting them from Jesus. After grabbing Jimmy Johns & putting our tailgate stuff back in storage, we headed out.

We got set up at Marion Reservoir just in time to sit & watch the sunset!

One afternoon, we met Avery for coffee at Rhubarb Market! She loves their protein cookie dough!

Randy worked remotely from the coffee shop while I got a much needed massage!

We had opted for the king sized bed which has made making it a little challenging because there is not much space between the bed & the wall. So after reading some reviews, we got this bundle from Beddys! We are loving it so far although Randy does think that 9 pillows on a bed is a little excessive lol. (still looking for new rug for the end of the bed)

I loved the way the sun was shining through the trees at our campsite!

In preparation for our trip south, Randy cleaned the bugs off the front of the camper, while I read on my kindle & rocked lol

A definite bonus of this lifestyle, is the time for stillness I am finding. I took these pics after doing my bible study at the picnic table one day. Kansas is so beautiful!

Piper had a slumber party with us one night & decided this was a great place to catch a nap after our morning walk! I have never been a dog person, but I just love this little girlie!!

The night before we left, part of my family joined us for dinner! We typically gather the 2nd Sunday of each month for brunch, but my brother was jet lagged after just returning from a trip to Italy & my sister was doing a half marathon. We were glad we got to gather with part of the clan. We had to rub it in to my nephew that he was missing his favorite cookies that my mom brought, oatmeal scotchies!

How Piper felt when we told her we were leaving in the morning!

One last morning walk around the lake as the sun was rising!

We stopped in Moundridge to grab our prescriptions, mail & my favorite chai latte from The Station inside The Hub before we headed south.

Randy got an app called Mudflap that is popular with truckers. It gives you a code for a discount on diesel at certain gas stations. He was pumped because he saved around $16ish dollars on one fill up. I usually spend more than that on road trip snacks so it balances out nicely, ha! So far this is my favorite trail mix & I stock up whenever we find it.

We missed our turn & Randy got just a little too close to a pole as we were turning around. Our camper now has a little more character. He is a rockstar driver, so he was super frustrated, but I am sure it will be easily fixed!

Our overnight stay was exactly what I imagined when I pictured this adventure! We are a part of harvest hosts, a membership program where you can request an overnight stay at a host site. You stay for free in exchange for purchasing products from the host location. Hosts are typically farms, wineries, breweries, etc.

We stayed at a mushroom farm just outside of Poolville, TX.

The location was lovely & we slept well, but the best part was meeting our hosts the next morning.

Tears were shed as they told us about the discouragement they’ve felt the last month as “Daddy” had a heart attack & broke his hip & the recovery has been hard. They made the hard decision to skip this year’s planting season. Our purchases from their farm were a huge blessing to them & they even threw in some extras to bless us right back. We got some tea & several freeze dried fruits & vegetables “Mama & Daddy” grew right there on the farm.

It was his dream to be a harvest host, but due to his health, he wasn’t able to see it through. These two ladies are working hard & carrying out his dream. Isn’t it just amazing how life goes? They went on & on about what a blessing we had been to them, but we saw it flipped around the other way. What a blessing they were to us! It was one of those beautiful moments I hope we don’t forget. & would you do us a favor & offer up a prayer for “Daddy”

We listened to this book, Unscripted: The Unpredictable Moments that Make Life Extraordinary as we drove & it is so good! Add it to your reading list for sure!

We were starting to get hungry & as we were driving along, we saw a line that wrapped around a restaurant. We immediately pulled off because a long line is always a good sign!

If you ever find yourself in Stephenville, TX then do yourself a favor & stop at Hard 8 Pit BBQ.

We chatted with the sweetest ladies while we waited. (I wish I would’ve taken a better picture). Randy enjoyed talking to them because they could not believe he was 50 & I just loved their southern drawl.

The line goes right by the pit & you order however much of each meat you want. They cut it for you & throw it on your tray & if they ask you if you want the chicken & shrimp poppers

It was worth the wait! Truly the best brisket I’ve ever had!

After a long day of driving, we were happy to pull in to our campground for the week. We had reservations at Sun Retreats San Antonio West. We opted for a nicer campground since we didn’t love our experience in St Louis. We quickly realized that there are a lot of people that live here full time.

I don’t really want to share this next part with you, but our kids have said we can’t just share the glamorous moments. So here is your disclaimer.. this is NOT PG!!

This was our neighbors..

in case you need a closer look..

DEFINITELY NOT WHAT WE WERE EXPECTING!!

We sent the pictures to our kids & Bethany cropped Randy & sent it back to us saying… @dad looking for a new campground lol.

Since it was HOT (near 100 while it was in the 50s back home) & we didn’t love our surroundings, we spent a lot of time in the camper. We did get out for a daily walk though..

& went to The Alamo (super interesting if you’ve never been). It was #TeamMaddieTuesday so we were wearing our Maddie shirts to show our love & support for the Kaufman family back home.

One night we went for a date night to the Historic Market Square. Should we actually call it a date night? It feels more like we are having a date life?

We had dinner & drinks at Mi Tierra Restaurant & Bakery

the food was decent, but this was my favorite part!

While in San Antonio, close friends of ours flew in for a quick overnight trip. Steph & I had bought tickets to see Big Boo Live (our fav authors & podcasters) in San Antonio long before we sold our house. I was SO thankful we still made it happen!

We picked up Steve, Steph & Natalie up at the airport & went to Paloma Blanca for a late lunch! It was delicious & the whole vibe was super cool! Definitely recommend!

Steve, Natalie & Randy walked on the River Walk while Steph & I went to the show!

My heart was so full! We had the best time catching up, eating Mexican & seeing another Big Boo live show together!!

This lifestyle has quickly taught me the importance of intentionality in relationships with those you care about!

San Antonio probably isn’t on our list of places to return to anytime soon.

On our way back to Kansas, we stopped for lunch at George’s Restaurant in Waco, TX. The special was a catfish lunch for $8.99!! It was delicious!

That night, Randy & I enjoyed another incredible overnight stay through Harvest Hosts.

We stayed at a bee farm just outside of Slaughterville, OK.

We spent an hour relaxing in the healing hive. Well, Randy spent an hour relaxing & I tried my best lol.

The next morning, we spent a couple hours with Steve Easom learning all about honeybees & his passion for training vets to be beekeepers through his nonprofit, Warrior to Bees! Absolutely fascinating!! 512 vets have went through the program & at this point, none of them have committed suicide. He gives all the credit to God & the bees.

Randy & I were amazed & humbled by his heart & service for others. We gladly purchased several pounds of honey to share with family.

If you are interested in making a donation, you can visit warriorstobees.org

We made it back to Kansas just in time to keep Piper overnight while Alli & the girls had a sister weekend in Manhattan!

We stayed at Marion Reservoir for a few days & God was really showing off with all the fall colors!!

We celebrated Alli’s birthday at La Cava with a big group of family! She was a trooper!!

From there we headed to The Ridge RV Park just outside of St George. Nothing spectacular, but close to Manhattan so that was a plus! & we were right on the end, so this was our view!