This is NOT working oh I think that's actually a snake hanging up there what you said we get
an F on preparedness like literally we you're not even a mile down the road and
we need to pull one of these off and put it in the Expedition so we're going to do that
waa this is getting really narrow I hope this takes us through it has been an interesting
several days if you remember from last week's episode we had a little problem with our Toad
and braking system we did finally arrive safe and sound at our destination in the Florida
Keys after pulling into our campsite after dark of course it was late and
we called it a day as far as I can go but you have to stretch for it give it to me
lower get
it you got legs get it get got to jump just a smid I don't want to come on really
dude wow love Beacon RV life looks different for us now versus how it used to be when we first
got started we've learned to be a little bit more laidback in our travel style and how to keep meals
simple oo look at that golden brown W look at that black stone grilled cheese baby another thing
we've learned is how to camp on the cheap this Campground Fiesta Key RV Resort is part of of
our Thousand Trails membership and we can stay here for only $20 a night and the best part you can
Paddle board from right here at the campground the water in the keys is so clear and the marine life
is plentiful for me there's just something about being on the water feeling the ocean breeze and
gentle rocking of the paddle board it's a peaceful and serene escape from the sometimes hectic world
I'm like tempted to try standing up do it to yeah just do it just stay wide stay wide yeah
with your feet and speaking of things being hectic we don't share a lot of our personal struggles on
our channel is we really want to share the most helpful tips and tricks when it comes
to RV life with our viewers and we try to keep our personal lives pretty private do it for the
Community like this video If you think I should try standing up but we're going to
do something a little different with this video and share some personal struggles
we've been through lately and because we firmly believe that there is something powerful in our
stories do it do it she's going to stand up attempting you got this and success so our
prayer is as we share more in this video that maybe just maybe others who find themselves
going through a hard season will realize that they're not the only ones on The Struggle
Bus at the end of the summer we found ourselves at a crossroad a decision Point really one of those
times in life where you feel you're presented with only a few options and none of them are easy
just from one getting in super late to then Ben getting sick but anyway today is a big day because
it is Thanksgiving and we are having our friends giving with our friends Tim and Melinda that we
did this last year with so just wanted to show you kind of what I've got going on here at the
moment so in this instant pot I've got a turkey yes I do so a whole turkey in that one and then
over here in this instant pot I have got a ham over here in just a little bit I will have corn
in the cob and stuffing and then I've got rolls in here that will be warmed up and then Tim and
Melinda are doing the mashed potatoes the gravy met up with some friends he saw the other day he
did did you meet up with friends oh yes I did all the things I did the number ones and the number
twos so he's all pooped out huh yep he's pooped out cool well thanks for taking him down to the
dog park I'm sure he enjoyed that are you guys ready for a Thanksgiving dinner here in a little
bit probably yes all that paddle boarding makes one hungry this is our second friends giving in
the Florida Keys and we plan on many more friends givings in the future our V life used to be pretty
lonely when we first got started and it took us a while to find our people on the road so we're
very thankful for great travel friends to be able to connect and share life with you'll have to let
us know in the comments do you prefer to travel with others or go it alone all right so what
have we got going on come here I'll show you we are up a creek literally Without a Paddle
what do you do when you know something isn't going to work you have we have half a paddle
half a paddle you improvise so what I figured we could do is just take some Gorilla tape and flag
pole buddy we make it work if the Gorilla Tape gets wet do you foresee this being an issue no
Gorilla tape works with anything so we just we'll just Gill tape it on this is very very long P you
sure you don't want to shorten that wow that is really hard you never say that to a man but you
don't think that take this part off then no no no that'll be too short that's what she said no
see that's more that's more like that's too short go get another paddle well actually what do you
mean by Too Short yo he said he said never short actually you're probably right although no no no
they extend but you don't you're going to use the improvised paddle though right right I will all
right so it needs to be this long at least we'll find out if it works we'll find out we're about
to find out all right Paddleboarding at Sunset let's go it's not night yet you guys ever seen seahorses
is that feel it sand I don't want to feel it but e touch it it's from the bottom oh gross it stinks
it's like fish poo hi hello that such a nice Sunset it is and I'm going to have to say
that really we've been down to the keys a ton lots to do and see but if you're going to only do one
thing this is the one thing you want to do absolutely you could probably just do this
and that's it and be have fun and there's a ton of places to do it which will be coming yeah remember
The Struggle Bus I was referring to earlier this week of time spent in the keys was such a breath
of fresh air for our family because just a few months earlier Ben and I were faced with the
fact that how we were interacting with each other and communicating with and treating one another
really left us in a place where we knew we would not be married to each other come next summer
if things did not change taking a walk in the morning and having time to sit and truly listen
to each other was something we never did before talking would tend to turn into conflict and we
would both end up feeling hurt and disconnected when the conversation was over however this visit
to the keys for us was very different because we enjoyed enjoyed getting out each morning and
sitting and truly connecting with one another now this would have never happened if it hadn't been
for some steps that we took just a few months ago which I'll tell you about a little bit later in
this video it's been an interesting trip down here so far because several of us have gotten
sick so we've been literally just H up in the RV for the last several days but today we are going
to head to a epic location and actually one of the places is where you can camp down here for
cheap so we're going to go check that out here in just a few minutes because we actually have
reservations there next month so I want to check it out for that but also because they have some
great paddle boarding at this particular place so right now Ben and Tim are trying to fit the paddle
boards on the Expedition this is totally like a learning trip for us because there's so many
things that are different in new the Expedition being one also trying to transport paddle boards
that are inflated versus having to will try to figure out inflation once we get there
so hopefully they fit on the roof rack the way we're thinking and don't blow off between here
and kargo cuz it's about a 45-minute drive that we've got to go down the Overseas Highway and
if we lose one of them it would be really really bad and there'd be no getting it back I at least
want to get a mullet all right you guys ready ready you got all of the camera stuff got all
the things okay and thanks thanks to Tim mcgyver Tim here that had all the straps and everything
to help us strap it down so came to the rescue once again in our unpreparedness what you said
we get an F on preparedness but I added it all to the packing list so next time it's now on the
pack we just keep adding to it as we go every single time that we realize oh we didn't have
this or that the packing list just keeps grow that's how you do it you fail forward right
kids fail forward all learn from our mistakes all right we ready let's do this this is not
working thankfully Tim and Melinda are right behind us cuz they were able to tell us that
the paddle board was bouncing so like literally we were not even a mile down the road and we
need to pull one of these off and put it in the Expedition so we're going to do that and then
hopefully be on our way oh my goodness gracious the joys John PenneKamp Coral Reef State Park
was the first undersea Park in the US and the park encompasses approximately 70 nautical square miles
the mangrove swamps and tropical hammocks in the Park's Upland areas offer visitors a unique
experience and there's an RV campground with full hookups hello many four1 we you have this
guy there you go thank you have a good
one we brought the paddle boards up for the day to explore more of the mangrove tunnels and explore
the park probably put a couple of snacks in the dry bag just in case nobody should get hangry
that way so all right all right getting closer John penic Camp State Park amazing amazing place
for paddling especially if man grve tunnels or something that sounds fun for you comust-see so
we'll have some information in the description below on the Florida State Park system here is
another thing that's interesting also put information in the description below right
now through January the 13th you can save 50% off your Florida state park pass because there
are like some state parks here in the keys that you definitely want to put on your mustsee must
travel bucket list so quick lunch before we go paddling what do we have here we have sandwiches
chicken salad chicken salad pretzels well like it's peanut butter it's like root vegetabl so your
homemade potato no and planting and planting Can I some strawberry no yeah course swee all right
there apples and ban or some pirate booty take to booty remember a few minutes ago when I told
you about some steps we took a few months earlier that changed things for us well part of that was
taking sort of a sabbatical from travel life we are super thankful for our glamper Hideway because it
gave us a soft place to land why we took time to get some outside help and for us that meant
seeing a marriage counselor to help us realize where we had gone off the rails and how to get
back on track it meant understanding that a lot of the messages our culture sends to us don't
always contribute to a healthy marriage and it meant we needed to take a break from traveling
in the RV for a few months so we could meet with a counselor regularly we know many of you
have left comments letting us know you do prefer travel videos over howto type of content and we
do appreciate your feedback and we have a lot more travel content coming but we did need to
take a step back from traveling to prioritize our marriage and our family and we know we're taking a
risk in Sharing more of our personal story and struggle with you all here on a public facing
platform but we also want to be authentic there is a lot of inauthenticity on social media and video
platforms and we don't want to be sharing just the Epic and feel-good moments but the Deep struggles
as well and like I mentioned earlier Our Hope and prayer is that maybe just maybe someone watching
this video will realize they're not alone in their TR and that there is hope for Change
and that things can be different than what they currently are all right we finally made it oh my
gosh oh
no all right you guys are going to hold the paddle boards we're going
to hold it down well at least if you fall you have something soft to land
on
[Music] got some bad news it's like anyway we're trying to get out of here this is totally ouro
I'm tired you're tired of a hot mess what is well I no I'm not saying yes to you being a hot
mess but so you remember that screeching noise when we brought the slides in you remember yes
it happens all the time so did you figure out what it is yeah yep so the basement compartment
I did not ask you the basement compartment is coming apart from the slide um the metal piece
and it's it's hanging on by a like a a thread basically you can see like a like half of it
has kind of come apart from the piece of metal that joins it to the slide so we're going to
have to have it welded or something back on so someone's have to get up under there and
weld it or or something I don't know how that works but the basement compartments are heavy
is it problematic for like today no I don't I think I mean we've been getting by with it for
a while I think I been getting B with it for a while but but something we're going to have to
get address it's going to be super sad saying goodbye to our neighbors Tim Melinda man I'm
telling you one of the things that I feel like that we've learned more and more is just really
the value of RV Community Tim and Melinda have been next to us this whole time that we've been
here my toe got bit up by ants yesterday Melinda brought me over some hom apothics I mean it's just
like neighbors are the best when you know your neighbors and uh you can just do life together
we've been doing meals all of it definitely find your people on the road not everybody that you
meet out there is going to be your people but when you find your people man stick tight with
those RV Buddies the puppies she's super cute puppies look at the puppies dog's escaping good
boy need Alaska to go do his
[Music]
business that's awesome if you didn't catch last week's episode we'll have that for you right up
here if we don't see you out on the road or around the campground we'll catch you in the next video