Long Point County Park, FL

This morning I woke up before the others, and went outside to enjoy the beautiful sunrise. All was quiet as I looked around at our neighboring RV’s. Robby, Will, and Sam camped out in the tent, once again. Yet when I looked in their direction, I spotted Sam’ orange sleeping bag in our red kayak. Sure enough, I went over and discovered Sam sound asleep in the kayak….that's a first! I thought we’d tried all possible sleeping arrangements by now, but I was wrong! Sam came in later, and said he can’t wait to sleep in the kayak again.





God is good to the Besch Family. He’s blessed us with safe travels, good health, the opportunity to learn and teach not only about Calvert School’s curriculum, but also about our world and history. Most importantly, we have this year to spend together as a family. It’s not always easy sharing our limited space between six of us. The boys continue to argue and annoy each other, yet they’ve grown in their understanding of respecting each other and negotiating. Thom and I practice patience daily, and he amazes me with his level of tolerance, at times of the boys. He’s a great teacher, and our kids are learning so much from their Dad. He teaches them about the stars, fishing, camping, tying knots, electricity, fire safety, geo-caching, and catching lizards. For homeschooling, he takes the lead in science and algebra, as well as poetry!

We’re approaching the 9-month mark of our journey. We departed Delta Junction, Alaska in our motor coach on June 18th. I’m seeing signs that we’re getting ready for our transition to a “traditional, more typical lifestyle.” First of all, it feels great to just stay in one place for awhile! We’ve been in Florida since Jan 19th (almost 2 months), and at this particular campground since Feb 26th. Two weeks at one spot is a long time for our family. We’ve met many friendly people here, and the boys have made friends too. That’s hard to do when we stay only a couple nights at a campground before moving on. We accomplish more school time staying in one place. And lately, Thom has spent more time online looking at job possibilities.

In the past nine months, we’ve traveled through 26 states, seven countries in Europe, and many parts of Canada (Yukon Territory, Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia). It has been a fabulous opportunity to show our children first hand this beautiful world. Now I see we’re slowing down, as the travel bug is diminishing. We had thought about making a full circuit of North America with travels to the southwest and California. Now I’m not sure how much further we’ll go. We love Florida’s weather in March, and as I mentioned, it’s so nice to stay in one place for awhile.

The boys mention things like, “I can’t wait until we live in a house,” and Ben asked just this morning, “Mom, can I have my own room? It’s OK if it’s really small, as long as it has a closet where I can keep my things.” Sam complains that our toilet doesn’t flush as well as a “regular toilet!” Will misses his friends from Delta Junction, and of course playing hockey. Robby looks forward to going to school with other students, and with “regular teachers.” These are all good signs. When I remind them that we’re nearing the end of this adventure, and we should enjoy our school mornings started by swimming with dolphins, they smile. It’s a special year that we probably will never experience again, in this depth. And yes, it’s true about the dolphins. One of our campsites here at Long Point was next to the intercoastal waterway of the Sebastian Inlet. Dolphins swam regularly past our campsite, and so the boys swam out three mornings in a row, getting within 10 feet of the dolphins!


Please pray for us as we make our big decisions. We pray that God will show us where He wants our family to be next. Thom worries, as can be expected with our economy the way it is, and lays awake at night. I remind him that he continues to be a wonderful provider for all of us. Thom wants to please us by finding a job so we can live in the northeast near his family, near the cottage at Frost Point, Canada, and of course where the boys can play hockey. That would be ideal, but more importantly to me is for Thom to find a job that he’s excited about. He’s fervent about renewable energy, especially wind power. I’d love to see him working in this field, especially with all the problems in our world, including global warming and our country’s dependence on foreign oil.

Now we have about 3 months of travel time remaining. In June or July, hopefully Thom will have a job offer and we’ll look to settle down wherever that job may be. It’s a great real estate market for buyers, so we’ll most likely buy a home. Then the boys will start school in August. So, again, please include our family in your prayers as our travels wind down, and we move onto our next chapter.