Yahoo Finance This Illinois family downsized their life to travel the country
Why stay in one place when you can travel the country with all the comforts of home on wheels? Globetrotting couple Malvin and Chelsea (@kufamba_thetravelingtribe) decided to take wanderlust-living on the road in their converted RV. On this episode of Dream Big, Live Small, the family gives a tour of their homey, multi-purpose RV.
Malvin and Chelsea aren’t new to RV-living. For years the traveling couple and their 3 children spent weekends voyaging around in their 44-foot RV. “We always said someday we’ll live in an RV full-time, which really kind of just seemed like a someday dream,” Chelsea tells In The Know. When the time came for Chelsea to find a new teaching job, the couple saw it as the perfect opportunity to travel before officially settling down roots again. Taking a break from teaching elementary school gives Chelsea the freedom to travel and devote more time and energy to homeschooling her children.
In keeping with the family’s travel pursuits, the RV’s exterior features a small map of the U.S. with each state they’ve visited filled in with a sticker. Large awnings provide shade for the main outdoor area, which includes spaces for playing, grilling, and exercising.
Inside the RV, the main living space consists of cozy, multi-functional appliances and furnishings. From school time to meal time to chill time, most of the family’s activities take place here, making it the heart of their home on wheels.
The entertainment nook has a pullout couch for guests, while a small fireplace beneath the TV provides a warm, cozy ambiance. Located above the sofa and TV is plenty of storage space for school books and materials, keeping clutter to a minimum.
In addition to the generous storage space, the kitchen includes plenty of counter space thanks to the island, which also has a large sink to store dishes and cups. A full-size fridge and 4-burner stove make cooking and meal prep a more streamlined experience, while an ice maker— Malvin playfully recalls having to “fight for this one”— sits between the two appliances.
A must-have for the family’s RV was a table. “We use this all day long,” Chelsea explains, gesturing to the small breakfast nook, which doubles as a dinner table and classroom, with the help of pullout drawers under the seats filled with more school materials.
Moving on, Chelsea gives viewers a tour of the kids’ bedroom, which was once the main bedroom. “We mounted a crib to where the queen bed used to sit, and then we took out the rest of the bed frame and put in bunks,” Chelsea relays, sharing that her kids love hanging out together in their fun bunk beds before crashing after a long day of adventures. “This was our main project before we left on the road, making sure that they felt like this was their home and their space.”
Malvin continues the RV walkthrough with the couple’s bedroom. Their drop-down bed helps facilitate the room’s multiple functions as an office, mini adult hangout space, and laundry room. The kids’ play area behind the multi-use room and the side-deck adjacent to the RV accommodate more living space.
When it comes to the family’s goals for the future, traveling is the primary pursuit on the agenda. “When the time is right, we’ll find a house with land where we can park our RV and still continue to travel, but we don’t know when that will be,” Chelsea says.
While the family eventually plans to settle down somewhere permanently, for now, they’re happy fulfilling their travel dreams on the road.
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