About FOTR
Some families travel with occupations that require mobility - such as construction, telecommunications, and entertainment. Others have traded in fast-paced careers for a life on wheels - maybe for a year, maybe for a lifetime! We are a diverse group, composed of various cultures, economic brackets, occupations and lifestyles. Families on the road include grandparents raising children, families headed by a single parent, and any number of children. But we all share a love of the open road, wherever it may take us.
FOTR Purpose
It is not the intention of this site to duplicate resources that are already available for the fulltime RVer. But rather, to direct you to those resources, and focus instead on the unique issues that face families traveling with children. The focus of FOTR is on topics such as choosing an RV that can accommodate a family, meeting the demands of a traveling occupation, raising children on the road, and the all-time number one question "What about school?". The goal is to share what we other traveling families have learned and enable everyone to contribute their own experiences, ideas and knowledge, so we can all learn from each other.
Whatever your circumstances, and whatever your reasons for choosing to fulltime with your family, welcome to the Families on the Road web site! Please consider this site a 'rest stop' along the Information Highway - a place where you can connect with other families on the road, share information and experiences, and give and receive support for this exciting lifestyle we have chosen. We hope that you find this site helpful, informative and, above all, encouraging.
This is YOUR Web Site and Community!
This site is maintained for Families on the Road and those working towards achieving that goal. If you value the FOTR web site and find it inspiring please consider helping Kimberly defer the costs of keeping it going by making a small donation through PayPal (Activated Storytellers).
Expenses
- Hosting: $56.50 a year (up from $45)
- Domain Registration: $15.00 (2 years)
- 10-20 hours a week for development and upkeep
Donations Recieved
- $70 from various families as of Feb. 2008
Thank you for your support!
FOTR History
FOTR was begun by Shelley Zoellick, who traveled fulltime in an RV with her husband Jeff and son Preston for 15 years. The Zoellick Family hit the road in 1988 and made the decision to settle down in Edmond, Oklahoma, in 2003.
"These were exciting, happy years, during which we visited 47 states, 4 Canadian provinces, and learned a great deal. Our son was born about a year after we hit the road, and grew up traveling in an RV."
~Shelley Zoellick (FOTR 1988-2003)
FOTR Today
In August 2006, the FOTR web site was adopted by Kimberly Goza. It is now constantly updated with the contributions of many traveling families who bring with them a wide variety of fulltime experience.
Kimberly Goza has been traveling fulltime with her family (a.k.a. The Activated Storytellers) since 1992. The Goza family is on the go, hardly ever spending more than a week in one location. They are modern pioneers, troubadours, gypsies, nomads, vaudevillians. When their son, Zephyr was 18 months old, Dennis and Kimberly Goza gave up their apartment in San Francisco, said goodbye to 9-to-5 jobs, bought an RV and never looked back. That was in 1992. Fifteen years later they are still traveling fulltime and loving every minute of it.
In addition to performing and running her family business, Kimberly devotes up to 20 hours a week to maintaining and developing the FOTR web site.
Email Kimberly (the "Nomadic Webmaster") with your questions, ideas and suggestions.
FOTR Web Host
This site is hosted by the remarkable Shawn and Annette Hall of 12 point design. 12 Point Design offers top of the line service with discounted rates for homeschoolers.
A Brief Look at Families on the Road
By Shelley Zoellick, (1998)
Editor and Publisher of Families On The Road Newsletter
When my husband, Jeff, and I began fulltime RVing back in 1988, we were in our twenties. At that time, I actually wondered if there were any other fulltime RVers our age. A year later, our son Preston was born, bringing a whole new set of issues to complicate this unconventional lifestyle we had chosen.
But by this time we had fallen in love with life on the road. And, after meeting numerous other fulltiming families at RV parks all over the continent, I realized that we were certainly not alone. Retirees may be in the majority when it comes to fulltime RVing, but there are far more young families enjoying this way of life than most people imagine (in addition to fulltiming grandparents who face similar issues as they raise their grandchildren on the road.)
Most of the families we met in our travels were on the road with mobile occupations, such as construction, entertainment and telecommunications. It wasn't until about six months ago that I discovered there were families all over America, in typical stationary lifestyles, who yearned to live on the road. I began "meeting" some of these families via the Internet, and their stories all sounded so similar. They want to see America while they are young and can share the experience with their children. Tired of the rat race, and the stresses of modern-day life, they want to find a simpler, more meaningful lifestyle. And they want to hit the road now!
I began to see the need for a publication that would provide information about fulltime RVing with children, and enable these families to share ideas, experiences, and information. They needed to know they were neither crazy nor alone in what they wanted to do - or were already doing. Over and over I heard from people who expressed both surprise and delight to discover that there were others who shared their dream - or were already living it.
The Families on the Road web site was published in July, 1998, and met with an overwhelming response. I received many email messages and letters, from families all over the globe, who were excited to discover a resource "just for them!" The e-mail discussion list, started in August, continues to grow in members.
For years I have been searching for a publication that addresses fulltime RVing from the perspective of young families with children. But virtually everything written on fulltiming seems to be intended for retirees, or those without young children. As far as I know, Families on the Road is the only in-depth publication of it's kind. I hope you find it useful.
See you on the road!
Shelley Zoellick
NOTE: The FOTR Newsletter is no longer available but most of the content can be found throughout this web site
