Travel envy

Yes, I know I am going to Texas again soon! But that isn't what I would call an adventure since I have been there so many times, and grew up there. Today I was at a mechanic shop having my van inspected before we make our trip next week. While there I decided to read the paper that was available in the waiting room. Below is what got my attention. I am pasting the article here because after a week it won't be available to view for free on the newspaper site. I can't figure out how to get their photo added (click here to see photo, while it is available). My husband and I still have dreams about traveling. It may not happen as soon as we had hoped. But the dream is still there (hence the title of my blog, "Heather's Moving Castle." You'll understand why I love this article after you read it. I would love to hang out with my blogging buddies around the U.S. as they are doing on their "Live Lightly Tour"!

Iowans roam America, fueled by veggie oil

By ERIN CRAWFORD • REGISTER STAFF WRITER • November 27, 2007

The open road called to Des Moines residents Sara and Matt Janssen.

And unlike most people with full-time jobs, a house and a kid, they answered.

"We bought an RV," Sara Janssen said. "It was supposed to be a blog tour, going around and meeting people I'd met through the blog, then we added the corn oil thing."

"The corn oil thing" is a $5,000 converted motor, made by Golden Fuel Systems, that allows their RV to run on vegetable oil. The couple - Sara is 31 and Matt is 29 - dubbed their journey the Live Lightly Tour and, in September, set off on a cross-country journey with their daughter, Bella, 3.

The tour began with an aggressively paced sweep through the Northeast, starting in Maine, which the Janssens needed to complete before the weather grew too cold for their RV's water system. They'll take a month off for the holidays, then head south.

Through their Web site and tours of the RV, the Janssens are promoting green living, stopping along the way at co-ops and college campuses, and spending time with Sara's blogging buddies.

"A lot of people are intrigued by the travel part, leaving the stability of everyday life," she said. "They see you doing something radical and crazy, and maybe they can do that, too."

Sara is writing about the tour and posting photos online.

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"Lisbon, Maine - Anathea and her husband Timmy just bought a gorgeous acreage and the property is stunning with its trees, open fields, a river, an old dance hall and more! They have big plans to refurbish the older buildings and I can't wait to see it finished."

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For all its free-spirited, take-to-the-road feel, the Janssens' tour was years in the planning. The couple spent two years downsizing, to get the family accustomed to living in a small space together and to save enough money for the tour. They sold their Beaverdale home and moved into a Sherman Hill apartment.

"We got used to simple living and got rid of a lot of our possessions," she said. They also spent several months in Montana prior to beginning the tour.

Getting their new simple rambling life together took some strict financial preparation. They paid off all their consumer debt and switched from traditional jobs to more freelance-friendly work in graphic and Web design and photography. The Janssens stop at co-ops and colleges to do four-hour demonstrations on their RV.

In addition to making for a great conversation topic, using vegetable oil waste as fuel has kept their tour costs down. The Janssens' only cost is fuel filters, which strain out bits of french fry and breading.

Final cost: About 30 cents a gallon.

"The cost is free, so that's the main plus," she said. "The restaurants we're taking it from usually have to pay someone to render it, so we're kind of doing them a favor and they're doing us a favor.

"Matt's a pro at (asking restaurant owners for gas). You learn how to say it so (the restaurant owners) don't get totally confused."

People assume the Janssens stop at every McDonald's they see to fuel up, but Sara said they prefer independently owned restaurants.

"Mom-and-pops tend to switch (their grease) out more often."

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"New York City - When I was a little girl, I dreamed of a life in the big city. In this imaginary life, I lived in a fabulous row house, ran around in high heels and worked in a high-powered job. And if I couldn't have that, then I at least wanted to visit NYC and pretend to be those things! Well, I finally got my chance! Of course, my visions didn't exactly align. Instead of high-powered in heels, I was a dreadlocked mama from the Midwest in tennis shoes."

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In the evening, they usually park at the homes of people Sara has met online.

"For the first part of the tour, we're staying with people we've never met (offline)," she said. "(We call them) pretend friends until we meet in person and then we call them our real friends."

Their daughter is making new friends at many of the stops. Many of the people they've stayed with have young children.

Besides meeting new people and conducting the educational tours, the Janssens spend their time at normal family activities. They watch DVDs together. Matt and Sara fit in some work here and there.

They sleep in the RV.

"You're in your own bed at night," she said. "It's not like you're in different hotels or (staying with) a family with a too-small bed."

Blogger Andrea Birch of Ossining, N.Y., recently hosted the family.

Before their arrival, she was apprehensive about having a family of somewhat strangers and a giant blue RV at her home.

"Their visit turned out to be an inspiring one, as the Janssens not only dream big dreams, but live them," she said. "For our family, this was the exciting part: to see dreams, wishes, passion, activism and, most important, faith, in action."

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"Ossining, N.Y. - "When we come into an area, we usually have one family that we 'know' there. However, in Ossining, we had THREE! ... I 'met' Andrea quite a while ago. Some of you may know her as 'The Flourishing Mother' in the blogosphere. She writes delightful entries about her role as a Christian mother and wife.

"Bella got along famously with the kids and is still talking about them to this day. ... It was VERY difficult to pull the RV out of Ossining. It's always hard to say goodbye, but this was the hardest so far. Andrea wrote in our tour book before we left and said, "God brings his people together at a time of need and definitely NOT by chance.' I couldn't have said it better myself."

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Sara, who grew up in Akron, Ia., and had never visited New York City, said she's quickly developing an addiction to the family's new on-the-road lifestyle. She and Matt wonder whether they'll be bored once their living room no longer has wheels.

"Once you start traveling, the world opens up before you," she said.

But perhaps the most unconventional aspect of the tour is how it will end.

"The million-dollar question is: What are you doing after the tour?" Sara said. "And we don't have a plan. We don't have a home base. Everything we own is in my parents' basement.

"We want to see what's going to happen."

Reporter Erin Crawford can be reached at (515) 284-8438 or ecrawford@dmreg.com