This is my 600th blog entry. Since October 2005 I’ve been reporting nearly daily from the road as we’ve crossed the country five times from coast to coast. In June, it will be two years since we sold our house and moved into a rolling home. And now I can see the end coming.

When we started this trip, it was with the plan that we’d be on the road for just six months, and then return to home base to build a new home. But something happened along the way. After just two or three months, we began to sense the approaching end of the trip, and it didn’t feel like enough. The travel experience, the lightness of being mobile, the educational opportunities and all the other things I’ve written about in the past 600 blog entries became our lifestyle and we didn’t want to give it up so quickly.

I’ve often warned other people who are considering long RV trips about this. There’s never enough time. The world — even the bit of it accessible to motorized vehicles on the North American continent — is too big. There are too many interesting people and places, too many amazing experiences, to even scratch the surface of it in a few months. We know full-time RV’ers who have been on the road for fifteen years and they still crave more. So no matter how much time you plan to spend, it may not be enough.

But we now own a house. Things are changing. Emma is going to start a regular school soon, and when that happens we will no longer be free to roam. This summer we have a few short months and then …

So I am looking at the next three months like the first three months. We have a small window in which to do so much, and hard choices have to be made. Grand Canyon or Bryce Canyon? Wind Cave or Mt Rushmore? Maine or Nova Scotia? Each decision feels more momentous because, like most other people, we now have very limited time.

We started this trip somewhat naive, looking only a few months down the road, and having only a foggy idea of where the road would lead. Six hundred memos from the road later, our crystal ball is no more clear than it was, but we do have a rich experience behind us and a feeling of confidence about the future.

So we don’t regret a moment of this, not by any measure, especially not dollars. If anything, we’ve learned that time is far more valuable than money. Anyone can make money, but nobody can make time. Use what you’ve got as best you can. That’s our plan for the last few months of our full-time travel experience.