Where did you honeymoon? On the beach somewhere? Or maybe you’re still waiting to take your honeymoon, because life was just too busy and money too tight? Not the Padget’s. Alyssa and Heath Padget decided that before they started their lives together, they wanted to explore a world of possibilities {or at least a country of them}. According to a feature on CNN, they decided to quit their jobs, buy an RV, and hit the road. For seven months, they zig-zagged their way across America–hitting every single state. They made ends meet through free-lance writing, and filmed their documentary Hourly America. {The film documents Heath shadowing one hourly-waged job in each state.} All of it in an effort to decide how they planned to live their lives together as a married couple.
I love this idea!!! It seems like when you’re young and just starting out, you’re in such a hurry to “start life.” You rush, rush, rush to get a great job that will allow you to move up quickly, buy a house, and tons of stuff to go in it. What if we all got 7 months to figure out how we wanted to live life through experiences that didn’t commit us for a lifetime? I totally think more people should do this–hit the road, see the country, and see what you are really made of.
What do you think oldy-weds, would you trade in your honeymoon memories for a do-over like this?
~Mavis
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Cecily says
I loved our honeymoon and wouldn’t change it for anything! We stayed a couple nights in a fancy hotel in Victoria B.C. and then camped for the rest of it. It was an amazing week (Our first son was born 9 months and 5 days after our wedding day)! 😉
Ashley says
I guess if you can survive 7 months on the road in an rv together, you should be pretty solid through the rest of your marriage….
Mavis Butterfield says
That was my first thought! 🙂
Laura says
We traveled three months all through Asia (though we had to cancel China because of Tianamen Square—married June 10, 1989, so only a week after the crush on the square). It was amazing and I would love to do it all over again!
We did have people ask us if we were crazy and if we thought we would survive it together. I was like, “Um, yes, we will, we are planning to spend the rest of our lives together!” So, 25 years later, we are still going strong and now we bring the kids. Spent 3 weeks in Europe last summer showing them all the heritage spots of our families. Wonderful!
Mavis Butterfield says
Congratulations on 25 years! 🙂
Dayle says
We honemooned. ……. in our home. Took a week off work and enjoyed our backyard. But coming from a basement apartment our backyard was pretty darn sweet. (We moved into our home in April and married in August.)
Heath Padgett says
Mavis!
What a lovely article and thank you for sharing. I love your mission and your site looks fantastic. It’s been an incredible journey on the road- through our experiences and mostly all the people we now call friends. It’s also taught us how to live a very simply and happy life without all of the “extra things” that we accrued in our former life.
Thanks for sharing our story 🙂
Heath and Alysa
Alyssa Padgett says
Ah, thanks for sharing our story! We are in Mississippi this morning, state number 45! Almost done with all 50. I love your blog and what you’re teaching others. Heath and I can’t wait to have a home base so we can garden and have chickens! (2 things we learned about ourselves during our adventure–we want to grow vegetables and we want to own chickens!) Thanks for doing what you do! 🙂
-Alyssa