Establishing Our HolyPlace on Wheels: The Art of the Gathering Road School

There is a certain kind of beautiful chaos that comes with arriving at a new destination—whether that destination is a remote dispersed camping site deep in the backcountry, or a brand-new trailer full of life. The initial feeling can be overwhelming, a beautiful mess of storage bins, travel gear, and the sheer volume of things that make a home feel like a home.

For those of us who embrace the rhythm of full-time RV life and road schooling, we know this feeling intimately. We are constantly setting up, packing down, and then setting up again. Our 'home' is always in motion, and that temporary space has to become a HolyPlace—a place where the family can gather, where the learning can happen, and where the light of Christ can shine through the dust and the packing tape.

The Convergence of Community and Camping

The beauty of the Rogue Adventurers movement is that our 'field trip' doesn't have to be a single, perfect event. Our field trip is the journey itself. It's the convergence: the homeschool co-op who need a temporary classroom; the climbing family needing a staging area for the Grand Tetons; the overlanding group needing a secure spot to rest before tackling the next National Park.

Our trailer, our Skoolie, our temporary campsite—it's all a canvas. We are learning to make a home out of temporary arrangements, and that skill, of establishing order and fellowship in any space, is a profound lesson in itself.

Watching families unpack and organize a new space reminds us that even the most logistical challenges—figuring out where the bread machine goes, or how to organize the coat closet—are opportunities for preparation. We are not just organizing kitchenware; we are organizing our lives for the journey ahead.

From Storage Chaos to HolyPlace

When the initial clutter settles, the real work begins: establishing the rhythm of the community. This temporary home base, whether it’s on BLM land or in a state park, becomes the nucleus for our next adventure. We are preparing for the inevitable moments of rest, teaching, and gathering.

This is where we remember that while the 'stuff' is temporary, the gathering is eternal. Our temporary home base is where we prepare to gather, where we teach, and where we wait for what is to come.

This is why the concept of a 'HolyPlace' resonates so deeply in the Rogue Adventurers community. Every time we gather—whether it’s a potluck dinner in a cramped kitchen or a sunrise meeting at a backcountry overlook—that space becomes consecrated by fellowship. We are building a mobile community of believers, one dispersed camping site at a time.

Our Adventurer Toolkit: Sharing the Light

As we learn to make our temporary spaces function, we also think about how to share the light of our faith with the strangers and fellow travelers we meet along the way. Two items are always in our kit:

• CrockyGo Stones: These painted rocks are our silent, portable reminders. We leave them at trailheads and overlooks—a physical stone of remembrance and uplift for the next soul passing through.
• Decorated Currency Kids Bills: Every dollar spent at a local Proof Breads bakery or a small Tanner cuff shop is a mini-mission. These decorated bills are small, tangible gospel tracts that carry the light of the Gospel into the local economy and community.

The confluence of these simple, practical acts—the decorated bill exchanged for sourdough, the Crocky left at the trailhead—is how we turn a simple road trip into a profound, field-trip-at-scale mission. We are living out the principle of gathering, making the whole journey a testament to the Kingdom.

Ready for the Next Gathering?

The road is calling, and the gathering awaits. Are you planning a big trip beyond the county line? Are you running a homeschool co-op that needs a new field trip idea? Do you need to source an Adventure Angel to help plan your next base camp?

Don't just subscribe to the journey—participate in it. Find a local meet-up, list a field trip idea, or claim a creator profile and let's build a network of HolyPlaces, one mile at a time. The Adventurer life is built on movement, gathering, and the glorious anticipation of what is to come.