Meet the Roberts, a family of seven who ditched their worldly belongings to satiate their nomadic itch. Bitten by the travel bug, parents Anna and Michael—along with kids Elise, Micah, Elijah, Jude and Nora—strapped into their self-converted school bus to venture across the United States. The mother of the clan tells us more about their country-wide adventure, the lessons learnt along the way, and more. By Bayar Jain
T+L India: When did you start travelling as a family? What motivated you to do so?
Anna Roberts: We started traveling full-time in our ‘Skoolie’ (a school bus, self-converted, into a home on wheels/RV) in August 2021. We were motivated by the desire to have these travel experiences with our kids while they’re young and still with us.
T+L India: What was your first trip together?
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Anna Roberts: Our first family trip—while still pregnant with Nora—was in our bus to the Southwest, USA (Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico). We rode bikes and hiked around Grand Canyon National Park, Saguaro and Petrified Forest National Parks. We even explored cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park, went sledding at White Sands National Park, and did a lot of kayaking and paddle boarding in Page, Arizona.
T+L India: Where all have you travelled together so far?
Anna Roberts: Since living in the school bus, we have travelled to 27 of the 50 United States (Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin) and 33 of the 63 US National Parks (Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, Saguaro, Hot Springs, Lassen Volcanic, Redwood, Pinnacles, Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Channel Islands, Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Sequoia, Great Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde, Rocky Mountain, Biscayne, Everglades, Indiana Dunes, Mammoth Cave, Acadia, Voyageurs, Gateway Arch, Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands, Cuyahoga Valley, Crater Lake, Badlands, Wind Caves, Guadalupe Mountains, Big Bend, Shenandoah, and New River Gorge National Parks!) and much more in between, including the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Gulf of Mexico. We even left the bus once to fly to Mexico!
We have parked at many lakes, rivers, forests, deserts, Walmart parking lots and rest areas. We have volunteered packing food for the hungry, visited family, attended a Skoolie event, met many people and made a lot of new friends. We have learned how to surf, gotten better at rock climbing, kayaking, paddle boarding and snorkelling. We have even hiked and biked a lot of miles!
T+L India: Tell us about your bus and how it came into being?
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Anna Roberts: Living and travelling the USA in an RV was a childhood dream of mine. In 2018, we heard about a family who converted a school bus into a tiny home. Michael has a background in home construction and remodelling, so we decided converting a school bus would be the best route for us. In August 2018, we found a bus on Facebook Marketplace, drove eight hours to look at it, and decided to buy it. The conversion took us about one year. We moved in the bus on November 1, 2020, and travelled part-time initially. We began travelling full-time in August 2021.
We have two couches that also become a bed, a kitchen (with a refrigerator, stove/oven), a bathroom (with tub/shower and flushable toilet), two bunk beds, a king size bed, lots of cabinets/storage, and all beds have storage underneath. Our bus is 40-feet-long and is set up with solar panels for off-grid living.
T+L India: How do you cope with the children’s formal education while travelling? How do you think travelling has impacted their upbringing?
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Anna Roberts: We homeschooled our kids before travelling in the bus, so the biggest change was doing it in a smaller space and adjusting to a travel schedule, which takes much more flexibility but also more self-discipline.
The average American has visited just 12 states and even less National Parks. Our kids are experiencing more places than most people will never see in their lifetime. It also isn’t lost on us what a privilege it is to show them much of the world. It’s not about a checklist or doing more than others. Their knowledge of the world has widened. They are stretching themselves physically as we explore mountains, deserts, oceans, lakes and forests. They are learning firsthand about different cultures and meeting people and making new friends from all over the country, and the world. Their social skills have grown from interacting with so many new people of all ages. Their compassion has grown from living in close-quarters with each other and seeing firsthand the different ways/places people live. They have learned many lessons while travelling—confidence, bravery, awareness, communication, new skills, “less is more,” diversity, flexibility, giving back, trying new foods, how to make friends, courage…
T+L India: Being a family of seven, how do you deal with differences that arise on-the-go?
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Anna Roberts: No matter where you live, issues will arise. We do our best as parents to be intentional about building relationships with our kids by taking them on individual dates at the places we visit, checking in, and keeping the communication open and ongoing. Being in a large family, living closely together, and having differences up-close-and-personal has taught us a lot about compassion for others and living un-selfishly. We’re grateful our kids are learning these lessons at a young age.
The kids have their frustrating moments, but for the most part they enjoy being together and get along really well. It’s important for us to show them that, while a lot of friends come and go, their siblings will be in their lives forever and that they are each other’s best friends. We teach them that our differences are beautiful and that’s what makes us unique. Dealing with differences and learning to solve problems is a a part of parenting. It’s what we signed up for and we desire everyday.
T+L India: How do you choose your next destination and plan for it?
Anna Roberts: We hope to visit all 50 states and the 63 National Parks. Our travels revolve around the National Parks as well as meeting up with other travelling families we met on the road. We even service opportunities, and sometimes work contracts as well.
T+L India: Tell us about your most memorable road trip and the places you visited.
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Anna Roberts: This is hard because they have all been memorable in their own way. We’ll pick our road trip to Florida because it was Nora’s first real road trip/bus ride. We had such a blast swimming in the ocean, snorkelling in the Keys, kayaking in Everglades National Park, seeing alligators at Myakka State Park, searching for shark teeth at Caspersen Beach, feeling the super soft white sand and finding sand dollars at Siesta Key beach, swimming with manatee at Crystal River, feeding flamingoes at Sarasota Jungle Gardens, and biking around Anna Maria Island to get ice cream. We even had a couple not-so-great, but unforgettable experiences like running out of gas in the Everglades and then driving from the eastern side of Florida to the western side while going about 35 miles/hour (roughly 56 kilometres per hour) because we needed a repair. Those situations make some great stories now and were definitely character-building!
T+L India: Any advice for parents who wish to travel with their children?
Anna Roberts: Take it slow if you need to and have reasonable expectations. Kids are pretty resilient and can often handle more than we think, but we shouldn’t expect them to handle the same we can as adults either. Be encouraging. Always carry a water bottle and plenty of snacks. Explain the trip so they know what to look forward to. Include them in the planning process when you can. Accept things will go wrong—you’ll feel less stressed when they do. Make it a priority to find a community of other travelling families. As far as safety, we have explained to our kids that if they ever get separated from us (thankfully this has never happened) to look for a mom with kids or someone who looks like a mom. And they have memorised our phone numbers!
T+L India: Five must-haves for road trips?
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Anna Roberts: Snacks, audio book, water bottle, camera/tripod, and car games
T+L India: Your favourite family destination and why?
Anna Roberts: This is a hard one! We have many favourites and so many places still to visit. We have recently really enjoyed southern California. The weather is great; the oceans and mountains are beautiful. Joshua Tree National Park is our kids’ favourite National Park because it has great rock scrambling and climbing for kids. San Diego has some of our favourite beaches for hanging out, playing and surfing. There’s endless things to do with your family. Our kids would probably also say Florida in the winter and the Great Sand Dunes when Medano Creek is flowing!
T+L India: What’s next on your bucket-list?
Anna Roberts: As far as our Skoolie travels, Alaska in the summer and Baja in the winter are big ones on our bucket list.
T+L India: If you had to use just one word to describe each member of the family, what would you say?
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Anna Roberts: Michael, resourceful; Anna, wise; Elise, creative; Micah, brave; Elijah, easygoing; Jude, thoughtful; Nora, joyful.
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