This family is ‘blissfully enjoying life on the slow road, with no end in sight.’

When Adam, Emily and Colette Harteau left California back in 2012 in their VW Westfalia, they had the dream of making the 7,000-mile journey to Tierra del Fuego  and then returning a year later. But a funny thing happened along the way. A few months into the trip, the family fell in love with the freedom of living on the road. So they decided "to embrace a future unknown and the rewards of slow travel." 

The family, a few years later than expected, recently reached their destination in Tierra del Fuego.  

"It feels pretty amazing especially because our original plan was to make it all the way down to the tip of South America in six months, and after two-and-a-half years we just made it to the bottom. We just popped a bottle of champagne at the end of the Pan-American Highway."

They've had adventures along the way and met lots of friends. Their youngest daughter, Sierra, was born on the road last summer in Brazil. "She was made and raised on the road," says Emily Harteau.  

They are chronicling their travels at a website, Our Open Road.

What's it like to be on the road? Adam Harteau, a photographer and artist says "like a dream come true. It's our American dream. We just don't feel like living the American dream back home is accessible for young families. The fact that we can be all together, traveling and experiencing all of these amazing landscapes, meeting incredible people on the way, it's just a dream come true."

So what's ahead for the family of four? In the next couple of years, they're generally headed north toward Alaska, but they say "they are blissfully enjoying life on the slow road, with no end in sight."