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GREENVILLE, Maine — Dan and Becky Hirn live in a new neighborhood just about every day, but the couple loves the diversity it brings.

The Hirns, both 34, of Delphos, Ohio, left their jobs and state on June 15 to tour the United States with their two children, Abby, 10, and Carter, 4.

The couple recognizes that tomorrow is not a given, so rather than wait for their retirement, they decided to enjoy a year of traveling while they still have their health, youth and drive.

“We wanted to make sure we could do this while we were able to and with the children,” Dan Hirn, a buyer for a food distribution company, said Wednesday during a stay at Moosehead Family Campground in Greenville. Life is fragile, a point driven home when a co-worker died suddenly a week before the family left on the trip, he said.

“If you can do something like this, make it happen because life really is short,” Becky Hirn, a property manager, said Wednesday.

The couple started planning for the trip about two years ago by developing an itinerary, identifying their needs, and compiling a budget. “It was a lot of planning,” Becky Hirn admitted.

The Hirns decided to tour all but Hawaii and Alaska over the year in their 25-foot recreational vehicle while towing a 17-foot trailer. The trailer provides the couple some privacy. To help fund the trip, the Hirns are partnering with companies by displaying company logos on their trailer.

While they declined to say how much they budgeted for the trip, Dan Hirn said they didn’t scrimp. If they want to try a local restaurant or pay for the admission to an attraction, they do, but they also try to find unique places and things that are free. While in Bangor, the family enjoyed the walk along the Penobscot River and visited the Paul Bunyan statue. In Greenville, where the couple had honeymooned in 2000, they traveled around Moosehead Lake and watched for moose.

The couple also plans to stop and visit friends and relatives along the way and plans to make pit stops in Ohio for the required face-to-face visits needed for Abby’s enrollment in Ohio’s virtual academy.

Each day, the couple makes entries into journals they are keeping of their travels. Becky Hirn said it will be neat at the end of the trip to see the different perspectives she and her husband recorded about the daily events.

Dan Hirn also takes a daily photograph from the window of his recreational vehicle and posts it on the family’s Web site www.ourtriptakesus.com.

“We’re seeing some really amazing things,” Becky Hirn said. “It’s just a different perspective, that’s what we’re looking for.”

dianabdn@myfairpoint.net

876-4579