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Old 06-15-2020, 08:45 PM   #21
Huntme
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First, that article is definitely just click bait.
Having said that, it starts out with selling the house and hitting the road, so it is all about full timing. Narrows the field to about 1% or less of retirees. Then it seems to focus on motorhomes and the costs associated with them. Narrow that field even further.

Even with that, the cost of full timing in an expensive motorhome is still cheaper and much more fulfilling than a nursing home.

I'll take the road please. We half time and still have a paid for S&B for the summer. Some full time and some just weekenders, some big 5er's and some small TT's. RVing for retirement is such a broad subject, no article can cover it all. There are whole books that try.

Just looking at the range of tastes on this forum alone shows how many strokes there are out there, and guess what, that's what makes this life so good.

Just looking at the morning news, we are definitely the sane ones.


well said.
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Old 06-16-2020, 08:51 AM   #22
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Maybe I should write a book, "13 reasons why not retire in a rv". Or should've posted our 10 years of fulltiming on U tube like several others are doing.
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Old 06-16-2020, 03:15 PM   #23
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I think it all depends on how nomadic you have been throughout your life.
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Old 06-16-2020, 04:01 PM   #24
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Absolutely no regrets here! Sold our home, all the contents in the home and the garage (every power and manual tool a man could need). Retired May, 2013 and hit the road running and have made priceless memories! We have had pretty much an effortless experience with our (purchased new) 2012 Alpine, which makes for a totally different opinion than others who have had a myriad of problems from the get-go. So I guess we would be called "fulltime travelers", seven years & approximately 100,000 plus miles on the Alpine.

Recently we purchased property in an RV Resort. Our personal site has complete outdoor living areas, Kitchen, Dining, and living room overlooking the high desert and sunsets each night. I guess one could say this is our "sticks and bricks" when we are not on the road. We stay there off and on during the winter months... October thru May. Average temps around 70*.

I am the kind of guy that... If I can do it... I will not pay to have it done! So do I miss mowing the yard, painting the house inside and out, landscaping, changing the fluids in the cars and truck, washing all those windows etc, etc, etc.. Not one bit!!!

Oh and it sure is a huge bonus when your spouse feels the same!!!
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Old 02-26-2021, 04:24 PM   #25
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I've had people ask me if we were going to go full time. Nope, no way. I enjoy my back porch sittin and looking at the trees, not another RV. But whatever floats your boat.
Full time isn’t looking at another RV. We do volunteer work at state parks without campgrounds and the view is always great! Of course this isn’t for everyone. I am glad we were told about it. I love the giving back, the nature, the beauty, the education, and we get to be in some beautiful places. =)
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Old 02-27-2021, 06:47 AM   #26
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Full time isn’t looking at another RV. We do volunteer work at state parks without campgrounds and the view is always great! Of course this isn’t for everyone. I am glad we were told about it. I love the giving back, the nature, the beauty, the education, and we get to be in some beautiful places. =)
I'm missing something. If you do volunteer work in a state park without a campground, where do you sleep?
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Old 02-27-2021, 10:22 AM   #27
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I'm missing something. If you do volunteer work in a state park without a campground, where do you sleep?
They have sites for volunteers and rangers. They are spaced out throughout the park. Though one we considered was fenced in the city because it was a state park trail. Some are VERY remote and let you know before you accept.
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Old 02-28-2021, 06:42 AM   #28
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My plan for full timing will come when I need assisted living. I plan on booking cruises every week. One can get a closet sized, windowless room next to the ship's engines for about approx. $800.00 a week. I have all my meals included and have fresh sheets and towels. Who would have thought that Carnival cruise lines has a glorified assisted living option....ha..ha.
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Old 02-28-2021, 07:23 AM   #29
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I think if someone just flat out sells their house and hits the road and has never camped a day in their life before will experience all the things mentioned in the article AND will face the horrid SHOCK it's NOTHING what they were expecting or visioned in their bubble dream world.

For those of use who have grown into RV's, passed through the tent stage, to the pop-up camper, to the travel trailers, the fifth wheels, truck campers, and motor homes, who have been week-end warriors, 2 week a year Summer vacation travelers, occasional work from camper (seasonal, temporary, or even a campground work-camper), who have bought and sold and bought again new RV's, dealt with all the up's and down's of RV ownership .... NONE of the things listened in the article is a surprise when the big day comes to lock the front door of the house that last time. We've grown through these processes and learned to deal with them over years and years of first hand experience. There are no surprises .... except one! And I think it's a "surprise" when you take a trip and there are actually no surprises!

I have ALWAYS advised folks who say they want to sell out, get an RV and hit the road, to buy the RV and use it for at least a year before hitting the road, for a number of reasons.

The first is, because it takes time to work out all the different problems and warranty issues that happen in the first year.

The reason you find all these issues in the first year, is because you are using the camper as much as possible. Issues do not turn up until the camper is actually used.

Next, when issues turn up, warranty work is needed, you have the safety net of your stick-n-brick home to live in, if you camper sits at an RV lot for 3 months waiting on repairs! If you are on the road and this happens, and you have no where to live for that duration, you are really screwed.

It takes a year to figure out 99% of how your camper works, and how to prepare for it ... extreme heat, extreme cold, being trapped inside when it's raining for days and days, and how to deal with natural events, like tornados, floods, hurricanes. It easier to learn how to do this with the safety of your stick-n-brick home to retreat to if you can't figure it out, than it is to panic and be completely clueless when you are in the middle of nowhere and suddenly find yourself in a precarious situation. Take a year, learn how to do this, get the expereince, and then after 1 year, IF you still have the same enthusiasm to hit the road, then GO and live life! You're better prepared now.

Pipe dreams and bubble dreams get shattered real fast for people who have never done it before and find their imaginations are nothing compared to reality.

The article is good for someone who has never owned an RV before, and for someone who probably has never camped a day in their life, thinking the RV lifestyle is the cheap answer to all their financial problems.

For those who are seasoned, .... we already now this stuff, accept it, and it's all a part of our lives we live with every day, and we do it gladly, because we realize the end result is worth it, more than the inconveniences addressed in that article.
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Old 02-28-2021, 08:14 AM   #30
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They have sites for volunteers and rangers. They are spaced out throughout the park. Though one we considered was fenced in the city because it was a state park trail. Some are VERY remote and let you know before you accept.
Ahh, OK
That works.
I've just got too deep roots where I'm at to move away permanently. A month or so at a time is OK. But I'm not leaving my kids and grandkids.
And, I walk out my backdoor into a National Wildlife Refuge.
Are you "on duty" all year?
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Old 02-28-2021, 10:03 AM   #31
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I was in the Air Force when we first married. DW's first experience as a new USAF wife was Incirlik AB, Turkey. We lived in "base housing" which was Italian trailers moved to Turkey after they were used for several years in Lybia at Wheelus AB.

It was laid out very much like a 30' travel trailer and we called it "home" for the 2 year tour in Turkey.

My wife's only "hard and fast requirement" for any home we've had since that "experience in full timing" was that if there's no place in the house to make left or right turns, she's not going to live there. So, the closest we'll get to full timing is a month or two "on the road" then back to her "left/right rooms"....
I will drink to your experience at the (LIK) in Turkey. It was a silver Twinkie (Airstream) 50's vintage with a half bath and no room to sit on the toilet without pinning the knees along the bath. It was the wildest camping out adventure with having to secure your propane for the winter and staying outside in the summer for air conditioning. At least we had full hookups.
So No, to full time, unless I have a full Cabana, porch/deck and laundry room addition such as a double wide mobile home and resort atmosphere.
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Old 03-07-2021, 04:18 PM   #32
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I was just going to ask some of these questions.

We are now “full time” as we live in our Alpine. We bought some small acreage when we sold our home with the intention of building a new home.

We then thought, hey we can do this 5th wheel life more. Well we can’t.

My wife needs a place that’s more stable. When she had a bad day, I’d go down and get a flat of Pansies or Petunias and she would spend the afternoon filling planters or window boxes. I’ve found out she doesn’t have that outlet now, and she needs it.

I’m a bit of a slob, can live anywhere, but I do miss a shop for projects.

At any rate, now we are contemplating a Barn with a small apartment in it for relaxing/laundry, and a real bath tub.

We figure we have 8-10 years before our folks need pretty substantial care, and will build a home in case we need to take some of them in.

We hope to travel a month or two in the winter to recharge our batteries from work and the snow.
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Old 03-07-2021, 04:28 PM   #33
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Ahh, OK
That works.
I've just got too deep roots where I'm at to move away permanently. A month or so at a time is OK. But I'm not leaving my kids and grandkids.
And, I walk out my backdoor into a National Wildlife Refuge.
Are you "on duty" all year?
It depends on the state. The one we are currently in requires 20 hours per week (per site whether a couple or one person); the next state we head to in May requires 24 hours per site but it structured 3 days in 3 days off in a rolling rotation. Every state park is unique. =) We enjoy it very much!
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Old 03-07-2021, 05:50 PM   #34
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Justin,

Before we bought our cabin up here (back in the 80's) we built a 38x32 pole barn with a bathroom in one corner, 2 rollup garage doors on the side with windows on the opposite side and along the front and full hookups next to the rollup doors. At the time we had a 34' Holiday Rambler travel trailer. We would tow it up here, back it "VERY CAREFULLY" adjacent to the two rollup doors, open them so the two doors on the trailer were centered on the doors. That gave us a kitchen/bedroom and small bath (in the trailer) and a HUGE family room with a real bathroom in the pole barn. We spent several summers "parked in the woods" with that rig and it was "more comfortable than most cabins we'd rented"...

We sold that pole barn (for a nice profit) when we bought the cabin and later tore down the cabin to build this house once we retired. We've thought about building another pole barn to "park the trailer against" somewhere in the southwest, but the older we get the "shallower is that plan"...
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Old 03-07-2021, 05:59 PM   #35
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Justin,

Before we bought our cabin up here (back in the 80's) we built a 38x32 pole barn with a bathroom in one corner, 2 rollup garage doors on the side with windows on the opposite side and along the front and full hookups next to the rollup doors. At the time we had a 34' Holiday Rambler travel trailer. We would tow it up here, back it "VERY CAREFULLY" adjacent to the two rollup doors, open them so the two doors on the trailer were centered on the doors. That gave us a kitchen/bedroom and small bath (in the trailer) and a HUGE family room with a real bathroom in the pole barn. We spent several summers "parked in the woods" with that rig and it was "more comfortable than most cabins we'd rented"...

We sold that pole barn (for a nice profit) when we bought the cabin and later tore down the cabin to build this house once we retired. We've thought about building another pole barn to "park the trailer against" somewhere in the southwest, but the older we get the "shallower is that plan"...
Sounds like we are on your plan. We love our new property (2 ac), far enough from town but can still make work in 15-20 mins. Family is all still here.

We can build the home anytime. We would like a home in AZ, wife wants a yard as well. The new MH allows us to venture out relatively inexpensive and keep a “home base”

Who knows, I don’t have all the answers, and it could all change tomorrow
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Old 03-07-2021, 07:20 PM   #36
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Our plans changed "at least 15 times" from 2003 when we built our house in Louisiana with plans to winter there, summer in a small cabin up here and fly/drive to destinations as we wanted to see them. Plan was essentially, to rent a condo or just stay in an extended stay hotel as we travel...

There were several "changes as the years progressed" and then in 2008, I decided to retire. DW told me, (with no smile), "We've spent the last 40 years living where the Air Force sent us and where you wanted to live. I'm tired of snakes and alligators in the pool and wild hogs in the back yard. I want to go home and live in Michigan." Well, with her "look" I had no choice but to say, "Yes dear" and VOILA, here we are.... Living the dream, eh ???

Actually, I told her OK, but this time, I'm not spending a winter in Michigan, snowbound in that damn little cabin with you and no way to get out and enjoy the snow and cold.... So, we can do that, but we're building a bigger house and I'm getting all the toys I've been saving for my whole life... I must have hit her at a vulnerable moment because she said "DEAL"... and the rest is history.... I got all the toys, snowmobiles, new boat, tractor, ATV's and UTV's, motorcycle, trailer, truck, pole barns (2 going on 3) to keep it all in and unfortunately, she put her foot down when I stopped at a little private airport in Atlanta, MI to look at a Cessna 182.... That was a "chilling ride home" and I've "sort of stopped looking for an airplane".... (for now)
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Old 03-08-2021, 04:02 AM   #37
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Thankfully I missed the airplane "bug". I had a half dozen co-workers into them and got to hear about their adventures. Sounded similar to adventures with RV's....who is the best/cheapest A&P mechanic, what airport has the cheapest fuel and hangar, where to eat in Heber Springs Arkansas, etc. All the details of how to cut an old Swift in half for lunch time conversation. Building a push/pull kit plane......
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Old 03-08-2021, 07:27 AM   #38
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I love planes, everything about this is magic. However, I am not a detail person. Everyone who knows me would NEVER get in a plane with me, maybe not even myself.

Your comment about your wife reminded me of a moment I had while working on the motorhome.

What a wife I have found that would let me sight unseen, spend big bucks on a motorhome? Then pack up for 2 weeks and let me demo it, work on the engine, and follow me home?

After almost 30 years, I find I’m still very blessed to have her.

It’s why we are trying to get more time, together, experiencing new things. The RVs give us a path towards adventure. I think that’s what most people are looking for. Problem is their problems are still there. Full timing in a small space will make them come to a head quicker
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Old 03-08-2021, 11:58 AM   #39
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I got all the toys, snowmobiles, new boat, tractor, ATV's and UTV's, motorcycle, trailer, truck, pole barns (2 going on 3) to keep it all in and unfortunately, she put her foot down when I stopped at a little private airport in Atlanta, MI to look at a Cessna 182.... That was a "chilling ride home" and I've "sort of stopped looking for an airplane".... (for now) [/QUOTE]

Got my private in 1985...I owned a 1959 Cessna 182 ... best plane I ever flew.
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Old 04-25-2021, 02:08 AM   #40
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Now THAT is a sad story. When he is on his death bed, he can ponder his legacy - a list of pool halls, gallons of beer, an old motorcycle/truck/camper that will be sold for almost nothing, and a list of one-night stands with names he can't even remember. Rest in peace - then meet your maker...

I have no desire to build a legacy - but I'd like to go knowing that somehow, I added a little something to this world that enriched the lives of people around me. I'd like to hear "well done, good and faithful servant!"
He always has time to repent.
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