Down the road full timer

[CWtheMan]

There are many definitions for full time RV travelers. This was ours. We both retired young (early 60s). Linda retired from the Florida real estate industry and me from the USN & then DOD. We sold everything we had, house, automotive vehicles, bass boat household furnishing, and all sorts of personal things, even collectables. What we couldn’t part with was placed in a secure, environmentally controlled storage unit. Our sons both lived in town and would maintain it for us. We established a mail forwarding address (UPS store). They would hold our mail until we asked for it to be forwarded. That meant we would have to stop once every 5-6 weeks for about 10 days or until our requested mail arrived at our location. The address allowed us to keep our Florida residence. Linda’s brother lived there and we used his address for voting.

The decision between a class A and 5th wheel was major. We finally decided that having to service a motor home periodically at a servicing dealership would not be as easy as just having a tow vehicle serviced.

Because of weight, we opted for a midrange fiver from Keystone, a 38’ Everest with three slides and washer dryer. After completely loading and getting scaled weights we had about 700# in reserve. We would need that because one of our hobbies was to buy goods at yard sales and resell them on eBay. We did small things like 1st edition books, old postcards, Zippo lighters, pocket knives, military things and anything light that caught our eye. The monthly sales profit normally paid for our fuel consumption and servicing. When we got heavy things we sent them to our storage unit in FL. My personal best was an old Cattaraugus pocket knife I paid $5 for. It sold for #152.00. Linda’s best was a hard cover three book 1st edition trilogy. She got them at a yard sale for $6. They sold at eBay auction for $175.00.

We traveled the country for nearly 5 years. We stopped when our youngest son got terminal pancreatic cancer. We purchased a manufactured home in a 55+ retirement community here in the SC foothills (Taylors) and took care of our son. Our following part time years saw us going south for about three of the coldest months.

In this thread I’ll show pictorials of some of the more interesting things we did along the way and answer any questions I might have an answer for. Our Everest was very durable and efficient. Modifications were mostly for comfort, like replacing that awful mattress.

Our very first RV Park was Naval Air Station, Jacksonville, FL. We got our dish and learned how to point it. We also got Verizon for our cell phones and internet connections. After about two weeks we said goodbye to everyone and headed north for the summer.

NOTE: My forum name CWtheMan. When I joined this forum it was a name I was using when I played interactive internet cribbage and I just keep it. I’ve played all my life and my win percentage is between 55-57%. That’s quite high and the longer I played on the net the more difficult it was for me to get games, so I quit. One of uncles win percentage is about the same as mine; we really butt heads when we play.

[gearhead]

You're a better man than me. No way I could live in a trailer. About 6 weeks of being on the road and I get itchy for home.

[notanlines]

Brent, we're just the opposite. Usually when we leave Florida we stop at 'home' long enough to settle with the lawn care people, visit with friends/grands and the worthless post office. In about four weeks we are both itching to head to Wisconsin for the summer. We can stay home when we get old.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by notanlines

Brent, we're just the opposite. Usually when we leave Florida we stop at 'home' long enough to settle with the lawn care people, visit with friends/grands and the worthless post office. In about four weeks we are both itching to head to Wisconsin for the summer. We can stay home when we get old.

^^^^^IMO this! DW did not want to get out and go, do/see; sometimes still drags her feet. "There's no rush to get out and travel....we can do that in time". In time? IN TIME? In time for what??? As I told her when you're past 70 there ain't much "in time" left before I REALLY AM relegated to sitting in a chair "at home" watching TV or....in a box.

When I retired at 55 (I had a super job that I loved) I told DW one of the reasons was that I was not going to keep plowing until 65+, talking of all my "retirement plans", was there are far too many things I want(ed) to see and do (and eat ) in this country before that happens and nearly everyone I knew that just kept "waiting" to retire did so (or didn't make it) then promptly kicked the bucket before realizing any of their plans/dreams - I was not going to do that if it was in my power.

She got used to 2-3 weeks and had fun. Then we kept stretching until 3 mos. was OK. First time at 5 mos. in a TT was too much for both of us. We both felt claustrophobic and missed "home" - hence the 5th wheel. We spent 7 mos. in it last year and neither of us had a problem. On our 3rd month this year. Home? It can wait - and IS waiting. Spent a considerable amount fall before last making the master bath handicap accessible; large walk in shower with multiple located shower heads/controls, granite benches around, handicap handles and rails etc. It's there and ready.....when I am.

I think the real of objective of retiring and being "free" to do what you want is to do what makes you and yours the happiest. It very well may be staying at home and working a large garden; that was my initial thought because we both loved it - but it became a lot of work and we kept managing to break something or come down with some affliction that made tending the garden a tedious chore. Neither of us ever intended on using an RV as we do now...but here we are.

Completely off point but; talking to the neighbor here (just celebrated his 80th) about "stuff", plans, etc. I told him when I was young I envisioned life as this long, winding road heading into the horizon - no end in sight and full of possibilities. The road behind was short, bumpy and full of curves. Now, when I look back THAT road is long and winding; I no longer see those bumps and curves from early on. When I look forward as I did as a young man, I SEE the end of that road; I SEE that stop sign. Life is grand; when you open your eyes in the morning that is cause, in itself, for celebration. After that make the most of what you have - however that may be.

[CWtheMan]

.

After leaving our first parking place at Jacksonville, FL we went north on I-95. I had two younger brothers living in Fayetteville, NC. We found a nice KOA in Wade with large level, grassy sites and FHU. After we got set-up we had a long discussion about travel time and decided to never schedule another day’s travel beyond 300 miles. It was 425 miles to Wade.

One day my brothers came out for a game of golf. My middle brother drove his little fishing truck out to the park and parked it under my hitch. We loaded into my larger truck and went golfing. When we got back the girls had some funny stories to tell us about people stopping to see if the little truck was actually hooked to the trailer. Lots more talk at the fire ring that night.

After saying goodbyes to my brothers and their families, we departed on our ventures. No schedule, just point and go. There’s something to see everywhere in our vast beautiful country.

[CWtheMan]

US-51 – IL

We loved traveling US highways. On this trip we went right up the middle of IL on US-51.

We had long time Navy friends (the Dooles) that traveled with us about 50% of the time. Betty’s family lives at Peoria. We had wintered together for awhile at St. Petersburg, FL. We left a little early and our friends went to IL and we went to Jacksonville, FL for a couple of weeks. We then worked our way to I-57 until we connected with US-51, then I-74 to Peoria. We spent a couple weeks there before heading up to I-80 for our trip west.

We found a really nice CG at Okaw Valley, IL where we rested for a couple of days and got our laundry washed. In Peoria our friends were staying at an old mobile home park that had some sites renovated to hold RV trailers. They had us a site beside them.

Pictures; 1. – US-51, IL countryside --- 2. Quick stop, Okaw Valley CG --- 3 Peoria mobile home/RV Park. Park

Full Timer notables: At that stop in Peoria we replaced the awful mattress that came with the trailer for something a lot more comfortable.

[imdun]

It sounds great but what if I’m not ready to sell everything in the beginning without trying out the full time thing.

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by imdun

It sounds great but what if I’m not ready to sell everything in the beginning without trying out the full time thing.

Then don't sell everything and leave yourself "without a second option"...

Why not consider a 1 week trip, then return home, followed by a 1 month trip and return home, followed by a 3 month trip (you can always cut it short) and return home, followed by a 6 month trip and return home, followed by sitting down to weigh all your experiences and make a determination what to do at that point....

IMHO, anybody who "jumps to the head of the line" by making a snap decision, selling everything and using the money from the sale to buy a "first time RV home" (not part time vacation trailer) with no idea whether they can even live in such close quarters, well, they're a "special kind of people".... (Watch Steel Magnolias and you'll understand what "special" really means)

YMMV

[Ram Nation]

Originally Posted by gearhead

You're a better man than me. No way I could live in a trailer. About 6 weeks of being on the road and I get itchy for home.

How about this instead

[CWtheMan]

Looking Back #1

We have entered the twilight years, but our minds are clear and the thousands of pictures we took during our RV traveling years are stored on discs with trip and highlights.



We still travel, just in a different way, SUV. October 4th will mark our 64th year together. We will spend it at the monster Cherokee resort casino up in the NC Mountains, at Cherokee, NC. It’s a nice drive up there from our home in the foothills section of SC. They comped us for three nights which was nice of them.




We made our last trip west from SC and return. It took us to 19 states with a 3-month layover at Yuma, AZ. Being seasonal travelers, we always wintered in the south. CA – AZ – TX – LA – FL was our southern hunker down states. Our northern lay over states were ME – NY – ND – SD – CA. We did spend a couple of weeks one time at my cousins CG in NH. However, it was mosquito season and after two weeks of that we headed for the Maine coast and a parking site in the sun.




For those of you that have followed our traveling posts you may have noticed our bat antenna is often extended when we are using our Dish system. That’s because Dish and ABC were almost always bickering, and that service would be interrupted. When that happened and we wanted to watch ABC, I installed a switching system that allowed us to switch between the dish, bat and CATV connections. We had a two-box dish system, and I added a line connection to the bedroom. Some pictures will show the TV line hooked up going to the bedroom TV. It’s near the RH bedroom window.

I’ll add to this from time to time when that little light bulb in my head lights up with an interesting subject.

[sourdough]

Thanks for the post Cal. Happy 64th a couple of weeks early!! Hope it's a great day for you.

[CWtheMan]

Looking Back #2

During our 23 years in Jacksonville, FL we had two homes built from the ground up. It was fun going by and checking the progress and inspecting the work. The first one was a smallish all brick 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms on a ¾ acre lot just 5 miles from Naval Air Station Cecil Field, where I was stationed. The second was our retirement home. It was much larger with an in-ground pool and in a golf course community. Linda and I both loved to golf and were planning on retiring and travel around America where golf courses were plentiful. However, Linda became disabled by a chronic condition and could no longer work full days or golf. Because her condition is not life threatening or debilitating, we started looking for other retirement options. We had traveled around the USA a lot but were never able to take the time to look around and enjoy America. We started reading trip, travel blogs and decided to hit the road in a small RV home. At the time of retirement, I was 63 and retired from the Navy, DOD and on SSA and Linda was on SSA disability retirement at 60. Well, we sold nearly everything in the house, plus our car, boat and truck and purchased a new 38’ fiver and a Cummins powered Dodge Dually to haul it with. The first couple to look at our home purchased it without any haggling. They even brought us gifts to the closing because the house was completely ready for them.





You know this is going somewhere, don’t you? Once we started advertising and selling things from our home, we found eBay. Most of the things we sold there were by auctions. It was fun and exciting and once we hit the road it became one of our enjoyable things to do. Linda always liked to read. I liked fishing and old military things. I had opened a separate eBay banking account when selling home things and linked it to a PayPal account. On the road we went to yard sales and flea markets and purchased things we thought might be profitable. We allotted enough RV storage space for 200#. To ensure our weights (GVWR, GCWR, and GAWRs) were remained within the limits set for them, we scaled our rig about 3 times a year. My items were mostly old fishing lures, military Zippo lighters and pocked knives. My prized finds were Cattaraugus knives. I found a few that looked like they were in such bad condition I wouldn’t have put them in my junk toolbox, and then they would sell for hundreds of dollars.

Linda was very good at finding pristine condition 1st edition books which can also bring in hundreds of dollars. But, remember this, it was a hobby we could do together, and it was fun. We had some really nice dinners from any profits we made. (We shipped from where we were at and return shipments went to our USP mailbox at Jacksonville, FL. (Our sons managed our storage space).
During my Navy years we transferred coast to coast 5 times. From the time our two boys were in 1st and 3rd grades we rented pop-up trailers and camping equipment from Navy MWR and went camping and fishing. By the time our boys were in their early teens they had been to a dozen or more national parks/forests. From Acadia in Maine to Los Padres NF in Calf they explored wildlife and forests even walking on fallen red woods in Sequoia. From all that experience we decided to never dry camp in our retirement adventures. And we never parked in someone’s parking lot. You can count on one hand the places we parked with only water & elect. I think we did gray water dumping less than 6 times.



Here are some places we do not recommend. The Salton Sea, it stinks. John W. Star SP, Starkville, MS. FHU? Yes! Still yucky!



Helpful hints about some of the things a full timer will eventually add as necessary. Almost all Military CGs with FHUs will have an extra 15 APMs available at the power connection area. Some civilian CGs will also have the extra power available. I got a 15 AMP extension cord and run it up through the laundry chute into the bedroom, where the extra power is welcomed for hair dryers and curling irons, those things that often got me hunting for the CG circuit breaker box.

[travelin texans]

Welcome aboard! Enjoy the full-time experience!
We full-timed for 10+ years & I wouldn't say that FHU sites are for "spoiled travelers". My DW said if we were going to "live" in a rv she required 3 things; 50 amp electric, water connection & sewer. She said "we bought a rv with all the conveniences of home, I want to use all of them!".
We boondocked in our younger days in everything from the bed of pickups, tents, popups so we already got that type of camping out of our system.
We found the activities & social interaction among the folks around us was fantastic, we've made several friends some of which are still in contact with.
If/when you travel south or west & spend any amount of time you'll be adding that second AC to go with the 15k or be very uncomfortable, any rv over about 25' absolutely requires 2 acs.

[dutchmensport]

Sourdough, your story is similar to what we are currently experiencing. Except we both are still employed, I'm 65, almost 66, but exclusively work from home since our companies shut the doors and said don't come back in the building until the Virus "thing" is over. So, we've been working form camper. Our journeys are getting longer and longer before returning home. We're heading out in April, and at this point, no plans to come back to the house. Our son and his little boy live with us, and actually, we've deeded the house over to him and will continue using the house as our home base. It's in the country, no zoning, so we can park the camper "at home" any time.

We just did 5 week in Alabama over January and February. Wife had some surgery done and we're getting a washer and dryer installed in the camper. Come the second week in April and we are on-the-road-again .... actually .... heading near Charlotte, NC.

"Have internet, will travel!" As long as our companies don't tell us to come back in the building .... See you all on the road!

[Ram Nation]

Sounds like a good story CW, Just read the whole thing about your experiences. Like you we sold off most everything except what the kids and Grand kids wanted. We just got plain tired of the upkeep of everything as we get older. We tried different locations and even the hitching up and going got tiresome. We tried it out of state but always managed to come back to Texas. Tried Florida, Arizona, Nevada, California and as far as were concerned nothing beats Texas. Still have property in three of those states but the Daughter and Grand kids will end up with it. Almost all my guns went to my Grand kids and Her household stuff to my Daughter. After 51 years marriage were content to live in our Alpine. Don't miss working on the house, barn or vehicles anymore. Don't miss mowing the lawn climbing on the roof removing tree limbs or anything of that nature. We enjoy going to Boca Chica and watching the rockets being built there or sitting on a beach at South Padre watching people or animals. Life is too short and we both realized that its the little things in life that's important. At least too us anyway. Anyway good story, enjoyed it all. Thanks

[CWtheMan]

Originally Posted by Ram Nation

Sounds like a good story CW, Just read the whole thing about your experiences. Like you we sold off most everything except what the kids and Grand kids wanted. We just got plain tired of the upkeep of everything as we get older. We tried different locations and even the hitching up and going got tiresome. We tried it out of state but always managed to come back to Texas. Tried Florida, Arizona, Nevada, California and as far as were concerned nothing beats Texas. Still have property in three of those states but the Daughter and Grand kids will end up with it. Almost all my guns went to my Grand kids and Her household stuff to my Daughter. After 51 years marriage were content to live in our Alpine. Don't miss working on the house, barn or vehicles anymore. Don't miss mowing the lawn climbing on the roof removing tree limbs or anything of that nature. We enjoy going to Boca Chica and watching the rockets being built there or sitting on a beach at South Padre watching people or animals. Life is too short and we both realized that its the little things in life that's important. At least too us anyway. Anyway good story, enjoyed it all. Thanks

Thank You!

This is what we liked about Padre Island. Sandy beaches to drive on and productive surf fishing.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by CWtheMan

Thank You!

This is what we liked about Padre Island. Sandy beaches to drive on and productive surf fishing.

Attachment 38243 Attachment 38244

CW pay attention on that beach. I've seen more than one vehicle sitting out too far stranded and sunk in the sand, and....the years that had strange looking "sandy, blackish looking balls". My friend said not to worry and took off through them; rolled up, soft oil balls that he (and we) stepped in. His truck, and our shoes, were SUCH a mess so beware - soft tar.