Class of 2017

[Adventureswithlulu]

Hello all! We'd like to join the class of 2017! We have set our date based on DH retirement date. Jan 1, 2017. We are so excited! We just recently purchased a 2015 Coachmen Encounter 37TZ and will be towing Sunny, our 2006 Jeep Wrangler. Looking forward to many conversations and asking many questions!

[Tumbleweed]

tnsauerkraut:

 

Welcome to the class of 2017. We're glad your're part of our group.

 

Dave

[Piedmontexpress]

Tumbleweed, we are so sorry to hear about your "loss"- how upsetting! We returned from a weeks vacation from SD Black Hills which was absolutely wonderful. We realized in that trip that we really do share the same interests and had a great time exploring together. We are looking forward to fulltiming together- if only it were sooner!!!! The only negative was that we also sustained hail damage to our 5 er while in the hills. Every roof vent and both A/C covers were peppered and perforated! The smart car got a few dings too. Now we have duct tape everywhere until they all get replaced! We got rid of a few things at a recent garage sale and will focus on the house during next winter. Still planning on moving to a campground for the last year or two before retirement to save up money ahead of retirement if all goes as planned. Welcome to the new members recently!

We have our gently used 2012 Starcraft Lexion in Wauconda IL ( Chicago Campingworld) on consignment if anyone knows of someone looking for a great seasonal unit.....

Bill and Patti

[HSVBamaBob]

Hi All!

 

Not sure if this is the right "Class" for us...our plans are to retire at the end of 2017 and start fulltiming in 2018. DEFINATELY looking for advice and knowledge regardless of which Class we fall into

 

A little bit about us.

 

We are Bob & Anne-Marie and have worked for (and served in) the US Military all our adult lives. In service, we have traveled all over the world, which has ingrained that travel wanderlust in us!

 

As we approached retirement we always knew we would RV extensively after we retired from federal service. The concept of fulltiming, however, was never really considered until a few months ago when I had a BFO: what are you going to do with that house and car when you are off gallivanting to Alaska in 2018 for 9 months? And those house payments are going for...what?

 

So I started exploring the idea of fulltiming. At first, Anne-Marie was completely against it. Now, not-so-much (her biggest concern was selling the house and never having a place of her own [brick & mortar home] again). So, our revised view of 'fulltiming' is on the road in our RV (5th Wheel) for 2-X years until all the "big" trips are done (Alaska, Canada, possibly Mexico, definitely all 50 states), wintering in FL or NM and then finding a patio-home community that either caters to RVs (allows them to park at the house), or possibly a RV-Port community (We live in Alabama and the only one we are aware of in Alabama is Blue Heron: http://www.blueheronrvresort.com/).

 

Anne-Marie is still very nervous about this life change so any advice you could offer her would be deeply appreciated!

 

Checklists, time-tables and to-do lists as we countdown would be deeply appreciated by me (I work for the Army as a Strategic Planner so I am VERY anal about every detail! I know "FT plans are set in jello" but the road to FT (IMHO) needs to be set in somewhat firmer stuff (Did I mention that I was anal about planning?)

 

How did ya'll downsize? I see some posts talking about eBay. Craig's List and yard sales are NOT a favorite of Anne-Marie's; she has heard too many horror stories.

 

My thought is to put what we will want for the brick & mortar home in storage and turn the rest of the house contents over to an estate sales company. Did any of you do that? Pros? Cons?

 

Anyway, that is our situation and I am looking to learn!

 

Thanks so much for your advice!

 

Bob

[NJTroy]

Welcome to the class of 2017! There aren't too many rules around here, so whether you are leaving early 2018 or late 2017, we're still happy to have you with us.

 

So, let me try to answer some of your questions.

 

Most of us around here who plan to fulltime are letting go of our sticks & bricks home. Others will "longtime," keeping the house, but spending extended periods away. My parents did this and having watched them, we concluded this wouldn't work for us. It's easier now, since so much can be done online. But there's still the physical house stuff, who will cut the lawn, shovel the snow, make sure everything is okay after a power outage, figure out how to get repairs done after a storm, water leak, pick your favorite one off unexpected thing. For my parents, it was my dear sister-in-law because she lived nearby and was a stay at home mom at that time. Honestly, it wasn't fair to her. Way too much time was required to keep things going while my parents were off out of reach in Alaska, Florida or wherever they happened to be at that time. In addition, we live in a very very high tax and high cost of living state and never planned to retire here. It's just not practical. We do expect eventually to have a S&B someday again, but it's highly unlikely it will be here.

 

We know people who have unloaded things in all of the ways you mentioned. We've done more donating than anything and taken the tax break from that. We have the added complication of having lost my parents last year and because of the situation have ended up with a lot of their stuff as well. Because of the volume of more valuable things that they and we had, we are doing some eBay-ing and a tiny bit of Craiglist as well. We've been willing to do that because an estate sale or yard sale won't get the value back on some items. We considered an estate sale, but I don't think we'll go that route in the end. It's a really good option if you don't have the time to do it as slowly as we have.

 

Because we have family heirlooms and things I'm unwilling to let go of, we will get a storage area before we leave. Those will be the beginnings of how we outfit our S&B when (or if) we decide to settle down again.

 

We have a plan we are following. Right now we are in the "paint two rooms a month" phase, which will be followed by the "redo all the trim," "regrout all bathroom floors," "repaint garage," "get storage area and move most things in," "make another big donation run," "redo kids bathrooms" phases and so on. Each of the bigger phases have smaller things going on in parallel and smaller breakdowns. (Yes, I'm an engineer and a planner as well.). Our target date for leaving is July, 2017 and our hope is to have everything we can see done that needs to be done by Nov, 2016. At that point we'll bring in a few realtors, get their opinions on what else we need to do to prep and put the house on the market by Feb, 2017.

 

Does that help?

[HSVBamaBob]

_NJTroy,

 

_{Yes it does. A lot. It gave my wife and I a lot to talk about last night and, in fact, you email - and welcoming us to the "Class of 2017" gave her a chuckle - she is opting for 2018 though because she said to tell you she feels like a freshman!}

 

_{The better news is your kind words gently nudged her more to the fulltiming side than any she had read before. She especially warmed to the "paint two rooms a month" idea!}

 

_{Since we park our rig at the side of our house, we (rather enthusiastically!) started planning to sell our house in 2017. Our current thought is to put it on the market in March and pretty much move out of the house and into the Cardinal at that time. That way the house remains pristine and can be shown at the drop of a hat (even though we are sitting in the rig watching TV at the time}

 

_{The one big question we still have is long term storage. Like you, we have family heirlooms and items that we absolutely want to keep--but do not necessarily need access to until we move into our S&B retirement home 3-5 years down the road. What sort of solutions have folks come up with - other than a climate controlled 'rent a shed' - Are their long term storage facilities available to the public? (We are a military family and are used to having items we did not want shipped overseas stored in long-term storage and as I recall, this was a very cost effective way of storage).}

 

_{On the other hand, we believe getting a climate controlled "rent a shed" to store seasonal items and other things may be a good idea as well.}

 

_{Looking forward to hearing the group's thoughs on these ideas!}

 

_{Bob & Anne-Marie Williams}

[jamtracy]

Hi all checking in after a long weekend camping trip to Lake Tahoe. We took our two older grand kids ( 9 and 11 ). It was lots of fun. We went horseback riding and went on a hay ride along the lake. We talked to some full timers around us and they are enjoying their mobile life. It was so encouraging. We were at an Encore RV park and there seemed to many rigs staying over a month. I was jealous but our time will come. We have 2 more camping (glamping) trips planned in August.

 

Dave- Sorry to hear about your rig but glad you guys are ok. Did it end up totaled? What's the next one going to be?

 

tnsauerkraut and HSVBamaBob welcome to the class of 2017. It's a group that is building up steam.

 

Bob I don't know what the long term storage availability is. Hopefully what ever we decide to keep one of our boys will store it for us. A climate controlled storage facility I would imagine would be costley (just guessing) and I would rather use those funds for something else. But for only 3-5 years til your back in a S&B retirement home might not be to bad.

 

Well 22 months to go for us if I can make it that long at work. LOL. I live in Northern California where rents are rising everyday. We've lived in this house for 6 years and the land lord has never raised the rent. He can get 50% more than we are paying if he wanted to. Our plan is if he does then we will be starting our new life earlier as it takes about 6K to move into a rental house now. Anyway thats it for now. Like Dave says Life Goes On!!!!

 

James

[HSVBamaBob]

James,

 

Thanks for the warm welcome!

 

The DW (Anne-Marie) and I came to a compromise: she saw the logic in FT since in 2018 we will be on the road for @ 9 months up to Alaska and back to Alabama. 2019 Sees us going North to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, over to Manitoba and back in the lower 48 zigzagging our way back to Alabama. 2020 We do the southern loop and possibly Mexico (we will go on a guided caravan for THAT trip LOL!) That will complete our CONUS/Canada/Mexico Glamping bucket list.

 

After we finish all the multi-months long trips I promised her that if she did not absolutely love FT I would at that point get us a S&B retirement base - ideally in a RV-Port community -- have any of you folks checked these out? They are COOL! The one that is here in Alabama costs under $100K for the property, 2 pads and a nice 1000-ish SF attached patio home. The sweet deal is you can rent your pad (and your home if you like) out to other RVs when you are on the road!

 

Anyway, back on topic <G> James, I have investigated here in Huntsville, AL a 10x15 climate controlled storage room is $130.00/mo with a 15% discount for yearly pre-pay.

 

Since I see you are a fellow Vet, here's another option I am exploring: remember when we PCS'ed overseas and they put stuff in long term storage? Well, having just returned from Europe in 2012, I know for a fact that long term semi-climate controlled (never below freezing and never above 85º) costs the government $950.00/year for 12,000LBS. So this might be a avenue some of us may want to explore for the seed furniture [i estimate that a bed, 2 dressers, couch, love seat, easy chair, dining table and 6 chairs + a couple of curio cabinets + 500LBS of heirloom items should not weigh over 3K] so storage should not be more than $500.00 or so (at lease here in the South).

 

Our target is to put the house on the market in March 2017 and if it sells before we retire in Dec that's fine! There's a really nice RV park on Post that has no time limit sites for $240/mo electricity/cable/WIFI included! Actually I am crossing my fingers the house sells quickly and we can start FT before we retire!

[Honalee]

Everything you all are saying sounds so familiar. We too want to get on the road by July 2017. I'm nervous about not having a house to go home to... not sure how it will feel to carry our house around with us full time. I ask myself if I'll miss our town, our home, everything that is so familiar to us? On the other hand, I want to challenge ourselves and it might be a "freeing" experience! We have used Craigslist to sell some things and plan to give a lot away. We too will have a storage unit for when we decided to buy a new home in the Kansas City Missouri area (where our daughter and family live).

 

We plan to go for as long as we are having fun. We too are planning a trip to Alaska and then a trip to Labrador and Newfoundland (I have to see the icebergs as they appear each Spring... and maybe kayak around them! ). My husband is a college VP and I'm a social worker so we aren't super anal like some of you, although we probably should be. We have researched and looked at 5th wheels a lot and have decided on the perfect one for us. We plan to go to campgrounds and national parks as much as possible (and some boondocking) so we need a well built, 4-season, smaller 5th wheel. So, now we know how much we need to pull so we plan to buy a truck very soon. We have only tent camped (when we were younger) so this is all very new to us. We do plan to go to Texas and take the Escapees Boot Camp once we get set up.

 

That's our story. Tell Anne-Marie that I really understand how stressful this phase can be. However, I read a blog by a full time couple who acknowledged how hard this part is but said to just keep pushing through. Pretty soon, she said, things will fall into place and you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner. I sure hope she is right!!!

Kathie

[HSVBamaBob]

Kathie,

 

Thanks for the kind words - I will pass them to Anne-Marie.

 

What is the name of the blog? We would like to have a read as well

 

So what 5er have you settled on? We're getting a Cardinal (Probably a lot larger than what you are looking for but Anne-Marie fell in love with the floor plan!)

[Honalee]

The blog is: roadslesstraveled.us

 

There is so much information on their blog. Just click on RVing Lifestyle.

 

We have decided on a Glacier Peak made by OutdoorsRV. They range in size from 29.11 to 34.1. As you know we are looking for small and as rugged as possible. I looked up your Cardinal... very nice!! I can see why Anna-Marie likes it!

 

We are painting two bathrooms this weekend. Also, getting my grandmother's weaving loom out of storage and putting it on Craigslist (I have a smaller floor loom that I use and am keeping). Last week we sold my father's wood lathe. It feels good to get these things that we never use (and the kids don't want), out of our lives.

Have a good weekend!

Kathie

[Tumbleweed]

James:

 

We believe that our RV won't be totaled. We will find our next week.

 

Bama Bob:

 

Welcome to the class of 2017. It doesn't matter if you go out in 2017 or 2018.

 

We are a very easy group.

 

Dave

[Second_Star]

Wow Dave, hope everything works out alright for you!! I can't even imagine what that must be like to have your home damaged like that. Stressful to say the least.

 

Well, another month closer and more items checked off the list! The plan is shaping up nicely and the number of items to get finished is slowly shrinking. The house is getting more and more empty and I almost feel like I could set up a small bowling alley in the living room! I'm on track to have it on the market this coming March/April and hope to have it sold by this time next year. That will be a HUGE step and will really kick start the jump-off savings account.

 

By the end of this year I should have the jump-off plan pretty well firmed up and then it will just be a matter of following it! So the first day of fully retired, semi full-time RV'ing will be October 1st, 2017. I even have the date for when to make the reservations at that first campground!

[jamtracy]

Second_Star it looks like your plans are moving along. I can't wait to start making our first plans. We figure the first year we will travel across country slooooooowly and set a route to visit family and friends that we have not seen in many years. After that I will have a volunteering plan in place. 20 months to go for us and still on track.

 

James

[HSVBamaBob]

Dave, Thanks for the Kind words!

 

Second_Star, that's awesome! You are moving forward nicely. It's good to hear that it CAN be done <G> When your house is still stuffed full of furniture (and 2 soon to be departing College Students ) It all seems so daunting.

 

All, good news! After several long discussions (and my personal reassurance on several issues of concern) the DW has finally agreed to going Full Time! More so, she is actually coming up with great ideas to help the process along! I honestly believe this is a choice for her now and she did not just "give in." She will excitedly tell me a idea about a 5er addition or a place she wants to visit on a daily basis. Yay us!

 

Now to launch the kids and get the house ready for sale!

 

Question for the group: We HAVE decided to not store the furniture (buying new furniture and appliances for our S&B home 5 or so years down the road was one of the assurances I made)

 

However, I am concerned that a empty house may be harder to sell than a house that has a "lived in" look with furniture. What do you think?

[R. Walter]

Most realtors I've known prefer the house to be empty. If not empty, at least (professionally) staged. Generally, this allows a buyer to better visualize how they will use the home.

[HSVBamaBob]

Thanks for the info R. Walter! I will check with our agent as we get closer to 'the day'

[Second_Star]

Well, it's going to have to be sold empty as it's already about 80% there! Two bedrooms, living room, and dining room are all bone empty right now and the master bedroom(mine) only has about five things in it.

 

I should clarify. At least for the near term, I'm going to keep a small condominium in Florida (where I live now) for several reasons. Biggest reason? Winter months. I hate cold, so being back here in Florida will fix that. Finding a campground in Florida during the winter can be a nightmare from what I hear. Also, I have family here that very likely will need assistance at some point in the future. It solves my domicile issues and it would allow me to do contract work ($$) where I work now during the winter months. Plus, if I need to get maintenance or upgrade work done on the rig or truck, it allows many more options.

 

I figure if/when I get 'that' phone call while I'm out in the far northwest, I can fly back and have a place to stay rather than make a mad driving dash across the country.

[HSVBamaBob]

You have a Point Second_Star. Only one set of parents left now and DW's dad passed last month (RIP Dad-loved him to death which is maybe uncommon for a son in law)

 

Anyway, we are anticipating "the phone call" for mom before we retire in DEC 2017. IF that happens, the only obligations we will have will be to our soon-to-launch college kids (both wil professional degrees that guarentee employment )

 

I called our realtor last night (old friend to boot!) and he agreed - empty house sells better even with the disclosed warts furniture could hide.

 

So, if the kids depart on schedule we will start selling off stuff - furniture included maybe by estate sale or not - we are still undecided (any advice here gang?)

 

If we get the house cleared out by the end of 2016 or early 2017, I have no problems putting the house on the market and going fulltime on our RV pad at the house! If the house sells before we retire, we can move the 5er to the Army post we work on and long-term it there.

 

I just realized no one probably wants to read my scheming and dreaming LOL! But pardon me, putting thoughts into words gels the concept and lets me develop a better plan

[Second_Star]

Not at all! Putting thoughts and ideas about getting ready for jumping off is very often idea sources for others!

 

As for the selling off.

 

So far I've found that garage sales have worked surprisingly well. The first two or three were very successful and I walked away with a pretty good fistful of cash. Tools, garage stuff, kitchen stuff, knick-knack type stuff have sold very quickly. I'm always amazed at what people will buy. One lady was thrilled to find a very old trombone that I bought years ago. (?? Who'd a thunk it?) Another guy offered me $60 for my old firefighter helmet. People will buy the craziest stuff.

 

Some of the stuff (books, clothes, small appliances, etc) I donated and wrote them off of my taxes. That's probably the easiest way to get rid of stuff real quick.

 

A few things I've posted on Craig's List. It's a bit of a pain to do it this way but if you have really odd things that won't sell, it might go that way.

[BoonHauler]

I'm planning on 2017 as well, can I join the group too? .....

[NJTroy]

Sure BoonHauler! Come on, pull up a chair and tell us about your plans!

 

Welcome to the Class of 2017!

[Tumbleweed]

BoonHauler:

 

Welcome to the class of 2017!

 

Glad to have you aboard.

 

Dave

[BoonHauler]

Thanks guys for welcoming me aboard the good ship Fulltimer sailing in 2017.

I’ll be 62 early in 2017 and planning on the maiden voyage for no later than July, 2017. I’ve been planning for this since 2008 and things are really starting to shape up.

First up I’ll be heading for Redding, CA to meet a (RVing) friend that I’ve made face to face for the first time. He’s a mechanic and has his own shop and I want him to do the upgrades I have planned for my truck.

From there I’ll be heading for central Oregon to start my new life. As the weather starts to turn I’ll of course head south eventually ending up in Quartszite where I’m planning on spending the first winter and REALLY looking forward to it I might add.

I’m single so the maiden voyage will also include a search for a LONG anticipated companion, a Red Heeler. I LOVE animals and it’s been at least 35 years since I’ve had a dog so I’m really looking forward to one as a retirement companion.

I use to motorcycle and this is first up on the list of ‘To Do’s’ in retirement. Although this time around an ATV will be in the front row with a dual-sport motorcycle in position number 2. ATVing the Four Corners area is at the top of the bucket list so once the warm weather chases me out of the greater Quartszite area I’ll be heading there so I can get that checked off the list.

As I mentioned above I’ve been planning since 2008 but things really got serious in 2009 when I started looking for my dream RV. Well after spending countless hours visiting the RV forums doing research I came to the conclusion that I needed something special. Being that I want to haul a motorcycle and ATV that put me in the ToyHauler class of RV’s. A ToyHauler seem to fit as well as I wanted to be able to have a vehicle that I could use as a daily driver (so too speak) as well. So the truck/trailer combination seemed to be option. This way I could drop the trailer and have the truck as a driver.

Well, the more I looked into toyhauler trailers the more I thought I needed something a little more robust than a factory built trailer. Well as things went on I decided to build my own trailer which I’ve been doing for the last five years. The project is close to being done now and I must admit it’s been WAY more work than I thought it would be.

Anyway, here’s a link to the site where I’ve been chronicling the build process so if you’re interested you can look it over http://www.southbayriders.com/forums/threads/119206/

Well, that’s my story and I’m really looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible out on the road in just a few more short years,

Thanks again for welcoming me aboard.

All the best,

Cee

[NJTroy]

BoonHauler, it sounds like you've got quite a plan already! We're planning to leave July of 2017 as well, if all goes well between now and then. We'll be slowly working our way to the west for the following winter unless something changes between now and then or our schedule has to be revised. I'm impressed that you are building your own trailer!

 

We are continuing on with getting the house ready. Lots of things that weren't in the original plan got done this month. Our plan had us continuing to sell things and painting two rooms. Not quite what we actually did, but it was still a very productive month.

 

In the end, we were on a roll with the painting and we prepped, primed and painted three rooms, prepped and painted the front door and surround, and put a color coat on one son's room since we promised they wouldn't have to live in white rooms for two years. And we contracted someone to paint the upper part of our center hall come September. I'll paint almost anything, but I'm not climbing scaffolding to do it.

 

Then what we thought would be a small repair to the chimney turned out to be a big repair when we found out that the flue was shot and the brick was rotting at the top (which caused the bricks to fall that started all that). To repair the chimney, we had to cut one tree way back and decided it would be better to have that removed. And since we had to get the tree service out anyway, we had them remove the tree we had planned to remove in the fall because it was dying.

 

Next month's plan is now to paint two more interior rooms, shift towards repainting trim and doors and make some decisions about the landscaping work we want to do this fall. I may start selling things again, but that's likely to wait until September.

 

Phew! So tired, but so happy to have knocked all that back this month!