Have you, or someone you know quit fulltimeing?

[lb311]

Sound advice on the relationship dynamics of full-timing as a couple. That is, at least, one thing I don't have to worry about as a solo full-timer.

 

Don't get too hung up on RV selection. Before I went full-time, I used to think I'd absolutely need a 30' or larger Class A or 5er. But guess what, I've been living quite comfortably in a 24' Class C for the past 2 years and enjoying the cozier space that's easier to heat and cool, easier to fit into campsites, and easier to drive. I've met couples full-timing in a van, and others who feel they need a 40' 5'er to just camp on the weekends! Ultimately, you'll find you need a lot less clothes and "stuff" than you really think you do, especially if you will be keeping a home-base. If you have a place to store your tools, her prized possessions, etc, then do you really need a large rig to just live in part of the year? Especially if your wife will be camping solo while you're working (will she be comfortable driving/ moving the rig herself)?

If you both don't have a lot of RVing experience yet, you might think about starting with a smaller used rig initially (assuming you'll be getting that small house for mom and shop for tools and storage). Live with the floorplan a while, and practice being together in closer quarters. It will help you figure out what you like/dislike about your RV, and whether the RVing lifestyle is one you want to pursue completely full time, or continue with part-timing and keeping the small house. Maintaining your financial freedom and flexibility will be much more important than losing your shirt in a year or two if you buy too big/too expensive a rig and discover that full-timing is not as wonderful as you thought it would be.

 

Lynne

[Mariner]

Before we went full time in 2010 I knew a few things ahead of time. Wanted to be debt free, and didn't want a new RV. After a year of searching we found our diesel motorhome, sold the house, hooked up our paid for towed, and hit the road and never looked back. After 6yrs. we've now decided to turn the page on another chapter in our lives. We're building a home in S.C., have a buyer for the coach, and will now do some overseas travel before we can't travel anymore. We've been from Maine to California, Florida to Alaska and many places in between. It's been a hoot and we wouldn't change a thing. As far as deciding on a 5th wheel or motorhome, it's a personal choice. Had we been what we call destination travelers, that is going to one place to spend a length of time, we probably would have bought a 5th wheel. But since we moved quite a bit, the motorhome suited our way of travel. It really doesn't matter to me which one is chosen, I feel a kinship with anyone out on the road. As the saying goes...."So much to see, so little time."

[richfaa]

Mariner said "As far as deciding on a 5th wheel or motorhome, it's a personal choice. Had we been what we call destination travelers, that is going to one place to spend a length of time, we probably would have bought a 5th wheel. But since we moved quite a bit, the motorhome suited our way of travel. It really doesn't matter to me which one is chosen, I feel a kinship with anyone out on the road. As the saying goes...."So much to see, so little time."

Great advise on the choice of a RV.We drove a over the road bus for awhile after we retired and my choice for long time travel was the motorhome.Two of our very good friends who were RV dealers gave the same advise as Mariner. Helen's tape measure on inside storage space also indicated the 5th wheel was better suited for our mode of travel. There is so much to consider.

[Kirk W]

Discussions of this type nearly always bring out at least some ideas, opinions, and even facts that are seldom published anywhere and even after following such forum discussions many times, I remain fascinated by them. I hope that nobody will take offense or think that I am pointing toward them as I will mention some points made by others, not to criticize but to expand a little. Sometimes we become so fearful of offending each-other that we fail to address issues that really should be discussed, particularly for the potential RVer.

 

One that I seldom see written about, but that I consider important is physical size. Smaller people generally require less space. The very tall people need to consider that in RV shopping as do those of larger girth. There are very few larger people that live in smaller RVs but yet we rarely ever mention that in giving advice to the new RV buyer. Selecting the right RV is a very personal thing and involves both physical and mental attributes of those who will be living in it. If two people seem to live in each-other's pockets, they will very likely find that a smaller RV is sufficient, while two people who prefer little physical contact are going to need a larger one. The same is true of personal habits. If you like to spread out and to leave things where you were until you return to use them again, it will require more than if you are one who always puts everything away between uses.

 

I often hear the dynamics of couples discussed and "best friends" is usually one of the terms used and with good reason, but I can't recall ever knowing of a couple who had been married for many years who broke up over living in an RV, while I have known several who found that they could not happily travel in one. There is good reason why some marry and remain so for their entire lives, while other such relationships last only a few years, if at all. Some people just seem to be intended to live in pairs while others are not and I have come to believe that it is more a difference of human nature. Those differences don't make either one bad or wrong, but they do make for a very different set of requirements of living quarters and I doubt that either group will ever really understand the other, nor is there any need for them to. But it is important to look closest at the members of whichever group you fit into for examples that may work best for you.

 

I do not believe that we can explain preferences of RV type by using the manner of travel of the occupants. It is pretty common for us to think that those who move most prefer motorized and those who move less want some type of trailer, but in my opinion it is a major mistake to put too much into that belief. We loved motorhomes and still do, yet we lived the "RV volunteer" lifestyle where we tended to go to an area and setup for at least a month, often for 2 to 4 months and then hit the road and travel pretty frequently for a month or so, until arriving at a new volunteer location. In our 11+ years on the road we put less than 70k miles on the motorhome but drove towed vehicles more than 250k miles, mostly taking day trips or short overnight trips out of some base-camp at a volunteer for site location. Based upon the theory commonly used, we should have wanted a fifth wheel or some type of trailer, but we loved our class A and even now that we are back to part-time and in a trailer, we still prefer those if the budget were larger. I could give you a long list of reasons why our choice was best, but the reality is that best choice in RV is what you like and what fits your priorities. If you and your partner find one that really fits and feels like home to you, pay attention to that feeling!

 

One other point, for this post. It is impossible to define a successful full-time RV experience. Most of us who stayed on the road for a long period or time tend to think in terms of years, but even that is too limiting. If you start the lifestyle intending it to be a permanent change and at some future time you move on to any of the less mobile ways of living and do so with fond memories of your time on the road, never thinking of it as having been a mistake, they your fulltime experience was a successful one! We have some good friends who sold their house in ID and moved to an RV to travel forever, but who were back in a stick home in AZ after only about 3 years. Yet they still consider the time in the RV to have been one of the best decisions that they ever made. The reason is that the saw some places and had some experiences from their bucket list, and then found a new home that they love in an area they didn't know existed. The RV is long gone today, but they love the RV world and remember it fondly. The move was a permanent one in that they never looked back and didn't return to their former life. It ended because they found a newer lifestyle that suited them even better and fulltime RV living was one more step on the road to get there. How could that be anything less than a success? If you accomplish what you set out to do, or if you find a better way for yourself, then your experience was a success!

 

We were on the road for longer than some folks but yet shorter time than others, but for us it was very much a success because we have such fond memories of those years and consider the change from it to have simply been the next step in our life histories.

[Jack Mayer]

To go back to the original question, first. We have been on the road for almost 16 years. What would get us off the road? Probably foremost is medical conditions. If there was a particular reason to stay in one place for doctors or therapy then we would get off the road without a thought. This life is great and I don't anticipate changing it in the near term, BUT other things can be just as great. We are not STUCK in a thought that life on the road is the only way....If circumstances change, so will our response to them.

 

The other reason I see long term fulltimers get off the road is for "something different". Simply, time for a change. And that may be another reason we would leave the road. Not something I'm anticipating, but simply food for thought.

[2gypsies]

 

So here's the question. Barring medical limitations, do you know anyone that has given up the full time lifestyle and why?

 

When we began we were in our 50's and were downsized from our jobs. We always went camping beginning in tents, popups, 17' trailer, 27' trailer, 33' 5th wheel and finally a 40' motorhome. With no job we definitely knew we didn't want to sit in a house so we got the 27' trailer, made our full-timing decision and sold the house and everything in it all within three months time. We took off with no exit strategy except for the cash to invest from the sale of our paid for home. We had no debt - always paid cash.

 

Along the way we easily dealt with our medical issues and multiple surgeries including cancer. We found it easy to recuperate in a RV and you can go to the best places in the country for care. Physical therapists will even come to your RV - just like a regular home.

 

We traveled constantly, volunteered in state and national parks off and on and did everything off our bucket list. We kept returning to the same area for winter and that's where we bought a small 1100 sq ft townhome in a very active 55+ community. It came completely furnished in excellent condition. We have no outside upkeep although we do have a yard and awesome mountain views. It is in an area completely different and far away from our last house. We love it!

 

Full-timing was excellent for us and now when we view our photos on our screen saver they bring back nice memories of being able to do and see things that others only dream about.

[mds1]

It’s been interesting to hear the stories about why people stop traveling. As we are in the process of planning to go fulltime, we are also interested in the reasons people decided to come off the road, in particular, those that stayed on the road for shorter periods of time.

We have a plan B just in case. When Kirk suggested perhaps just 20% are still on the road after five years, my ears perked up. We are setting money aside for when we come off the road. Our logic is to plan to stay for six years. We are basing our rig selection off six years, so plan to come up with a rig that will hold up. I’ve not decided but the trailer might be something in the order of a 38’ fifth wheel, 8,000 pound axles, H rated tires and similar construction. We are not even close to selecting a rig, but know the price is rather high, especially if we are betting on six years on the road. Most likely we will buy a slightly used well-built trailer.

We are trying to avoid one reason we could come off the road early which is the trailer we started off in, is not working. For example, we rented a Class C and both know we could not live in one long-term.

In our case, we never planned to retire and keep the house we live in now. To much to take care of.

Not sure we can come up with any level of planning that guarantees being happy on the road for six years, just seemed like we had to come up with a target to plan around. The risk of coming off the road early, for us, is over-shadowed by the risk of at least not attempting to follow the dream. If that makes sense.

Interested in your opinions,

[Solo18]

I think for a lot of reasons, it is much easier for me to full-time solo than it would be if I had a spouse. While I have to do all the work and the driving myself, I don't have to negotiate with anyone about where to go and what to do. I also don't have to worry about sharing a small space. Since I like my privacy and am independent, being alone suits me well. Also, my family is widely separated, so I do a lot of traveling between places where I visit them.

 

Frankly, I applaud those of you who live as a couple and have full-timed for a lot of years!

 

I think you have to have an easy-going personality and flexible attitude to be happy at full-timing. Campgrounds and destinations do not always work out the way you thought they would, so it helps to be able to shrug problems off and move on.

 

I have known several people who quit for financial reasons. Basically, most miscalculated how much it would cost to full-time while doing it the way they wanted to do it. One started probably too young, and medical insurance was difficult for her because she was not old enough for Medicare or SS. In addition, she was not yet receiving a pension, so was hoping to live very cheaply boondocking, but then found out she needed electricity for a medical device and that meant campgrounds she could not afford.

 

Others have developed medical conditions or had family situations pop up that required their attention.

 

And I agree that an exit strategy is really important! There are options, by the way, between a regular house and full-timing. I know a couple of people who no longer feel comfortable doing a lot of driving, who own two 5th wheelers--one in the north and one in the south. They drive a car back and forth and occasionally pay someone to move one of their "homes" to another location.

 

And I also agree that it is worth a try. My younger son was convinced I would not last 6 months because handling my large Class c would be too hard or I would have an accident, etc. I told him it was better to try even if I crashed and burned within a few months than to sit in my recliner in my condo for the rest of my life. It's been almost four years now, and he admits this life suits me.

[finally03gt]

WOW, this thing blew up while I was away. Great replies, and points to ponder. As I've mentioned, my wife and I are on the younger side. We will be in our early 40's when we hit the road. I think we have answered most of the big questions (other than rig choice), and this lifestyle is worth a shot. My way of thinking is that we are mature enough to appreciate a different lifestyle now, and young enough to jump in and out of the back of a pick up with out much thought..haha. I think that our 40's and early 50's is nearly the perfect time to full time. We will still have the home base. We currently own a property about 3 miles from the Escapees place in Livingston, TX. We fully intended to retire there, but found the deed restrictions prohibitive. Our next property will most likely be unrestricted. We won't have to liquidate some of the large assets that took the better part of our adult life to acquire (tools, right men..lol), and we'll have a place to settle in if/when we desire. I'm excited about this adventure. I look forward to traveling our great nation, and seeing what's out there.

[Jack Mayer]

Solo18 brings up an interesting point that is in line with our thinking as well. That is the ability to position RVs in various locations and travel between them. We have always planned for that eventuality...and having a trailer in a fixed location in the Rockies and living the winter months in AZ is certainly a highly probable eventuality for us. As long as we can tolerate higher elevations. But the general strategy of moving between locations is one that is on our list.

[GR "Scott" Cundiff]

Solo18 brings up an interesting point that is in line with our thinking as well. That is the ability to position RVs in various locations and travel between them. We have always planned for that eventuality...and having a trailer in a fixed location in the Rockies and living the winter months in AZ is certainly a highly probable eventuality for us. As long as we can tolerate higher elevations. But the general strategy of moving between locations is one that is on our list.

 

Jack, this may be fodder for a different topic, but how often do you have people at altitude who can't do it? We're looking at a month near where you are in the summers but are concerned about the 9500' altitude.

[Barbaraok]

I know that in the last years of my dad's life they had to be very careful where they stayed. A trip over a mountain pass, he was ok. But if they were going to stay overnight, anything above 7500 ft and he started to have problems because he couldn't keep his oxygen saturation at a high enough level.

 

Barb

[Jack Mayer]

 

Jack, this may be fodder for a different topic, but how often do you have people at altitude who can't do it? We're looking at a month near where you are in the summers but are concerned about the 9500' altitude.

If you currently have breathing issues or lung deficits you are likely not to do well at 9500'. We are at 8500' and at least once a week we have someone who comes in and has to leave for lower elevations. That is with about 50 sites on daily/weekly basis. The best I can say is to try it and see. It takes at least two weeks for most people to acclimate. And to fully acclimate it takes most a month or more. Drink LOTS of water. You will probably notice sleep deficit as a symptom, and perhaps headache to go along with the dizzyness if you move fast. Plus out of breath.

[Legendsk]

When I downsized and went full timer, I got a wide variety of reactions from friends, relatives, old neighbors, new neighbors, etc. Most frequently was: Oh, we did that. We wish we had done it years ago.

 

The one response I never heard from anyone was: Oh, we did that but sure wish we had waited longer before doing it.

[RV_]

We did it for 7 years starting fully retired at 45 y/o for me and 43 for my wife. I wrote the following last Saturday and the website went down before I could post it. I just got back to the forums and am catching up today.

 

I think that there are many different views on the whys of both going full time, and for others stopping life on the road. We full timed for 7 years and would not take back a minute of it. Our website has our tales form the road which are not travel blogs or creative writing but our perception of the ups AND downs of life as a full timer. They have a lot of my warped sense of humor in them too. Jack gave a good example that fits us.

To distill it down we both are Air Force Brats, and lived all over the world as children from birth. For example my BIL was born in France and has dual citizenship as a result. I was born here but lived in Bogota, Colombia South America from age 4-6 and went to Kindergarten and first grade there in Spanish! I'd never spoken a word of Spanish until then. Later on our own 27 years career in the AF we lived for 7 years in Germany and spent in Egypt scuba diving the Red Sea and skied the best slopes and resorts in every winter for those 7 years in Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, and Germany. We lived all over the US too. Travel, even across borders, and interested immersion in different cultures was natural to us both.

When my retirement came up we decided to buy a circumnavigable sailboat ( can sail anywhere a skilled sailor would want to go,) and liveaboard/cruise fulltime. We also wanted to find the perfect home port. But traveling with our dog and paying for motels and fuel and the time that would take wasn't looking good. We happened to have read about some cruisers that like some RVrs had the wife or both jump off at a port refusing to continue. Remember to add isolation and seasickness, as well as storms and modern day pirates, no doc in the middle of the ocean, and no police or 911 service. I'd read that some folks traded their boat even for a "Land Yacht" (RV) to use until they decided what to do.
Anyway we both are and were scuba certified recreational divers, and ski enthusiasts and we figured an RV would be perfect and started looking. I did not want to spend any big sums for the RV or travel so we could preserve most of our savings for the boat and expenses. I had a military retirement that could handle everything, assuming we had no car/truck/RV/boat notes, or other debt/monthly notes to pay. In the price range I had in mind back in 1997 I could buy a good used trailer with little to nothing wrong with it, or buy a used motorhome and have a lot of things to fix at no telling what expense. So we settled on a 5th wheel after contacting some SKPs in email. (there were no forums back then.)

I bought a used 1 Ton Diesel Dually 92 Dodge with the Cummins and both Turbo and Intercooler. It was owned as the personal truck of an 18 wheeler diesel repair and overhaul shop in San Antonio and had just been painted and had 100k miles on it. I bought it in mid 1997 because I was retiring in Feb 1998 but would be relieved of duty a couple of months earlier from terminal leave etc. I found our used HitchHiker 34.5 foot in Florida for the right price. I had it delivered to the Lackland AFB RV FamCamp as incoming and outgoing personnel can stay a few months as needed.
After six months in, we had done San Diego and talked to ex and current fulltimers at the Navy RV Park and yacht club on the Strand next to the Coronado base and the SEALS training base. We left and continued on up to Oregon and the SKP COOP in Sutherlin, as we were going to every SKP park and COOP possible in our first year travels. We paid cash for all so were fine back then traveling without working. We read the book "The Perfect Storm" In our first year of fulltime travel. I asked my wife what would she think about just keeping on Land yachting with the RV? She said she was going to broach the subject but was not going to try to stop my dream. We were both so relieved because both of us had decided we were uneasy with big storms. So much for diving The Great Barrier Reef and taking our time.

In 2002 our son and three granddaughters were going through a difficult divorce. We decided to stay at our winter quarters for the coming year, 2003 to help. We decided to stay for our two remaining parents, hers, that were having health issues and aging fast. I could not tell my wife no, so we looked around in late 2003 and found a nice 5 acre place with a trailer on it in a nice area that is semi-rural. I then reluctantly traded our fiver and did not get another fiver until last year when we had to move out to put in the brand new house. For now, and later, I set up 30 amp electric and water hookups on the side of my workshop. I bought a macerator pump that worked surprisingly well to pump waste up to our oxidation pond. So we have a full hookup RV space now.

I still need to have spinal surgery but waited until the house was done so I could move heavy items without compromising the back surgeries. MY wife has since decided that she wants the bigger house as we are still caring for our one remaining parent. He has his own place and although having memory issues, can still live independently for now. We have our nice little 28 footer fiver and diesel truck, and when we are no longer here will sell the property and new house and plan to move closer to our youngest in or near Denver.

I will gauge my ability to drive long distances and do setups after my surgeries. But I doubt I can talk my wife back into full time. She is enthusiastic about part timing and doing weekends - a month at a time. But she is still working by choice. She does not do well just being retired. I like to play with my tech toys, do online work, and I actually like doing yard work with my tractors and zero turn equipment.

But we both crave 4 seasons, and no more 110° summer days with high humidity. In cold we can always put on more clothes. In heat you can only undress so far and that doesn't help without A/C. Thus our whole house 25kw auto switching water cooled natural gas genset.

We aren't wealthy but also do not need to work again if we choose not to. We have been lucky in life and part time businesses while active duty and after. I'd go back to full timing in a heartbeat except that my son is expecting the first grandson and that is enough excuse for us to move nearer.

Our 7 years of full time living and traveling in our RV was great. We did everything we always wanted to do and see west of the Mississippi, and from Mexico up to and including a 9 month tour of Alberta, British Columbia, and Alaska.

Some days we "planned" to do 200 miles or a next destination and found something 20 miles down the road and stayed there for a month of exploring. Other times we "planned" on staying longer and then found we had exhausted a place and us and moved on after a week. We always had our own RV parking place with full hookups we built on my FIL's place here.

If what you want to know is what you will think, just remember if you are paid for, and work when and where you want to or not, then it can be forever or not. We had no exit plan and truth be told never had an entrance plan into RVing either. Some folks fritter away in fear of what could happen in the future. Others quit trying after mistakes in the past they could not let go. We take it one day at a time and enjoy today. We will likely do whatever strikes us as we go forward. We have never been locked into any place, time, location, or housing situation. I can tell you that this place now has been the longest I have ever lived in one continuous stretch in my life. We generally moved from every two years as kids, to every 5-7 years as adults, due to military assignments. I get itchy feet after about every five years. And RVing is not a priority as we've been there, done that, got the T-shirt. It is always an option, and we will always have a small to large RV. For years we always had VW pop up campers, or pop up trailers, now fifth wheels and Cummins diesel pickups are our preference.

[finally03gt]

For my bride and I, we both started raising children early. There were a lot of "carefree" years we missed because of it. The youngest one we have at home is now in her freshmen yr of high school, so we are nearing the empty nest years. With me working offshore, and my wife being an RN, we have the ability to maintain an income stream, and still spend half our days regaining some of those early years. We are trying to take what our mortgage currently is, and half it. Half to home base with a small place for mom-in-law and a shop, the other half to a rig. During the last 18 months, my wife and I have purchased vehicles that are a little more pricey than what is characteristic for us, including our first new vehicle. Now with the oilfield slowing down, we feel the pinch. This has confirmed in my mind our usual way of financing, which include debt avoidance. Our next 3 years will be spent trying to get stuff paid off, and saving for a size able down payment on our rig. This gives me an entry and exit plan. I'm the planner, so it's important to my piece of mind to have an idea of where we are going, and how to get there. I'm getting better about going with the flow when plans change a bit, I just like to have a big picture concept.

 

My parents are still in their 50's and mom-in-law just hit mid 60's. So I imagine tending to parents may likely be our transition from full time to part time. But I'll just ride that one out. I don't want to try to plan every detail, just know how I plan to get in and out (when need be). We will continue to investigate rig choice, and if I had to guess, I'd say we end up in a 5'er. But really, that doesn't change the concept. Get the kids settled into college, sell the house, somewhere in there buy a home base and a rig, and see this beautiful land. When that journey has come to an end, return to home base and sort out permanent residence.

[Flashman]

I have absolutely no credibility on this topic as we are future wannabee's. However, as we are in making the transition - we've sold the house, most of our stuff and are renting a much smaller place as I get ready to retire in a few months - we have discussed the what-if's that have been written about here. Bottom line - nothing has to last forever, and if we don't like it, or of circumstances change, we'll change with them! If we remain unable to make the move toward this life because of fear of the unknown, I KNOW when we are older and unable to travel for whatever reason, we will both ask ourselves 'I wonder what would have happened...' I dont want a regret. Faith requires that we step off into the darkness a couple steps before the light appears to show the rest of the way. I'm willing to do that, and if it doesn't work out, then ok, we'll go to plan B....or C. Heaven knows, having to go to plan B can happen regardless of circumstances - death, divorce, loss of health, loss of a job, problems with parents or children, and on and on. All would require to go to plan B. We can do that - and will - but only after giving it a try!!!!!!

[RV_]

Flashman,

With that attitude you will never regret giving fulltiming a try.

 

Finally03gt,

Yep we did the same and could not party much when all the other 20 something's in our groups partied hardy. We thought we missed out on our 20s. But then all of us were just starting out, saving little and having to be creative to have fun.

 

But then we became empty nesters at 42 and 40 respectively. Then retired at 45 and traveled in a paid for RV and 1 ton diesel dually for 7 years. We got to party and do whatever we wanted while we were still young in our mid 40's.. On top of that we had a lot more discretionary funds than we had in our 20's even had we waited to have our two boys.

 

We all did and continue to do it differently than each other, but doing "it" is the thing. And "it" is different for each. If RVing isn't "it," there is life after RVing. If I died tomorrow I will feel I'd gotten more bang for my 20 lifetimes in one, than many get from their one. And happy every step of the way. Even the fearful parts were adrenaline rushes. Like flying, defined as hours of boredom interrupted by moments of sheer terror, my life has been easy with a few times of running troubleshooting checklists, and being proud of walking away from each landing, easy and hard. A crash landing is just another landing, when you walk away from it.

[finally03gt]

RV, great encouragement. That is our hope an plan as well. Use maturity, financial stability, and what's left of our youth to make up for lost time.haha.

 

Shifting gears a bit..... A would imagine a big part of the decision between 5're and push is how comfortable you are driving them. My wife recently express a bit of concern about driving a 40,000 # 40' bus, where she seems to have NO fear of a 16,000# 40' 5'er behind a 8,000# 20' truck. How would one go about "test driving" rigs?

[Kirk W]

Minimizing debt load is a very important part of lowering income requirements. One of the key things that most successful fulltimers do is to structure their way of life to require less income, whether they are retired or not since most retirement incomes are lower than the income from working years. Like most people, we had our days of worrisome debt loading but we worked our way out of that, eventually becoming debt free. There are actually times that debt can be a good financial tool, but many of us who become debt free are hesitant to use it because it feels so good to not have any at all.

My parents are still in their 50's and mom-in-law just hit mid 60's. So I imagine tending to parents may likely be our transition from full time to part time. But I'll just ride that one out.

It is not uncommon for a time to come that the child finds himself in the position of parental responsibilities for our parents when late in life. We had to deal with that for my parents, eventually placing my mother into full care for her last 7 years of life. That was probably the most difficult thing that I have ever had to do, but once she adapted, mother was actually very happy there and she had a level of care which we could never have given her and we had our nomadic RV life as well. While there might be some small changes I'd make if it were possible, I have no regrets about the choices we made and truly believe that we did what was best for both her and us.

 

There is no way to predict what the future holds for you or your parents and I'd suspect that your parents want what is best for you, just as mine did. Putting off your dreams will do nothing to stop the aging process of your parents so adjust if needed, but do not destroy your dream. Remember that the two of you also have a limited amount of time together and there is no guarantee that you will both outlive your parents so shorting each other on behalf of your parents is not in the best interest of anyone.

 

I don't want to try to plan every detail, just know how I plan to get in and out (when need be).

You can't plan for everything so keep plans flexible. But having some ideas of what may come next can be reassuring and should the worst happen, it helps to have some ideas to use in taking the next step. We hit the road with a plan in mind for after fulltime and the end of that road came a few years earlier than expected and our plans didn't work exactly as expected, yet the basic ideas clearly helped us to find our way and the allowance for a return to part-time provided the money to do what we did.

[finally03gt]

Thanks for the reply Kirk. Everything I'm reading seems to indicate we are pointed in the right direction, and starting to ask the right questions. My wife and I do complement each other well. She make me put the excel spread sheet and calendar down and enjoy life, and I am the voice of prudence..haha. We are a great business team. I threw a few other empty nest options out the other day, like her beloved "farm" near the beach in FL. She said it'd be nice but circled right back to fulltimeing. I think she's sold, and I see a lot about the lifestyle that may turn to regret if I don't try it. This board is great, and I love the replies, advice, opinions and experience shared here. Look forward to seeing some of you guys at Rainbow's End in about 4 yrs...

[Kirk W]

There are many who hit the road with very little planning, but I am one who believes strongly in having a good plan and doing so with time to consider alternatives. We spent almost 5 years in the planning once we knew we were going fulltime so I'd consider you to be a kindred spirit! And I'm the planner at our house with Pam more spontaneous too. But we are also quite a few years older than your parents so are looking to the time when our kids become more of our life-plan.

 

One other word of advice; while everyone wants to have at least some friends who are of similar age, don't let age differences slow you from joining into any part of the RV community. There is a growing segment of your generation joining the lifestyle but friendships are based more upon common interests and experiences and age differences need not stand in the way.

[finally03gt]

My wife and I routinely socialize with people closer to the age of my parents. We have found that stage of life, (kids extra-circular activies, ect) are more common ground than age. With many in our generation having kids in their thirties, we just don't click. My buddy at work, 2yrs younger than myself, has a kid the same age as my grand daughter. We are obviously in very different places and event in life..haha. Thanks for the tip on that Kirk.

[strawdog]

We "visit" the subject of going off the road every year or so (this is our 10th year). Not that we have interest at this point, but just to keep the discussion open for the future. Our biggest issue is -- where. We're both from Missouri, but neither of us considered moving back there (humidity, ice storms, cold). We have no parents left, and the rest of the family is dwindling, so even less compelling reason to return.

 

The youngest daughter is in Montana, and although we love it there, neither of us are terribly keen on 7-8 months of "winter" weather. Don't mind snow, just not for that long. Add to that the lack of sunshine (we've lived in the southwest for 30+ years, in addition to the vast majority of our travels being in the West, by choice) and the impracticality of living in an RV in that weather, and MT isn't a real option unless we were to buy a house.

 

My preference is somewhere with mountains; Dave leans a bit more towards a lake. Thus, the need for topic discussion occasionally. If it were up to just me, I'd go back to New Mexico. IMO, it has about the best year-round climate. But we keep looking at Texas lakes, too!

 

The only reason I think we'd consider going off the road are health issues. I'm very happy in our downsized lifestyle; as a matter of fact, after spending a week at my daughter's 2000+ sq. ft. home, my non-interest in all the "stuff" we used to have was just reinforced. It's nice to be able to visit some of our "stuff" that she has -- without having to have a house to hold it...

 

Of course, these are just my thoughts. Others' opinions could be at the opposite end of the spectrum.

 

Renee

[sandsys]

would imagine a big part of the decision between 5're and push is how comfortable you are driving them. My wife recently express a bit of concern about driving a 40,000 # 40' bus

The RV Driving School is worth the investment. They will teach you how to drive a big rig in a way that makes you amazingly comfortable doing so. We had no experience with anything big and they taught us everything we needed to know. They have classes in various places but we especially appreciated learning in Yuma as they have small mountains close enough to teach you how to use an engine brake without it being so scary to do. I think Dan Shephard was our instructor that time. (Yes, i took lessons in a small rig before we moved into the bigger rig and needed to learn about handling it.)

 

Linda Sand