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Class of 2019


mds1

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Hi everybody!

My name is Jenn and my husband is Jonathan. We are both in our 40's. We will be joining the Class of 2019. Our house is currently on the market and we are doing everything we can to get that puppy sold!! We live in Maryland right now and are so ready to get on the road.

We will be purchasing a Fifth Wheel and dually F450 with the proceeds of our sale. We're going to be living and travelling with the youngest of our 4 daughters (she's 7), our 2 dogs and 2 cats.

Our three oldest daughters are either in college or ready to start college so now that they are gone we're ready to downsize. They all think we are crazy but we are really looking forward to the freedom.

Right now we are trying to find something we can do on the road in the way of jobs so we can take our youngest out of school and travel for a year. After that we'll be settling down in Texas. My husband has always wanted to return to Texas to live. He lived there for a time as a young boy. I'm just ready to get out of Maryland so I'll be happy anywhere.

We have never owned an RV or even traveled in one before but we are so looking forward to jumping in and learning all we can about this new life. Any and all advice and suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Hope to see some of you on the road in the future. Our goal is to get to Escapade next year!

Jonathan & Jennifer Frey

 

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Jenn & Jonathan,

If you read my post above you’ll see we are in the same boat as you right now trying to sell our house.  We’re trying to be patient but also getting antsy for something to break loose.  We are looking forward to the freedom of the road.  For jobs while on the road we are planning to attend the Xscapers Convergence in January to pick everyone’s brain to figure out how to make some income while being able to travel.  The only advice I can give you on your fifth wheel purchase is to give yourself some time to become familiar with it before trying to travel across the country.  Be prepared for breakdowns along the way.  Good luck and hope to meet you guys on the road someday.  

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6 minutes ago, Macky & Trish Bailey said:

The only advice I can give you on your fifth wheel purchase is to give yourself some time to become familiar with it before trying to travel across the country.  Be prepared for breakdowns along the way.

I have been around RVs for over 36 years.  I have had almost all types.  I also have taken RV repair classes and have engaged in RV repair and improvements.  I am a Contractor with 30+ years of experience, and since before that I have worked on vehicles and machinery and still do.  Dont figure that you will buy a NEW RV and have NO problems.  Todays quality of new units is very much in question due to the high demand, so buy it as early as you can and become proficient in using it,  towing, setting up, breaking down, maintenance etc.  It is a different way to live and you will need to become versed in the lifestyle.  

There are many posts each day from people who are working through some issue and are looking for help.  And many of there are from EXPERIENCED RVers.  This is not flicking a switch, its a lifestyle change.  You can do it, but be pragmatic and learn as soon as possible.  It will be your house, and after your sell you S&B house, your only other option for lodging may be your truck, a friends couch or a motel.  That is inconvenient and/or costly.  Dont be afraid, but be prepared.

 

Enjoy the journey!

Marcel

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We have been heavily researching and hitting as many dealers and RV shows as possible to narrow down our choice. We know what we're going to buy and will most likely buy used; one because of the cosmetic changes we want to make to it and two in the hopes that some of the initial "new RV" bugs will have been worked out. We won't be hitting the road immediately. We have to wait for our last of our oldest daughters to graduate high school and get her settled at college. So, we'll be living in it for awhile and taking weekend trips before we really get out there and start doing some heavy adventuring.

Jonathan & Jennifer Frey

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I guess I'll stake a claim in the Class of '19. 

I have a 2019 Newmar Bay Star 3401 on order that I expect to take possession of next April, then drive it (for the first time LOL) to Somerset, PA for the solar install. Then back to WV to begin transitioning "life" from the S&B to the RV. Should be living in it full-time by August, leave the WV ARNG in October, then head southwest to find work. :) 

The R-word (retirement) popped up on my mental radar maybe 5 years ago. I started off trying to decided between going overseas to live, or getting some rural land here in the US to go off-the-grid on. Eventually, I decided that I did not want to be half a world away if my son needed me (or vice versa). The realities of living off-the-grid seemed pretty daunting, especially after meeting with a fairly well-known blogger in the Terlingua, TX area. Gorgeous country, certainly affordable, but I questioned my own ability to get by in a fashion I'd consider comfortable when I got into my 60s and 70s. LOL

As luck would have it, that very same trip to TX also involved me driving from Terlingua, TX to Astoria, OR for a National Guard mission. What a gorgeous drive! Spent three days in Monument Valley, drove through Capital Reef, Moab, the Columbia River valley....and Astoria was no slouch either. That trip made me realize that North America alone had a lot of stuff left for me to see, and I wasn't going to be content sitting in one place.

I began reading various RVing forums. Joined Escapees and have a mailing address (though I haven't really used it yet). Asked every goofy question I can think of (some of them here! LOL).

Fast forward to now.....I've decided to forego trying to get 20 active duty years, and will be happy with my 15 and change. I have 20 overall, so I've earned my pension. I'll just need to work a few more years until I can draw it...but this time I can look at stuff that heck, until lately I've never even heard of! Beet season? Workamping? KamperForce? LOL I'm giddy.

Well, I'm rambling. Probably won't make any 'official' activities like Escapades or Q or anything like that for a bit, but I'll be with ya on the interwebz!

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On 11/7/2018 at 11:01 AM, travelbiglivesmall said:

We have never owned an RV or even traveled in one before but we are so looking forward to jumping in and learning all we can about this new life. Any and all advice and suggestions are greatly appreciated!

You may want to consider renting an RV just to test the lifestyle to see if it fits you. 

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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Welcome to the class of 2019 ALLENTC2.  I'll bet I can speak for the entire group that with only about month to go till 2019, things are about to get really exciting.  Our planned take off date is no later than October of 2019 before winter hits. We moved the date up twice now so who knows for sure - especially as the wife want to leave in June😀

 

Mark from Missouri

Our Future in an RV

2018 Ram 3500 Laramie Dually LB 6.7L HO Diesel Aisin Transmission 4x4 3.73 Gears

2019 Vanleigh Vilano 320GK 35’ fifth wheel 16,000-pound GVWR

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  • 1 month later...

Hello everyone, Peter and Therese, joining Class of 2019!

Just a little about us.  We full-timed about 12 years ago for roughly 7 months in our travel trailer.  We traveled mostly National Parks and State parks from the east coast to the west coast to the south.  Awesome experience!  We caught the RV bug then. 

Fast forward to early 2018, we purchased a new Montana 5th wheel and a used Ford F350 dually truck.  This past summer was filled with weekend trips and a 2-week trek around finger lakes NY and western NY area to test/shakedown and get used to our new rig ready for our new adventures.

Therese left her job last May to help with aging parents.  My last day at work is 3/1.  Yesss!  We've signed up as "first timers" for the Escapade in Tuscon.  If you are going, send us a PM to let us know.  We can't wait.  We also decided, what the heck,  to check out Moab, UT for an Xscapers event in April. Where to next from there, not sure but I'm it will be an experience.  

We are glad to be joining the RV community once again.  This website, blogs and others have offered their advice and past experiences which have been very helpful to us.  We thank all of you.  

Peter & Therese

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I'm Deb and my husband is John.  Guess it's time we joined the Class of 2019! We are a retired couple in our early 60's. We take delivery on our new Tiffin at the end of January. Our home goes on the market on Feb 1st, and we hit the road as soon as papers are signed. We are knee deep in preparing the home for sale, and the last minute purging is the hardest. I've already donated loads and loads, sold what I could on ebay and Craigslist, and am trying to sell the rest of it now. Some of the furniture has to be here for staging but once we are under contract it will all have to go. Our daughter who lives in another state will be flying in on the 14th and renting a one-way truck to haul home what she wants. Fortunately she just bought a 40 acre place in Colorado with a large house so I'm forcing...er, I mean encouraging...her to take a LOT.

 I'm losing sleep over being unable (so far) to sell the high ticket items in my Detroit Red Wings memorabilia collection -- signed framed jerseys, large framed autographed photos, etc. It's literally keep me awake at night and I have to keep telling myself even if I have to GIVE it away (god forbid) I got my enjoyment out of it for many years in my "Red Wing Party Zone" (i.e., our finished basement.) Life goes on! Chapter 2 begins soon!!

Deb and John

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5 hours ago, Zoomcat said:

I'm Deb and my husband is John.

Welcome to the forums and also to the RV community! If things go right you should be able to join us in Tucson next March for the 2019 Escapade!

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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Update:  Our home sold a lot sooner than we were expecting it to based on the sale price we set!  We officially became fulltimers on December 23, 2018.  We decided to upgrade our RV from a 36' Spartan toyhauler to a new 43' Grand Design Momentum toyhauler.  I decided to keep working as long as I can into 2019 since I just turned 61 and can start SS in a year. I have a remote job that allows me to work from anywhere within my territory.  Right now we are staying in an RV park in St. George, UT and have our first trip coming up next week when we leave for the Xscapers Convergence in Lake Havasu.  It has been quite a process getting moved out, moved in (to new RV) and living this life style over the normal S&B life we were living before.  Other than the adjustment to having less physical and personal space than before, we are totally enjoying this new "lifestyle" we have chosen.  

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13 hours ago, Kirk W said:

Welcome to the forums and also to the RV community! If things go right you should be able to join us in Tucson next March for the 2019 Escapade!

That would be so awesome -- we will wait to see how much activity we have on the house once it begins showing before registering. Hopefully it doesn't sell out before then :)

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20 hours ago, Zoomcat said:

 I'm losing sleep over being unable (so far) to sell the high ticket items in my Detroit Red Wings memorabilia collection -- signed framed jerseys, large framed autographed photos, etc. It's literally keep me awake at night and I have to keep telling myself even if I have to GIVE it away (god forbid) I got my enjoyment out of it for many years in my "Red Wing Party Zone" 

The fact you had enjoyment out of use of a piece of property is an excellent way to view it.  One book I read regarding organizing and downsizing was written around that entire premise. When you pick something up ask yourself, does it give me joy or happiness?  If not, throw it out.

We are going to start off by renting a 5x10 storage unit which is about the size of our current hall bathroom. That's making the downsizing a little easier. We are going to take one box of more valuable keepsakes to our daughter's house. And there are a couple things we are not sure yet if we will want to take on the road. My wife and I decided the cost of this small unit is worth it to us, despite the value of the items being stored. We are getting a climate controlled unit because of artwork and such. After the first year we will re-evaluate the storage unit. Being a smaller unit it will not be hard to dispose of. I suppose we could view the cost of the unit as a form of insurance. 

I'm also keeping a couple boxes of stuff to place on Ebay later, when I have time. I personally think it will be fun to sell stuff on Ebay. So I'm not putting anything in the sale box that's worth less than $50 nor anything I can't put in one of those pre-paid smaller boxes from the Post Office.

When I was pricing stuff to sell at our latest garage sale I often found myself thinking it was not even worth the price to clean it up and move it to the garage.  But --- the real payoff was seeing spaces open up in the house.  Should have downsized our crap a long time ago regardless. We have a growing account where we are stashing the money regardless. And are not spending it on anything until we hit the road

When my father passed away he had probably the largest collection of telegraph keys in the country. He had at least one of every key ever built in the USA and was working on those from foreign counties. This included a couple off a famous German U-boat and a sunken British ship. He even had an entire setup of an old Western Union Telegraph shop.  My mom donated it all to museums. I'd hate to write how much all that was worth (dad kept a cataloged of values). And my wife did the same when her dad passed away with his collection of old radio station and music recording stuff. 

If you have not tried it, you might bundle all your Red Wing stuff up into one sale item rather than trying to sell it off individually.

I sold an old truck, old boat and a hot tub by pricing it at 1/2 of what they were worth on Craigslist. Ya, would have been nice to get more for each but the money was no more important than just getting rid of it. The truck went to a young boy for his farm and was his first vehicle. The boat went to an older man who had time to fix it up and take his grandson fishing.  Priceless..

Having deciding in 2014 that our future would be in an RV, we stopped buying stuff. That has saved us a bundle for sure. 

Mark

 

 

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Edited by mds1

Mark from Missouri

Our Future in an RV

2018 Ram 3500 Laramie Dually LB 6.7L HO Diesel Aisin Transmission 4x4 3.73 Gears

2019 Vanleigh Vilano 320GK 35’ fifth wheel 16,000-pound GVWR

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On 1/5/2019 at 8:23 AM, mds1 said:

The fact you had enjoyment out of use of a piece of property is an excellent way to view it.  One book I read regarding organizing and downsizing was written around that entire premise. When you pick something up ask yourself, does it give me joy or happiness?  If not, throw it out.

We are going to start off by renting a 5x10 storage unit which is about the size of our current hall bathroom. That's making the downsizing a little easier. We are going to take one box of more valuable keepsakes to our daughter's house. And there are a couple things we are not sure yet if we will want to take on the road. My wife and I decided the cost of this small unit is worth it to us, despite the value of the items being stored. We are getting a climate controlled unit because of artwork and such. After the first year we will re-evaluate the storage unit. Being a smaller unit it will not be hard to dispose of. I suppose we could view the cost of the unit as a form of insurance. 

I'm also keeping a couple boxes of stuff to place on Ebay later, when I have time. I personally think it will be fun to sell stuff on Ebay. So I'm not putting anything in the sale box that's worth less than $50 nor anything I can't put in one of those pre-paid smaller boxes from the Post Office.

When I was pricing stuff to sell at our latest garage sale I often found myself thinking it was not even worth the price to clean it up and move it to the garage.  But --- the real payoff was seeing spaces open up in the house.  Should have downsized our crap a long time ago regardless. We have a growing account where we are stashing the money regardless. And are not spending it on anything until we hit the road

When my father passed away he had probably the largest collection of telegraph keys in the country. He had at least one of every key ever built in the USA and was working on those from foreign counties. This included a couple off a famous German U-boat and a sunken British ship. He even had an entire setup of an old Western Union Telegraph shop.  My mom donated it all to museums. I'd hate to write how much all that was worth (dad kept a cataloged of values). And my wife did the same when her dad passed away with his collection of old radio station and music recording stuff. 

If you have not tried it, you might bundle all your Red Wing stuff up into one sale item rather than trying to sell it off individually.

I sold an old truck, old boat and a hot tub by pricing it at 1/2 of what they were worth on Craigslist. Ya, would have been nice to get more for each but the money was no more important than just getting rid of it. The truck went to a young boy for his farm and was his first vehicle. The boat went to an older man who had time to fix it up and take his grandson fishing.  Priceless..

Having deciding in 2014 that our future would be in an RV, we stopped buying stuff. That has saved us a bundle for sure. 

Mark

 

 

Mark...it sounds like you're getting rid of stuff and on schedule. I've still got a lot to do... but plan on putting the house up for sale  June 1st. My wife has had a few health setbacks..nothing life threatening...just slowing her activity to a crawl. We're hoping by Spring she'll be back to normal.

I've been selling stuff on craigslist, etc. and been taking loads to Goodwill. Every time I carry a box out..I say "Only a few hundred to go..." It's amazing how much crap two people acquire during a lifetime. Best wishes to you & your wife in 2019.

Skeet

 

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As I had mentioned in an earlier post, we had my mother-in-law move in with us in May of last year. That kind of put our plans on hold for a time. Although we did continue with all of the remodeling projects on our house. The mother-in-law is back in Phoenix for the winter and sounds like she isn't coming back - seems I keep the AC crank down a little to low for her, lol.

So we are still hopeful we will have the rest of the remodeling finished up by late spring and get the house on the market, as the real estate market here looks to be good this year. We had put off selling for the past couple of years due to a slow real estate market. All depends on oil and natural gas prices in Wyoming as to what the real estate market is doing, well in Casper, WY anyway.

That said, we started almost two years ago on getting rid of things and downsizing. After a couple of yard sales and many items donated to a local non-profit that supports our local homeless mission we've emptied out lots of "stuff". My next big project is to start in on the garage that's full of construction tools, mostly woodworking tools. Some items belonged to my dad and were part of our construction company he and I owned many years ago. 

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9 hours ago, travelbiglivesmall said:

Our house finally went under contract on December 30th!! We're scheduled to close on January 31st!

Great news! I remember our excitement when we were at that point well. I envy you a bit as we can only do a thing the first time once in our life. For us it was one of the best decisions of our lives. 

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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Peggy and I will be members of the 2019 retiring at the end of April we started talking about this a year or so back we are putting our homes on the market and upgrading the 5th wheel already started the transition last month look forward to a new adventure on the road.   

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Just took a major step - bought a Ram 3500 dually!  

It's a 2018 Ram 3500 Laramie Dually Long Bed with a Cummins 6.7L High-Output Diesel, Aisin Transmission 4x4 with 3.73 Gears. Bought it slightly used at 23.1% off the original MSRP if that's important to anyone.

Hoping to order or shop for a Vanleigh Vilano 320GK fifth wheel (16,000 pound GVWR)to take delivery by May.  Figure we will go out for bids from three dealerships within a reasonable driving distance from home.

Right now my wife and I plan to put the house on the market early summer, then live in the fifth wheel if it sells quickly as I'm so far not leaving the job until October.

We figure it would be a good idea to own the rig for a few months before we take off fulltime in order to get used to it and work out any bugs. 

Mark

Edited by mds1

Mark from Missouri

Our Future in an RV

2018 Ram 3500 Laramie Dually LB 6.7L HO Diesel Aisin Transmission 4x4 3.73 Gears

2019 Vanleigh Vilano 320GK 35’ fifth wheel 16,000-pound GVWR

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Congrats Mark! We own a 2011 Ram 2500 with the Cummins and are planning on upgrading to a 16-18 3500 dually and trade the old Fleetwood Prowler 32' 5er for a toy hauler in the 38'-40' range, if we don't go class A pusher. I love the old Bluebird Wanderlodge motorhomes, but my wife is not as big a fan as me. I guess we'll see who has the better powers of persuasion, haha.

Same thing with us on the house. Although we still have to finish up some remodeling projects before we get it on the market, hopefully in June.

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We are still doing some maintenance stuff with the house but our realtor says hold off on most upgrades until she has a chance to look at it.  So guess I'll just do any obvious repair needs from now on until then.  Other than painting the last side of the house I did not get to before the snow hit.

Toy hauler vs  Class A diesel pusher... Looks like you guys have a tough decision to make. We finally narrowed down the fifth wheel selection to three and told the wife I'd go with whichever of the three she wanted. Took her all of 5 seconds to decide. Go figure.

Edited by mds1

Mark from Missouri

Our Future in an RV

2018 Ram 3500 Laramie Dually LB 6.7L HO Diesel Aisin Transmission 4x4 3.73 Gears

2019 Vanleigh Vilano 320GK 35’ fifth wheel 16,000-pound GVWR

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 8/29/2018 at 4:42 AM, mds1 said:

Welcome to the class of 2019 Tawyna,

How are the prices of Ram's down there in Texas and what trim package are you looking at.

Looks like you have a wonderful plan put together.

 

Sorry for delay...I have about 300 sites bookmarked and don't make it back to any single one very often. We want a Ram 350 dually with Laramie trim. Not fond of the dead cow theme of the Longhorn level. Aisin transmission.

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What mds1 bought for your truck sounds just like what we want..congratulations!

We have just purchased our new home--a 2016 Momentum 350, used only twice. Now sorting all the paperwork, which seems a bit convoluted. Have to get it hauled to storage as we haven't got the truck yet...realized we had no good place to park it, and no need for it until we actually had the RV. Somedays the excitement outweighs the terror...somedays not!

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My wife Nancy and I are joining the class of 2019. We started RVing in 2013 when we rented a travel trailer for a 1 week vacation in Michigan. I’ve always wanted to travel the US, love driving, and wanted to full time… but first had to convince the wife. So we rented for a week and had a wonderful time.

She was still nervous… and, having previously purchased a boat (a long story) didn’t want to buy the motorhome I wanted… so purchased a 38’ Cedar Creek 5er and a new Ford Dually to make sure we liked this life. She was a real trooper. Our first ever trip with the RV was 6 weeks and about 6000 miles. Being away from our 4 grandchildren was really hard for her … but she did enjoy at least parts of it.

Over the past 4 years I’ve constantly talked about full timing and just waited for her to catch up. We went from that first trip and some week trips to 3 months snow birding and 6 weeks on a trip out to Montana in 2016.

Last year, we purchased a DP and then in October 2018 at dinner, she said she wanted to sell the house. I was beyond ecstatic! Since then we have told our kids… agreed to sell the house to our daughter (hey, we have a pad to park the MH in when we come to visitJ) and will hopefully be on the road by the end of September.

We are in Florida now, shaking down the MH and getting things ready for later this year. When we get home in April, we’ll start tossing / selling stuff. After 35 years, we have lots of stuff to get rid of.

We’ll be in Perry GA at the FMCA international event in March trying to get as much info as we can there. Joined Escapees in December and won’t be able to get to Tucson… but maybe some of the other events later this year or next.

She is still a little reserved about how long she wants to be away from the grands… but we’ll work it out. I’ll fly or drive her home when she needs a fix. I’m hoping to FT for lots of years… not sure she wants to do that… but again… I’ll be patient and hope we can both enjoy this new chapter in our lives.

Rick

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