Class of 2019

[Kirk W]

14 minutes ago, CigarBoy said:

your reference to Federal Senior Card.

America the Beautiful, Senior Pass

[2gypsies]

On ‎9‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 12:25 PM, lg61820 said:

OK, I've dropped out of a couple of previous graduating classes, but this time I am committing!  My last day of work will be 12/31/18.  I haven't told them yet, but will closer to time.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the house - may need it to come back to if the health or vision goes bad.  Although, I'd probably prefer a studio apartment in a warmer climate than returning here.

My current plan is a T@b 320 CS-S which has all the space I think I need pulled by my aging Tahoe.  

My failures to launch in the past were due to financial concerns and grandchildren who needed to come live with me.  I am more confident financially now and will not let anymore grandkids move in with me - no matter how cute they are!  

I am excited about the future!

Here's a blog of a single gal and her small trailer which is now for sale.  There's a link to her trailer within this blog if you're interested.  We know of several full-timer RVing couples who have a small Skamp and Casita so it can be done.  Good luck to you!

https://interstellarorchard.com/

[ktlobb11]

Hello to everybody, Kevin & Donette here, so I think we may qualify for the Class of 2019.

Here's our story and we're sticking to it, until it changes.

We camped when the kids were young (Popup, Travel Trailer) and have dreamed of the fulltime RV lifestyle since shortly after getting married (30 Years next month), and now we are close to realizing that dream.

We are presently homeless having closed on the sale of our house July 20^th, just another step in the process. Donette for the 2^nd time retire 8/21 and I will most likely continue to work for another 1 to 3 years. I work out of the office for 2 weeks a month and work remote otherwise. I continue to push for working remote fulltime which would allow for us to get on the road sooner.

We are most likely going to be ordering a new 5^th wheel (DRV 38RSSA) next month (Oct. 2018). If that’s the case, we would have it in place and living out of it fulltime April/May 2019 time frame in Sebastian FL., (Location of our youngest granddaughter) and we would stay there for 1 -2 years (With shorter trips mingled in). I would also make the 5^th wheel my remote office until I retire or get the green light to work fulltime remote.

We hope to meet up with some or all of our 2019 Graduating classmates in the future. If any of you end up somewhere in Florida (Especially East coast) send me a PM and we’ll try and get together.

Good Luck to all in reaching this wonderful milestone.

Thanks, Kevin & Donette

[Kirk W]

47 minutes ago, ktlobb11 said:

We hope to meet up with some or all of our 2019 Graduating classmates in the future.

You may want to try and make it to Tucson next March for the annual Escapade.

[ktlobb11]

Kirk

I will definitely look into that and get more information when we are visiting Livingston next month on a planned road trip. I'm already a Escapees member and was actually considering going to the RVers Boot Camp in Georgia April 2019.

Thanks for the advice
Kevin 

[OregonJim]

Hi all,

 

My wife Bonnie and I are joining the class of 2019!  We've been planning since 2014.  Actually, we took a road trip in our Chevy Tahoe from Oregon to New Hampshire and back in 2014, and that ignited the spark.  It was heartbreaking to stick mostly to the Interstate and miss touring the back roads, but we had limited time.  Also, 500 mi/day was not fun - we would rather have done a lot more local exploring.  Anyway, we researched full-timing in 2014-2015, and then we (me, mostly) got cold feet as we discovered that we would have to give up too many hobbies and all that 'stuff'.  We modified our plans and decided to buy a S&B in NH, and RV part time.  So, 2016-2017 were devoted to researching how to sell our Oregon home, buy a NH home, get 3000 sq ft of 'stuff' moved from one coast to the other, and not end up homeless in between.  Well, we never did figure out all the logistics.  So, this year we both agreed to go back to our original plan.  We're going to sell all of our possessions this winter, we've already got the house (mostly) ready to put on the market in the spring.  I'm hoping that the proceeds from selling our stuff will be enough to purchase a 3-5 year old class A diesel pusher and toad.  That way, we can put the equity from the house sale in the bank and use it to buy another house when the time comes that we can no longer do full-time RVing (if that time ever comes).

 

My biggest question right now relates to RV size.  I've heard that many state and national parks, especially in the East, are limited to rigs no larger than 35'.  We definitely don't want to shut ourselves out of a significant number of parks by buying a rig that's too large.  What do you think?  I've made my peace with downsizing, but don't want to go too small, either.

 

-Jim

 

[sandsys]

1 hour ago, OregonJim said:

My biggest question right now relates to RV size.  I've heard that many state and national parks, especially in the East, are limited to rigs no larger than 35'.  We definitely don't want to shut ourselves out of a significant number of parks by buying a rig that's too large.  What do you think?  I've made my peace with downsizing, but don't want to go too small, either.

We lived full time in a 2010 Winnebago Journey 34Y which was 35' long. The opposing slides in the living room made it feel plenty big. But we were coming our of a 24' Winnebago View with one slide so, of course, 35' felt big.

Linda Sand

[Kirk W]

1 hour ago, OregonJim said:

we (me, mostly) got cold feet as we discovered that we would have to give up too many hobbies and all that 'stuff'. 

Welcome to the Escapee forums! While it is true that you need to downsize what you carry I advise against giving up all of your hobbies, or even most of them. This is not just a vacation but the rest of your life so you will want your hobbies at times and surely you can find ways to do them without too much bulky equipment? Of course, if your hobby is blacksmithing or something of that nature, then it may not be workable... 

We traveled in a 36' class A and rarely had an issue with large enough sites. Even if you go up to something 40' long with multiple slides, you can still find places to park it as there are a lot of them out there but you may need to plan farther ahead. In some cases, you will probably need to make reservations and there may be some parks that you don't fit into, but there are ways to manage. s

[OregonJim]

1 minute ago, Kirk Wood said:

Welcome to the Escapee forums! While it is true that you need to downsize what you carry I advise against giving up all of your hobbies, or even most of them. This is not just a vacation but the rest of your life so you will want your hobbies at times and surely you can find ways to do them without too much bulky equipment? Of course, if your hobby is blacksmithing or something of that nature, then it may not be workable... 

Well, most of my hobbies require far too much storage space.  For example, wood turning requires a lathe, drill press, band saw, sander, not to mention raw stock.  My CNC machine is too delicate to withstand the 'rolling earthquake' that is an RV.  Electronic design (for me) means oscilloscope, spectrum analyzer, soldering station, various meters,  PCB making materials, and a wall full of parts bins.  I play multiple musical instruments - I could perhaps keep a single keyboard or guitar or violin, but most of it has to go.  3D printing requires a more controlled environment (constant temp/humidity, no drafts) than that available in any RV.

 

The only solution I know of is to find new hobbies.  Photography will be a good one.  Drawing/painting might be another.  My wife & I have recumbent trikes that we'd like to keep if we can find a way to store them...

 

-Jim

 

[OregonJim]

1 hour ago, sandsys said:

We lived full time in a 2010 Winnebago Journey 34Y which was 35' long. The opposing slides in the living room made it feel plenty big. But we were coming our of a 24' Winnebago View with one slide so, of course, 35' felt big.

Linda Sand

Thanks, Linda.  I'm not too concerned about the 'feel' - I'm more concerned about buying a rig that is too big to go certain places.  I want to make sure that I can get into most of the lesser-developed state parks, without going *too* small - looking for that sweet spot, size-wise.

 

-Jim

 

[mds1]

3 hours ago, OregonJim said:

My biggest question right now relates to RV size.  I've heard that many state and national parks, especially in the East, are limited to rigs no larger than 35'.  We definitely don't want to shut ourselves out of a significant number of parks by buying a rig that's too large.  What do you think?  I've made my peace with downsizing, but don't want to go too small, either.

 

Jim, my wife and I have narrowed our search for our fifth wheel. We could not find any floor plans under 35' that we wanted to live in, having owned a 30' travel trailer in the past. I'm sorry I don't have experience staying in national parks. The state parks I've been in (Missouri) are generally not a problem with 35' and neither are the Corp. of Engineer Parks.

For use we did not want to sacrifice livability (floor plan) just to be under 35'.  Seems if you force yourself into a floor plan you don't like then you are setting yourself up for failure.

Mark

 

[2gypsies]

38 minutes ago, OregonJim said:

Thanks, Linda.  I'm not too concerned about the 'feel' - I'm more concerned about buying a rig that is too big to go certain places.  I want to make sure that I can get into most of the lesser-developed state parks, without going *too* small - looking for that sweet spot, size-wise.

 

-Jim

 

We full-timed for 16 years, traveling constantly and public parks or boondocking on public lands were our first choice 'go to' spots. We never had an issue getting in a place that we wanted with our 40' motorhome - even the major national parks such as Yellowstone, Glacier, Zion, Bryce, Big Bend, etc.  Same with state parks, national forest campgrounds, Corp of Engineers, county and city campgrounds. We also did not make reservations.  Get the size you'd be most comfortable in!

[mds1]

1 hour ago, OregonJim said:

The only solution I know of is to find new hobbies.  Photography will be a good one.  Drawing/painting might be another.  My wife & I have recumbent trikes that we'd like to keep if we can find a way to store them...

 

I'm finding some new hobbies personally. I've learned about all I want to know from the old ones!  What about Frisbee golf. That's a good one for the road. 

Some people tow a box trailer behind their Class A with toys or whatever.

I'm a big time gardener so I'll just replace that with touring gardens or maybe getting a workcamping job with some gardening involved. Also am a beekeeper so might find a place that wants some temporary help with that.  Mostly I'm just wanting new experiences so new hobbies go with that.  Fulltime travel is a way to set myself free of it all. There does come a time in life to leave some things in the past.

Good conversation!

Mark

 

[OregonJim]

1 minute ago, 2gypsies said:

We full-timed for 16 years, traveling constantly and public parks or boondocking on public lands were our first choice 'go to' spots. We never had an issue getting in a place that we wanted with our 40' motorhome - even the major national parks such as Yellowstone, Glacier, Zion, Bryce, Big Bend, etc.  Same with state parks, national forest campgrounds, Corp of Engineers, county and city campgrounds. We also did not make reservations.  Get the size you'd be most comfortable in!

Thank you - that is reassuring to hear.  It sounds like your preferences are very similar to ours.  However, those preferences may or may not change after we've been full-timing for a year or two.   I must resist the urge to overthink things and realize that we humans are more adaptable than we realize. 

 

-Jim

[OregonJim]

21 minutes ago, mds1 said:

I'm finding some new hobbies personally. I've learned about all I want to know from the old ones!  What about Frisbee golf. That's a good one for the road. 

Some people tow a box trailer behind their Class A with toys or whatever.

I'm a big time gardener so I'll just replace that with touring gardens or maybe getting a workcamping job with some gardening involved. Also am a beekeeper so might find a place that wants some temporary help with that.  Mostly I'm just wanting new experiences so new hobbies go with that.  Fulltime travel is a way to set myself free of it all. There does come a time in life to leave some things in the past.

Good conversation!

Mark

 

Between my back and my wife's knees, Frisbee golf would be more of a chore than a hobby.

We thought about the box trailer, but a toad to sight-see in won that argument.  Then we thought about a toy hauler, but that just didn't seem like the right solution.  We really want to spend our time exploring places, not fiddling with more stuff.

I like your philosophy of leaving some things in the past.  It's time to be set free.  I'm already feeling liberated just from the planning of how to get rid of all this stuff.  Most of it has been packed up in boxes for the past year (preparing for the move), and I haven't really missed it at all.

 

-Jim

[sandsys]

4 hours ago, OregonJim said:

Thanks, Linda.  I'm not too concerned about the 'feel' - I'm more concerned about buying a rig that is too big to go certain places.  I want to make sure that I can get into most of the lesser-developed state parks, without going *too* small - looking for that sweet spot, size-wise.

We took that 35' rig towing a car to Maine then down the east coast, until we transitioned to Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway then on to the Natchez Trace. We never had trouble finding an overnight spot.

Linda

[CasperBob]

4 hours ago, 2gypsies said:

We full-timed for 16 years, traveling constantly and public parks or boondocking on public lands were our first choice 'go to' spots. We never had an issue getting in a place that we wanted with our 40' motorhome - even the major national parks such as Yellowstone, Glacier, Zion, Bryce, Big Bend, etc.  Same with state parks, national forest campgrounds, Corp of Engineers, county and city campgrounds. We also did not make reservations.  Get the size you'd be most comfortable in!

That is good information. I've been telling my wife we will be fine at 40' but she want to go smaller because she's worried about this very thing - getting into national and state parks. I'd blame it on she's just afraid to drive a 40' rig, but she used to help her prior hubby drive semi. She pulls our 32' 5th wheel at least as well, if not better than me, lol.

3 hours ago, OregonJim said:

Thank you - that is reassuring to hear.  It sounds like your preferences are very similar to ours.  However, those preferences may or may not change after we've been full-timing for a year or two.   I must resist the urge to overthink things and realize that we humans are more adaptable than we realize. 

 

-Jim

I'm like you Jim, I have to resist that urge to overthink things. I tend to drive the DW crazy sometimes with my detailed thinking haha.

[OregonJim]

1 minute ago, CasperBob said:

That is good information. I've been telling my wife we will be fine at 40' but she want to go smaller because she's worried about this very thing - getting into national and state parks. I'd blame it on she's just afraid to drive a 40' rig, but she used to help her prior hubby drive semi. She pulls our 32' 5th wheel at least as well, if not better than me, lol.

I'm like you Jim, I have to resist that urge to overthink things. I tend to drive the DW crazy sometimes with my detailed thinking haha.

Same here.  My DW thinks in an entirely different manner than I do, which sometimes makes communication an interesting exercise.

As far as driving goes, my wife will likely be doing most of it, at least when moving from one site to another.  In 2008, I had (what the doctors think was) a stroke which left me deaf in my left ear and messed up my equilibrium.  Either that, or it's Meniere's Disease (what they officially diagnosed it as).  It took nearly a year for me to recover my balance well enough to drive again.  I do fine at speeds under 60 mph as long as there aren't more than 2 lanes of parallel traffic (like the Interstate).  Higher speeds or multiple lanes of parallel traffic are too much for my brain to deal with (especially when switching lanes or passing).  What's interesting is that I have no problems as a passenger.  I guess we need to find a good GPS that can route us on secondary roads without low bridges or tolls.  I'm also hoping that the higher vantage point of a Class A DP (looking over traffic instead of into it) will help.  I hate to put the burden of all the driving on my wife...

 

-Jim

 

[sandsys]

1 hour ago, OregonJim said:

I hate to put the burden of all the driving on my wife.

Most of us wives think nothing of putting that burden on our husbands. I rarely drove our RVs when Dave was around except out of campsites to the place where we would hook up the toad. Dave preferred to drive and I preferred not to. You could ask your wife how she feels about driving instead of guessing she would prefer not to do so. She might surprise you.

Linda

[OregonJim]

1 minute ago, sandsys said:

Most of us wives think nothing of putting that burden on our husbands. I rarely drove our RVs when Dave was around except out of campsites to the place where we would hook up the toad. Dave preferred to drive and I preferred not to. You could ask your wife how she feels about driving instead of guessing she would prefer not to do so. She might surprise you.

Linda

Oh, we've already discussed it at length and she has no problem with it - otherwise, we wouldn't be considering this lifestyle.  But it still bothers me. 

 

-Jim

 

[ktlobb11]

11 hours ago, OregonJim said:

I like your philosophy of leaving some things in the past.  It's time to be set free.  I'm already feeling liberated just from the planning of how to get rid of all this stuff.  Most of it has been packed up in boxes for the past year (preparing for the move), and I haven't really missed it at all.

-Jim

We just sold our house of 33 years and pretty much everything in it this past July in preparation of our move into a 5th wheel spring 2019. What remains is several boxes in a 5"x5' storage unit (Not counting our cloths and some tools) and if they had one 2'x3' unit that would have been more then enough space. The term that both my wife and I agree best describes the feeling is "Liberating". It was difficult to let go of some things but the thought of all our upcoming new adventures outweighs giving something up. Besides I don't need more stuff, I need more time and that's something I can't control.

Good Luck with your process.....

Kevin

[sandsys]

14 hours ago, OregonJim said:

Oh, we've already discussed it at length and she has no problem with it - otherwise, we wouldn't be considering this lifestyle.  But it still bothers me. 

There will be a lot of new "normal" things to get used to. Like maybe letting your wife dump the black tank. Can you prepare your mind for that? If not, full-time RVing may not be for you.

Linda

[Kirk W]

11 minutes ago, sandsys said:

Like maybe letting your wife dump the black tank.

I probably drove 90% of the time when we were fulltime and at least 95% of the time now that we are back to part-time. Dumping tanks is something that she didn't like doing so I did at least 90% of that as well, although she did occasionally just to make sure that she could if ever needed. We both grew up in an era of pink jobs and blue jobs and so found that to be our preference. We always made sure that either of us could do the other's jobs if needed, but only enough to be sure. Some things we did as a team like hooking up the CR-V but even then we usually had our own roles. One thing life has taught us is that the best way to do things is what each couple likes best and may sometimes be very different from what we think best. 

[OregonJim]

2 hours ago, Kirk Wood said:

I probably drove 90% of the time when we were fulltime and at least 95% of the time now that we are back to part-time. Dumping tanks is something that she didn't like doing so I did at least 90% of that as well, although she did occasionally just to make sure that she could if ever needed. We both grew up in an era of pink jobs and blue jobs and so found that to be our preference. We always made sure that either of us could do the other's jobs if needed, but only enough to be sure. Some things we did as a team like hooking up the CR-V but even then we usually had our own roles. One thing life has taught us is that the best way to do things is what each couple likes best and may sometimes be very different from what we think best. 

Kirk, you hit the nail on the head.  It's not a matter of "should she do it" or "should he do it", it's "can we BOTH do it if needed".

 

-Jim

 

[Macky & Trish Bailey]

It's been a while since I've posted here but we are still on track to graduate to fulltime by January 2019.  We have sold so much of our stuff that our house is empty except for our bedroom furniture, table and family room furniture.  House goes on the market next week.  We have had our Spartan toyhauler since the summer of 2014 and this past spring I upgraded our truck to a 2018 Ram dually with the intentions of possibly getting a newer and even larger toyhauler for fulltime traveling.  We are signed up for the Xscapers January convergence in Lake Havasu and can't wait to go.  Over the past year we became a Boondockers Welcome host and met around 7 fulltime couples that stayed with us for 2 - 3 days at a time.  Of course we picked their brains on the major topics like wifi while on the road and health care.  We are still confused on the health care issue but will get it figured out.  Looking forward to more fun in life and less stressing over the little things plus seeing parts of the country that we've only seen through different fulltime RVers YouTube channels.  Hope to meet each of the 2019 graduating class somewhere on the road someday!