Class of 2019

[sandsys]

What helped us was going home for a few days then touring our home state then going home for a few days then touring the next state over then going home for a few days until it got too cold to go home.

Linda

[mds1]

On ‎1‎/‎29‎/‎2019 at 1:55 PM, Tawnya said:

New 2018 model is about 64K

Found our barely used 2018 for $56K. Autotrader is your friend.  Once you decide what options are a must have and if color maters or not, it gets easier to find a truck.  I'm totally taking an educated guess that the 2019 Ram 3500 will be at least $3,000 more at MSRP than the 2018 because when you go to the Ram truck page they have that much of an increase for the all new 2019 1500.  Lots of changes on the 2019 Ram heavy duty if that's important. 

Here in Missouri I kept an eye on Woodhouse Dodge up near Omaha Nebraska as they have a large heavy duty selection. Ended up getting lucky and finding a truck locally after months of searching the web.

Edited February 2, 2019 by mds1

[DIRK]

My wife Paige and I have just joined. Have been camping for 16 years, but just moved to full-timing. Have just about situated our belongings in storage, and have worked to make our 30FT TT into our home, adding plants and memorabilia. Starting out for the first six months in a super nice resort in North Myrtle Beach. Will take it on the road from there. Trying to figure out the legal and logistic changes. Will make Texas our state of residence and use the Escapees mailing service. Any pointers are welcomed.

 

Dirk and Paige.

[Rnldsims]

Class of 19 here we come!  We are diving straight in!  We purchased our motorhome in late 17 thinking we would use it a little and start paying for it.  I hung up the towel in November and my home closes on the 15 of March.  A few doctors appointments to manage through and off we go!  Sent all the woodworking tools to California to the kids and placing the rest of our belongings in storage here in Ohio......temporarily that is.  We don't know where we will declare home yet.  Medical expense is incredible and I will spend the next 18 months figuring out what the best solution to this is.  Frankly it is brain damage all these darn rules.  I have scared my self silly reading all these nightmares and if I keep reading them I'm guessing I will never do it.  So....jump in Ron lets just go for it.  I will let you know if I get arrested or some silly thing like that.  Rachel has been retired for a few years waiting on me so she is raring to go.  We have lived in CA twice. Boston, Washington DC, Fort Lauderdale Florida, Chicago IL, and currently for the next two weeks Columbus Ohio.  I have spent my life managing large aviation organizations.  With that comes flying all over the world in aluminum tubes.  We have seen a lot of the world and very little of our own country.  I'm happy not to stand in another pat down line and sleep in my own bed every night.  Plan to head for CA on the 20th for my grand daughters 16th birthday and then work our way back to RGV to check that out.  Maybe winter there since we already have experienced the South Florida craziness.  Anyway we are rolling and the beast has to much momentum to be stopped now.  See you on the road!!!!!!!!!!!

[sholl3]

Joining the 2019 class and wow, now I feel a bit impulsive.  So many people here have been planning this for years.  My husband and I talked about living in an RV full time a couple of months ago and decided against it because I am not a minimalist.  Actually, giving up my decorations is what I am having the hardest time with.  Not all the other stuff, just all the pictures and art I have on the walls.  Anyways, the reason we were considering living in an RV full time is because of my husband's job.  We move frequently, at least once a year, usually more like every 6 months.  It can be unpredictable as well.  Sometimes they only give a couple of weeks notice of when you need to move.  With our last move my husband got a week and a half notice.  I actually had to stay behind with our 9 month old and 3 year old for 3 weeks trying to get the apartment packed and cleaned, then we had to pay considerable fines for breaking our lease early.  We are looking at moving again in the next couple of months and my husband again brought up buying an RV and living in it.  I think he was surprised when I actually jumped on board this time.  As much as I love my pretty pictures everything else about living in an RV will be better.  I love the idea of being able to settle into our home and not have to pack it all up again in a few months.  Also, my husband and I are both excited about the idea of traveling more.  Sometimes there can be a few weeks in between jobs for my husband, so we can go where ever we want in those times.  My husband is also thinking about getting into something where he would only be at a job for a few weeks at a time, so we could travel even more.  Anyways, we started talking about this again a couple of months ago.  I became slightly obsessed with it and started spending all my free time on the computer researching it.  Last Saturday we went and looked at some (after I had looked at more than a hundred online), and we decided that this is for sure what we want to do.  We are in the process of getting financing sorted out and will buy the RV as soon as we get that sorted.  We are wanting to do this a bit quickly because, while my husband thinks his work will be transferring him again in early June, there is always the possibility of him getting transferred earlier, and we would prefer to already be settled by the time that happens.  It also helps that we are renting an apartment on a month to month basis since we didn't want to have to deal with breaking another lease.

We are wanting to get a 40 foot 5th wheel.  We have not chosen an exact one, but we know the floor plan we want, one with a small room in the middle for the kids, and we have found a few that we like.  The dealership that we will probably buy from has an open house this Saturday, so we might go and try to narrow down exactly what we want.  If financing comes through by then we might go ahead and buy something.  I am really nervous, but also super excited to be starting this adventure!

[sandsys]

5 hours ago, sholl3 said:

Actually, giving up my decorations is what I am having the hardest time with.  Not all the other stuff, just all the pictures and art I have on the walls. 

3M Command Strips to the rescue! With your middle room you will have more walls than most RVs and Command Strips do an excellent job of holding pictures to the walls. And they release cleanly and easily when you want change.

Linda

[sholl3]

We do plan on hanging some of my stuff, but a lot of it is larger and won't fit.  I have a large picture that I took myself when I was in Russia and my dad made it into a canvass for me.  It actually is over 3 canvasses and is the largest thing we have on our walls.  I doubt it will fin on the RV walls, but it is my favorite.  I will probably hang it up in the mobile home that my in laws are letting us use as our permanent residence/domicile.  Some of the smaller stuff will definitely go in our RV, though.

[18RAM3500]

Peg and I are getting closer to our goal houses on the market now New 5th put on order in the planning for our first trip should be all set and on the road in May

[mds1]

21 hours ago, 18RAM3500 said:

Peg and I are getting closer to our goal houses on the market now New 5th put on order in the planning for our first trip should be all set and on the road in May

Getting the house on the market is huge!  Congratulations on that. I like your user name. We bought a slightly used 2018 Ram 3500 as well. I figure the resale value of a 2018 will go up several thousand dollars after the 2019 prices show up.  

The longer we work on our house to sell the more I tend to feel some things are good enough (such as the yard, room painting). Sixteen years ago we built this one and the house we moved from sold in two days.  I've always painted ours before the sale, outside and inside. Always wondered if the new owners came in and painted everything again. I'm hiring a handyman for a couple days. Together we should be able to get a long way to the final push with details such as trim I never put on the room addition. 

I put the word out two years ago or so that we would be selling. Karen is in charge of selling the house and got with a realtor a couple months ago. Yesterday at Walmart a guy stopped and asked if we were the ones that are selling the house on Seybold Street.  Karen invited him and family out to play on our trails in woods. That's a good sign.

Ordered the new fifth wheel last month and understand the build date may be as soon as mid-April. Karen and I sat down and took a look at our schedules through October when we plan to hit the road. Lots of traveling to do before then. Family stuff mostly before we head south for the winter.

Are you buying much accessories before you pickup your new home? Or just going with the starter kit and adding on as you go?  Did you pick a domicile?

 

[18RAM3500]

1 hour ago, mds1 said:

Getting the house on the market is huge!  Congratulations on that. I like your user name. We bought a slightly used 2018 Ram 3500 as well. I figure the resale value of a 2018 will go up several thousand dollars after the 2019 prices show up.  

The longer we work on our house to sell the more I tend to feel some things are good enough (such as the yard, room painting). Sixteen years ago we built this one and the house we moved from sold in two days.  I've always painted ours before the sale, outside and inside. Always wondered if the new owners came in and painted everything again. I'm hiring a handyman for a couple days. Together we should be able to get a long way to the final push with details such as trim I never put on the room addition. 

I put the word out two years ago or so that we would be selling. Karen is in charge of selling the house and got with a realtor a couple months ago. Yesterday at Walmart a guy stopped and asked if we were the ones that are selling the house on Seybold Street.  Karen invited him and family out to play on our trails in woods. That's a good sign.

Ordered the new fifth wheel last month and understand the build date may be as soon as mid-April. Karen and I sat down and took a look at our schedules through October when we plan to hit the road. Lots of traveling to do before then. Family stuff mostly before we head south for the winter.

Are you buying much accessories before you pickup your new home? Or just going with the starter kit and adding on as you go?  Did you pick a domicile?

 

We currently have a smaller 5th, and will transfer over most of the outside stuff, going to have a couple of yard sales to get rid of things we don't want to store, our new trailer should be in sometime May, we picked Texas for our domicile  was there in late Dec and Jan was so easy to transfer everything took one day.

We are going to have one open house and see how it goes homes are selling in 15 to 30 days here. once that happens we will be in Az for a short time then hit the road.

We love our 3500 had it a year now and plan on keeping for a long time this is my 3rd Dodge I have  had great performance from them all. maybe we will cross somewhere on our travels.

[mds1]

26 minutes ago, 18RAM3500 said:

We currently have a smaller 5th, and will transfer over most of the outside stuff, going to have a couple of yard sales to get rid of things we don't want to store, our new trailer should be in sometime May, we picked Texas for our domicile  was there in late Dec and Jan was so easy to transfer everything took one day.

We are going to have one open house and see how it goes homes are selling in 15 to 30 days here. once that happens we will be in Az for a short time then hit the road.

We love our 3500 had it a year now and plan on keeping for a long time this is my 3rd Dodge I have  had great performance from them all. maybe we will cross somewhere on our travels.

So you already cut your domicile over to Texas?

Did you have to take the driving and written test in Texas, which I believe is required for a license if you are over 26,000 gross weight capacity for truck and trailer?  I would assume you just took your existing trailer down their and had it for inspection to get tags and such.

For us, the plan is to retire first week of October and take off. Hopefully we will be living in the fifth wheel by then after house sale. I plan to setup mail service before then. Still working on the logistics.  I'm trying to avoid make a straight trip to our domicile state but rather spending a month or two traveling as we work our way there. 

 

[remoandiris]

Today is our Day 1. 

Will keep the Fla domicile for a bit, but will likely change to SD in a year or so.  Was just easier to keep Fla for now.  But, over $1,100 just to insure my 2011 dually is enough to make me want to change.  S&B sale should close within a month, as long as the inspections go well, which they should.  

Don't know how long we'll FT, but I know I won't buy another house.  Maybe a condo, but not interested in a house again.  Unlikely to live in Fla again, either.

MT this summer, probably AZ this winter, then who knows.

[Grizz1]

Its getting really real now! Bought the Toad 2 weeks ago, going to Indiana to buy the Motor home next Tuesday and drive it back to NJ. Waiting for Oct for last day of work! Now to order the parts for the tow setup. Yep its really real now.

[Jim1521]

Here we go.....

Currently live in Ft. Myers, FL.  Been here since 2003.

Put the house up for sale last Friday.  Got an offer on Monday.  Under contract on Tuesday.  Home inspection done Thursday.  Only thing left is appraisal, then closing May 10th.  Moving at warp speed.

We want to continue to live in FL, but split our time in GA and other areas.  Planning on using the next six years to figure out where in Florida we want to end up.  We love SW Florida, but are also in love with the Port St. Joe area as well.

Reaching out to Loring & Associates to figure out the domicile thing.

We already have a 2016 GDRV Reflection 313RLTS.  In addition we are ordering a 2019 Riverstone 39FK.  The GDRV will stay in FL, the 39FK will go up to GA for the summer with us.

Tow vehicle is 2016 Ford F-350 Lariat 6.7L dually w/B&W 25k Companion OEM hitch.

[fpmtngal]

I'm in for the class of 2019.

A month ago the idea of full-timing was a vague intellectual thought, more of a potential "what-if" something like Paradise happened in my area or "gee, I sure would like to move out of California but I love my house."  Just over a week ago I returned home from 2 weeks of boondocking to find a non-renewal for my homeowners insurance (extreme fire hazard risk), no internet, no cell service and because of my mis-understanding, I missed jury duty.  I've had it with California.

So I'm now donating quite a bit to a charity thrift store, sold off the family silver and just getting rid of junk and stuff I've collected over 65 years and 20 years in the same house.  Trying to decide which of the family antiques I want to pay storage fees for and which are no longer worth what they once were and that I'll probably sell for a lot less than they are worth.

I already have a rig I know I can live in indefinitely (Lance 1685 and Ford F150 pickup), having taken a number of multi-month trips such as cross-country, Alaska, Canada, various wanders in the northern states over the 3 years I've owned it. It isn't big enough to carry a lot of extra belongings or lots of paperwork that seems to be required for modern living, but plenty for me to travel be comfortable dry camping or staying in campgrounds.  So a storage locker is going to be a must, at least short-term.

At the moment I'm trying to figure out all those things I haven't thought about at the moment.  I've been concentrating on getting new insurance for the house, finding a tree trimmer to limb back trees that don't meet code and clean up the yard, and getting rid of junk, so I can put the house on the market.  That, in itself, is a daunting subject.

Things that I need to re-research as it applies to my situation:

• Domicile (and how having a storage locker somewhere will affect domicile)
• Insurance (didn't think about insurance for what's in storage until I read a topic here today - what else about insurance do I need to think about.  Plus I didn't realize there was a difference between part-time and full-time RV insurance, good to know)
• Mail

I already know how my health insurance will work, I have it through a pension and they have a way of dealing with out of state retirees.

My concentration right now is getting rid of the junk, get the yard cleaned up for the insurance inspector and whatever else I need to think about to be able to sell this house.  I have no kids, am a widow so I'm on my own for everything.

What else do I need to think about to make this all work?  I'm sure there's lots of other topics I haven't even imagined that I should take care of.

[Grizz1]

Ok got the coach! Now all the other stuff that it needs....

[fpmtngal]

 

40 minutes ago, Grizz1 said:

Ok got the coach! Now all the other stuff that it needs....

Oooh, very pretty! Have fun outfitting it!

[Grizz1]

Thank you!

I'm going through that process now. Might be harder than picking the coach! I need everything. Amazon is my friend. 😂

 

[fpmtngal]

Amazon Prime and a high credit card limit/big bank account are a beginning RVer’s necessity.

[Pat & Pete]

1 hour ago, fpmtngal said:

Amazon Prime and a high credit card limit/big bank account are a beginning RVer’s necessity.

 

We had none of those . We must be very fortunate to still be full time about 9 years later , with no end in sight and still not having any of those .

[mds1]

I have a spreadsheet for all our stuff we looked to buy. I attached it.  The items in green we already have. It's prioritized. Awesome Class A by the way. Beautiful color.

Items to Purchase for Publication.xlsx

[fpmtngal]

22 minutes ago, Pat & Pete said:

 

We had none of those . We must be very fortunate to still be full time about 9 years later , with no end in sight and still not having any of those .

I was thinking of how much stuff I needed to buy when I got my trailer, and I was only part-time. 

Now that I’m about to go full-time, I don’t know how much I’ll use Amazon Prime. But the delivery people sure knew where my house was!

[Grizz1]

13 minutes ago, mds1 said:

I have a spreadsheet for all our stuff we looked to buy. I attached it.  The items in green we already have. It's prioritized. Awesome Class A by the way. Beautiful color.

Items to Purchase for Publication.xlsx 18.8 kB · 3 downloads

Thanks! Great list. Read it and it reminded me of a few more things!

[mds1]

Don't forget about etrailer.com   Sometimes you can go there and compare. Their website appears to have reduced a lot of the decisions down to a couple selections in any category.

[Pat & Pete]

10 minutes ago, fpmtngal said:

I was thinking of how much stuff I needed to buy when I got my trailer, and I was only part-time. 

Now that I’m about to go full-time, I don’t know how much I’ll use Amazon Prime. But the delivery people sure knew where my house was!

We were 'there' , too . 

Tons of stuff donated and a few garage sales took care of most of what had been accumulated over the previous couple decades .

We really didn't need a lot of things 'required' , as most can be used in almost any lifestyle . 

We wait until we'll be sitting long enough for delivery to catch up to us before we order anything .