Class of 2020

[filthy-beast]

7 hours ago, Danandfreda said:

I was hoping for an early out at the power plant I work at going to shut 3 turbines down out of 4. Two of them this year so I was hoping they would offer us something to leave to save younger guys their jobs by not yet. I’m working till April 2 and using vacation and personal days the rest of April till may 2 maybe they’ll offer something but not getting my hopes up. Anything will be extra. We’re ready to hit the road and maybe meet some other 2030ers 

Best of luck with that.  Mine was unexpected. They said here's the deal, you have two weeks to say yes. If you say yes, well let you know if we accept you and what your last day is, could be end of March or end of Oct.  So I went from planning to work another 1.5 years to retiring in 30 days all of a sudden.

[Good Life Highway]

1 hour ago, filthy-beast said:

Best of luck with that.  Mine was unexpected. They said here's the deal, you have two weeks to say yes. If you say yes, well let you know if we accept you and what your last day is, could be end of March or end of Oct.  So I went from planning to work another 1.5 years to retiring in 30 days all of a sudden.

oh my gosh - I can't imagine! We have been downsizing for two years and finally are in the home stretch. Still so much to do!!

[filthy-beast]

Just changed AT&T and Citibank mailing addresses to my PMB.  Also turned off paperless so I should get next months bill and statement sent there.  I'm thinking that should make getting a DL easier when I head down to FL.

Edited February 24, 2020 by filthy-beast

[filthy-beast]

Just decided on going with Crestview FL as our Domicile, best combined health, truck and full timer insurance on the 5th wheel. I'm only 59 so health insurance is why we picked FL.

 

[Good Life Highway]

4 hours ago, filthy-beast said:

Just decided on going with Crestview FL as our Domicile, best combined health, truck and full timer insurance on the 5th wheel. I'm only 59 so health insurance is why we picked FL.

 

Good to know! We hope to keep the Wisconsin job and hence the insurance and residency (small apartment), but if that doesn't work, we need to decide between Fl and TX i think...

[filthy-beast]

23 minutes ago, Good Life Highway said:

Good to know! We hope to keep the Wisconsin job and hence the insurance and residency (small apartment), but if that doesn't work, we need to decide between Fl and TX i think...

I would have picked TX if I could have. I used to travel to Houston all the time for work and will be there next week.  Would have made getting lic easier but no nationwide insurance I could find for someone not on Medicare.

[Kirk W]

10 hours ago, Good Life Highway said:

We hope to keep the Wisconsin job and hence the insurance and residency

So will you be living and working in WI from the RV? 

[Good Life Highway]

1 hour ago, Kirk W said:

So will you be living and working in WI from the RV? 

Nope - taking the desk job remotely. Living and working on the road, but hubby will travel back quarterly to put in some office time. He is negotiating with his company now to make this happen. We leave at the end of May to be full time nomads!

[Kirk W]

You may need to keep your WI domicile in order to keep insurance and possibly other benefits. Check with both employers before you burn any bridges. 

[TheCornelisons]

Well, I guess this is us!  We were full time in a Heartland Road Warrior (2018) for a few months, but had to sell and move into a house for a few years due to my (wife's) health issues.  Surgery , 100# weight loss and lots of physical therapy and we are ready to dive in again.  But this time, we plan to move up to a Class A, go full time in 2020 and retire in 2021 to travel.  

I am 62 and DH is 67 so we are really looking forward to moving on to this exciting, new chapter in our lives!  We have family and extended family scattered along the eastern seaboard, but want to travel all across the US when we retire.  We are actively searching for the right motorhome and scouring the message boards for reviews and recommendations.  Right now, we seem to have narrowed our choices to Newmar, Winnebago, Triton, Thor and possibly Coachmen.  

We have 2 dogs and 3 cats at present and they will be coming along with us.  They did great in the 5th wheel a few years ago, so we don't expect any huge surprises when we pull the trigger and do this again. 

So that's us in a nutshell.......

 

[agesilaus]

Hire an independent RV inspector whatever you get before you sign anything. There are a lot of horror stories about new Class A coaches.

[TheCornelisons]

2 minutes ago, agesilaus said:

Hire an independent RV inspector whatever you get before you sign anything. There are a lot of horror stories about new Class A coaches.

Thanks for the heads up!

[Good Life Highway]

3 hours ago, TheCornelisons said:

Well, I guess this is us!  We were full time in a Heartland Road Warrior (2018) for a few months, but had to sell and move into a house for a few years due to my (wife's) health issues.  Surgery , 100# weight loss and lots of physical therapy and we are ready to dive in again.  But this time, we plan to move up to a Class A, go full time in 2020 and retire in 2021 to travel.  

I am 62 and DH is 67 so we are really looking forward to moving on to this exciting, new chapter in our lives!  We have family and extended family scattered along the eastern seaboard, but want to travel all across the US when we retire.  We are actively searching for the right motorhome and scouring the message boards for reviews and recommendations.  Right now, we seem to have narrowed our choices to Newmar, Winnebago, Triton, Thor and possibly Coachmen.  

We have 2 dogs and 3 cats at present and they will be coming along with us.  They did great in the 5th wheel a few years ago, so we don't expect any huge surprises when we pull the trigger and do this again. 

So that's us in a nutshell.......

 

Best of luck - hope to see you one road!

[skeet]

 

 

4 hours ago, Good Life Highway said:

Best of luck - hope to see you one road!

Welcome to the class of 2020. Glad to hear that your health issues have been taken care of. We are planning to put the house on the market April 15. Been looking at class A diesels...have narrowed it down to Tiffin or Newmar. Keep us posted on your progress and best wishes.

Skeet

[Grizz1]

Ok all you 2020 folks, I'm late to the party as usual. 🙂 I was in the 2019 class but due to circumstances beyond my control, I did not graduate. 

Long story and if your interested :

Posted December 9, 2019

Well it seems there will be no 2019 graduation for us!

The plan was to keep my S&B, its a 2 family. My daughter and her family lived in the front apt and my wife and myself lived in the rear. The plan was for her to move to the rear apt (much bigger more bedrooms) and I would rent out the front to someone else. Sounded like a great plan...well you know what they say about the best laid plans!

They ( my daughter and her husband) have decided to buy a house and they close on the Dec 16th. So now I will have to wait till they are out and do what needs to be done to the front apt and put the whole shebang on the market. I don't want to be an absentee landlord and have the worries about what may/will go wrong while we are on the road. Even with a property management Co. I would not be comfortable. So with the work that needs to be done and then putting the house on the market, 2019 graduation ain't happening.

So...Congrats to all the 2019 graduates! Looks like I will have to transfer to the class of 2020.

 

So I did the work that was needed and put the house up for sale. Well COVID-19 enters the picture. I was figuring that NOBODY was going to come look at my house. What I did figure was I'd get it out there on the market and when all this calmed down people would start looking again.

Well boy was I wrong! 2 days on the market and lots of interest. Lots of appointments and 7 offers, all over asking. I did not count on this. Just when you think you know what is going to happen...it does not.  Scratchin' my head go figure.

[filthy-beast]

Congrats on the sale.

[filthy-beast]

on 3/17 we placed an order for Riverstone 37 MRE 5th wheel. When ordered wait time was 12 to 14 weeks. Now who knows, hoping to get it in August.

 

[Grizz1]

27 minutes ago, filthy-beast said:

Congrats on the sale.

Thanks! Its not a done deal yet but I didn't think it would happen so fast with all that is going on.

24 minutes ago, filthy-beast said:

on 3/17 we placed an order for Riverstone 37 MRE 5th wheel. When ordered wait time was 12 to 14 weeks. Now who knows, hoping to get it in August.

 

Well good luck and hopefully things will get back to a quasi normal state sooner rather then later!

[fpmtngal]

5 hours ago, Grizz1 said:

Ok all you 2020 folks, I'm late to the party as usual. 🙂 I was in the 2019 class but due to circumstances beyond my control, I did not graduate. 

So I did the work that was needed and put the house up for sale. Well COVID-19 enters the picture. I was figuring that NOBODY was going to come look at my house. What I did figure was I'd get it out there on the market and when all this calmed down people would start looking again.

Well boy was I wrong! 2 days on the market and lots of interest. Lots of appointments and 7 offers, all over asking. I did not count on this. Just when you think you know what is going to happen...it does not.  Scratchin' my head go figure.

Congrats on the sale of your house (almost) - I’m not surprised, interest rates are down so people are out there buying.  Good luck to you on your move - and that you’ll find a good spot to land for a while.  Sounds like your timing worked out well!

Have fun on the road.

[skeet]

12 hours ago, Grizz1 said:

Ok all you 2020 folks, I'm late to the party as usual. 🙂 I was in the 2019 class but due to circumstances beyond my control, I did not graduate. 

Long story and if your interested :

Posted December 9, 2019

Well it seems there will be no 2019 graduation for us!

The plan was to keep my S&B, its a 2 family. My daughter and her family lived in the front apt and my wife and myself lived in the rear. The plan was for her to move to the rear apt (much bigger more bedrooms) and I would rent out the front to someone else. Sounded like a great plan...well you know what they say about the best laid plans!

They ( my daughter and her husband) have decided to buy a house and they close on the Dec 16th. So now I will have to wait till they are out and do what needs to be done to the front apt and put the whole shebang on the market. I don't want to be an absentee landlord and have the worries about what may/will go wrong while we are on the road. Even with a property management Co. I would not be comfortable. So with the work that needs to be done and then putting the house on the market, 2019 graduation ain't happening.

So...Congrats to all the 2019 graduates! Looks like I will have to transfer to the class of 2020.

 

So I did the work that was needed and put the house up for sale. Well COVID-19 enters the picture. I was figuring that NOBODY was going to come look at my house. What I did figure was I'd get it out there on the market and when all this calmed down people would start looking again.

Well boy was I wrong! 2 days on the market and lots of interest. Lots of appointments and 7 offers, all over asking. I did not count on this. Just when you think you know what is going to happen...it does not.  Scratchin' my head go figure.

Sure hope you get it sold and are able to get on the road. We were supposed to put ours on the market 4/15...but with the closures here in Washington state due to the virus....it's looking more like June 1st(I hope). Take care and welcome to class of 2020'

Skeet

 

[jamtracy]

On 3/9/2020 at 11:15 AM, TheCornelisons said:

Well, I guess this is us!  We were full time in a Heartland Road Warrior (2018) for a few months, but had to sell and move into a house for a few years due to my (wife's) health issues.  Surgery , 100# weight loss and lots of physical therapy and we are ready to dive in again.  But this time, we plan to move up to a Class A, go full time in 2020 and retire in 2021 to travel.  

I am 62 and DH is 67 so we are really looking forward to moving on to this exciting, new chapter in our lives!  We have family and extended family scattered along the eastern seaboard, but want to travel all across the US when we retire.  We are actively searching for the right motorhome and scouring the message boards for reviews and recommendations.  Right now, we seem to have narrowed our choices to Newmar, Winnebago, Triton, Thor and possibly Coachmen.  

We have 2 dogs and 3 cats at present and they will be coming along with us.  They did great in the 5th wheel a few years ago, so we don't expect any huge surprises when we pull the trigger and do this again. 

So that's us in a nutshell.......

 

Sounds like a great plan. I pray you health improves.

Who wrote this? The DW or the DH? The writing contradicts each other. Just curious.

[Good Life Highway]

Has anyone else's plans been derailed by the pandemic?

We were supposed to go full-time on June 1 starting with a rally in Arkansas. The rally has not yet been cancelled, but we expect it to be cancelled soon. Our lease is up on May 30 but we have made the tough decision to delay our departure until October. Everything is just too uncertain right now and we don't want to add uncertainty to our new full time life on the road. Currently looking for an apartment on a short term basis.  We sold our home and most of our belongings already. As John Lennon said, Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.

Trying to remain positive and count our blessings. We still have an income, both of our kids are still employed, and we are healthy so far.

Stay safe and healthy everyone!

Kris and Ryan

[CasperBob]

36 minutes ago, Good Life Highway said:

Has anyone else's plans been derailed by the pandemic.

Kris and Ryan

It has changed our plans a bit. We were hoping to finish the renovations on our house over the next two or three months then get it on the market, after which I would retire upon selling the house. But Friday I got laid off so our plans have accelerated. My wife and I see this as a blessing as now I can spend full time working on the house so we can finish everything on the house and get it on the market by the end of April.

We are actually excited, although our full time adventures may start with boondocking in the mountains in Wyoming haha. But we actually prefer that over campgrounds anyway.

[filthy-beast]

8 hours ago, Good Life Highway said:

Has anyone else's plans been derailed by the pandemic? ......

..... Kris and Ryan

Not yet, but very possible.  I got offered a voluntary early retirement before this all started, comes with a nice check that will pay for a new TV and 5th wheel. Ordered the 5th wheel with small down payment, expected it to be delivered in early June.  Check comes end of April when I was going to buy the new F350.

We were planning to get rid of the house in April-May and move into a park model we own. that park is typically open late April to Oct.

As a result of Covid-19 will there be any F350s in stock to buy and if I have to order will I have it before Oct? Will we get the trailer in July or Oct? Will the park open for us to move into the park model?

So bottom line we need to have truck and trailer and be on the road mid Oct or we will have no place to stay.

If fortune smiles on us, the park will open in May, I'll find a truck to buy in early May and we will get our 5ver in July or August.

 

 

[MaxwellsAway]

Happy to find this group and learn how you are all making your way to fulltiming this year! We sold our house last April (downsizing phase 1), and then the lease on our apartment ended March 9 (downsizing phase 2). We moved into the Bus that day. It’s a Thor, but we call it the Bus. By now we have finally- I think- finished the final purge of extra stuff that came with us from the apartment with downsizing phase 3. Our plan had been to do multiple short shakedown trips around California in March as we’re new to RV’ing, and then set out for ongoing travel beginning April 1. This virus has totally derailed the fun part of our plans, but the meat is still there! The shakedowns went well but were happening while California was figuring out its shelter-in-place plans and campgrounds and Harverst Host locations were closing. The experience probably suffered a bit for it, but we had fun and stayed away from others. Come April 1 we likely would have stayed in California except we had no house or apartment anymore. In the end, we decided to follow our plan to leave California and park ourselves in an RV park in Las Vegas until the end of May at least or until the virus-related travel future becomes more clear. It seems as if many others in this park are in a similar situation, sheltering in place here because they may not have other better options. We thought we’d be out checking out state and national parks, boondocking as much as possible, and checking out interesting shops, bars, and restaurants on the way. We had plans to be at the Boot Camp later this month here in Las Vegas and at the Escapade in June meeting new friends and learning the Escapee community, but all are now cancelled of course. So it’s really not the beginning we thought we’d have to our fulltiming phase of life. There is disappointment in that, but we look forward to learning as we go and finding out where the year takes us!