Class of 2011

[Kevin H]

Eric - I read your entire blog. Great job. I wish I had had some of your insight and managed thinking at 23. From what I read, you will do fine with a class B. I suspect you will eventually want for something a bit bigger but that is down the road.

 

Here is an interesting link on living in van conversions.. I found myself daydreaming about it for me.

 

Good Luck - I'll watch your blog for updates.

 

-- Kevin

[shinpondhunter]

After several years of discussion, our family has decided: life is too short - LET'S DO IT! We have begun the process of selling everything off and preparing the house for the market (3500 square foot - 5 bed - three bath, sized house sitting on just under 14 acres which borders thousands of acres of State management area). We live in Rhode Island, I am 44 years old (and can retire from my current job and collect a modest pension), my wife is 40 (she is a school teacher and although she has been in her position for 18 years she needs to work another 10 before she hits the retirement mark), and we have three children: 9 year old son and 4 year old twins (boy & a girl).

 

Before kids, my wife and I traveled and camped quite a bit. The biggest adventure (up until now) had been a cross-country trek that we took in 2000. For that 6+ weeks trip we traveled in a 30 foot fifth wheel pulled by a diesel dually. When we returned to Rhode Island, we discovered that we fell in love with the country (farms and woods) and sold our house in the city and moved to the country. Before our first son was born, we sold the truck and fifth wheel to an older couple who planned on full-timing with it (NOTE: This couple, Pam & Steve, are still full-timing; however, in different rigs. And when I stated "older couple" I was referring to the fact that they were older than us . In 2004 we bought a Winnebago Brave Class A and planned on traveling during the summer months with our toddler; however, shortly after that purchase, my wife was pregnant with the twins (new house - new baby AND new camper - new twins???). So, we sold that set-up while we still had equity in it and put the proceeds from this sale back into our house.

 

Last year we discussed moving to Irmo, South Carolina (never visited there, just thought it would fit our lifestyles from what we read on-line). We were nervous about selling here and moving there without getting a true feel for the area. We sat through another miserable, cold, winter. Having lived in RI our entire lives (for that matter both our families have stayed, for generations, in RI) it's time for a change. We are figuring on hitting the road in the summer of '11. Touring North America (I am a hesitant of going south-of-the-border into Mexico - it appears to be too unsettled for us to fully enjoy things, but, that could change) and taking notes on where we would like to reestablish our family. Homeschooling will be a new challenge for my wife and I, but she is a true educator and is very successful and respected by her peers.

 

So, with this "Reader's Digest" version of our lives, what tips / suggestions does the Class of 2011 have for us? Oh, we just purchased a 2010 Dodge Ram 3500 diesel dually with a Mega-Cab... we pick this up on Tuesday (06/29/10). We are leaning towards a 2011 Jayco Eagle 365 BHS loaded with a Reese Revolution Pin Box... Thanks in advance everyone...

[corter]

Eric - I read your entire blog. Great job. I wish I had had some of your insight and managed thinking at 23. From what I read, you will do fine with a class B. I suspect you will eventually want for something a bit bigger but that is down the road.

 

Here is an interesting link on living in van conversions.. I found myself daydreaming about it for me.

 

Good Luck - I'll watch your blog for updates.

 

-- Kevin

 

Thanks Kevin! Glad you enjoyed it, and your compliments are very kind I've read almost everything on cheaper living, I've been researching and, like you, dreaming for a long time. It's finally time to do it.

 

I'm not sure how long I'll be full timing- and the thing that I'm worried about right now are my cats. I'm sure the space will be ok because they're both leash trained and will be able to get outside, but I'm doing a lot of research now about leaving them while I go to explore/do interviews/generally live outside of the camper. I don't want to harm them if it heats up too much (or cools down, but I feel like heat is easier to come by with blankets then cooling is). Regardless, I'm positive a class B van will be fine for me right now- not ideal- but fine, and a means to do the things I'd love to do.

[heyduke]

we just put ours on the market and it will be assigned MLS listing soon... we are retiring in March so we do have time to sell and would vacate as early as end of august if it sells early and just find a rental till we buy our RV... till then we are getting rid of stuff after just finishing our second garage sale and trip to the mission...

[Rick & Karen]

We are now one step closer to our departure date; we listed the house this week! Rick retires January 2011 and we will be gone. Now we just have to start getting rid of things. Got rid of lots of stuff when our daughter moved to Seattle last week. She took lots of "I can't sell that" stuff. Now it's getting rid of furniture and just plain junk! This should be easy but it's not. I don't know why I feel attached to every little cotton picken thing! Makes it take twice as long. But we shall prevail, I'm sure.

 

Karen

[heyduke]

understand Karen I just sold my old canoe and didn't realize i was sentimentally attached until we loaded it up on his flatbed trailer... my last trip in it was a 100 mile trip down the lower canyons of the rio grande... and now it is gone

[champ_49]

Well all....... I have some good news!! My 2011 Graduation to fulltiming has ended. My Dr. decided that it was no longer good for me to keep working, so we are now in the class of 2010. We actually hit the road May 15 of this year in our 2011 3670 Bighorn, and we are loving every moment of it. In upper part of Mi. for the summer, then heading for TX for the winter as it stands now. One thing about fulltiming and retirement you have the ability to change your plans at any given second. That is a great feeling trust me. Of course there will be many stops on the way south. Thats the next thing we start to look at.

 

Take care and see you down the road

Dave & Linda

[heyduke]

congrats - now you will have to change your sig

 

Well all....... I have some good news!! My 2011 Graduation to fulltiming has ended. My Dr. decided that it was no longer good for me to keep working, so we are now in the class of 2010. We actually hit the road May 15 of this year in our 2011 3670 Bighorn, and we are loving every moment of it. In upper part of Mi. for the summer, then heading for TX for the winter as it stands now. One thing about fulltiming and retirement you have the ability to change your plans at any given second. That is a great feeling trust me. Of course there will be many stops on the way south. Thats the next thing we start to look at.

 

Take care and see you down the road

Dave & Linda

[champ_49]

congrats - now you will have to change your sig

Didn't think about the profile change. Thanks for the reminder, its now done!!

[heyduke]

wished I was changing mine too

[Neo/Russ]

Congratulations Dave and Linda, just because you "skipped a grade" doesn't mean you shouldn't keep the rest of us still anchored here up to date on the new things you're experiencing. Who knows, one of us might just pick up a tip or two that will make our leap to freedom easier.

 

Russ

[champ_49]

Congratulations Dave and Linda, just because you "skipped a grade" doesn't mean you shouldn't keep the rest of us still anchored here up to date on the new things you're experiencing. Who knows, one of us might just pick up a tip or two that will make our leap to freedom easier.

 

Russ

Russ, the one thing I can let you know is that retirement isn't all its cracked up to be, its sooooooo much better Hard to get used to the fact that I don't have to come back from this vacaton and go to work. That part hasn't fully sunk in yet. But its getting easier. 42 yrs of railroading and then the next day you just stop.....wow, what a shock!!!

 

But we are living the fulltime now in northern Mi, then heading out in Oct. sometime for TX and who knows from there!!

 

Dave & Linda

[LFDR3116]

We will also be part of the class of 11. My job ends on May 31,11 and we'll stick around in Michigan until Fall and then head south as "fulltimers". We put the house up for sale a week ago and are just hoping it sells. Not much activity so far and so many houses on the market. We plan on having an estate sale to get rid of stuff the kids/family member don't want. We have lots of junk we can sell! Stuff sure does accumulate somehow.

 

Pat

[sandsys]

We plan on having an estate sale to get rid of stuff the kids/family member don't want. We have lots of junk we can sell!

Take that comment literally. The people who did our estate sale told us not to throw away anything. They even sold our box of rags!

 

Linda Sand

[heyduke]

one persons trash is anothers treasure...

 

Take that comment literally. The people who did our estate sale told us not to throw away anything. They even sold our box of rags!

 

Linda Sand

[LFDR3116]

Thanks Linda, I'll keep that in mind - will keep everything until after a sale is done. I'm just stashing as much as I can out of site for showing the house

[sandsys]

I do wish we had put more things on Craig's list before contracting for the sale, though, as I think we might have made more money that way. But, we focused on sorting and preserving, which also needed doing, until we were too burnt out to do Craig's list. That was one time when I wished I was a type A person with lots of energy and focus.

 

Linda Sand

[heyduke]

we have been utilizing craigslist a lot and have sold many unneeded items so far....

[heyduke]

well we have sold the piano... the antique sewing machine and table and maybe a desk this weekend ... all on craigslist... more stuff out the door... now only if the house would sell

[wygolfnutz]

Well all....... I have some good news!! My 2011 Graduation to fulltiming has ended. My Dr. decided that it was no longer good for me to keep working, so we are now in the class of 2010. We actually hit the road May 15 of this year in our 2011 3670 Bighorn, and we are loving every moment of it. In upper part of Mi. for the summer, then heading for TX for the winter as it stands now. One thing about fulltiming and retirement you have the ability to change your plans at any given second. That is a great feeling trust me. Of course there will be many stops on the way south. Thats the next thing we start to look at.

 

Take care and see you down the road

Dave & Linda

 

 

congrats Dave and Linda on skipping a class and good for you. We're from mid MI and still on course for FT next year. We're very happy for you...ENJOY!!!

[Neo/Russ]

Pete and Pat, How's the house sale going? And welcome to our group of hopeful fulltimers. I don't know if we'll have to jump to the class of '12 the way things are going. Between house sales, shrinking funds, my pace of finishing our hauler and time going by so fast '11 is getting close for us.

 

Good luck.

[TRACKUM]

Count us in!! My husband and I are retiring 1/11/11 (regardless of what happens with the market!). That's 818 days from today, between now & then we'll sell the stick and brick, sell (or distribute to our kids) all our worldly possessions and buy our new home on wheels.

 

We've been preparing for our lifestyle change since 2005; we're attending rallys and shows, monitoring forums and diesel class A's, meeting fellow RVers and learning from their experiences. We've been renting a variety of RV's to check out what we like/need/have to have when we do buy. We even have a website.

 

We're headed to Quartzsite in January for our next immersion into RVing...

Needless to say I was thrilled to see there's a class of '11 group out there already & look forward to sharing experiences with our fellow "classmates".

 

The wife and I moved into our motorhome full time in May of 2010. However, since she is retireing from her job in December 2010 and we will be on the road in Jan 2011, I consider myself a member of the class of 2011. The nice thing about moving into the motorhome early is the leisurely, orderly process of learning how to care for the motorhome prior to hitting the road. So far, half the stuff I've had to fix is stuff I broke myself. My website to document this upcoming journey is http://mothercarol.com

[TRACKUM]

Sell for what you can get for it and hit the road. You already have everything else you need. Life doesn't wait for perfection.

 

Linda Sand

class of '08

 

That is a word to the wise.

 

Here is my new creed:

 

I have made the move into the Twilight of my life. These are the "End Times".

I could be dead tomorrow or I could live another 20 years. Noone knows.

What I do know is that I have planned for this to be a special time in which

all my focus is on myself.

I have paid off all my bills.

I have fulfilled all of the obligations I am willing to accept as mine.

I have nothing left to do except what pleases me and to live each day as if it were my last.

[champ_49]

congrats Dave and Linda on skipping a class and good for you. We're from mid MI and still on course for FT next year. We're very happy for you...ENJOY!!!

 

 

Well its now been 3 mo. in our new 5th wheel living fulltime. I have checked it out, and it has a couple dealer things to have done to it and we will be on the road for the first time since we retired. Been stationary for the summer as we love the area we are in for summer time. Lots of good fishing and good people where we stay near Alpena Mi. But getting very antsy now about getting on the road and actually living the fulltime lifestyle. Think we are ready for our journey. One thing I will say is that by staying stationary at first in a campground living in the RV, lets you weed out the things you actually dont use. Making the traveling lighter as everyone suggest. Its amazing the things we thought we needed that we havent even used yet. Obviuosly that goes out the door. As they all say, lighter is better!!!

 

Dave & Linda

[Loviosa]

Hi everyone

 

I have good news. Originally we were going to be in the class of 2012 but things have worked out that we can jump forward a year. We plan to put the house on the market next spring and should (read that as hope) to be on the road by summer. We have purchased our tow vehicle, 2008 Dodge dually diesel and we love it. We have looked at enought 5th wheels to make your head spin. One last push of looking when we go to the RV show in Hershey next month then I am done. We will decide from there what we want and then start looking for the better price. We at least have it narrowed down to 3 or 4 models.

 

We are purging the house although that is not really going to be as hard a job as it is for most. My husband moved back to the US 5 years ago from Scotland and I moved here 2 years ago from the west coast of Canada. With the cost of shipping we both did some heavy purging at that time and have not really had time to gather a bunch of new stuff. So other than prepping the house for sale and staging it we are nearly good to go. Countdown is under 300 days now and slowing ticking down.

 

Can't wait to see you all down the road.

 

Vicky and Ira