CLASS OF 2016

[Mainuh]

Steve,

 

Looking good! Thanks for sharing the pics. Looks awesome! Congrats... Now the wait for delivery!

 

 

Getting a Little Closer!

 

 

 

Finally, we jsut retrned from a three week trip in our TT that included a factory stop to watch part of the build process. It takes 28 days from chasis prep to final paint to complete a unit, but the purchasing customer can watch the four days when they are putting the house on top of the chasis. It was really exciting to watch them actually build what we had helped design and to see it all come together. I've attached a link with pics from the build and a few others that were sent to us once they finished painting it. They are doing the pre delivery inspections now and we were scheduled for pickup on Sept. 14th but because of family obligations we can't get there till Oct. 12th. :-(

 

We are going to have trouble staying out of this thing once we get it.

 

 

[Adventureswithlulu]

Just wanted to say, Yes, woman are nesters. We like to have our "own nest", the nicer the better. When my hubby wanted to go on the road in an RV I was not at all excited about it. I thought maybe a few weeks or months would be OK but then I wanted to go back to "my house." Well, once we got on the road, I discovered I transferred my nest from that big house with 2.3 acres to take care of to my wonderful house on wheels. I no longer wanted the big house, yard, responsibilities, etc. The house on wheels represented freedom from all that upkeep and taking care of our stuff. Take your time. Try it out. I think you might find a big change in your allegiance. Good luck. Connie B.

I guess I'm different. DH is the nester, aka hoarder, and I'm the one ready to chuck everything. I've always been one for experiences, rather than being a domestic goddess

 

I can't wait not to have the responsibility of taking care of this house anymore. I have a chronic illness and it's getting more and more difficult for me to keep it up. I love our little MH, where it takes me one to two hours to clean everything.

 

I've never understood the reasoning behind working all week to pay for a house that you spend all weekend taking care of. But, like I said, I'm different

[Adventureswithlulu]

Since I've responded to one post, I should probably introduce myself. I am a 100% disabled vet and hubby is partially disabled. We thought we would have to wait another 5 years to retire, but he retires next fall, early, and we plan on putting our house on the market in early summer. We'll move into our 38 ft Coachmen Encounter with our three fur babies and sell the house (we hope) while waiting on hubby to finish work. We live in East Tennessee and we'll be spending our first winter in Milton, FL, outside Pensacola, just in case we need to be close by home for any last minute stuff. After that, we have no plans at all. We love the planning in jello method. We also want to chase 70 - degrees.

Hope to see many of you on the road!

[deppeler]

Hi,

 

My wife and I are aiming for mid-2016 to go fulltime. We are both under 65, but hey life is too short!

We just purchased a 2007 Tiffin Alegro Open Road 32BA and a 2013 Honda CR-V for our toad, so we have the MH/TOAD part

We are working on fixing up the house to sell and getting rid of our 'stuff'.

We are in Oklahoma and will domicile in Texas.

Edited September 8, 2015 by deppeler

[mike54]

05 m 16 d 15 h 43 m until I retire and go fulltime.

I haven't made any decision where to go in early March it depends on the weather.

[Mainuh]

Hi,

 

My wife and I are aiming for mid-2016 to go fulltime. We are both under 65, but hey life is too short!

We just purchased a 2007 Tiffin Alegro Open Road 32BA and a 2013 Honda CR-V for our toad, so we have the MH/TOAD part

We are working on fixing up the house to sell and getting rid of our 'stuff'.

We are in Oklahoma and will domicile in Texas.

 

 

Since I've responded to one post, I should probably introduce myself. I am a 100% disabled vet and hubby is partially disabled. We thought we would have to wait another 5 years to retire, but he retires next fall, early, and we plan on putting our house on the market in early summer. We'll move into our 38 ft Coachmen Encounter with our three fur babies and sell the house (we hope) while waiting on hubby to finish work. We live in East Tennessee and we'll be spending our first winter in Milton, FL, outside Pensacola, just in case we need to be close by home for any last minute stuff. After that, we have no plans at all. We love the planning in jello method. We also want to chase 70 - degrees.

 

Hope to see many of you on the road!

 

Welcome depeller & oursimplelife!

 

We hope to have the house on the market late spring 2016 and be FT on the road by Thanksgiving! No lack of things to do in the meanwhile. Retiring at year end 2015 to devote full time to prepping the house and acquiring a nice gently used Tiffin Bus. A few yard sales, trips to Goodwill and other miscellaneous fun sprinkled in between! Keep in touch and let us know what you're up to as things get closer.

[pianomanterry]

Hello Everyone! I'm new here! Have been reading all the posts and find it fascinating. My best friend and I have lived together for many years, both divorced and needing help with living expenses, one salary just doesn't seem to stretch far enough anymore. Anyway, we decided to full time rv! We moved back to Florida, Don's home state, from Indiana, my home state, to retire. I retired in June of 2012 and, weeks after, Don lost his job with the housing authority. So we bought a small 5er and started back to Fl! That 5er proved to be too small for both of us so we bought a mobile home in a 55+ park in Clearwater. That allowed each of us to have an actual bedroom and a seperate office. We decided a few months ago to go full-timing, a few months after Don's heart attack. He will turn 62 in December and we started to plan to start our full-time adventures in April os 2016. I started doing some renovations on our mobile home to prepare to sell it and started getting rid of stuff. I have now started getting the rv ready for full-time living. We sold our mobile home, but the buyers don't want posession until December so we will start moving into it in November. I think that's a great thing to do, also, so we can find out just what we need and don't need for living in it full-time. That way we can adjust everything to fit our needs before heading off somewhere for a Work Camp assignment. In fact, it's looking like we may have a job to start in May at a park in Ohio. That would be close enough for me to visit friends and family in Indiana during the summer, and Don could visit some friends he made while working at the Housing Authority. Not to mention that the summers there are wonderful compared to summers in Florida. So, even though we will be moving into the 5er in December, we won't officially "full-time" until the end of April! We are both so anxious to just take off and leave Florida behind for a while. We will keep our domicile here, we have accounts at a local credit union, as well as Bank of America, are registered to vote here and our storage will still be here. We just have to look into mail forwarding. I just moved my little Digital Grand Piano into the 5er, it looks so cute there. (www.pianogypsy.com) Check out this link to my blog. I look forward to getting to know more and more folks out there on the road, and maybe attend some rally's. A band I play for will be entertaining at the New Years Eve event at the Arcadia Bus Rally this year in Arcadia, FL. Maybe I'll see some of you there!

[Mainuh]

Welcome to Escapees Terry (& Don). Sounds like you've got a plan. Piano looks good in the rig! Escapees is offering mail forwarding out of Fla now... I'll be opening an account for that in January or so to give it time and test prior to needing it next fall. Good luck with your plans and make sure to check in here in the class of 2016 often and let us know how it's going.

[RhondaRVs]

Hello! I'm planning on graduating to Fulltime again in August 2016. It is a milestone birthday year for me and I don't want to wait until I retire to get back to living in an RV fulltime. I owned and lived in an RV for a couple of years about 14 years ago (I know this because I remember getting a phone call from my then FIL about the towers in NYC). At the time my ex and I were living in our 35 foot triple slide out RV on my in-laws ranch in Texas. My plan at that time was to travel in the RV fulltime but besides a long trip to and from Texas to Key West and a trip to Arizona, we never actually took it anywhere.

 

I'm planning on soloing so I'm thinking of doing a Class C with a toad. I think a 5th wheel might be too much for me on my own (both physically and financially). Plus, I had an F350 previously and driving that all the time when not using it to tow the RV was cumbersome.

 

I'll be working while my traveling. I'm a software engineer so I'm hoping to find a remote position. Otherwise, I'll head south from Seattle and look for work in Southern California, preferably San Diego area.

 

I start my search for an RV next month at the Tacoma RV show. There are two more shows, one in January and one in February, in Seattle and Tacoma, that I plan on attending.

 

Can't wait!

 

Rhonda

[Mainuh]

Welcome Rhonda!

 

I've posted our story and timetable earlier in this thread so I won't bore everyone with it again! What's your thoughts on timing? I'd love to go to the PA show next weekend and make a deal, but we'd just have to store it for our Maine winter so I plan to wait till feb/mar and make a trip south (likely Fla) with a shortlist and see what dealer really wants our business. Stay in touch here and let us know how you're progressing.

[SteveandLiz]

Welcome Rhonda!

 

I've posted our story and timetable earlier in this thread so I won't bore everyone with it again! What's your thoughts on timing? I'd love to go to the PA show next weekend and make a deal, but we'd just have to store it for our Maine winter so I plan to wait till feb/mar and make a trip south (likely Fla) with a shortlist and see what dealer really wants our business. Stay in touch here and let us know how you're progressing.

Don,

 

You should go to the Tampa Super Show in January. It's as big as Hershey or close to it and it would be a nice break from the cold. It's a manufacturers sponsored event so there is a chance for some decent pricing. We went last year and learned what was available and approximate prices. Actually there is so much stuff there it is overwhelming. If you did find something you could probably work it so you didn't take delivery till the snow melts.

 

Just a thought.

 

Steve

 

http://events.frvta.org/florida-rv-supershow/

[Mainuh]

So any of you in the class of 2016 planning to go to the Escapees Rally in VT July 2016? Anyone already signed up? Kind of excited as we registered this past weekend including the Boot Camp. Timing is perfect... We're hoping to have the house sold or under contract with a closing date by then. Interested to hear if others are planning on boot camp and the VT rally.

[Mainuh]

Don,

You should go to the Tampa Super Show in January. It's as big as Hershey or close to it and it would be a nice break from the cold. It's a manufacturers sponsored event so there is a chance for some decent pricing. We went last year and learned what was available and approximate prices. Actually there is so much stuff there it is overwhelming. If you did find something you could probably work it so you didn't take delivery till the snow melts.

Just a thought.

Stevehttp://events.frvta.org/florida-rv-supershow/

Hi Steve,

 

Will look into it. We're not going new with a dp. Especially with what the market is doing this month! Show would be fun and interesting but we'll be looking at 08-10 DPs and I'm sure we won't see those at the show.

 

Have you picked up your new rig yet? Pics?

[SteveandLiz]

Hi Steve,

 

Will look into it. We're not going new with a dp. Especially with what the market is doing this month! Show would be fun and interesting but we'll be looking at 08-10 DPs and I'm sure we won't see those at the show.

 

Have you picked up your new rig yet? Pics?

Don,

 

I try to think more long term on the market or I will go crazy. What a mess!

 

Even if your not buying a big show like Tampa is really a lot of fun. You really get to see what is out there and you can get a lot of ideas of what you might want. It really made us think. Plus they have an unbelievable amount of other vendors that have all kind of neat acessories for your RV and literature on campgrounds and sites all over the country. It's the Disney World of RV'ng.

 

We pick up the coach two weeks from today and needless to say we are excited. Thanks for asking. We took our TT to the dealer last week and closed the deal so the garrage is full of stuff from the trailer and other gear we have purchased to haul to Nappanee and put in the new coach. The factory delivery process is five days so we will be camped at the factory until the 17th and then we are taking a week to visit my mother in Illinois and then two more weeks to work our way back to GA.

 

I attached a pic of the new RV. I am going to look into the 2016 Rally. My wife is from MA so it might be a great time to go to New England.

 

Steve

[Mainuh]

Don,

 

I try to think more long term on the market or I will go crazy. What a mess!

 

Even if your not buying a big show like Tampa is really a lot of fun. You really get to see what is out there and you can get a lot of ideas of what you might want. It really made us think. Plus they have an unbelievable amount of other vendors that have all kind of neat acessories for your RV and literature on campgrounds and sites all over the country. It's the Disney World of RV'ng.

 

We pick up the coach two weeks from today and needless to say we are excited. Thanks for asking. We took our TT to the dealer last week and closed the deal so the garrage is full of stuff from the trailer and other gear we have purchased to haul to Nappanee and put in the new coach. The factory delivery process is five days so we will be camped at the factory until the 17th and then we are taking a week to visit my mother in Illinois and then two more weeks to work our way back to GA.

 

I attached a pic of the new RV. I am going to look into the 2016 Rally. My wife is from MA so it might be a great time to go to New England.

 

Steve

 

Hi Steve,

 

You two must be pumped on taking delivery! It looks awesome! Hope you decide to come to the rally. We're doing the boot camp as well, but it would be great to meet you both there. Let us know here when you get the rig and look forward to more pics. New signature line looks pretty awesome BTW! Congrats again.

[mike54]

So any of you in the class of 2016 planning to go to the Escapees Rally in VT July 2016? Anyone already signed up? Kind of excited as we registered this past weekend including the Boot Camp. Timing is perfect... We're hoping to have the house sold or under contract with a closing date by then. Interested to hear if others are planning on boot camp and the VT rally.

I'm planning on going to the Escapade rally in Vermont I haven't registered yet but will soon.

[Gannet]

Update: we're still plugging away.

 

The thing I struggle with the most, by far, is how to get rid of our stuff. Yes, we'll have an estate sale at the end, but I have a lot of collectibles that I would prefer to get more than five cents on the dollar for. But I think I came up with a way to squeeze that in, see below.

 

In March I plan to take the MH in to get it all spruced up. The snowbird rush will be over by then so hopefully they can get it in and out within a few weeks. You never can tell with an old coach - sourcing parts can be an issue.

 

DW is going to retire in July and that's when we'll start transitioning into the MH in the driveway. That gives us a good long time to see what fits and what doesn't, and "play house". Sometime in the late summer or fall I'm going to try and transition my job position to either work-at-home or part-time so I have time to deal with Amazon and Craigslist selling.

 

We'll sell the house in late 2016, and move to an RV park nearby for a short bit, depending on when we close. I'll retire in January 2017 (if they don't make me crazy enough to quit before then). Okay, it got moved out a month. I want to bridge to the next year for tax and bonus reasons.

 

Only plans after that are to be in the totality of the eclipse in August, hopefully in Casper, Wyoming. Other than that, hit the road, Jack.

[Mainuh]

Update: we're still plugging away.

 

The thing I struggle with the most, by far, is how to get rid of our stuff. Yes, we'll have an estate sale at the end, but I have a lot of collectibles that I would prefer to get more than five cents on the dollar for. But I think I came up with a way to squeeze that in, see below.

 

In March I plan to take the MH in to get it all spruced up. The snowbird rush will be over by then so hopefully they can get it in and out within a few weeks. You never can tell with an old coach - sourcing parts can be an issue.

 

DW is going to retire in July and that's when we'll start transitioning into the MH in the driveway. That gives us a good long time to see what fits and what doesn't, and "play house". Sometime in the late summer or fall I'm going to try and transition my job position to either work-at-home or part-time so I have time to deal with Amazon and Craigslist selling.

 

We'll sell the house in late 2016, and move to an RV park nearby for a short bit, depending on when we close. I'll retire in January 2017 (if they don't make me crazy enough to quit before then). Okay, it got moved out a month. I want to bridge to the next year for tax and bonus reasons.

 

Only plans after that are to be in the totality of the eclipse in August, hopefully in Casper, Wyoming. Other than that, hit the road, Jack.

 

We hear you on the struggle of getting rid of stuff! I'm retiring Christmas eve and the wife will work a few more months most likely, but I'll be doing the last little punch list items to prep house for market in May. But also full time craigs listing and maybe some ebay sales and planning some big spring yard sales. Our town does a fall and spring bulky trash pickup, so we've carted a bunch of stuff roadside today. Most won't even be there when the town comes by as there's a steady stream of trash mongers that patrol the town during bulky waste week.

 

But looking around and knowing we don't want to store much, it does seem daunting. I think instead of renting a storage unit, we'll purchase a used 20' enclosed metal trailer and put stuff in there and park it at a friend's house. Wife probably won't want to FT after grand children appear... so not sure how long we'll stay FT on the road.

 

At any rate... Good luck with your plans and thanks for the update.

[Mainuh]

I'm planning on going to the Escapade rally in Vermont I haven't registered yet but will soon.

 

And of course, now that we've sent in our money, our daughter informs us that's the weekend she's thinking of getting married next year! Not going for my refund just yet. she may change her mind 2-3 times between now and June 20! She had been talking September which would have been great. Time will tell...

[chocofolks]

Oh my, it has been so long since I have posted.

 

We are putting the house on the Market February of 2016, and we will retire anytime after that.

 

The biggest thing for us is just to get away from Chicago and Cook County, Illinois is OK for the most part.

 

A year ago April ended up having cardiac Bypass surgery, thankfully did not have a heart attack before hand.

 

We actually are not totally ready to Retire, we will probably head on down to Tennessee, Knoxville...Our plan is to work a while down

 

there, have a couple trucking companies that would like for me to run with them through the southern states with weekends off. When the weather starts getting bad, quit and head to Florida or Texas and be lazy.

 

It will be nice to work because we want to not because we have to. I'll be posting more as we get closer.

 

It's all a plan in progress.

 

Tom & Karla

[BarbDan17]

Hello all-

 

We've been lurking in the 2017 class for quite a while, but it appears we will be able to move this up to 2016. We're hoping to be on the road as soon as we sell/close on our house. It goes up for sale 4/16/16 and hopefully will sell quickly. We've been having garage sales all summer, and even if the spring weather doesn't cooperate, we'll have a moving sale in the spring and get rid of the remainder of our belongings. We may be starting off in our truck and travel trailer, but we're searching for just the right motorhome for us and hopefully will be in it soon.

 

Looking forward to the spring and getting on the road!

 

Barbara and Dan

[Mainuh]

 

 

We pick up the coach two weeks from today and needless to say we are excited. Thanks for asking. We took our TT to the dealer last week and closed the deal so the garrage is full of stuff from the trailer and other gear we have purchased to haul to Nappanee and put in the new coach. The factory delivery process is five days so we will be camped at the factory until the 17th and then we are taking a week to visit my mother in Illinois and then two more weeks to work our way back to GA.

 

I attached a pic of the new RV. I am going to look into the 2016 Rally. My wife is from MA so it might be a great time to go to New England.

 

Steve

 

Steve,

 

Guessing you must have the new coach now? Anxious to see some more pics if you do and hear first impressions!

[Mainuh]

Hello all-

 

We've been lurking in the 2017 class for quite a while, but it appears we will be able to move this up to 2016. We're hoping to be on the road as soon as we sell/close on our house. It goes up for sale 4/16/16 and hopefully will sell quickly. We've been having garage sales all summer, and even if the spring weather doesn't cooperate, we'll have a moving sale in the spring and get rid of the remainder of our belongings. We may be starting off in our truck and travel trailer, but we're searching for just the right motorhome for us and hopefully will be in it soon.

 

Looking forward to the spring and getting on the road!

 

Barbara and Dan

 

Welcome to the class of 2016 Barbara & Dan! We probably should have tried to squeeze in a yard sale or too this fall, but will go into craiglist/ebay & yardsale mode early 2016 after I retire around Christmas. We'll be putting our house on the market around mid-May but may already have 1-2 interested buyers. Just looking through the house at everything seems over whelming some days, but we'll be picking away at it. Do you plan to store anything or really getting rid of all but what you need on the road? We'll probably store some stuff... maybe just buy a used enclosed metal trailer and store it at a friends property... Haven't quite decided. Wife wants to keep a few things like BR set and a few other pieces of furniture. If/when grandkids arrive on the scene, we'll probably buy a small place nearby, but no idea when that will be. Good luck in your process and check in here when you can. Always good to hear how others are dealing with all the issues that arise.

[R. Walter]

My wife and I would also like to join the Class of 2016. Originally, we kind of planned on 2015, but decided to work a little longer and tie up some loose ends.

 

My wife retires in December from the US Customs and Border Protection and will return to New Mexico to join me. I plan to stop work on April 29, 2016. She currently has been on assignment in the DC area for the last 16 months.

 

Next summer we have a volunteer host assignment that's been offered to us in her home state of Massachusetts. It's not my preferred location, but she's been in New Mexico with me for many years and I promised her that our first summer retired we'll go back east. We'll buy a unit, probably a fifth wheel, after Jan 1. We'll be visiting PPL in Houston when we return from her retirement cruise over Xmas out of Galveston.

 

I'm not sure where we'll be after next summer. We'll probably return to NM for the fall (hunting season) and then go to Florida where our 2 sons are stationed.

 

We have our house in Corrales, NM already rented (rental started September 1) and all of our things (the few that remain) are in storage in our garage/workshop on the property which is not part of the rental. For over the last year I purged heavily and, especially in the month or two leading up to September 1, when our lease commenced, I sold and gave away a bunch of stuff. I'll never miss the stuff that I did purge and it feels really great to have the casa all arranged.

 

My wife is excited about next summer in Massachusetts. I have concerns about what to do since I'll no longer be working. I'm very much outdoors most of the time whenever I get the chance. I'm thinking about getting a metal detector to occupy my time.

 

We have two sons, recently married, and both are military active duty. No grandkids yet, but would expect to hear that kind of news in the next 2 - 3 years. Exciting times ahead for us, but a little scary.

[BarbDan17]

Welcome to the class of 2016 Barbara & Dan! We probably should have tried to squeeze in a yard sale or too this fall, but will go into craiglist/ebay & yardsale mode early 2016 after I retire around Christmas. We'll be putting our house on the market around mid-May but may already have 1-2 interested buyers. Just looking through the house at everything seems over whelming some days, but we'll be picking away at it. Do you plan to store anything or really getting rid of all but what you need on the road? We'll probably store some stuff... maybe just buy a used enclosed metal trailer and store it at a friends property... Haven't quite decided. Wife wants to keep a few things like BR set and a few other pieces of furniture. If/when grandkids arrive on the scene, we'll probably buy a small place nearby, but no idea when that will be. Good luck in your process and check in here when you can. Always good to hear how others are dealing with all the issues that arise.

Don-

Congrats on the Christmas retirement. I'm hoping to be retired by the end of the 1st quarter/2016. We are planning on getting rid of practically everything. Anything which has sentimental value we are either giving away to family or a few things stored at my brothers house (he volunteered the space, but it shouldn't be much). Beyond that, the only things left will be for our full time use in the RV.

 

We had a neighbor stop by on Sunday, while we were working on the landscaping in the front yard and they were inquiring about buying our house. Their parents are elderly and needing to move closer, so they would like to buy and live in our house and give their house to the parents. It'll be great if we can work this out. Time will tell. In the mean time, we have a realtor coming by tonight to talk about the value of the house and the process of getting it ready to sell in April.

 

We have so much to still get rid of, and the holidays looming. It will be our last Christmas here with the kids and grandkids....a little melancholy over that, but this is our dream. We gotta live it while we can.

 

Good luck with your endeavors.

Barbara and Dan