Fulltiming has ended... after 12+ years...

[BrianT]

Fulltiming has ended... after 12+ years living in an RV.

It started in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina went rambling through south Louisiana and made a mess of our house. It continued when after a year being parked in our own driveway we decided we did not want to live there anymore.

The RV (well, three of them actually, we upgraded twice) has been in LA, MS, AL, KY, TN, VA, and PA for varying amounts of time. Never was inclined to take it westward. And today, it sits on a concrete pad at our new place in north central TN, awaiting it's future.

We bought a few acres with a house, garage and barn and are thrilled not to be spending another winter in an RV.

Fulltiming was fun for a while but it's time for a new chapter for us. It was great meeting many other RVers, including three years at the Campbellsville Amazon FC working the peak season. (Interestingly, that FC is only a little over 100 miles from where we ultimately ended up buying our place.)

I'm not sure what is in store for the RV. It's way too big for us to want to use it for a weekend camper. (It's a Titanium 34E39QS.) And it needs some work as it's a 2006 model and we lived in it for quite a few years. It's cold out, though, with night temps in the single digits so any work will have to wait! It's been a pretty decent unit for general living, though, can't really complain about much as it's way roomier than our 32' Jayco TT (no slides) that we started out in.

I don't check in here very often anymore but do have a few friends that may still frequent the forums. Thought I should update, just in case someone may not have heard. Wishing all of you safe travels, where ever the road takes you!

Blessings, and Happy New Year!!

 

Brian

 

[dirtyboots]

Brian - my best to you in your new adventure.  You were very helpful to me when I first joined this forum, thinking of going full time.

You helped give me ideas of where to look, what to look at and set my path in motion.  After many years and many set-backs I finally did jump in in 2016.  This is my 2nd winter in AZ,  traveled all the rest of the year with great enjoyment.  Your positive reinforcement to my ideas way back when gave me the hope I needed to keep going.

Enjoy resuming the stationary way of life.  Stay warm!

[Kirk W]

Your story has a familiar ring since we too lasted 12 years as fulltimers but we did travel a lot more than you and we left due to health issues and still miss that life. I would encourage you to think about downsizing as we did so that you can still take a trip from time to time and to continue to participate in the RV society. Happy trails! 

[RV_]

Brian!

Good to see your post and to hear you and yours are doing well. Brian, you've got my number and email if you ever want to swing by.

Donna! I haven't seen you in almost as much time. I am really glad to hear you got on the road and have done your first full year of travel! Good for you!

Guys we have now been off the roads longer than we were fulltiming by twice. We too got a part time rig, a nice SunnyBrook 28 foot fiver. We weren't using it as much and the roof material gets really mildewed so we sold it and went even smaller with a nice 2014 Scamp 19' Fiver that was only used a couple of times and was parked in Arizona for all that time since they bought it new. I prefer to keep up with a well waxed fiberglass egg shell which is just like a boat. It uses a Reese fifth wheel ball hitch exactly like an Andersen Ultimate Hitch. I just took the regular fifth wheel hitch off the rails and the ball hitch fit right in the same rails. It cannot be felt behind my Ram 2500 long bed.

 

We were off the road because of taking care of our remaining mom and dad who lived a lot longer than we thought they would in 2003 when we bought our 5 acre place. That was just Lagniappe.

2015 we put in a new "house spec" manufactured home. 2X6 frame, asphalt shingles, 5/8" Sheetrock, mud and taped with nice crown and upgrade dual pane windows and hardy board siding to ground. Then we put in decks, and fixed the landscaping and drainage. Her Dad passed a year ago Dec 2016, and we finally finished the succession/distribution, then we refreshed and sold that 6 acre property with grid connected solar the day it was listed.

Now we are getting all of our stuff sold, which fills a 24X30 steel workshop on a slab and a 12X24 Barn portable building finished out, R19 insulation and HVAC with wiring and paneling.  We are selling this last Louisiana property around May/June we hope, then moving and storing much of it in to Colorado to be out of this dang humidity. We are getting an apartment because we want to do a lot of house hunting before we buy. In the meantime we are trying to handle the big asset increase in investments similar to what have have done in the past. IT isn't all that hard but now instead of discretionary money we have more than I have manged yet so it will take some research.

[BrianT]

Thanks for the kind words!

I'm not quite sure what the future holds. Could be an RV in there, haven't ruled it out. 

[Catharine]

You certainly had a long time on the road.  You must have seen and done much of what you planned.

It is interesting to see that you are so glad at this time though to be off of the road. Things change as far as people's viewpoints depending upon experience.  I always like to see people so happy to get on the road.  But then perhaps they are just as happy many times to get off!

Good luck on your new situation which sounds very good for you. 

[Jack Mayer]

Brian, thanks for checking back in. I was wondering what you were up to. 

Things change and life throws things at us that lead us in many ways. You picked a nice area of the country to be it. And you can always change your mind and do something else.....

[BrianT]

Thanks, Jack.

Life really has thrown us a lot. And it hasn't really been the kinds of things that made for good fulltime travel.

Spent most of the last year in Pennsylvania with my parents. Mom's health was failing and they needed help. Basically, moved in with them for a while and put the RV in storage mode. Mom passed in April and we were able to resume our lives but neither of us really wanted to travel, we wanted to settle down.

My wife loves having people over and we are finally able to do that again. Had kids and grandkids running around the house and property not even a week after we bought the place. Had to scramble for enough beds and furniture for everybody to be comfortable. But my wife was in heaven!  (And she has a schedule of visitors that will be coming. I think she needs a calendar for her new B&B. LOL!)

I finally have a garage to work in again, a place to change oil and work on the vehicles, and a place for my woodworking shop. Plus there's a barn and a place for a good sized garden again. I've missed that.

So we've started another chapter. But the end of the book hasn't been written yet. Life has a habit of taking us in directions we hadn't thought of so who knows what comes next?! 

Safe travels!

[StarDreamers.us]

God's Speed in your new adventure!

Von and Christina Starkey

[richfaa]

Everything must end .  Although not full timers since we maintain our S &B  up North .We have been on the road since 2006 and we see the end of our adventure nearing . When we are done we are done  the RV will be gone. The S&B is there for us and no adjustment will be necessary. We may downsize as the S&B is far to large for just the two of us .It is the best investment we have. Life is a adventure and there is always another adventure. 100K miles plus and all the lower 48 plus a Provence or two is not bad.It has been a good run.

Best of luck in your new adventure.