Winding down our fulltime RV Adventure

[GR "Scott" Cundiff]

We started our fulltime RV adventure over 9 years ago in May of 2013. Our travels have taken us across the USA, coast to coast, and we have thoroughly enjoyed the journey. The past couple of years brought some major changes to our lifestyle.

1. For one thing, COVID cramped our style the same as it did for everyone else. We hunkered down in a comfortable urban campground for the duration.
2. Meanwhile, I kept getting requests to serve as interim pastor in different places. What with COVID making it difficult to plan and the satisfaction we get from helping churches, we took the departure from our touring lifestyle in stride and enjoyed ministering to some wonderful people.
3. Also, medical stuff has occupied more and more of our calendar. Thank God, the concerns haven’t been major. They have, though, impacted our travel plans as well as our bank account!
4. While we full well know that there’s a lot to see and do in this country, we’ve had a bit of a feeling of “been-there-done-that.” There are many gaps in our travel, but we’ve seen a great deal over the past several years and have visited some favorite areas more than once.
5. We’ve gotten kind of tired of living in a RV. I think this is related to slowing down our travel the past couple of years. Doing typical RV chores and living in a small space is well worth the inconvenience so long as the tradeoff is going places and seeing new things. For us, the less we have done, the less we have enjoyed the RV as a residence.
6. Finally, skyrocketing fuel costs have influenced our thinking. Fill ups costing hundreds of dollars do make one think twice about hitting the road.

Had the slowdown not happened we might have continued the RV life a bit longer. You might say that we lost much of our “momentum” waiting out COVID, etc. Frankly, we never retired to live in a RV – rather we retired to travel in a RV.

All this to say we are retiring from fulltime RVing, at least for the foreseeable future. Even as I write this the motorhome is on a consignment lot waiting for the right buyer to come along. I expect to get a smaller rig at some point in the future so we can do some seasonal, short-term travel. Time will tell.

All of this, though, doesn’t mean our unconventional retirement adventures are over. In a few days we will begin an entirely new adventure. I’ll write more about that in a few days. We’re excited about this next step!

http://pastorscott.com/travel/2022/07/16/winding-down-our-fulltime-rv-adventure/

[mptjelgin]

Good evening Scott-

Very nicely written summary of the factors leading you in a different direction. My wife and I went through exactly the same thing, having gone full-time in March 2010 and enjoying it up into 2020. We spent most of our time volunteering at National Wildlife Refuges and Fish Hatcheries, along with some State Parks and State Wildlife Areas. But in Spring 2020 our volunteer gigs were all cancelled due to COVID, with no real idea of when things would get back to "normal". 

We had an RV lot in Central Texas to hole up in, but as you note if you're not actually travelling an RV starts to seem like a less than optimal place to live. We did one more volunteer gig but COVID was still impacting things and our heart really wasn't into it.

So we bought a home in this same area, sold the big fifth wheel and bought a smaller TT.  Frankly our idea of taking spontaneous shorter trips hasn't worked out because of the demand for camping sites and the absolute inability to get into a Texas State Park for more than a couple of days without making reservations months in advance. Oh well, we're getting that figured out as well. 

Throw in a little bit of medical and some of your "been-there-done-that" sentiment and we're happily off into the next chapter of our lives. We are doing more international travel and visiting a few locations within the US that we still have on our list. But now by plane, rental car, and Airbnb. 

We're so thankful to have gotten our full-timing in when we did, as the situation was really changing in the final couple of years, and (for us) not for the better. 

Enjoy the next step!

[Kirk W]

I certainly understand your decision, having traveled a very similar path. Our departure from the fulltime lifestyle was mostly medical and I am happy for you that your circumstances are different. I can only imagine what the covid restrictions might have been like in an RV as we were off of the road and part-time again well before it hit. I wish you the best as you begin a new phase of your life and do hope that you will continue to update us and get that downsized RV fairly quickly and join us in the part-time RV lifestyle. 

[Barbaraok]

Scott, this is exactly what has happened to us, only medical problems are finally the deciding factor.  And we had a feeling such would be the case when we started looking for a house last fall.  Though I must say, while we lived in the desert when in our 20s, summer didn't feel as hot as it does now. I know it could have anything to do with being in our late 70s!     But life goes on and we adapt and it is great 9 months of the year here, no snow to shovel and we can always take the car for short visits in the summer to relatives in the PNW.  

[Kirk W]

19 minutes ago, Barbaraok said:

no snow to shovel

[docj]

We can definitely identify with most of the reasons Scott cites.  I'm glad to see that we are not the only ones who feel the way he does about #4.  After >70,000 miles of RVing over >10 years, it's difficult to think of another place we really want to explore, especially with fuel prices where they are today.  We haven't yet made the decision never to drive the coach again.  We're hoping to be able to take some trips around TX later this year (if it ever cools off) but we know that our days of traveling 2,500 miles to Canada are probably over.

But our situation is a bit different than many in that 7 years ago we purchased a site in an "ownership RV park" in Rockport TX and have been using it as a winter base ever since.  We have ~3,000 sq ft of property on which my wife has a structure that provides her with a "world class" sewing center and which also gives us storage so we have a place for all the things that don't fit into a motorhome.  We have lots of outdoor patio space and just enough garden to be attractive without becoming a burden.  The community, itself, isn't a "resort" it's really just a place to live; we have few rentals an don't have expensive to maintain things such as swimming pools.

So far we are content to live in our MH; we're so used to it.  I'm currently in the process of shoe-horning a 48" OLED TV into it!  Having the outdoor space and sewing center make it much easier to find room to "get away from each other"!  LOL  We haven't yet decided where we go from here; we could always put a "park model" on our lot and continue here, but that wouldn't really give us more space and would probably have a lot less built-in storage.   As long as we can climb the couple of steps into the coach, it's not such a big deal.  So far our health has not played a factor in these decisions but at our ages, one can never be sure.  We'll just have to play it by ear!

 

[GR "Scott" Cundiff]

Thanks for the insightful replies!  I'll add that it's a wonderful thing to make a change like this because we want to rather than because something has happened that forces it.

[sandsys]

We made our transition sort of gradually. We sold our biggest rig and moved back home into an apartment because Dave needed to be back in our previous community. Then I bought a conversion van so I could continue escaping winter as a solo RVer. Finally I decided being with Dave was more important to me than escaping winter so I sold my van. I do wish I had kept the van for shorter trips but it is what it is and it is good to be stationary again without having to deal with dump and fill.

Linda Sand

[Zulu]

17 hours ago, GR "Scott" Cundiff said:

All this to say we are retiring from fulltime RVing, at least for the foreseeable future. Even as I write this the motorhome is on a consignment lot waiting for the right buyer to come along. I expect to get a smaller rig at some point in the future so we can do some seasonal, short-term travel. Time will tell.

We ended up doing the same thing.

Sold the 41-foot Newmar DP after 8 years of full timing. Bought a much smaller 31-foot SeaView about 4 months later. We missed not having the "travel" option. (Also, we're now in CA fire country, so our RV is literally a 2nd home.)

Anyway, best of luck to you.

[RV_]

We did the same after 7 years 1997-2003. For many of the same reasons except we were 51 and 49 when we came off the road to care for parents aging poorly. I will be checking in to see your next adventures.

I agree that while traveling we had a palace on wheels  but when stationary the small space of even our 36' fiver with slides felt like substandard housing to us too. We had two part time trailers since but are now between RVs as we are moving again hopefully by next spring. The massive PEs in both lungs have reduced my O2 sats 4-5% less than before I had the clots develop from an old DVT from inactivity during COVID. I can't complain as it is 95-96% when I am awake.

So like Gary (Chalkie) we would like to get to sea level and see if I can do without Oxygen at night. I don't need it during the day and feel fine.

Best of luck to you Scott in your endeavors and ministry. 🖖

 

Edited July 19, 2022 by RV_

[bruce t]

Age has a way of ringing the reality bell. We sold our 40ft DP and now have a 20ft van conversion. And the reality is that we find the van conversion just as much 'fun'. But health issues now limit my travel. Now I'm 'scared' to go too far away from my health specialists. I had acute multiple PE's. They gave me a 40% chance of leaving hospital. And yes I did see God while in hospital. I lost 30% of my lung capacity. Walking a few 100 yards now is a real effort. The PE's caused acute hypoxia. The hypoxia caused other issues. I now have chronic migraine and cluster headaches. Real fun. NOT. The body has all but given up. But not my brain.

BUT I still dream of being on the road. That dream and the memories we have out weighs all the health issues. Life goes on. While RVing in all of our lives must, at sometime, end it's not the end of life. Most folks never know the joy that RVing brings. Yet they still manage to enjoy life.

Accept the end of RVing as simply the end of one stage of your life and the beginning of the next stage.

 

 

[RV_]

Bruce so sorry to hear that. I had massive PEs as well but recovered. Doc says I dodged a bullet many don't. Glad you lived through it too. 

You wrote:

"That dream and the memories we have out weighs all the health issues. Life goes on. While RVing in all of our lives must, at sometime, end it's not the end of life. Most folks never know the joy that RVing brings. Yet they still manage to enjoy life.

Accept the end of RVing as simply the end of one stage of your life and the beginning of the next stage."

Well said.

 

[Kirk W]

18 hours ago, bruce t said:

The body has all but given up. But not my brain.

You keep working on your body and I'll work with my Pam to get hers going again and just maybe we can make another trip down to visit! Still want to see the outback country!

[bruce t]

Kirk you have a deal. Just don't make it in summer. Our summer!

[GR "Scott" Cundiff]

Last year Jackie was looking at a denominational website where she saw a story about a retired librarian who had volunteered at Nazarene Theological College in Manchester, England for a year.  At the bottom of that article there was a link to more information for others who might be interested in volunteering there.  Thus began an interesting year of research, email exchanges, and many hours of discussion and prayers.  The result was an invitation to come, provided a UK “Charity Worker Volunteer” visa could be obtained.  Jackie would volunteer in the library 3-4 days a week and I would help out with the sound system and other things as needed.  As volunteers we would receive no salary and would pay our own transportation and living expenses.  An on-campus flat would be provided.

We decided to go for it.

As I have already written, we have been in the midst of winding down our fulltime RV lifestyle.  What better time to begin a new adventure!

Today our UK Adventure begins for real as we board a flight to England.  We’ll post updates with photos often: http://pastorscott.com/travel/2022/07/19/beginning-a-new-adventure/

[RV_]

5 minutes ago, GR "Scott" Cundiff said:

Today our UK Adventure begins for real as we board a flight to England.  We’ll post updates with photos often: http://pastorscott.com/travel/2022/07/19/beginning-a-new-adventure/

Awesome adventure. (Say hi to the queen for us!)

[Kirk W]

WOW!  How long will you be there? Have you ever been there before? 

We have thought tht we had some unique experiences in our volunteer travels but this has to be one to top all of our experiences. 

[sandsys]

Please, do continue to post links here so even us lazy ones can all share in your adventure.

Linda

[GR "Scott" Cundiff]

I won't keep posting about our now non-RV related trip, but thought I'd give a quick update for those who are interested

Here’s our new “house.” This is student housing; however, it has four flats with a bedroom/living room, kitchen, and bathroom. One interesting thing is that we were told that our flat was on the second floor. However, at some point, prior to arrival, I remembered that in the UK the first floor of a building is called the “ground floor.” The second floor is called the “first floor” (first above ground), and the third floor is called the “second floor.” In other words, we’re on the third level rather than the second one. And, no, there isn’t a “lift” in the building. Hopefully, we’ll benefit from the extra exercise!

Jet lag is a real deal. That, and a sleepless night on the plane, left us very tired once the adrenalin began to wear off. By Wednesday afternoon we needed a nap! We slept like logs for two hours and only woke up when the alarm on my phone went off. We were then able to stay awake until around 10:30 local time. That’s 4:30 in the afternoon in Texas and according to our body clocks! However, that two hours of sleep didn’t come close to leaving us rested so we went to bed and slept hard for most of the night. We’ll see how day two works for us.

Our biggest chore of the day was going back to the grocery store. We actually went to the store soon after we arrived to get enough food to last us a day or two.  The one we went to was in more-or-less reasonable walking distance. What a disaster! We were very tired, walked farther than we expected, and when we got there everything that was refrigerated had been lost due to the terribly hot days preceding our arrival! The coolers just couldn’t keep up with the heat and all the food in them was lost. Today’s trip was to a bigger store (Tesco), and they were well stocked except for a couple of empty coolers which had signs on them apologizing that due to the hot weather their units had failed.  Happily, the temps are back to the normal summer 60s and 70s now.

Our journey to the store included our first Manchester bus rides. The busses are all double decker versions. The story is that that particular road hosts the busiest bus route in Europe. You’ll see a bus every few minutes, so no schedule is necessary. We got a day rider pass costing us about $6.35 (USD) each.  We only rode to the store and back, but two one-way tickets would have cost a bit more than one day rider pass.

Obviously, I’m not going to do a long post every day, but everything is fresh and interesting to us right now and I want to share while stuff like this is on my mind. http://pastorscott.com/travel

Edited July 21, 2022 by GR "Scott" Cundiff

[gjhunter01]

We also have full timed for 10 years and volunteered in 31 states for a month or longer. This was our plan all along and we are now building a house in Mich to settle down and start farming with our son. Full timing was a great adventure, but it was never our plan to be a permanent lifestyle. I've already planted a large garden, got 4 ducks and looking forward to starting a hobby farm.

[Dave Weston]

On 7/17/2022 at 9:14 AM, GR "Scott" Cundiff said:

... gotten kind of tired of living in a RV.... Doing typical RV chores and living in a small space ...

Well said, Scott. And thank you for starting a topic about winding down.  I've done that, too.

It is a "delicate" topic, isn't it?  A forum for RVers, with just a few like us who aren't doing that now. 

I don't miss the never-ending repairs and maintenance chores, but what I do miss is contact with other Escapees.  It takes a certain mental attitude plus a generous amount of courage  to  "go on the road" as we did.  I'd notice that little wagon sticker at a rest stop or fuel station and know that whoever was inside that rig, we'd have plenty in common.  

I wish there was a BOF group, or maybe a thread on this forum, for those of us who were once on the road, but are now "off".  I often think back to my experiences from 10+ years of full-timing, and how those experiences carry over into my life now.  It could be worthwhile to discuss with others in this same situation.

-- Dave Weston

    Bangkok, Thailand

 

[mptjelgin]

5 hours ago, Dave Weston said:

It is a "delicate" topic, isn't it?  A forum for RVers, with just a few like us who aren't doing that now. 

On this message board not an issue at all. Some of the most prolific posters haven't been in an RV in years. 

[sandsys]

1 hour ago, mptjelgin said:

On this message board not an issue at all. Some of the most prolific posters haven't been in an RV in years. 

Like me.   I sold my last RV in 2014-15. So, I try not to answer questions about the current state of things--only those that are timeless or those related to memories.

Linda

[GR "Scott" Cundiff]

Some of you may appreciate this.  We've been out of the RV almost a year and a half now.  While ago, I was sitting in my recliner while my wife was taking a nap in the bedroom.  I noticed that my recliner had scooted back too close to the wall so I just grabbed the arms and bumped it forward a bit.  Immediately, I thought "I hope I didn't rock the rig and wake her up."  Probably not much chance that I moved the house. 😀

[Kirk W]

We stopped fulltime about 12 years ago and I still miss it. We just sold our last RV and the truck. We hadn’t used the Rv in 16 months and not much chance of that changing. A really sad day for me.