Class of 2011

[thekrusersrv]

Congratulations Craze and Seeria! Nice to be on the road earlier than expected, Seeria! We're going to be full time a year earlier than expected but still have 3-1/2 months to go. Things are moving along for us - getting rid of stuff, etc. We were able to sell the dinette that we took out of our 5th wheel and it shipped earlier this week to a family that needs a dinette that makes into a bed so we're happy to have it go to a new home. Our new storage/work center/dining table unit is nearing completion - the cabinets are in and the cabinet top is all done - just have to put in the shelves (waiting to receive the sliding printer shelf that's shipping a week late), put the top on and it's done. The cabinet extension in the bathroom is done (looks great). Next is the flat screen tv installation. In the meantime, we're still sorting and taking stuff to the thrift store every week. We went through our clothes and tried to get rid of all the winter clothes that we won't need - took lots of bags of clothes to the thrift store but the closets look like we've still got to get rid of more before we can move into the 5th wheel. Ha! Hope to see you on the road sometime!

[cthibodo]

I believe I found the right place to post this…I had posted in another area...

 

 

"i find myself with a new chapter…or maybe a new book to write…

Recently deemed finished with working life…and put out to pasture…literally…

Taking stock, I fired up my 2006 TT that I haven't moved out of storage in 4 years…

when I last lived in it for three months...while searching for a house….it was a new trailer then….

had only been on one weekend trip with it, job was outsourced and had to move…

for four years tried to figure out what was wrong with me while trying to hold on to a great job…

none of that worked out….now...no job…no miracle….

but, have truck, have TT…and a bucket list…

Put new tires, shocks, front end work on truck…

purring like she's finally broke in….248k miles…

Towed the TT 600 miles for kicks…then took it to Fort Wilderness at Disneyworld with daughter and her kids for another 1200 miles on the road…

Don't know if I can live by myself on the road or not yet….sure am going to try…

Found out I can get a lifetime access pass for NP, BLM, Forest Lands, State Parks…..50% off…being disabled has some perks….

Will be out of my house in some short period of time….short number of months…

will either live in daughters driveway or on the road….road is first choice…for a while anyway…

So….looking for info that will help me make this transition….

What to put in this rig…what to leave out…doing this now….

Residency….Insurance….all the usual stuff…how to create money out of thin air….you know…nothing hard….

I have some mobility issues….can walk….just not for long….a scooter of some type is in the works real soon….

Looking to spend time where a blow up boat and a fishing pole make sense…dutch oven peach cobbler is appreciated…and the coffee is good…

Looking forward to meet some of you on the road…and a whole lot more of you on the forum….

HELP!!! "

so…now that I found the right place…

due to medical stuff…it might be a short run….but…while I am able, I want to live a little more excitement than parked in daughters driveway…

I am figuring out the finanaces…I am fortunate I have a long term disability policy that is actually paying…so I am on the fixed income….but a lot better than SS…

I am toying with a couple of starting off strategies…one travel as far as I can…another see everything I can as close to my daughters as possible…

isn't that the beauty of it?

so…I could be out of my house in short order…in a month or two…thinking September would be the latest…

if I am looking at this right…this would put me in the Class of 2011...

[thekrusersrv]

Welcome to the class of 2011, BayouCajun!

 

I'm not sure we can answer your questions - more of a moral support and we're all facing the same issues. We'll be retiring the end of September and are working on the "what do we take" issue also. I think that's one that each of us has to figure out for ourselves. You do need to establish residency somewhere. If you're planning to use your daughter's home as a home base maybe that is where you can establish residency for licensing, insurance, etc. The 3 states that accept full-timers without having an actual residence in the state are Florida, South Dakota and Texas. You would get a mail forwarding service in the state to establish residency in any of these states. I'm sure there is a lot of information on the forum and probably on the Excapees website about the pros and cons of each state. Texas seems to meet our needs - but everyone is different. We've found that doing searches on subjects on the forums is very helpful.

 

Keep us posted!

[cthibodo]

thanks for the welcome…

 

sometimes throwing ideas up on the wall is the biggest help…

 

I wanted to post this here and come back in a couple of days and see if it still made sense to me…

 

I worked on the plan yesterday….went to a local National Park and picked up my disability Access Pass…

 

 

so some camping at 50%…

 

spent half a day enjoying the NP too…practice run…

 

today….segregating stuff….what a job….

 

I can't let everything go yet…so I will have three stacks….

1) one for road

2) one for storage

3) one to go now

[Seeria]

Clearing out the "stuff" seems the hardest part to me. We just unloaded the last of our odds and ends and now have a cleaned out house and garage woohoo! We did storage the first year we went out and ended up getting rid of it all later on for the second time out. Parting can be hard.

[wygolfnutz]

But isn't it free being rid of the stuff...after all it's just stuff, we've learned how little we really need and it's not as much as we once thought

[LFDR3116]

We turn our house over to tenants on June 27. I have the house empty, but the garage is still half full of tools and motorcycle parts. Pete is dragging his feet and I think he is having more trouble giving up his "things" that I did. He is continuously working at getting it cleared out, but I may be renting our garage from the tenant for a couple of weeks until he is done. I have even given up space in the storage area so that he can have more with him. A man and his tools are not easily separated!

[jbass]

Well, a little late posting, but we began fulltiming April 30, 2011, so I suppose we're in the Class of 2011.

 

We're currently on the Kenai Penninsula in AK and having a wonderful time.

 

Carol, my dear Bride of nearly 38 years, & I lost our oldest daughter, Julie to breast cancer 18 months ago. She was only 33. So, I guess you could say we needed a change of scenery. Yes, we still have the occasional 'tsunami' meltdown, but that's part of it I guess. She left behind Cade, her wonderful husband and father to daughters Lynsey 11, and Ryann 4. We skyper when we can, and will leave AK around September to return to TX to see them.

 

 

Our other 2 daughters, Jamie & Jackie are also in TX, along with Teaghan, Jamies daughter. Can't wait to see them again.

 

Anyway, just thought I'd check in as new member of Class of 2011.

 

 

 

Cheers to everyone.

 

 

 

joe bass

[KD Roberts]

Great to see the progress & new additions to the Class of 2011.

 

George and I have really been enjoying living in our Bluebird. We had a really good experience {for the most part} at our first CG from April until this weekend. We're currently at our first Lone Star Bird Rally in Thackerville, OK at the Winstar Casino RV Park. This is a really nice place. Even though its new & the trees have not fully matured, its going to be beautiful once they do. Very nice, very clean, all pull throughs with electric & sewer on both sides and can accommodate 45' coaches no problem. And of course, the casino shuttle runs from the office every 15min We had 16 coaches turn out for this get-together so we have really been getting an education.

 

We've had a lot more firsts in the last couple of months - our first full set of new tires & some of the aggravation of trusting "people who do that for a living" and realizing they are human & make mistakes, like they broke one of our Crossfires while trying to install it :/ Ordered us a new one & made an appt. to have it installed again. Then finding out they actually left a wheel lugnut off on the tag that they were trying to install that crossfire on. Only to leave on Thursday after the re-work and losing three of the plastic lug covers. Grrrrr. Luckily I could stop and grab 2 of them, but I guess we will have to oversee anybody touching our coach & never just assume they are smarter than we are. LoL At least I got to get a few pix of how humongous those rotors are & see what the rear end of the coach looked like up in there.

 

We also had the unfortunate experience of sketchy electrical at the CG we had been at since April, so for the past 3wks we had been rotating the use of our 3 AC units because the 3rd one kicking on would kick us off the pedestal. The CG planned to "upgrade" the park from 1/2 -30 and 1/2- 50amp to all 30/50amp wiring as they had underestimated the number of 50amp coaches that they were getting reservations for over the past several yrs. Their onsite maintenance guy explained they were un-daisy chaining them to make them straight runs to the distro panel. Well, exactly 5hrs after the purported upgrade, our EMS was kicking us off/on/off/on, etc due to low voltage. The "master" electrician actually gave me a line of BS not knowing George was well-versed in electrical as well as my FIL being a 30+yr master electrician. Once he had to talk to George {and even I know better than this} the conversation went:

 

Electrician: Dude .. you know your drawing 34amps right?

 

George: How much should I be able to draw?

 

Electrician: 50amps

 

George: Hmmmmm.

That was not a pleasant experience to find out that the guy had lied to the management & actually told them that we just didnt know something was wrong with OUR coach! But we both kept our cool, and decided the timing was actually perfect for us to move on. We were headed here to OK for this rally & when we return home we have found ourselves another hidden gem of a park closer to our house for sale & less miles for George to continue driving to work until his retirement date in August.

 

Taking it all in stride & enjoying life

[wygolfnutz]

Went out on first trip with our rig, to our Tri Chapter rally in IN. Had a bunch of firsts for us and some unexpected things. TV performed grandly especially loaded with our 5er. RV not so much. Got help on several repairs (learned that even newer RV's have issues) from our friends and mentors. Now got to get our lists back on the computer so we're better prepared and don't have to borrow from friends...Thanks Bill and Cec.

 

We'll get things refined and be ready to head out this Fall.

[thekrusersrv]

Everybody must be really busy either getting ready to go or enjoying the sweet life on the road. We've been busy getting ready to go. We've finished the interior renovations to the 5th wheel (took out and sold the dinette - replaced with storage/dining table/desk unit - mounted flat-screen tv on a newly-created door to the area that used to house the old tv and created storage behind that door - extended the bathroom counter) and we're really happy with them all. Next job will be to strengthen the back bumper that our generator is attached to. In the meantime, we're also busy sorting through "stuff." I'm happy to report that the house looks like somebody is getting ready to move - empty spots and boxes everywhere. And, of course, we're still working and are now in our busy season. We're envious of those of you who have already moved into your RVs and are on the road! Enjoy! Let us know how it's going.

[wygolfnutz]

Welcome BayouCajun, and jbass, sorry I'm behind a little been very busy with packing RV and fixing TV getting ready to go FT. Got a Chapter rally next week then get rid of more baggage.

 

Rusers...think all are busy so we can get on the road...hope to see ya there

[motorcycle jack]

The surest way for a salesman to lose a buyer is to show them overpriced products. There are very few uninformed buyers out who don't know the market. The salesman can chose to show any product available and it is in their best interest to pick the best values, the most aggressively priced product, on the market. If your house isn't being show you are only fooling yourself if you blame it on the salespeople.

 

 

When we sold our house the realtor asked if wanted to sell our house or just put it up for sale. Big difference.

c u on the road

 

Brokeboater - I've sold 11 houses so I have some experience with selling in all markets (1967 - today). The problem you have is what most sellers have - you don't know what your house is worth so YOU depreciated it. Get a professional appraisal first then do as Harry says - get a SELLER not a lister.

 

OBTW - we listed with the top agent two weeks ago and have an offer already (at the previous price - never dropped a $). Difference is in agents that lie and finding one who can prove their spiel.

[cthibodo]

got first offer on the Stx & Brx…counter in am….no brainer….it will be up to the bank….if they take the offer….or just take it...

start preparing for first garage sale….next weekend….

already have 12 foot enclosed utility trailer sitting in driveway loaded with first load to city dump….

things are moving along….

[BooneDocks]

Welcome Cajun!

 

We still haven't had a single offer on our condo in 10 months now. But if we don't get going soon, we won't get going at all this year, so we are going to put it up for lease as well as for sale and hit the road in very early August. We haven't wanted to lease it, but we don't want to keep waiting either. Realtor is much more optimistic about our being able to lease it.

 

We working like crazy making and doing all the final preparations.

 

Will head to Livingston, Texas to establish domicile. DW then wants to go to the Diamond Crater in Arkansas. We will work our way across the SE to Myrtle Beach and then down to Florida for this winter.

 

And one of these days DW will actually restart the blog.

[LFDR3116]

We finally got everything done at our S & B and tenants have moved in. We have been weekend camp hosts since May 15 and officially spent the last night sleeping in the S & B on June 22. So, I guess we have been full-timers since June 22, 2011. We love it so far and can't see anything changing how we feel about this type of lifestyle. Can't wait to start doing a little bit of travelling.

[wygolfnutz]

Good for you Pete and Pat

 

BooneDocks..maybe leasing is the answer to get you down the road...maybe getting someone in will lead to a sale down the road

 

BC...hope things work out how you want

 

Sometime we have things get in the way of our dreams...we can only go around, over or through those obstacles to pursue our dreams or let them die...JMO

 

 

[heyduke]

Just caught up with this thread and the biggest news update we have is we finally sold our house after it sat on the market over a year (four months vacant)... We moved from North Carolina over to Spartanburg SC for a while where we had some maintenance done on the MH at Gaffney SC. From here we made our way down to the Florida Keys where we have been for about a month. We leave here on Friday where we will move slowly NE towards DC, Boston, NY and Maine. Will try to check in more ofter with the 2011 classmates

[wygolfnutz]

Just caught up with this thread and the biggest news update we have is we finally sold our house after it sat on the market over a year (four months vacant)... We moved from North Carolina over to Spartanburg SC for a while where we had some maintenance done on the MH at Gaffney SC. From here we made our way down to the Florida Keys where we have been for about a month. We leave here on Friday where we will move slowly NE towards DC, Boston, NY and Maine. Will try to check in more ofter with the 2011 classmates

 

 

Congratulations on the sale of your home, now you only have your house on wheels. Have fun and be safe

[Mooney12]

Welcome Cajun!

 

We still haven't had a single offer on our condo in 10 months now. But if we don't get going soon, we won't get going at all this year, so we are going to put it up for lease as well as for sale and hit the road in very early August. We haven't wanted to lease it, but we don't want to keep waiting either. Realtor is much more optimistic about our being able to lease it.

 

We working like crazy making and doing all the final preparations.

 

Will head to Livingston, Texas to establish domicile. DW then wants to go to the Diamond Crater in Arkansas. We will work our way across the SE to Myrtle Beach and then down to Florida for this winter.

 

And one of these days DW will actually restart the blog.

 

It's hard to believe you haven't had any offers yet. It looks like the real estate market is still in the dumps.

 

Good luck with the lease arrangement. Maybe they will buy it when the lease is up.

[cthibodo]

It's hard to believe you haven't had any offers yet. It looks like the real estate market is still in the dumps.

 

Good luck with the lease arrangement. Maybe they will buy it when the lease is up.

 

I believe the market is all about price….only steals sell…unless you have a unique or spectacular property….

 

there is no pack to run with…

 

I was able to sell mine…..by dropping the price 10k every few weeks until it sold….(sell…wishful thinking….have a contract)

 

and I started out selling it at a lost….

 

I have had at least 50 showings….many multiple showing in a day….house is in demand area…..

 

house was larger and more expensive than typical first time homebuyer house in this area….

 

only one offer….

 

the last couple of years in this area, that is typical….you can't overprice in this market hoping someone will make you a lower offer….that is not the norm….like it used to be….

 

if it isn't priced right…..no offers….

 

doesn't make sense….but reality...

[Loviosa]

Hello Class of 2011. We did it. The house closed and we have been "on the road" for 6 weeks now. We spent the last 6 weeks moochdocking in my sisters back yard. It has been wonderful. (Besides no CG fees) We have finally had the chance to get the closeness we had as kids back again. It seems since we grew up we have been so busy with our lives we forget about keeping family near. We are having fun planning the rest of the year and then tossing it out for something else we would rather do. It is great to have the freedom to just do as we want ...........well .....as long as finances allow anyway.

 

My heart breaks for anyone stil waiting for the house to sell. Know you are in my thoughts and when it does sell we will rejoice with you. I fully realize how lucky we were to have our house sell quickly.

 

I hope we get to meet in a CG one day soon.

 

Vicky

[Mooney12]

I believe the market is all about price….only steals sell…unless you have a unique or spectacular property….

 

there is no pack to run with…

 

I was able to sell mine…..by dropping the price 10k every few weeks until it sold….(sell…wishful thinking….have a contract)

 

and I started out selling it at a lost….

 

I have had at least 50 showings….many multiple showing in a day….house is in demand area…..

 

house was larger and more expensive than typical first time homebuyer house in this area….

 

only one offer….

 

the last couple of years in this area, that is typical….you can't overprice in this market hoping someone will make you a lower offer….that is not the norm….like it used to be….

 

if it isn't priced right…..no offers….

 

doesn't make sense….but reality...

 

I feel your pain. We sold ours in Feb and lost 120K. We only had a couple of showings and got lucky when one of them bought it.

[GzrGldGeo]

We are still hoping our house will sell soon.

 

On the up side met some nice people yesterday that are also class of 2011. We met them at the lunch at the Escapees park in Livingston. Their names were Bob and Dawn from Arkansas. They were headed to Maine and out of the heat which made me jealous.

[motorcycle jack]

Great Cajun! We've had a couple of showings but no offer yet. Doesn't matter, the wife and I are on the road starting Sunday. The agent has the key and can sell it when ever. We'll just be back for closing and final clean out. Hope you're out soon and on the road. The stress level just seems to drop totally. Well, except for finding a site, working through the maintenance problems but other wise - just read my Kindle and do hamming while wife quilts. On the road again!