class of 2014..follow along!

[Jim Gell]

It's official! My wife came home from work tonight and announced she had told her supervisor she expected to retire by June. It was not a surprise, but rather something I had been waiting and hoping for. She won't actually leave her job before we buy our trailer, so now the ball is in my court to bring that task to fruition.

 

We plan to auction off the bulk of our stuff but will probably still hold on to way too much that we won't want to part with. When I took down our Christmas tree last month, instead of putting the ornaments away in their boxes, I laid them out on a table so we could pick out a few favorites to take with us and use on a miniature tree. That task alone has us paralyzed and they are still sitting there! The next few months are going to be tough. When we get through the preparation ordeal and are finally on the road, it should be hard for me to stop grinning though.

 

Jim

[caribbeach]

Its been a while since I posted so I wanted to drop by and say WELCOME to all those that have decided to join Class of 2014!!! We are just barely going to leave 2014 as DH retirement date is November 1. We are already living in our 2009 Jayco Legacy Fifth Wheel though and have given up most of our personal belongings. Just wanted to say about that... it is hard to begin but once you get started it goes pretty smoothly. After emptying our S&B there is not much I can remember or miss. There are a few things of course, but I really wouldn't have a place to put them and I know that where they have gone someone else is enjoying them. Its been really great here in the park. Its a much more social lifestyle and I've lost a few pounds because we now have to walk our two dogs instead of just let them run in the backyard. They are both over 10 years old though so I doubt they would be doing much running anyway . We are very excited about "getting this show on the road" as I know you all are as well. Let's keep the faith and meet by the campfire, drink in hand

 

Forgot to mention - we finally purchased our tow vehicle, its a 2007 3500 Chevrolet Silverado Diesel Dually!! Yay, now all we need is the hitch and we're ready to pull out!!

[CRChurch]

It's been a long time-a-comin', but 07 March 2014 will be my last day at my day job!

 

My DW, Janet, and I will leave Jacksonville, FL, about a week later for a month at Deer Run RV Resort in Crossville, TN. Then after getting some aftermarket work (upgrades) done on our Mobile Suites, we'll take a meandering route to Alaska, where we plan to spend the summer.

 

I'm thanking God for our good health!

See ya down the road!

 

Gator Ray

(aka, Raymond)

[caribbeach]

Hi there Raymond, just wanted to say hello from a fellow Jacksonville, Floridian. We are currently at Flamingo Lake on the Northside in our Jayco Legacy waiting for DH's last day in November. Sold our S&Bs in Mandarin in May, and haven't looked back - well maybe just a smidge, but no regrets! Love this life!

[prabson]

Any other solos going fulltime this year?

[pintada]

Ray and & caribbeach: Just wanted to say hi, although I'm Class of 2013. I left Jax June 7, 2013 after selling house and retiring. Been on the road full-timing solo ever since and enjoying every minute. Spending the winter in New Mexico. Best of luck to y'all.

[Repkad]

I guess we are officially part of the class of 2014. House sold and closed Dec. 17th. The original plan was to have that all taken care of in the summer of 2013, then hit the road. But prepping the house and de-cluttering to make it look like a model home took a long time and a lot of elbow grease. It paid off, though, with a quick sale at over asking. Now, what do you do when the house sells in the winter of the Great Vortex and you can't get the truck and fiver out of the snow banks? We, we moved in with our son for the holidays, then took a 2 week Caribbean cruise to celebrate. Since our return, we've been house sitting for a friend who spends her winters in Florida. Our time for house sitting is coming to a close in early March. There's still 3' of snow (ice now) in front of the fiver, but we feel confident that we'll be heading toward warmer weather in about three weeks. Going to Kilgore, TX in Mid-April for the truck to be finished of with a Smart hauler bed, then it's off to Livingston to take care of all those licensing and domicile issues. WooHooo! More than a decade of planning has finally paid off.

Dottie

[mandolin57]

Best of luck Dottie! I wish we were you! We're still sitting in a similar snow in PA, and we have a few years to go yet. We did narrow down the fiver we're getting in the fall, (trading travel trailer) but I have to work about 2 more years before we head out. We'll take a couple of longer trips this summer to the mid-west, but waiting for the day we go full-time. Good luck and have fun!

[gfstryder]

We closed on our house today! Almost all our stuff is sold. We just need to get our rig out of storage and ready for the road. Tonight it is expect to go down to -20, so we need a little break from winter before we can get started. We are still hoping for a March 12 departure.

[mkrug]

Well its official, we're Class of '14. The house closed Tuesday the 25th. We left town yesterday morning (2/26) and headed south for warmer weather and reservations in Texas. This evening we find ourselves in southern Mississippi, broke down. Some sort of transmission problem. I guess every adventure requires a checkbook...

[acoop129]

Closed on the house yesterday. We have been living in the RV all this year while getting the hose ready to sell. HOORAY, its gone. We will stay in FL for a couple more months. Don't know where we will go yet, we have been traveling about 9 months out of the year since 2005 so have seen a lot. Still a lot more out there.

[CRChurch]

IT has finally arrived!...today (07 Mar 2014) was my last day at work...I'm officially retired!!!

 

One week from tomorrow we plan to run the GRR (Gate River Run) 15k in Jacksonville, FL; then, Janet and I leave the next day (16 Mar 2014) on leg-1 of our adventure to Alaska for the summer! We have no urgency, hoping to arrive about the 1st week in June.

 

Safe travels, hope to see y'all down-the-road.

Gator Ray

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

Congrats! Its a great feeling!

[Chouter]

Four years ago I posted at the beginning of this thread stating our desire to be members of the Class of 2014. At the time, we had three kids in high school and a big house to sell. We finally did sell that house, but we bought another one. Now, our oldest daughter is soon to be a senior in college, our two then freshman are graduating from high school in June and will soon be off to college. Last week, both my husband and I gave notice to our employers - we'll be retired at the end of May. We're prepping the house to go on the market 6/30, but first will have an estate sale 6/26. Last year we bought our fulltime rig, a 2002 Travel Supreme named "Scoopy". She is currently in the shop getting a new residential refrigerator and a few upgrades. There's a whole lot of work to be done, but if all goes as planned, we'll be on the road sometime in August 2014. Four years ago, I never really thought it would happen, yet here we are. Dreams do come true!

[Hartleyfam]

We closed on our house on Friday. Now we have three weeks to finish sorting the stuff in the house and move into the RV. We won't be retired and on the road until July, but getting rid of the house and so much stuff has been fun and challenging. I have been surprised by the things that were hard to get rid of - a candy dish from my great-grandmother - and the things that haven't been hard to discard - all the pictures (scanned) and the childhood stuff from our son (he groaned when he saw all the boxes, but they are his to do with as he pleases). Nothing in storage! Once we downsize, it won't be long until we hit the road.

[SadieMae]

Congrats to all 2014 class going full time! I have read along but haven't posted in a year or so. We are about to be there too!! Our house will close to buyer by the end of this month or first of next. That still leaves one property unsold but it is land and we can go ahead with full time plans while that is on the market. Just signed with the real-estate agent on that last week so its barely on the market.

 

Anyway, excitement is building for us! Besides giving away, selling, storing and throwing away lots of stuff we are having an alteration done in our 5th wheel. The 2 steps inside are just too steep. It has bugged me off and on for the three years we have had it. Currently a carpenter friend of ours has taken out those steps and replacing with 3 steps that will be lots easier to go up and down. It comes out further in front of the fridge but he is adding venting to the lower step since it covers part of the venting for the fridge.

 

We also need to go to camping world and get something to enable us to have satellite tv where ever we are. We have camped entire summer for the last two years without it but for full time I think we would like that.

 

Now about to get an address with the mail service...gotta notify all the folk who need to know it and hope to lose some of the junk mail and catalogs we get in droves. Had a relative taking care of our mail the last two summers and other times we were gone but now we need an actual address.

 

Whew! quite a lot to do but so exciting that it is now so close!

[gfstryder]

After several false starts, it looks like April 23 is our new departure date. We are planning to travel from CT to the Escapade and the "Boot Camp."

[BobGuy]

....... on leg-1 of our adventure to Alaska for the summer! We have no urgency, hoping to arrive about the 1st week in June.

 

Safe travels, hope to see y'all down-the-road.

Gator Ray

Hi there Ray and congrats on getting on the road! We'll see you on the road to Alaska along with lots of other SKPs this year. Lots of folks leaving from Escapade in Goshen and heading north. Hope to meet you along the way!

 

Hugs,

Molly & Bob

[BobGuy]

After several false starts, it looks like April 23 is our new departure date. We are planning to travel from CT to the Escapade and the "Boot Camp."

Congrats to you and enjoy the journey! We'll see you in Goshen at Escapade!

 

Hugs,

Molly & Bob

[Jim Gell]

Ray, congrats on your retirement and all the best for your new adventure that awaits you! I would love to head right off to Alaska when we pull out stakes in NY in July, but I think I am a bit of a green horn for that. I think I will enjoy that trip more after I get better acquainted with my truck and trailer. Probably go up in 2015.

 

I look forward to meeting gfstryder and others at Boot Camp and hopefully I can run into Bob and Molly and others while I am at the Escapade. I will be the one with a look of total fear on my face as I back my rig into the power pedestal err... I mean camp site. My wife can't get off work so I won't have a spotter for this first trip. I hope to find someone willing to help when I need it.

 

I am going to take driving lessons up there on the two days before the Boot Camp. I really hope I can get from GA to Goshen without any problems. I am going to try to find a big parking lot to practice backing in near where I pick up our new used trailer before I head north with it. If I fill my fuel tanks before hand, I won't need to fuel while towing until after my driving lessons. I may just sleep in one of the truck's bunk beds in a pull through truck rest stop rather than try negotiating a campground on the way up. But when I get up there I am first going to the MorRyde Service Center in Elkhart for a new trailer suspension system. I hope their on premises campsite is easy. If not, I may just stop where I am and go hand them the key.

 

I drove the Volvo bobtail from MO to NH last year and that was not bad at all after the first few hundred miles. And I have had some experience including backing a 20 foot TT with a small pickup truck. My pin is well behind my rear axle, so it's probably similar, except for the truck and trailer being twice the size. If I have trouble where I am blocking the highway and need help backing up, I am sure someone will stop and tell me where to go!

 

Hopefully you will see me in Goshen!

 

Jim

[redcrzr]

We will see some of you at "Boot Camp". Driving the Volvo, bobtail, wish me luck. No RV yet. House should be "officially" on the market this week. I hope that I'll be in Goshen before I need anyone's help.

Todd & Beth

[Hartleyfam]

Out of the house and into the RV! Still a few things to clear out of the house but at this point I'm in the "just throw it out" mode. We are full-timers even though we won't be on the road until retirement in July. Now, if I can just find everything I put in the RV!

[Jim Gell]

I have been busy this week moving forward toward our final departure in July. I flew to SD on Sunday and got my DL on Monday. Tuesday, I flew to NH and picked up my truck. (Smart bed was finished except for a few fine tunes to be done after we buy our Smart. We are planning to wait and buy a re-designed 2015 model this fall). While I started my journey from NH to GA via OH, in the Volvo, a local tire shop came to the Georgia RV Park that our 5th wheel was in when we bought it and installed our new 17.5 wheels and tires. Hopefully, he put them on the right trailer!

 

I made it as far as the Finger Lakes of NY today and should reach GA to hook up for the first time this weekend or Monday. I had a bit of delay getting out of New Hampshire this morning when the Pressure Pro alarmed and showed 89 lbs in one of the rear tires. Nice to know it works!

 

Having not driven it for almost a full year, since delivering it to NH, I was reminded how pleasurable it is driving the Volvo, both on the Interstates and the winding mountain roads of New Hampshire and Vermont. You should have seen the grin on my face as I made a curve at the top of a mountain on Rt. 9 in VT where a sign read "100 mile views". What a great view it was from the elevated seat of an HDT!

 

Todd and Beth, I look forward to seeing you at boot camp!

 

Jim

[Jim Gell]

I originally posted this in a thread on the HDT section. But I figured my fellow 2014 graduates, may appreciate it too.

 

Monday was an exciting day. It was akin to trial by fire, I would have to say. I left Raccoon Valley at 6 AM - Yes that was me. (Sorry fellow campers). Now, I had heard the old Volvo headlights were bad, but when I left before sunrise, I could not believe how poor they were! The high beams were OK, but for some reason, they would not stay on unless I was holding the lever back. I drove a ways before I remembered that when I pulled around the loop to leave the campground, I had put lights in the parking light position with headlights off. I was driving down the road using the flash feature of holding back the stalk to see where I was going. Dah!

I drove to Blairsvlille GA across the Copper Road through the Cherokee National Forest. It was beautiful drive, but between the narrow curves and 18 wheel dump trailers running this gauntlet too fast in my opinion due to the cliffs, curves, guard rails, and rock out croppings right out to the pavement, I thought I would find a better route back with the trailer in tow. I stopped and asked some locals and they said that was the best road. I asked again in Blairsville, and they said it would be an additional 6 hours to go all the way to Atlanta to get on I 75 and miss that fun road.

I got to the trailer about 10:30 AM. After securing the residential fridge such that it would not move during travel, I hooked up. This was the first of several firsts for me yesterday. It went fine until I tested the lights. First I thought there was no power to the 7 pin plug on truck, but my multi-tester showed there was power, just not coming through the proper wires. I ended up removing all the wires and reconnecting them to the proper terminals on the back of the plug. I would guess somone installed them to a mirror image of the way they should have been, but that would not explain why the center lead was wrong too. After a significant delay I finally got out of the campground in GA, towing a fifth wheel, another first for me,

I was under 10 miles down the country road when I noticed the kitchen slide coming out the drivers slide. It was out about 6 inches, but with the narrow road was close to over the center line of the road. I was going a bit slow, and it looked like the 2nd car back in the procession was a police vehicle. I voluntarily found a place to pull over before being "pulled over". The electric motor would not run the slide in or out. With someone to help me, we literally pushed the slide back in. I blocked the inside lip of the slide from the outer wall of the trailer in a couple places so it could not slide out again.

It was getting late and I knew if I drove all the way to Atlanta to get on I 75, I was not going to make it back to Raccoon Valley before dark. So I went back taking it slow through the valley of death. Miraculously, I missed all the guide rails rock out croppings, deep ditches, on coming trucks, and cliffs. I thought I was home free when I reached I 75 and headed north. Then with about 10 miles to go, I 75 was closed for bridge repair and I was detoured. OMG did the fun begin again! I am used to a GPS that maintains north being up on the screen. The GPS in the truck I bought reorients the map so you always driving up, or if your brain is not able to adjust, one could think your always driving north! Even though I knew I was being baffled by this electronic devil machine, I could not for the life of me figure out how to reroute myself to the campground. It did not help that the GPS wanted to turn me around on roads significant;y smaller than I would possible fit. Then when I took roads the looked big enough, it came up yelling "Warning! Warning!" and the screen came up indicating a 3 ton limit ahead. I stopped for directions at a gas station and found myself in position to practice backing the trailer (another first), with the added excitement of cars coming and going, to get in position of where I could pull back out onto the highway.

I thought the road through the Cherokee National Forest was harry, but it was nothing compared to the small roads, heavy with traffic, I encountered getting back to Raccoon Valley. The worst part was the dips in the road where culverts were located. The road would narrow and the guard rails were right on the white line. I felt so lucky to get to Raccoon Valley unscathed!

Fortunately, I had a pull through site and plenty of great help getting parked, leveled up, and unhitched. Just in time for the rain to start. I have lived all my life in NY State, and we don't get many tornadoes. By the time i finished settling in, mostly moving some stuff from truck to trailer, enough to spend the night, it was about 10 PM and everyone else was turned in for the night, and office was closed. So what does one do when there is a tornado warning when they are camping? No one else was leaving there RV's, but from what I could fathom, not really knowing where I was, it seemed the threat of a possible tornado was real. I ended up listening to the weather radio most the night and formulating a plan. Should I go to the shower/laundry building or climb into the 3'x3'X3' storage compartment under the deck of my HDT, with some pillows, sleeping bag, blankets for padding if he truck was tossed around? Folks used to dealing with tornado warnings are probably laughing at my paranoia!

At least I got the trailer out of a flood zone where it was. And I am glad my wife was not with me for this adventure. She promised to give the full time lifestyle at least a year to see if it suites us. I am glad this adventure was not part of that year for her! I am still smiling, but I do hope things get better!

Jim

[reubenray]

We made the first step to become a fulltimer in 2014 this week. We contacted a real estate agent to see what we could expect to get for our S&B and what we needed to do to have it actively listed. Her first comment was to declutter it. This is going to be the hardest part, but we have already started. I sold some exercise equipment on Craigslist plus gave away a 2002 Sony 60" LCD HDTV that was in my garage. After we get back from our upcoming 6 week trip we will hit it hard. We currently have a Tiffin Allegro 31SA but plan on upgrading to a Tiffin Phaeton 40QTH after the house is sold. I have started reading up on this forum to get as much info as I can prior to hitting the road. We have been RV'ing it for two years now. The first year was in a fifth wheel.