class of 2014..follow along!

[Don & Margot]

Hi George,

Thanks, CT isn't that far from us. Perhaps we will meet up sometime. Good luck to you as well.

[lpearlm]

We did it. We slept Wednesday night in the French Quarter RV Park. Early Thursday

morning, we headed out. Livingston, Rainbow's End, was our first destination for a

weight analysis of the Rig and Toad. WE PASSED! Now we are in Austin. We have

begun our full-time life!

Lynn & Bill

[dthurk]

We're planning on fulltiming starting in 2014. I'll be retiring in a couple of months, but we want to get our freshman daughter through High School before departing. Retirement income won't be enough to quit working entirely. I'll be part-time working for myself for the next few years. When SS kicks in, we'll be gone. So, we have a few years to plan and organize, hopefully at a non-stressful pace. Looking forward to it, though. In the meantime, we're "practicing" by going out on long-ish trips. Last year we were out for 28 consecutive days going to Yellowstone NP, this year we have a 17 day trip planned to East Coast NPs. Next year might be a longer one again, Grand Canyon comes to mind. We've got a TT right now, hoping to get into a 5th wheel by 2013.

Not often I quote my own post, but it's time for an update. So much has happened in 4 years. We are on track to full-time very soon, by mid-September at the latest. We've set up the camper with full hookups where it's parked on our property and can move in any time now. We're looking to do that while we sell off the contents of our home. Our "official" roll-the-wheels date is Nov. 1. We've been here for 30 years, our kids are already missing it. They've all grown up here. Our youngest will be starting his sophomore year in college and we are all realizing when he moves out this year for the start of the school year, it will be for the last time. The property is actually a small motel with a substantial owners apartment. We'll put it on the market before the end of the month. If it doesn't sell, we have a couple lined up who will move in and manage it for us until it does sell. Oh, our freshman daughter in my post above is now a son. He's indentified as transgender and transitioned before his senior year in HS. We are all quite comfortable with the change at this point. Trans is not common, but it exists. If anyone is finding themselves in this situation themselves or as a parent, we'd be willing to do whatever we can to help. Please contact me. Our son is a "stealth" trans. I'm trying to keep anything that might identify him to others out of online posts. Oh, the "non-stressful pace" in my original post has not happened. Looks like we need to empty this house in a matter of days. We did buy a 5th wheel in 2011. It's a 37' 2007 NuWa Hitchhiker CE 35 LKRSB. Oh, and I am now an Escapees member. I was planning to be when I posted originally to this thread. So, enough for now, just thought it was time to update from 2010.

[ORFranP86]

We just graduated in June, picked up our new to us toy hauler yesterday. In the process of tricking it out for boondocking. So excited!

[ORFranP86]

Good luck. We are from CT and have been on the road since April. Maybe we will see you in FL this winter as we are on the same winter schedule.

Congratulations. We are headed to Florida this winter but plan on meandering our way there. Have waited 6 very long years for this.

[JoGebbert]

We are new here. So new, that this is our very first post! We, too, are members of the Class of 2014. As a matter of fact, we are sitting in a hotel room now in Elkhart, IN awaiting the delivery of our new baby girl. She should be out of paint any day now and probably will arrive at the dealership later this week. We drove all the way from Texas to begin our new lifestyle here. Our time has finally come! So happy and blessed.

[gfstryder]

Congratulations. We are headed to Florida this winter but plan on meandering our way there. Have waited 6 very long years for this.

Give a shout when you get to FL.

[dthurk]

So what constitutes an "official" full-time start date? We had an "open house" sale last weekend and sold enough of our furniture that we can't live in the house anymore. We started sleeping in the camper rather than our bedroom on our anniversary, Aug. 19 and have been sleeping here ever since. But, we moved in to the camper and have been living in it since Aug 24. Oh, that's when we moved the cat also. We are moving stuff back and forth getting the camper cleaned out of stuff we don't want to haul around and getting stuff into it we will need. We've got satellite TV, that makes it home to me. I'm thinking to call Aug. 19 our start date, just because it's an easy date to remember.

[Jim Gell]

August 19 should work well for you, dthurk. Congratulations!

 

The last few weeks until we go full time looks like it is going be difficult for us. I can't wait to be looking back on it rather than looking forward wondering how we will get it all done in time. I expect we won't call ourselves full timers until we hit the road for our first destination, the HDT Rally in Hutchinson KS in the second week of October.

 

Jim

[dthurk]

We've spent the Labor Day weekend in the Jonestown KOA near Hershey, PA. Going back "home" today. We have another short trip scheduled the end of the month. We'll be away for the winter for 6 months starting Nov. 1 at various points in Pittsburgh, Georgia and Florida. Maybe getting to Greenbelt NP in Washington, DC for cherry blossoms in the spring. We have reservations set up for the trip in every place we can make reservations. We will be returning "home" in the spring. If we still own the property we can set up there again. When the property sells, I'm writing it into the sale contract that we can use the site we've put in on the property. We'd likely be there before area campgrounds open in the spring and after campgrounds close in the fall for a few years anyway. We still need to be around to take care of our son in college. He'll likely be in an off-campus apartment year round in Syracuse for his junior and senior years. That would help some, but we don't want him to feel abandoned. We do like to encourage our children to become independent. That's a nice way of saying get your own place and don't come back. I have been saying recently that if they want to move back home now they'll have to find us first. Reality is we really aren't that cold and heartless. We did have one get into some serious trouble around age 25. She did come back and live with us again for a couple of years until she got back on her feet. Anyway...I seem to talk more about our lives than living in the camper here. Sorry if I diverge too much.

[Jim Gell]

dthurk,

 

I appreciate hearing about your lives and I think this thread is appropriate for that. It sounds like we will be traveling in some of the same states this winter and next spring. In Oct we will be going to KS, SD and Elkhart area IN before going back to OH. We will leave Ohio in November, hopefully ahead of the predicted bad winter weather, and head down to a daughter's in SC, then FL in Jan - Mar and back to SC and then DC area to see another daughter during the cherry blossoms.

 

Jim

[dthurk]

dthurk,

 

I appreciate hearing about your lives and I think this thread is appropriate for that. It sounds like we will be traveling in some of the same states this winter and next spring. In Oct we will be going to KS, SD and Elkhart area IN before going back to OH. We will leave Ohio in November, hopefully ahead of the predicted bad winter weather, and head down to a daughter's in SC, then FL in Jan - Mar and back to SC and then DC area to see another daughter during the cherry blossoms.

 

Jim

Thanks, Jim. Maybe we can meet up somewhere this winter. We did meet a couple on our recent trip to Jonestown/Hershey in an "A". They will be staying in Fort Wilderness for much of Jan and Feb and will be there during our week in FW the last week in Jan. We're hoping to connect with them while we're there. Nice people, we enjoyed our time with them this weekend. We're hoping to get to know more people here in the Full Timer's community and develop some traveling roots. One thing my wife is missing already is the prospect of giving up our 30 year roots we've developed. I would hope that developing "rolling friendships" might help replace what we might be leaving behind when we more firmly establish ourselves in the full-time lifestyle. So, again, I hope we can meet up on the road sometime.

[dthurk]

Had a bit of a mis-hap on our way from Jonestown, PA back to Corning, NY. About 5 miles south of Williamsport, PA, traveling at about 60 mph, I heard a loud bang. I immediately put on the turn signal and pulled over in a matter of a few hundred feet. DW was driving behind in our CRV, said she saw "pipes and stuff" being thrown out from behind the camper. Blowout! Left front tire on the camper. I was stopped on Rt. 15 with barely enough shoulder to get the tires to the right of the white line. Any kind of rig was rocking the camper and truck as they went by. Called Coach-Net, it took them 2 hours to get to us. I had walked down to a small motel a few hundred feet down from us and asked permission to use their parking lot to change the tire. We limped down there and our friend from McCarthy Tire Service in Williamsport got the job done. We discovered minimal damage, about 5 inches of 1.5" sewer line was missing as well as the 3" cap. I called State Line Camping in Lindley, NY, our home service dealer, to see if we could stop by and have them check out the camper to make an appointment to have the damage repaired ASAP. It appeared the tanks and valves were undamaged but we couldn't dump anything with the camper in that condition. We stopped by an hour before closing and it appeared the piping was simply pulled out of the fittings. They had us back in and a few fittings, cuts and gluing later and all was well. They even found a bad thermostat in our water heater and replaced that. All before closing and for about $90. This is how to turn a bad day into a good one.

[Jim Gell]

dthurk,

 

We will be in Ft Wilderness 1/27 - 2/2. Maybe we could catch a dinner together, We started making dinner reservations and found some restaurants we wanted were no longer available. So we should act soon, If you're interested in that, we could try to change one of our reservations from a party of 2 to a party of 4 or 6? Or if you snatched a reservation for a restaurant we coould not get in, we might want to have you see if you can change your reservation to a larger party. You could e-mail me and we can talk more about that. jimgell517 at gmail dot com.

 

Glad your blowout didn't do more damage and you got it repaired so cheap! We spent money up front to upgrade to 17.5" wheels and tires, so hopefully we can avoid that...knock on wood.

 

BTW - I am an upstate NY boy. I grew up in the Ithaca area. A very fine place to call home.

 

Jim

[lpearlm]

Our last weeks in our sticks and bricks house were very stressful.

I have made many transitions over the lifecycle. This was the toughest.

We have been "playing" for about three weeks now. Yes, the stress fades fast.

[dthurk]

dthurk,

 

We will be in Ft Wilderness 1/27 - 2/2. Maybe we could catch a dinner together, We started making dinner reservations and found some restaurants we wanted were no longer available. So we should act soon, If you're interested in that, we could try to change one of our reservations from a party of 2 to a party of 4 or 6? Or if you snatched a reservation for a restaurant we coould not get in, we might want to have you see if you can change your reservation to a larger party. You could e-mail me and we can talk more about that. jimgell517 at gmail dot com.

 

Glad your blowout didn't do more damage and you got it repaired so cheap! We spent money up front to upgrade to 17.5" wheels and tires, so hopefully we can avoid that...knock on wood.

 

BTW - I am an upstate NY boy. I grew up in the Ithaca area. A very fine place to call home.

 

Jim

Emailed you.

[Legendsk]

Graduated Sept 1. Living in the trailer for a couple of weeks now and I'm pretty comfortable with it. The dog on the other hand, seems a little stressed by it all. He loves to travel and is up to go anywhere, anytime. But since he was a month old, he's lived his whole life (2 years) in the S&B and hasn't quite got the concept of a house that you can live in, but also take with you. He does guard duty at night and I hear him up roaming around the trailer checking everything. Someone posted that one of the drawbacks to living in an RV is you can't run around and around in the house, only back and forth. That's certainly true for my companion.

 

My parents were sharecroppers and I was born in a house with a dirt floor. I started my own business at an early age and by the time I was 10 we had electricity and indoor plumbing. So I find RV living pretty plush compared to some places I have lived. I'm not advocating a return to the days before microwave ovens, vaccines and refrigeration, but I am really enjoying the freedom of no longer being owned by the house full of stuff that I was a slave to, and forced to care for and maintain.

 

I seem to be on track to finish cleaning out the house and hitting the road Oct 1. Leaning towards spending the winter or most of it in southern New Mexico, but will start with a leisurely drive south through Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. When I get to southwest Texas, I'll stop for a while and see how I like it there, before venturing on further west. Or maybe south. I've never spent an extended time in Mexico and I have a friend who lives in Acapulco. Perhaps I should get a passport just in case.

 

In any case, I'll see you on the road in a few more days.

[Kiddz]

Hi All!

Just hit the road August 1, 2014, leaving New Jersey behind. We are travelling in a Palomino Sabre Fifth Wheel. We have a 100 pound Chesapeake Bay Retriever and go from water hole to water hole for a swim. We could not be happier. Have seen so much and done so many things in the past two months! Currently travelling route 66 but stopped in Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta for a couple of weeks, loving life. See you all down the road!

[Joymg]

Wow.... a lot of you have been planning this for a long time. I started full-timing in July. I am learning a lot as I did not spend a lot of time RV for the last 35 years. But now that I am retired I figure it's the way to go.

 

I look forward to meeting my classmates on the road.

 

J

[Jim Gell]

We hit the road on Saturday 10/11. Our truck broke down and we spent the weekend in a rest stop. Not as bad as it sounds, and could have been much worse. On Monday we had truck towed to Volvo shop and a fellow Escapee came and towed our trailer to a nearby campground. By the time truck was repaired, we were too late to make attending the HDT Rally we planned on in Kansas. We stayed in Indiana and will leave our rig at Precision Paint on Monday for slide seal replacements and drive the Smart to SD for Cathy to get her DL, etc. That will be a long drive in that little car, but will save a lot on fuel to help make up for truck repair cost.

 

We are looking forward to better days on the road ahead.

 

Jim

[Bevkev]

Hello, well the wife and I are now members of the Class of 2014. This is my first post and we will be starting our full-time journey November 1. We bought our first class A in June and decided to start full timing when our rental lease was up. I retired 2 years ago and couldn't decide where we wanted to live. Still don't know so we are going to travel and try and figure it out.

We will do our first month in South Carolina and spend the holiday with our daughter then down to Florida for the winter months and to visit our son.

Looking forward to following this blog and enjoying the talks.

[Kirk W]

Hello, well the wife and I are now members of the Class of 2014. This is my first post and we will be starting our full-time journey November 1.

Welcome to the Escapee forums! We are happy to have you join and please feel free to ask questions or make comments in any of the forum subject areas. We are here to help and support you.

[dthurk]

We're getting very close. Actually have been living in the camper on our property full-time since August. But, we now have sold our motel. We signed a purchase agreement 5 days after listing it and we hope to close next week, by Halloween. We had our final sale yesterday, and will donate much of what is left to a Children's Home; they're coming on Wednesday. What little remains after that will be thrown away. We have opened a mail account at St. Brendan's Island and changed our email addresses to gmail. We are on track for a Nov. 1 departure, exactly as we planned about 6 months ago, but now totally unencumbered by property and possessions. It feels very freeing. We did work things out with the new owners that we can make occasional use of our spot in the driveway here for the next 3 years at no charge. We're looking at being here in May and October in 2015.

[Golfingdeb15]

Class of 2014.....love it. I definitely feel I am graduating from something. My plan is to take off in January but I am still downsizing over 40 years of living, quite well, apparently. I lost my honey in 2012 and thought my dreams went with him. But alas, I have chosen to head out, by myself, and that is scarey. Sold the 31ft with all those memories and have purchased a compact 24 Winnebago, so I can start new memories. But haven't got to the fun RV packing yet. I am overwhelmed with the 40 years of memories I am trying to part with. But it is going easier than I expected.....just slower.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings. When I figure where I'm going, I will post. I sure hope there is someone out there to hold my hand.....haven't been alone since I was 18. Yes, I am going to Boot Camp and Escapade in March, just not sure what I'm doing be before that. But it will include a glass of wine and a big smile.

CONGRATS TO THE CLASS OF 2014.......I am proud to be graduating with you.

[Joymg]

I lost my honey in 2011 after 36 years.... I have chosen to follow our plan by myself, as well. I plan to attend the boot camp in March, maybe we could enjoy a glass of wine together.

 

Joy