We departed Orange County last Friday, eager to begin our on-the-road adventure toward Alaska by staying at an RV park in the Inland Empire of California. As we headed toward our destination, Monique declared, “Let’s just go!” And two hours later, we were battling a poorly designed dirt entry into a campsite in Red River Canyon State Park, very few miles from Death Valley.
Wonderful Isolation in Red Rock Canyon, California
The freedom to not be driven by schedules and calendars is what we consider one of the greatest blessings of our blessed lives. We celebrated our decision to change plans by enjoying a Happy-Hour-for-Two amid temperate breezes that whipped around among the surrounding walls of sandstone etched for millennia by wind, heat and long-forgotten rain.
If you’re a full-timer or RV extensively, you might know the exhilaration of this benefit of the nomadic life. If you’re still bound by obligations around home but are planning to transition to extended RVing, or still trying to decide whether to make your move, I’ll clue you in on what it took for us.
First of all, Monique and I had the advantage of being in complete agreement on the idea of traveling full-time. On the road, we meet so many couples who are trying to make it work, even though one member of “the team” is determined to return to a “normal” lifestyle. Some of those folks have been putting up with compromises for years, and somehow they are still speaking to each other (at least when we’re around).
When Monique proposed our life on the road and I quickly agreed, we began by setting a timeline from that day until we embarked on our journey. Some of the biggest issues we faced were: 1) separating from our family and jobs; 2) deciding what type of RV to buy, and then what kind of truck to buy to pull it (Monique’s main requirement was a quiet motor and Bose speakers); 3) selling our home; and 4) planning where we wanted to go.
1) Our timeline included dates for telling our families – we had to tell our seven children, my mother and sister that even if we are crazy, we still intended to go through with our plan. As for our careers, we both enjoyed providing service to people who appreciated us, with employers who valued us. Telling them about our decision was hard to do. We planned it every step of the way to build support before going to those we expected to be less agreeable.
2) When you are ready to choose an RV, don’t do it without asking lots of questions. Ol’ Walt, who sold us our first trailer, told us about the couple who bought a pop-up, along with an electric frying pan, toaster, hair dryer, percolator and more. They returned the next Monday to get an RV that suited them better. A diesel pusher with granite counter tops may be the life you’re accustomed to, but it may restrict your traveling because of size and operating costs. We meet people every week happy to have chosen a van conversion, a cab-over, C-Class, a fifth wheel, motor home or a travel trailer. It’s all about what you hope to do with your RV and the places you want to stay… resort versus primitive, for example.
3) The hardest part was preparing the house for sale, which was no different for us than for just about anyone else trying to get the most bucks for their home. We did numerous repairs and sacrificed many valued things that were parts of our lives before calling in a private property inspector. Next, we interviewed the top Realtors in our area – each one was a revelation! We sorted, packed and tried to stay calm. A prospective buyer said “Yes, I want it,” one day after our time-line date.
4) And the easiest part is where to go. We meet people who want to go to every major league stadium, every presidential library, every national park, every state capitol, and more often a rotation among their grandchildren’s hometowns. We have set our sites on camping in every state, with Alaska this year being our 36th. No rush. Meanwhile, we are also looking for the place where we want to live when it’s time to put on the brakes, at least as full-timers. Part of the joy of looking is that it encourages us to get to know the locals and hear what’s so great about where they live.
We find that the biggest obstacles to living on the road, after you’ve found the financial resources, are health and health insurance. Although we are healthy and have good health coverage, we know that these are the issues that present the most problems for many wanna-be RVers. We hope it works out for you.
A camper by the name of Dermott told us early-on, “Without courage, there is no freedom; without freedom, there is no happiness.”
From the “Never-Bored RVers,” We’ll see you on down the road.
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Gab
This also a great site for owners selling their Motor-homes & RVs:
http://www.rvs-for-sale-by-owner.com
Its free and it is a US & Canada website by States, Provinces and Region.
Brad Fuller
My wife and I talk about full-timing in our 5th wheel but have not been able to justifiy it yet. We have 11 grandchildren and 9 live very close to us. We are afraid that we might miss out on seeing the grandkids grow up. Until that time comes we travel in the camper as much as we can.
Art
Great comments. We jumped corporate America several years ago and bought a six month RV Park. No house on the park so we bought a motor home. We live in it in the summer at the Park, then we travel for 5 months each winter. We are not snow birds. We move all the time.
Retirement is not that far away so we are ready to really hit the road full time. We have also been thinking about where we would settle down after the years on the road. After visiting 36 states where are you leaning toward.
Alaska won’t be our choice as i lived there for 18 years. Although their care of retired Alaskans is probably the best in any state.
Louella Giddings
We have been doing the 1/2timing thing for 2 yrs and my husband has only recently realized that we should sell the house. We haven’t lived in it for 2yrs. and with heat,electric and property taxes we could live very comfortably on his SS.It is amazing how inexpensive food is in some areas.We have a 5th wheel now and are considering a motorhome.Right now this is pretty comfy (34 ft./3SO)even with a med.sized dog and a cat.I’ve been planning this for 7 yrs. and still own a business and DH still works when we are “home”.We live in the trailer in our back yard in the summer because it has AC and the house doesn’t.Even more amazing is how much “stuff ” you can live without.DH says I’ve turned him into a nomad and he can’t sell the house because he needs roots.So far this system works for us,our compromise.
John Szekley
I have been fulltiming for 18 years and have not tired of it,sadly to say my x wife did it ,was a second marrige for both uf us ( childhood sweethearts ) missed her grown daughters, enough if that I have a 38 ft coach and enjoy it very much had three 5th wheel trailers before. Have been traveling alone for 11 years and at times it is lonely but a lot to see in this great country, I have spent the winter in Orange County Ca. at my sons house getting all my checkups done at the LB VA. Will be leaving in middle of June to head East, Had some repairs done to coach and good to go. As far as expenses go I live frugel but still enjoy everything,mostly my S.S. Do not worry about how much, for with this lifestyle you have better control over your money.
Happy Trails
John
Gerald Ames
The house sale & down-sizing sound very familiar. We have been Full-Timers for three years now and the statement to place-bound concerned friends was: “We’ll do it till it isn’t fun anymore, or we can’t.” That is still our thoughts, and it is still fun. We feel quite comfortable in the life style now and “home is wherever we open the door.”
I liked your quote of Dermott too: “Without courage, there is no freedom; without freedom, there is no happiness.” It says it all.
Percy Lloyd
Congratulations on your choice, Barry & Monique. We bought a travel trailer last year, decided to go on a 1-2 month trip to “break in”, ended up spending 4 months in TX & loved it.
This year, we’re heading out from BC to Nova Scotia, down thru Eastern states & across to Tx for the winter. Will go for 6 months or more. No plans to full time, but will be on the road a lot the next few years.
Suggestion, on your way to Alaska, there’s a LOT to see in BC.
Have a great trip.
Barbara
Barbara and Tom Palmer – we have been full-timing in our 2009 Newmar Dutch Star 3623 since July 2009 – both retired around that time, got our dog Shelby, a Border Terrier (very calm, no yapping, really great dog), and took off traveling. We’ve put over 11,000 miles on our motorhome since Jul 2009 – have seen so many wonderful, beautiful parts of this great country, and keep finding places we want to return to for more time exploring. We still have our condo north of Seattle, as we do want to keep our “toe in the water” for when we can no longer travel the way we do now – but with family and friends spread across the US from corner to corner, we’ll keep on truckin’ for now. As far as costs go – you can go fairly cheap if you stay at WalMarts and truck stops, and keep moving – we prefer to plan ahead and know where we’ll be staying – but we’ve found that we prefer state, county and city parks rather than “RV Resorts” – we like to walk and see nature, and don’t use the amenities (swimming pools, rec centers) that we pay for with RV parks. We drink a lot of wine, eat well, don’t eat out a lot, and (excluding the expenses of our condo) spend about $3500 a month on all expenses. One can certainly do it for less, but only by having a less generous life style.
Ron Butler
Barry & Monque,
Congratulations on your decision to go fulltime. We leased our house out in Nov. ’05 and haven’t regretted it a bit! We have missed the family and grandkids during the holidays, but get to spend most of the summer with them. We did have to stay around for a year in the fall & winter of ’08 because of the failing health of Carolyn’s mom. You need to do it while your in good health and can get out and enjoy all of the attractions and activities that will keep you busy. We will be cutting back on our long extended trips since we bought a house in Sun City, but will still be traveling 4-6 months each year. Good luck and travel slow and smell the roses!!
Gary
Now your talkin’. Hit the road for adventure. Try to find camping. Where’s the next gas station.? As my wife told me when we were in Spain, “just one more mountain ” to cross. Exramedura, west side , rugged. Where the bull-fighters come from and the explorers. RE: Cortez. Anyway, enjoy the travels as next year could be different. Now, if we could do something about these rediculus gas prices. Or petrol. Gas is a gas. Petrol is a liquid. Keep us involved, thank you.
Sincerely, Gary & Robbin
Jerry Thornton
We tried the motor home, have houseboat for sale, bought in Ensenada, Mx across st. from ocean and now back to our home in Az. found out, rv, not too much fun, sold new motorhome at big loss but still have a houseboat on lake mohave, my condo on the water but health reasons cannot keep it up so selling for 41M but will still keep my home on the acre and now trying to sell mx home fully furnished for 71M lookat www. gatoconstruccion.com and its the sixth house listing fully furnished, everything now is half what it was last year.
Herb Ford
I read with interest the process you took to moving towards full timers. While I admire the direction, I plan on doing about 60/40 starting out. We plan to get a taste for what it is like to be away for months at a time to see how that fits our lifestyle. After that we’ll make the final decision. I plan to get a remote hot site for internet connection and do contract work for a couple of years after I retire but still have the flexibility to move around. Good luck to the both of you on your travels.
Barry Engleman
Most of our list is complete after this month if everything goes well in the next few days. We had two houses to get rid of, the mother-in-law house and our house. The mother-in-law house is already closed and the mother-in-law is enjoying assisted living. Our house closes next week. Our daughter and son-in-law close on their new house tomorrow and they get all the furniture we no longer need. We get there condo for a year while figure out how to tell my good friend and employer I am not going to work another ten years like he wants me to. He gets one more year! The family knows about our decision to go fulltime in a year and we are both 110% on that decision.
We just picked the RV we want for fulltiming and we both think we made the right choice.
The easiest and best parts will be planning where we want to go and then “Let’s just go”!
Thanks for the interesting and well written updates of your trip and some history of what you had to do to carry out your fulltiming plan.
Barry
Jeanine
My husband and I so want to do full timing. It’s been our dream for 20 years – but now the economy has hit us hard and we can’t sell our house and we need that money and the 401K money to buy an RV and finanace the full time life. It’s so close yet so far away. I am looking for a solution. Is RV full time getting more expensive? What would you say is the bare minimum a responsible, mature couple would need each month – we plan on driving about 100 miles a week or so – very casual – boondocking lots of hte time, we are vegetarians, finding work where we can such as seasonal harvest, etc., plus we have a couple of ideas on how to make money on the road. But getting started – that’s the trouble – selling the house. If the house was sold, I’d quit my job tomorrow, cash in the 401K and Hit the Road! I admire you.
Dick Calton
Good to hear about your trip. Dick and Lynda (both 65 yr. old widows/ers) are hitting the road on 5/3 from El Centro, Cal. and heading north to Alaska. We have reservations for Glacier Natl Park about June 5th for three days and about June 17th in Haines, Alaska. Maybe we will pass you on the road. I live on 40 acres in San Diego County and may plan to sell and hit the road full time when we get back. Then we will look for a permanent place somewhere in or near the Ozarks. Good Luck