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  1. #11
    Rolling Along jim1521's Avatar
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    The 10 threads above capture the “are you ready to full time?” question. The “castles and nomads” comparisons is spot on.

    My wife and I enjoy being on or near the water. For us it’s an absolute must have. We’re both scuba divers, love to boat, she has a new jet ski, I love to fish. We have both traveled a lot - myself in particular - neither of us really has the bug to tear down camp, travel 400 miles the next day, then do it all over again. There are places we want to travel to, but United will take us there. In our case it’s the Destination, not the Journey - which is most likely the complete opposite to every owner of an RV.

    So why are we going full time? Because there’s lots of places with water nearby and we don’t know where exactly we want to end up. Also, wherever we go, we want to bring the house with us. We don’t need a lot; just enough. But what we NEED, we want to have with us. So an RV (in our case TWO RVs) is the perfect solution for us.

    We’re actually setting up for six-seven years from now. At that time we’ll be ready to re-plant the roots. We’ll use this time to figure out where we’ll plant them. It’ll be in Florida still (I don’t see us leaving FL), and “probably” Ft. Myers again, but we honestly don’t know - or care - right now. Time to enjoy it while we can. We know too many dead people who would say “woulda, shoulda, coulda” if they could speak.
    2016 Grand Design Reflection 313RLTS
    2020 Riverstone 39FK
    2016 Ford F350 Super Duty 6.7L Powerstroke Lariat 2WD DRW

  2. #12
    Long Hauler D2Reid's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steven@147 View Post
    Many people can't do both so they eliminate the home base thinking it will be cheaper living in an RV. That is not necessarily true.
    Absolutely correct. Many of my co-workers went to great lengths and worked many extra years so they could do both. I took early retirement knowing full well that I would not be as affluent as them in my golden years. It was a choice. It would have been much cheaper for me to just continue to live where I was when I was working. But I am pretty sure I would be dead by now, either drinking myself to death or dying from boredom.

    Quote Originally Posted by jim1521 View Post
    My wife and I enjoy being on or near the water. For us it’s an absolute must have.
    Jim, that was really a hard decision for us. Living in FL we were boaters for over 20 years and thoroughly enjoyed it. I am surprised that because of your love of the water you didn't get a water RV, trawler or sailboat. We really really gave that a lot of thought. But in the end chose RV'ing over boating as there were more ports to explore.
    Dallas
    2017 Momentum 376TH, 2019 Ford F450, Dual Rear Wheel, 4x4, diesel.
    2015 Harley-Davidson Street, XG750

  3. #13
    Rolling Along jim1521's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by D2Reid View Post
    Absolutely correct. Many of my co-workers went to great lengths and worked many extra years so they could do both. I took early retirement knowing full well that I would not be as affluent as them in my golden years. It was a choice. It would have been much cheaper for me to just continue to live where I was when I was working. But I am pretty sure I would be dead by now, either drinking myself to death or dying from boredom.



    Jim, that was really a hard decision for us. Living in FL we were boaters for over 20 years and thoroughly enjoyed it. I am surprised that because of your love of the water you didn't get a water RV, trawler or sailboat. We really really gave that a lot of thought. But in the end chose RV'ing over boating as there were more ports to explore.
    Oh, Dallas! That was EXACTLY our plan!

    We had planned for 5 years on going full time on a boat. We had decided on a 48' DeFever trawler with Naiad stabilizers. We were going to do our first year in Florida waters shaking the boat down, then our second year in the Bahamas. The third year was going to be our decision year: do we go south to PR/USVI, or go back to FL, or go do the Great Loop? We had been down to the Caribbean a number of times, and it was going to be our home until we died.

    Then life got in the way...

    • 3 years ago Diana fell and fractured her left shoulder in 3 places requiring surgery.
    • Last year she fell again and fractured her right shoulder in 3 places requiring surgery.
    • Two years ago I herniated C5/C6 disc requiring ACDF surgery.
    • Last year I herniated C6/C7 disc requiring ACDF surgery.
    • Diana needs two new knees.
    • I'm going to need a new set up hips shortly.


    We talked it over, and our biggest concern was that if we got caught in 4'-6' seas, we weren't going to be able to pull over for the night. We both very reluctantly (and quite honestly tearfully) agreed that we missed our window.

    Literally, that ship had sailed on us.

    So we sat down and re-wrote the plan as best we could. The first one was going to be a Class A diesel. Looked at a number of them and thought that was the right way to go. Then we discovered a beautiful RV park up in the N. GA mountains that has a big lake, dock, wet slips for the boat and her jet ski. We also found an RV Resort and Marina in Port St. Joe, FL right on the gulf. Diana suggested we dump the idea of a Class A (why pay $50,000 for a diesel motor that you're only going to leave parked?) and get a large 5th wheel and leave it in situ in N. GA. for the summers and take the GDRV down to Port St. Joe for the winters. So that's Plan B, and we're enjoying the lemonade.
    2016 Grand Design Reflection 313RLTS
    2020 Riverstone 39FK
    2016 Ford F350 Super Duty 6.7L Powerstroke Lariat 2WD DRW

  4. #14
    Long Hauler D2Reid's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jim1521 View Post
    We both very reluctantly (and quite honestly tearfully) agreed that we missed our window.
    I am sorry you missed the boating years. At least you were honest enough with yourselves to make good choices.
    Dallas
    2017 Momentum 376TH, 2019 Ford F450, Dual Rear Wheel, 4x4, diesel.
    2015 Harley-Davidson Street, XG750

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  6. #16
    Fireside Member
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    To us full timing was a no brainer, we had spent a long time of me working remote. I would pull a 25 footer to a project that would last 3 to 6 months and we would be ecstatic if I got work near home. Before we even started I knew pros and cons. We decided the peosnwere worth it more than the cons.
    We discussed it and finally pulled the plug.
    There are some major decisions to be made, such as hobbies, I had spent decades setting up a few shops around the house and had tens of thousands invested in tools, you have to go from that to a basic tool kit. You watch something you built and dreamed over go out of your life.
    I think everyone who truleybdownsizes will tell you that you try to keep too much. After 4 months you will know you have to much. Now besides that huge downside, I thi k most of the others are minor. You have companies that can keep your life following you for little each month.
    The pay off of the process is the pros, total freedom. Go where you want and do what you want. And we all do it different. We still stay places long term compared to most here so we just ship the 5er and I can tow a trailer with 2 hogs and a few extra things around. We compare ourselves to snowbirds now. Just we go different places so we can explore. My brother just finished building his dream retirment plan and now is discussing selling g it and joining us in our lifestyle. After visiting us a few times in different areas he suddenly understands what I mean when I say a house has no place I. My future. When we get tired of traveling. We just buy a few acres near a trout stream and I embrace my inner trailer trash. A few utilities will be cheap to put in.

  7. #17
    Setting Up Camp gobama84's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JiMissy View Post
    We still stay places long term compared to most here so we just ship the 5er and I can tow a trailer with 2 hogs and a few extra things around.
    Wow! What is the cost to ship a 5er and at what distances are you shipping?
    Loyd - USMC Retired & Dean - SSA Retired
    Looking to Full Time as soon as we buy a 397TH
    Currently working as a Government Contractor

  8. #18
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    Much less than the monthly cost of owning a diesel rig, plus the fuel to get there. I figure that I pay around 6 to 7 hundred ever 6 months or so and that truck, insurance and.fuel plus maintenece would eat that every month plus half as much more

  9. #19
    Rolling Along jim1521's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JiMissy View Post
    Much less than the monthly cost of owning a diesel rig, plus the fuel to get there. I figure that I pay around 6 to 7 hundred ever 6 months or so and that truck, insurance and.fuel plus maintenece would eat that every month plus half as much more
    We also gave consideration to doing this as well, but in the end we decided to go with the F350 so that we'd have it if we needed it. We're mostly staying between two places, but I do a lot of towing (boat, other RV) so in our case the truck made sense.
    2016 Grand Design Reflection 313RLTS
    2020 Riverstone 39FK
    2016 Ford F350 Super Duty 6.7L Powerstroke Lariat 2WD DRW

  10. #20
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    Our 2008 1/2 ton Ram does our light weight towing duties, and is paid for . Our choice does not fit everyone. But we do not move every week. We long time park. So for us it is a very cost saving way to full time RV. We can not bring a 44 ft rv into a lot of RV destinations either. Such as national parks, so parking outside of them and spending a few months exploring the areas around say Yellowstone based in Dubois, fishing the white river, well that is heaven to us.

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