Tag Archives: empty nesters

Downsizing Home, empty nesters, freedom, Roadtrips, rv living, travel, Uncategorized, usa travel

A FEW IMPORTANT THINGS WE HAVE LEARNED IN OUR FIRST FEW WEEKS FULL TIME RV’ING – PART TWO

Leave a comment

Linsley and I are so glad that we stayed put in South Carolina for the winter, we have learned so much in this very short time.  We have also had a chance to learn about all the systems on our RV.  The following is part two of a three part insight into the things that Linsley and I have learned over the last 4 months of full time RVing that we didn’t know about before taking on this lifestyle.  We had done a lot of research before we made the leap into full timing, but we have learned so much more than we imagined in the few weeks since we started.  This may be only the tip of the iceberg in our learning curve, but for anyone thinking of starting full-timing, maybe it will be of value:

  

  1. THINGS TO BRING WITH YOU AS YOU START YOUR RV LIVING:

Bring with you the things that you will need.  We were under the impression that while traveling, everything had to be stowed away in cabinets, so a lot of the camping and cooking equipment we had, we sold off in the estate sale we had.  Now we find that we could have brought it and we are buying a lot of that equipment again.  We have found out that the luxuries you believe go with brick and mortar living can also be part of an RV lifestyle.  We were under the impression that we could only bring bare essentials with us, so that is what we did.  Don’t do the same thing.  If you think you will need a piece of equipment, bring it, we have met people whose RV is filled with plastic bins full of equipment for cooking etc, that once they get to a site, is all unpacked and left outside, around and under their RV and awnings.  This is the part that we didn’t know.  We do now!

  1. With winter coming on, temperatures started to drop and we realized that we didn’t know how or even if our heating worked in the RV. We knew it was gas heating, but weren’t sure how to turn it on.  Our new friend Doug (who has been such a fantastic help to us) came over and showed us exactly how to get the furnace started.  Looking back, it was so easy, I felt pretty stupid that we hadn’t worked it out ourselves.  You basically open the outside furnace and turn the switch to ON, then switch over to heat mode on the thermostat, turn it all the way up until the heating kicks on.  Once the furnace is blowing warm air, you can then set the temperature on the thermostat.

At the worst possible time this winter, our heating gave out and would run for a little while and then stop blowing warm air and revert to stone cold.  Our friend Doug (my hero), took the gas valve apart and replaced it with a new one we bought, we tried it and it worked for a short while and then the gas turned off again,  Doug took it apart again and checked the gas pipes had no blockages.  This is where I have to stress to you… DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF GNATS!  The gas pipe had about 6 dead gnats in it, but this was enough to restrict the flow of gas and cut the heating off.  We cleaned out the pipes and the heating has worked like a champ ever since.

3.   With storage at a premium, I decided to store canned foods (and well packaged foods that could withstand it), pots and pans, and various drinks in a plastic storage bin with a lid, which can easily be stored underneath the RV when we are parked at a campground, easily accessed when we need to get something from one of the bins, and quickly and easily lifted into the RV when we are traveling. This has made my life much easier inside the RV and given me so much more storage for things that need to be inside.  We don’t have big storage bins built into our RV as it is an older model, so the storage bins (from the dollar store) are ideal.  I found a few storage bins that are waterproof, and was able to put dried foods such as rice, pasta, even sugar (without it clogging), and they were relatively inexpensive from Walmart, which has made a huge difference in the amount of storage available in the kitchen area now.  I was able to fit them into one of our storage cubbies underneath the RV, so they are totally protected from the weather at all times.  I would highly recommend these bins for anything that wouldn’t stand up to any type of dampness.

  1.  MEMBERSHIPS

You can pay a fortune, and spend hours finding and booking campgrounds to stay at, but we have found that by having a few memberships, this process becomes much easier.  Not only does it help finding the campgrounds, but it also can save you a lot of money along the way.  We travel about 200-250 miles a week and then camp at a campground for the week, moving on to the next place on a Saturday morning, this gives us a very relaxed travel schedule and allows us time to explore the area we are staying at.  We find that this suits us very well, and our older RV thanks us for not trying to drive huge distances all in one go.

Passport America:  We joined Passport America and they have a great website where you can look up campgrounds all over the United States, get an overview of those campgrounds, and get their website, plan your route, and also in many instances enjoy 50% off the normal nightly rate at a campground that is affiliated with Passport America.  Now the 50% discount doesn’t always work in high season, but so far, we have received the 50%, so we can only rave about how great Passport America is.  Also, our friends joined passport America and because we referred them, they, and we received a 7 month free extension to our membership.

Escapees:  Escapees help with finding campground locations, route planning, they provide some discounts, but they also have a mail forwarding service, roadside assistance, and in order to be able to vote and renew your drivers license etc, they can provide a domicile address in a state that is full time RVer friendly (which most states are not), which enables you to travel further afield without the necessity to keep driving back to the state you are domiciled in to renew tags, licenses, voter registration, etc.  Escapees also list campgrounds which are owned by Escapees members (Co-Ops).  These campgrounds are renouned for being very comfortable, and because they are owned by people who RV full time, are very well set up to address the needs of full time RVers.

Good Sam:  We joined Good Sam for a few reasons, the main reason for us was that they provide great roadside assistance services.  Should we get stuck with a flat tire etc. in the middle of nowhere, they will actually bring a tire to where we are or tow us to somewhere we can have a new tire fitted.  It is important to have great roadside assistance and towing when you are full time RVing because when you think about it, your vehicle is your home, and has so many things that can go wrong at any time, you need to have a plan that will cover most, if not all eventualities.

These are the memberships that we have, it may be in the future, that we will join more RVing clubs, but for now, we feel we are well covered between these three.

 

Downsizing Home, empty nesters, freedom, Roadtrips, rv living, travel, usa travel

A FEW IMPORTANT THINGS WE HAVE LEARNED IN THE FIRST FEW WEEKS OF FULL TIME RV’ING – PART ONE

Leave a comment

Linsley and I are so glad that we stayed put in South Carolina for the winter, we have learned so much in this very short time.  We have also had a chance to learn about all the systems on our RV.  The following is part one of a three part insight into the things that Linsley and I have learned over the last 4 months of full time RVing that we didn’t know about before taking on this lifestyle.  We had done a lot of research before we made the leap into full timing, but we have learned so much more than we imagined in the few weeks since we started.  This may be only the tip of the iceberg in our learning curve, but for anyone thinking of starting full-timing, maybe it will be of value:

  1. THE MAIN THING THAT WE HAVE LEARNED IS THAT MAINTENANCE IS PARAMOUNT:

My advice to anyone starting to RV whether full time or part time is this……. Take care of little problems BEFORE they become big problems.  There are many resources out there to learn how to take good care of your RV, I have listed some resources below that have given me a lot of insight into dealing with the routine problems that come up from time to time (and in these first few weeks, with an older RV, we have had our share of those).

YOUTUBE is a great resource, especially for mechanical type issues, you can look up just about anything and it will give you a video how to with step by step instructions and you can watch the repair being done in easy to follow steps.

RV REPAIR CLUB gives solid instruction for routine RV care and maintenance right to your email inbox.  I keep all their emails just in case I need to use them at a later date.

THE INTERNET…. I would never have believed that there are so many people who full time RV, by performing a simple search on whatever topic you need, you can find all kinds of help, blog posts, videos, instructions to solve your problem.

I would also recommend that you talk to the people around you in the campsite and pick their brains on these routine type fixes, they have all had them, gone through them and worked out how to fix them, so become a student to your fellow RVers, you will learn an awful lot from them, it may cost you a campsite meal and a few laughs, but it is invaluable.

  1. LEARN HOW YOUR GREY AND BLACK TANKS WORK

When you arrive at a camping ground, oftentimes you will have a full hook-up site.  This means that you will likely have a sewer connection directly from your RV into a sewer line.  What we didn’t know is that you can leave your grey tank valve open, but you MUST keep your black tank valve closed, emptying it as necessary.  It appears that if you leave the black tank valve open all the time, you risk developing a “pyramid of poo” inside your black tank, which doesn’t get broken down and will eventually stop your black tank from being able to work, causing back-ups into your RV of all the nasty stuff you really don’t want backing up into your RV!  Find a product that you like, to deodorize and help with the breakdown of solid waste and use it in both your black tank and grey tank, if you do this diligently, you should not build up the tell-tale odor that RV toilets and drains are well known for.  If like us, you find that the black tank is not working as it should, you can simply use a toilet snake to break down any solid build up, then flush well with lots of water and use a good product to aid in the breakdown of solids.  I also put a bucket of hot soapy water down the toilet once a month as this helps to clean away any clingons that develop from time to time.  We had a nasty back up from the toilet in our first week, and discovered, from our campsite friends, how to clear the blockage, and once that was done, we have had no further problems.  I KNOW, I KNOW, TALKING ABOUT POO ISN’T GREAT, BUT IT IS VERY NECESSARY!

  1. One really cool thing that our new friends, Doug and Jimmy taught us, is this….

We have a 40lb gas tank built into the RV, that tank doesn’t last too long when you have hot water, cooking and then heating going on inside the RV.  Doug and Jimmy showed us how to hook up a separate gas tank which can be disconnected and filled easily, without having to pack up the RV and drive to the propane fill station.  You can buy propane tanks in all different sizes, and we are using a 40lb extra tank right now, which can easily be disconnected, refilled and reconnected without any hassle.  It definitely takes the worry out of running out of propane for heating, hot water and cooking in the winter months.  We have met some people who have connected up to 100 gallon propane tanks to their RV’s, but as these large tanks are not mobile, it takes the travel out of this RV lifestyle.  With the 40lb tank, we will never run out of Propane, because as soon as that extra tank is empty, we will fill it and still have the built in 40lb tank full at all times.

  1. One other point that I feel needs to be in this list is condensation…. When you have heating on inside the RV and its cold outside, you tend to develop some condensation. This can be a big problem if you don’t take care of it on a daily basis.  Open the cupboards and closets and leave them open for as long as you can during the day and wipe the windows down when they get full of condensation.  This way, the water doesn’t build up and ruin the woodwork, walls, furnishings inside your RV.  I find that condensation from the windows if not dried off ends up running down the walls and soaks into the furnishings, leaving them pretty wet at times.  I do have a dehumidifier insider the RV, but still find that condensation can build up.  Dollar stores carry small dehumidifier packs, and I have put one into each cabinet, which really does help to ward off condensation, especially in the closets where the dampness can ruin your clothes.

I would say that the biggest thing of all that we have learned is that we have an awful lot still to learn.  LOL!  BUT we are getting there and nothing we have encountered in our short time RVing has made us have second thoughts about the whole thing.  We are loving living our lives now and have a new experience each and every day, we have met a lot of truly wonderful people, and our relationship has improved to no end.  We are happy, healthy and lighthearted, having lots of fun times and getting younger every day.  What more could anyone ask for?

Downsizing Home, empty nesters, freedom, Roadtrips, rv living, travel, Uncategorized, usa travel

A NEW PERSPECTIVE – CHANGE OF FOCUS

2 Comments

On December 31, 2018 I was laid off from my job.  After the health problems I had gone through a few years ago, my confidence was shaken to the core.  It is now summer, 2019, and still no replacement job on the radar.  This, I have to admit has knocked me off my feet as I have never in my life had a problem finding a job. Together with turning 60 this spring, Linsley and I have decided that it’s the universe telling us to go in a different direction! 

I know that doesn’t sound like the thoughts of two sane people, but with all that has happened in the past years, life is too short to struggle and try to keep everything together for other people. Our children are all set up, have their own homes and lives, and we are now reduced to the role of listeners.  We listen to their numerous complaints about each other, but they don’t want to listen to any advice we give, so after lots of heart wrenching thought and lots of research, we have decided to “drop out”! 

By that, I mean that Linsley and I have decided to liquidate everything and starting a new adventure.  

“Dropping out” has been an often talked about concept between Linsley and I over the years, but was always placed on the back burner because kids needed this or that.  It always seemed selfish to go off and have a life, but we have recently had an epiphany…

… now that the kids are all grown up….. THIS IS OUR TIME!!!

I will be writing regularly to update you on the details of what that entails, and I’m pretty certain that there will be some set-backs and some heartache along this process, but we will face it all head on, because we owe it to ourselves to make the most of our time here and have no regrets at the end of it all.

We know for sure that we are not the only people who have made this decision, and we know that there are an awful lot of people who wish that they could make this radical move, we are neither wealthy, nor special, we just have the conviction to make it work.  I’m sure we will stumble along the way, I’m sure we will have some absolutely amazing experiences and meet some truly remarkable people in our travels, and I will be on this blog to share it all, good and bad alike!

We will document from start to finish our journey to freedom!

It begins tomorrow…… we have a realtor coming to tell us what we can reasonably expect to make by selling the house.  Then the next day we have a home liquidation company who will survey our belongings and give us a reasonable estimate of what we could realize by selling it all, lock stock and barrel!  Between the two, we should have enough to purchase an RV and hit the road!  We have an RV picked out that we truly believe will serve our living needs, and plan to spend our summers up north and the winters down south.

We are not doing this on a whim, we have done a lot of research and although we will be semi-retired, Linsley will still continue to work (he has worked from home for the past 6 years and can continue to do so once we head off) which will give us cash flow to live on.  I will find ways along the way to make money too.  It is important that we go into this with a solid plan of how we will live.  It wouldn’t make sense to just run off and find that we run out of funds to live a few months into it, and we want to be self-sufficient for the long run.  One thing that we have discovered is that we are both ready to let go of all the “stuff” that for years we held sacred (belongings) and have carried around with us each time we moved.  Life is too short, we don’t want to grow old and regret not having our adventure.

This is the start of the rest of our lives and we are so ready for it!  Come along with us on our journey, live vicariously through us as we take the bull by the horns, or maybe learn how it can be done.  If we can do it, anyone can. We are totally down to earth normal folk who just want to be happy and travel and meet new people.