12-30-2014, 10:11 AM
77newell,
I can certainly understand what you are saying. My wife and I have been RVers for on-and-off 30 years. That said, it has only been weekend, vacation RVing and extended stays in a camp ground when in between military assignments. We have been seriously discussing full-timing since 2004 when I first stumbled across Escapees.
Our bookshelf has 5-10 books on full-timing; the first one we bought being what many people consider to be the bible (or did at the time), "Movin' On" by Ron and Barb Hofmeister. This book and reading Escapees all these years has really wetted our appetite for full-time traveling. That said, probably every book we have says something similar to the following: "No amount of vacation or weekend RVing, regardless of number of years doing it, will give you ANY indication of whether or not you will like full-timing." I remember reading an Escapees thread early on in our research where a lady posted that she and her husband had been avid outdoors people and RVers for several decades and longed for the day that they could retire and hit the road. Six months into the experience they were both climbing the walls and decided to hang it up before they had been on the road a year. I met an Escapees person (5th wheel and Volvo truck) who I discovered lived less than 5 miles from my house. We met them for dinner one weekend to kind of pick their brain about their experience. He retired with 30 years in the Air Force and him and his wife set out full-timing right after retiring from the military. They made it 8 months before he started sending out resumes finally landing a job in Houston. He said they would still like to go full-timing (they kept their fiver and truck) but just didn't think the timing had been right for them (my guess is he wanted to see what he could do in the civilian job market as an engineer after so many years working for Uncle Sam). Conversely, I have read many posts from people that wished they had taken early retirement because full-timing has been an incredible, life-changing experience for them.
Long story, short...I do not disagree with you and have no way of knowing if my wife and I are cut out for full-timing. You do make a very good point about possibly getting locked into an RV that may be hard to get rid of if you find out that you don't have the level of wanderlust you thought you had.
I can certainly understand what you are saying. My wife and I have been RVers for on-and-off 30 years. That said, it has only been weekend, vacation RVing and extended stays in a camp ground when in between military assignments. We have been seriously discussing full-timing since 2004 when I first stumbled across Escapees.
Our bookshelf has 5-10 books on full-timing; the first one we bought being what many people consider to be the bible (or did at the time), "Movin' On" by Ron and Barb Hofmeister. This book and reading Escapees all these years has really wetted our appetite for full-time traveling. That said, probably every book we have says something similar to the following: "No amount of vacation or weekend RVing, regardless of number of years doing it, will give you ANY indication of whether or not you will like full-timing." I remember reading an Escapees thread early on in our research where a lady posted that she and her husband had been avid outdoors people and RVers for several decades and longed for the day that they could retire and hit the road. Six months into the experience they were both climbing the walls and decided to hang it up before they had been on the road a year. I met an Escapees person (5th wheel and Volvo truck) who I discovered lived less than 5 miles from my house. We met them for dinner one weekend to kind of pick their brain about their experience. He retired with 30 years in the Air Force and him and his wife set out full-timing right after retiring from the military. They made it 8 months before he started sending out resumes finally landing a job in Houston. He said they would still like to go full-timing (they kept their fiver and truck) but just didn't think the timing had been right for them (my guess is he wanted to see what he could do in the civilian job market as an engineer after so many years working for Uncle Sam). Conversely, I have read many posts from people that wished they had taken early retirement because full-timing has been an incredible, life-changing experience for them.
Long story, short...I do not disagree with you and have no way of knowing if my wife and I are cut out for full-timing. You do make a very good point about possibly getting locked into an RV that may be hard to get rid of if you find out that you don't have the level of wanderlust you thought you had.
Larry & Jan Steinmetz
Ex-Navy / Retired Coast Guard CWO w/ 34 Years Total Service.
Goals: 2016 - Sell our house, buy a coach and live in it until retirement. 2018 - Retire for good and hit the road.