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RV Life – Month 1

Well it’s been one month and what have we learned?  We are newbies ourselves but we do have some newbie advice.

Have a well thought out plan to transition into your new home.

Take stock of your needs, not your wants.  For example, Gary wanted a full set of pots and pans, but we didn’t need a full set.  I may have wanted to take family photo albums, but I didn’t need to take family photo albums.

That being said, be ok with parting with your “stuff”.  Replace “stuff” with experiences.

Your wants and needs will change as you move from sticks and bricks to woods, water, and adventure.

Know your space.  Diagraming every storage area helped us to know our RV.

Ahas…

Use a camping towel to mop up a lot of water.  It will be dry the next day.  I picked up two more at the dollar store.  We had an issue with our residential refrigerator and had to manually defrost it every ten days.  This super absorbent, quick drying towel was a life saver making quick work of the puddles of water or any other messes we made.

The thing that is a big deal today will not be a big deal in seven days and it will be a lesser deal in 30 days, a year from now.

It’s ok to take a zero day.  A zero day in the hiking world is a day that no miles are hiked.  A zero day to do nothing.  It’s ok.  Just do it sparingly.

Amazed

Gary is amazed that I was able to get all of our “stuff” in here.

I am amazed at how comfortable I am living in an RV.  I love cooking on the gas stove, sleeping in our cozy bedroom, and even cleaning- it’s quick!

The Ruffs

We had to switch out our Pet Mate plastic dog crates we bought for the RV and use the house American Kennel Club wire crates.  Our girls were just getting too big for ones we bought for the RV even though they were large.  The wire crates have more room, more air circulation, and a lower profile.  We put them on rugs to protect the floor.  They have adapted well and it’s nice to have them right here with us.  Poodle Phoebe is ok as long as daddy is near.  She’s easy.

Problems to Solve

I have heard some say you need to get rid of your hobby items.  This may contradict my wants and needs advice but in my opinion we need hobbies.  I have waited years to retire so I can fully enjoy my hobbies.  Storage is an issue though.  In one month, I was struggling with this problem.  Gary is a musician so he has guitars and amplifiers.  We both love kayaking.  I love hiking, biking, art, photography, crafts, and want to start sewing again.  So you see my problem!  That’s a lot of equipment, supplies.  At one month, I’m still working on this one.

Downsizing was a nightmare, but worth it.

My advice-  Just get rid of it.  I ended up doing that with so many things anyway.  The yard sale helped me to see what both families had to get rid of but I would not do it again.  The work involved vs the return was not worth it.  Donate and get a tax deduction.  When it’s done though, it feels AMAZING!

What a difference one month makes!  We are loving looking at freedom, everyday .

Share your beginning experiences or any questions that you have about RV Life.  Comment and share below.

Phoebe
Command strips work great to make your RV a home.

 

 

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Lessons Learned After Two Months of RV Living

Can you teach older dogs new tricks?  Why yes, you can!  We are growing dendrites!

Well here are just some of the adventurous learning lessons we’ve had so far.  Laugh along with us.  We are sharing so that you will be more knowledgeable and learn from our mistakes.

  • Know where your fire extinguisher is.

This one happened in the “big house” but the lesson is the same.  The washer was acting up and I absentmindedly grabbed the dryer plug, attempted to unplug it but the housing fell apart causing a giant spark which somehow arched over to the back of the dryer which immediately began to flame up the wall!  This happened in an instant and I called to my son-in-law, James, who immediately grabbed the nearby fire extinguisher and put the fire out.  I flipped the breaker off.  We evacuated the children to Ruff Road and waited for the fire department.  They were most impressed with our fast action and knowing where the fire extinguisher was and how to use it.  The outcome of this little mishap was that there was no damage, the washer works and the dryer works and I will never touch a 220 plug again!

  • Know your amps!

Make sure that you learn about amps and what your RV needs.  Make sure you know how many amps your electrical appliances use.  Remember this:  Amps = Watts divided by Volts.  For example,  a sandwich maker uses 1200 watts.  We are running 120 volts in our system.  So we divide 120 volts into 1200 watts and we find that the sandwich maker draws 10 amps, which is one third of what we have access to with our 30 amp hook up here at Happy Acre.  So this device will go in to the use with generator or 50 amp only pile.  How did we learn this?  We discovered that our little electric pot that heats water for tea draws too many amps to use if the AC is running.  We learned that we can only run one AC at a time.  Also, we learned that we can’t run our on board vacuum cleaner while AC is on.  So, as long as we are connected to 30 amp service, we must be mindful of our amp usage.

  • Do you know how your electric AC and Heat work?

We learned this the hard way on a trip to North Georgia this year.  There was snow and wind and rain and freezing temps.  No problem.  We have two heaters and we are connected to 50 amp service.  So we thought… As the temps dropped, our units did not heat Ruff Road.  Furthermore, the system kept switching to propane.  We stayed toasty warm with our propane, until it ran out.  Nothing about the AC/ Heat was covered in our walk-through or in the massive, generic owner’s manual in our coach.  So we turned to the internet.  Here is what we learned.  Only one AC unit has heat strips and this doesn’t work if the temperature is below 40 degrees.  Then the propane heat kicks on and that will use your propane reserves in a matter of days.  We also learned that our propane gauge was faulty.  It continued to show that we had propane but sadly we ran out.  Now we are more knowledgeable about our heating and cooling systems.  The propane gauge is fixed.  Lesson learned.

  • Know how your awning works

So on that same freezing North Georgia trip, we were sitting in our cozy, propane heated Ruff Road and suddenly heard what sounded like a loud bang, thud noise from outside.  It was night, blowing wind and sleet.  We knew our awning would retract in high winds but we didn’t think the wind was blowing at that speed.  I went to the door, opened it up, and did not see our awning.  My first thought was it had blown away, ripped from its mounts.  On further investigation, we saw it had rolled up by itself.  Why?  We turned to the manual this time and learned that when the temperature drops below 32 degrees, it retracts.  Good to know!

  • Tire center cap disappeared

On one of our first outings we returned to find that our front right tire center cap was gone.  It really affected the look of our Ruff Road.  It made her look a little rough.  Did someone steal it?  We had overnighted at a truck stop.  We didn’t know.  Gary started looking for tire center caps online and stumbled across some discussion of missing center caps.  Apparently, this happens so don’t be alarmed if it happens to you.  We went to Freightliner and bought another one.  Problem solved.

  • Replacing Halogen lights with LED lights- the experts don’t always know

We were told by someone at our local RV dealership that we would have to replace each individual puck (fixture).  We even started shopping for puck light replacements.  Fortunately, this was false.  In our unit, all we needed was the bulbs.  Gary read several great reviews on LED lights sold on Amazon for a fraction of the cost that RV Stores charged.  For about $70 we were able to replace all of our ceiling lights with LED lights.  So far, so good.  LEDs are much cooler and use a fraction of the watts that the hot halogen lights use.  If you are thinking of making the switch, we recommend it.

(add amazon link)

  • Beware of what and how you store in basement compartments

There is nothing funny about this one.  I allocated one of the basement bins to backpacking and camping supplies.  Some items were stored in a tote but the backpacks and tents were stored in large garbage bags.  As we adjusted to RV living, we found the need to rearrange things.  It was during one of these rearranging sessions that I discovered that my backpack was covered in mildew, not the spare one but the one I use.  The same thing happened to my good Big Agnes tent.  I was devastated.  Yes we live in Florida.  Yes it is humid and wet here.  Lesson learned, I removed my good gear and it now lives in my bedroom.  All other gear is stored in storage containers but I know now to check things regularly.  If I hadn’t gone into this bin, there would have been more damage to my gear.

  • Have a schedule

This may be a no brainer to many of you but when you retire, it’s easy to flounder going from highly scheduled days to being left to your own devices.  We set a schedule to keep ourselves sane and to keep us on track with the tasks of downsizing.  We also have set routines to provide structure to our day.  Of course, we are retired so we are flexible.  But knowing that Monday is always dump day and laundry day helps keep us on track.

  • Tips

You will bang your head.  Keep cabinets closed to avoid injury.  Be aware of low hanging cabinets.  I think I had knots and even broken skin the first month in Ruff Road.  I’m better now!

Put wheel covers on before dropping the airbags to save your knuckles.

Small humidifiers work.  Ours did.  Don’t assume it won’t go flying.  Ours did after weeks of no problems and now we have to buy another one.

Sweep everyday.  Ev-er-y day.

You will constantly be rearranging to make things fit the best and to make the best use of space.  Embrace it.  Also, you will take things out.  You’ll be ready to do it after you’ve moved something 50 times.  It will suddenly lose its preciousness.

Weekly dump day is thorough cleaning day.

What are some of your lessons learned?  Do you have any funny stories?  I’m sure we’ll “learn” more as we move into this nomadic lifestyle.  I can’t wait!

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Hurricane Prep- Our First Hurricane in Ruff Road

Our first hurricane threat in Ruff Road!

We’ve lived in Florida all of our lives.  Well, Gary came here as a baby.  So we know hurricanes.  Since we are in the middle of the state, we usually end up with a lot of rain and tropical force winds.  Our biggest threat here are downed trees, loss of power, flooding, sinkhole and tornado threat.  Hurricanes lose a lot of their speed before they get here but this storm was massive and projections covered all of Florida.

What steps did we take?

We were divided on this one with Gary wanting to weather the storm in Ruff Road and me not wanting to do the same!  We have lots of large trees on our property and winds were projected to be 75 – 100 mph.  This helped speed up our final purge clean up because we didn’t need left over yard sale stuff flying around.  We put all yard furniture away.  We tied down the kayaks and utility trailer.  There were several trips to the store to ensure that we had lots of water and food that will not perish.  We liked the idea that the RV was here and we could use the generator if needed after the storm.  We filled Ruff Road’s water tanks and made sure our black and grey tanks were emptied.  In addition, we made sure we had a full propane tank.  We rolled in the awning and bungeed the front and back hoods.  We had diesel fuel so running the generator would not be a problem.  The best place to be in a storm like this is in a brick and mortar building.   We moved the dogs’ crates up to the “big house”.  I took the needed bedding and personal items.  After lots of pleading, Gary joined me.  I really didn’t want him changing his mind in the middle of the night.  The storm rolled into our area well into the night.  You could hear the wind howling, the explosion of transformers in the distance, and things hitting the house with loud thuds.  I was thankful to not be in Ruff Road on this night.  After all of those sounds in the dark of night, we weren’t sure what to expect when day broke.  We were lucky!  There were sticks and leaves everywhere.  Ruff Road was dry and intact.  We didn’t even lose power all though many in our community did.  Of course, Gary was quick to say I told you so.  Better safe than sorry.

This got me thinking…

What if we were traveling and didn’t have a brick and mortar house available?  I know many RVers simply headed out of harm’s way on their own wheels.  In the case of Hurricane Irma, there was plenty of warning so we could plan.  I know that there are times we may get caught in bad weather.  I think about the golf ball size hail I’ve encountered in Colorado.  I know from my experience as a backpacker, that sometimes you just have to suck it up, say your prayers, and trudge onward.  At least in Ruff Road, we can monitor the weather and if we see a threat, take action by leaving or finding suitable shelter.  Still, at the end of the day, there is no where else I’d rather be than in our cozy little Ruff Road with Gary and our three dogs.  We’ve weathered some good winds, torrential rains, snow, and temps in the low teens already and I am amazed at the solid, sound feel that our little home provides.

What are your experiences in crazy weather?  Would you stay or would you go?  Comment and share.

Hurricane debris- We were thankful!
It was still windy and she is such a big baby.
Spending the night in the big house.
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Yard Sale! Yard Sale Reflection…

Books and Clothes and Shoes, Oh My!

Picture this:  A family of five moves into a house that is already full from 34 years of wonderful living with children, grandchildren, and grandparents.  They bring with them an entire UHaul truck full of their household belongings, including furniture.  All unwanted items from two households are stacked in boxes by the French doors in the dining room and spill out onto the large porch.  If you can picture a maze to get into the house, you got it!  ALL of these boxed up and unwanted items must make it to the yard sale tables ready for eager buyers to descend and purchase these treasures!  I’m not sure this paints a picture of the massive amount of treasures we had to sell, but I hope you get the idea.  We were overwhelmed by the “stuff”.

Yard Sales are not my thing!

I’ll be honest.  I’ve had a couple of yard sales years ago and didn’t make enough money to feel it was worth my time.  We live off of the main road so visibility is one issue.  We live on the quiet side of town and not much traffic here is another issue.   Finally, we live in a neighborhood of working middle class folks, not considered high end which I know many yard salers avoid.  I was hopeful because this time, we had more than ever and some really nice things.  I know that we didn’t have the time to “present” items as we would have liked but they were grouped together in an organized way.

How’d we do?  We had steady traffic on day one and a trickle of traffic on day two of the yard sale.  We made some money and did get rid of some things.  It was fun to see others excited about our treasures.  But…there was ALOT left over.  In fact, it looked like we hadn’t sold anything at all at the end of it.

What do you do with all of the left over stuff?

Well, our clothes and shoes were so nice, barely used we were thinking, my daughter Michelle and I spent the next couple of weekends and hours and hours staging and photographing the clothes and shoes to sell on Facebook Marketplace.  What did we learn from that?  Just go ahead and donate and save yourself the time.  We had to store these items.  It’s Florida in August with rain everyday so we were combating moisture and mildew which decided the fate of many things that were ruined as a result.

More Purging!

So the next couple of weeks, I spent every day going out to the yard sale tables, taking the tarps off and sorting the items to be sold on EBAY or Facebook Marketplace, donate, trash, keep.  I know what you are thinking!  Didn’t we already do this?  We did  but consider this the final purge.  Everyday the amount was less and less.  Rain clouds would form and I’d retarp the area and wait for rain to clear or begin again the next day.  Meanwhile, Gary made trip after trip to the dump and to donate to local charitable organizations.

So how does this make me feel?

I remember the day that the area had returned to its uncluttered state.  That was a happy day!  Inch by inch, anything is a cinch.  Mile by mile, we’ll get there in awhile!  We were making progress.  We had purged our house of 34 years of “stuff”.  We had purged our yard of the leftovers.  We were living happily in our cozy little Ruff Road everyday.  We were blessed to be Grandma/ Grandpa School Transportation to our grandchildren.  We weren’t on the road yet, but we were happy.  Life couldn’t be better!

But there’s more…

We were making progress but there were still two sheds to deal with.  The sheds were the next stop on our to do list.  Inch by inch, this is getting done, too.  Our goal was to be completely done by the end of the year and at this updated writing, we are almost there.  The only things left to do at this point is sell off our EBAY/ Marketplace inventory or donate it and finish the scanning and digitizing of our photos and videos.

Too much stuff!
This is only one third of it!
Ahhh…cleared!

Reflection…

Even though I do not care for yard sales, I liked getting all of the “stuff” out of the house.  Things that seemed so precious in the house lost their appeal on a yard sale table making it easier for me to say goodbye.  We were able to move forward with the final clearing.  It was freeing, just like when we purged the house.  We felt lighter after the house and even lighter after the yard sale purge.

If Gary were doing this on his own, it would be a much quicker process.  He’s not as sentimental or as much of an overthinker as I am.  So if you are like him, you will get done in half the time or less than we did.  However, if you are the least bit sentimental and tend to overthink things, then welcome to my club.  I’m sharing because if I can let go and do it, you can too.  Happy Purging!

If you have some yard sale reflections you would like to share, add them to the comments and share.  🙂

 

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The MOVE! Downsizing and Moving in THREE WEEKS!

We knew it was coming, we didn’t know this fast!  We had to downsize and move in THREE WEEKS!

Here was the plan:  My daughter, Michelle, and her family were moving back to Florida and planned to buy our house.  We knew about when they were coming.  My last day to work was June 30th.  Then we get word that they would be here July 22nd.  Yikes!  That gave us about three weeks to downsize plan, box up and move into Ruff Road!  Now I’ve watched many downsizing videos, but none of them started with the amount of stuff that we’ve accumulated after six children, several grandchildren, parents passing, and 34 years!   We are not hoarders by no means but we did have…stuff!  Lots of it!

3 Step Purge System for Over Thinkers

Here is my system for purging which I affectionately call the 3 Step Purge System for Over Thinkers.  It is a multi-step process which probably goes against what the experts would say, but it worked for me.  Let’s start with clothes.  I worked in the professional world and had a walk in closet full of professional clothes, which will no longer be required in my retirement life.

Step 1:  I ask myself:  Do I love it?  Yes or no?  If NO-Box up to donate.  If YES- Then it was hung up to keep.  Of course, there is not much room in an RV so I knew that there would be a second purging.

Step 2:  After a day or two, I returned to my YES clothes and I repeated the process.  Do I love it?  I found that I was able to let go of a little more this second round.  It became easier.

Step 3:  This was the final round.  Do I love it?  Yes or no?  To my surprise I was able to let go of a few more.  I did add favorites to a box for my family.  Even though I counted this my final round, as I packed to take my clothes out to Ruff Road, I purged even more.

Bottom line:  My clothes fit into the space I planned for them.  I still have variety in my wardrobe.  My purging system worked for me.  Some may be able to do this in one round or even two.  This worked for me.  For the overthinkers of the world, the three step purge system is recommended.

Sorting to Start

Our home had four bedrooms, three bathrooms, kitchen, laundry room, dining room, living room, and two porches.  Our brother in law was staying with us when this grand purge began so that was one room that he took care of, thankfully.  How do you take all of the items, the books, the paintings, the décor, the STUFF and make a plan?

My plan started with sorting.  I began to gather all like items in the living room. All of the children’s books go here.  All of the photography equipment goes there.  All of the fishing décor goes over there.  Everything in the house was sorted, which began emptying out rooms.  Of course, during this sorting process I was also following my PURGING process.  We began posting items that we could sell on Facebook Marketplace.  One half of our living room became our selling warehouse.  That worked out well and one by one many items were sold.  The rest was boxed for a giant yard sale.  Anything we wanted to keep with us was considered carefully, space is a premium in an RV.  Keepers were boxed up to be taken to Ruff Road.

Oh and the photos!  Scanning for four days straight!

So one of the bedrooms had become a scanning station for photos.  We took down all picture frames and removed the pictures as part of our sorting process.  All boxes of photos and photo albums were sent to this room and there is ALOT!   I fancy myself an amateur photographer so just add that to the many family pics.  I stood in that room for four days, morning to late at night, scanning and there are still boxes and tubs left to do.  I finally had to just stop so I could get the sorting and purging done.

When downsizing, scanning your photos and digitizing your home movies are the two most time consuming things you will do.  There is no fast way to do this unless you pay to have it done.  That wasn’t an option for me.  Later on, after the move, I ordered an Elgato to digitize the home movies we had on hand.  I am sentimental and I love seeing my parents and brother again in the movies.  It’s always fun to see the kids when they were little.  If any of you have suggestions on how to get all of this done quicker, please comment and share!

How I stayed sane during this time?  I kept a running TO DO LIST.

Each day I had a TO DO list to keep us on track.  We’d follow the list, adjusting as needed.  I used a regular spiral notebook to keep my list in.  I’d designate if it was Gary or me, cross off completed items and carry over what didn’t get done.  We had a general timeline of what we wanted done by when so that’s how we prioritized the list.  This was essential to us being ready to leave our house July 22nd.  Anyone downsizing or planning a move, it is amazing what you can get done when you plan it out on paper and look at it every day.

How did we do?  Did we meet our deadline of July 22nd?

Why yes, we did- well the majority!  We spent our first full time night in Ruff Road, with pups, the night of July 22nd.  We handed our house over to our daughter that night and haven’t looked back.  We had sorted, boxed, donated and purged.  We only had a few items left in the office, and closet shelves that I weeded out the following weeks.  We had moved all of the things we were keeping into Ruff Road.  This took several hauls and I organized and put it away each trip to make room for the next haul.  Honestly, I am amazed at what we put in here and I was able to put it away neatly.

Ah, so now we could sit back, sip our coffee and relax in the comfort of our new home.  We still had some selling to do and sheds to work on, but the biggest job was done.

Downsizing Reflections…

Downsizing is what it’s cracked up to be.  It is freeing to rid yourself of “stuff”.  This realization began as I had to go in and clean out my mom’s house after she passed.  She, like many who grew up during the depression years, kept everything.  She lived with me her last few years but didn’t want us to do anything with her “stuff”.  I discovered that all of that “stuff” had deteriorated, molded, it was of no value to anyone.  And then, I felt the overwhelming burden of all of this stuff.  It opened my eyes that at the end of the day, our stuff will not stay new, will get eaten and chewed on by bugs, will fade, will deteriorate.  It weighs us down.  You feel lighter inside with each letting go.   Have any of you gone through a downsizing process?  What system worked for you?  Comment and share.  🙂

 

 

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We Bought an RV – Now What?

When we ended up purchasing an RV sooner rather than later, how did we set it up?

Our original plan, of course, was to move from our house to our RV.  However, we fell in love with Ruff Road and ended up with a house and an RV.  So now, we need to set up our RV as our second home since we will be taking some trips in it.  There are many RV lists on the internet to help you in this process and that’s exactly where we went to research what we would need to set up Ruff Road.  Here is the process we followed to outfit Ruff Road and some of the items that we purchased.

Our Moving in Process:  Before Retirement

  1.  We measured every bin and cupboard to find just the right storage containers and baskets.  These measurements were added to rough diagrams I’d drawn of Ruff Road, inside and out.  This helped us to decide what would be stored in each area.  Be flexible- We made changes as we went along.
  2. We watched other RV You Tubers and poured over Pinterest to learn about the best, lightest, most efficient items for our new home.
  3. We made our own list of what we needed.
  4. We took inventory of what we already had on hand.  For example, I had 20 year old plastic baskets from my early days of teaching and they fit perfectly in our cupboards.  No purchase necessary there.  Many items, such as our bedding, pillows, pots and pans, we already had so we used them to stock Ruff Road.  Bonus!
  5. Then we got to shop!  Amazon Prime was our primary source.  Below is a list of the items we purchased.  Coming Soon-Check back to our Resources page for links to these items.
  • Correlle Dinnerwear Dish Set for 4- It’s lightweight and is resistant to chipping and cracking
  • Silverwear and cooking utensils
  • Cotton Bandanas- great for hiking, cleaning, dries quickly
  • Turkish Towels- lightweight, quick drying
  • PetMate Dog Crates- They have since outgrown!
  • Fabric Storage Cubes for storing clothes, they work like drawers in our closets- Walmart, inexpensive
  • Plastic containers for the basement
  • Spill-proof Water Bowl – from Lazy Days Store
  • Pet Food Storage and Feeding Station
  • Pet Playpen Fencing
  • Large RV Mat for the under awning area
  • French Press – fail, we couldn’t get it right
  • Sharp Steamer Mop – we had on hand but ordered extra pads
  • Go Pro Hero 5- Got to take pics!
  • Replaced our cheap toilet seat with a better quality one
  • Water Bandit- excellent little gadget to use when connecting to water at a campground, works on stripped faucets
  • Dehumidifier- listing details here, it worked so good!
    Powilling 1500ML Portable Quiet Dehumidifier for Home, Basement, Bedroom, Bathroom, RV, Garage – For Single Room Approx 300 sq.ft – This worked great for us but just recently took a flying leap from its home and sadly is toast.  Now we have to purchase another one.  We recommend it!
  • Command Hooks, Command Shelves – this is how we personalized our new home and hung pictures.  Be careful of wallpaper but so far we have not had any issues.
  • Rugs- memory foam rugs feel great!
  • Water filter
  • Toilet Sealant
  • Water Hoses- a grey one and a white one at first but then we found easy collapse hoses that saved space
  • Sewer Hoses- a necessity
  • Electric Plug- 30 Amp and 20 Amp adapters, not cheap!
  • Grass Mat for dirty paws!

6  Finally, we organized it all.

This organization was for Ruff Road as our recreational vehicle for trips.  We were pleased with our organization.  On our March trip to north Georgia, in freezing cold weather, we were able to welcome my daughter and her family into Ruff Road for a couple days.  We had four adults, three children/ teenagers, and FIVE dogs!  It worked.

At this time, we were still living in our home.  However, in just a few short months, we would be making the transition from 2,000+ square feet to full time living in our Ruff Road with our dogs!   Follow along and see what our process was to downsize.

Comment to share positive suggestions, experiences, or even lessons learned to help others outfitting their RVs.

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Why We Chose a Class A Motorhome

Our new home!

How did we end up actually purchasing, moving in and living in a class A motorhome?  Did you know it was last on our list of favorites? Well, if you are planning on plunging into this lifestyle and are shopping for an RV, here’s our story of what worked for us.

We made the decision to move forward into RV living in December, 2016.  I was in love with Class C motorhomes.  That was my focus.  We looked at several, several times, different places.  I kept “trying it on”  by sitting in the driver’s seat, passenger seat, any and all areas of the motorhome.  No matter when or where I tried, it just didn’t feel right to me…or Gary.  Then I stumbled onto a 5th Wheel and wow!  Tall ceilings…fireplaces…real furniture…ahhhh.  I learned though that many were not functional with the slides in and that in order to pull a 5th wheel, we would need to purchase a 3500 series pick up truck.  The cost of the 5th wheel plus the truck now was in the Class A price range.  Another 5th wheel con for me was I wanted access to the bathroom and kitchen while traveling.  So slowly, the possibility of a Class A was born.  We even looked at a couple of Class Bs but they just wouldn’t do with the size of our family.  If you think of it as a race, Class C was in first place then was edged out by 5th Wheels because of the claustrophobic feeling I felt in the cab area and layouts.  Many people are perfectly happy and love their Class Cs and we tried to, but it wasn’t for us.  5th Wheels were slowly edged out as the possibility of Class As came into focus.  Again, this is personal preference and I would love to have a 5th Wheel in the future, but for now, that wasn’t the one for us.  So Class A took the finish line and we love, love, love our class A.  We wrote our pros and cons for each RV type, that helped.

Did you know that many RVers end up in a different RV than they started with?  Once you get moved in and really live in one, your perspective of what you need changes and that’s ok.

Our Process for RV Shopping

Step One: is to RESEARCH and learn about the different RV types and what they have to offer.  As part of this research, go try them on.  You learn so much by physically seeing and sitting in different RVs.  Talk to people.  Check out the wealth of information about used and new RVs on You Tube and the various blogs available.  You will also get a general idea of how much money is needed for different units.

Step Two:  It was with all of this research and studying that we came up with a set list of criteria that we expected in our RV, including what we were willing (and able) to pay for it.

Our criteria list:

  • 35′ or less for flexibility in campgrounds – especially for state parks, forests
  • No carpeting – We have dogs.
  • Separate bedroom – meaning not just a bed but floor space, storage
  • Bathroom and shower together and large enough to maneuver
  • Storage
  • Diesel -we were flexible on this one but really preferred diesel
  • No dinette- We aren’t the handy couple who can just remove it like so many can.
  • Double slide out- Or large slide, we wanted roominess.
  •  Less than ten years old -We later learned that financing may be difficult for older units.
  • Lower mileage
  • Ability to use the unit when the slide(s) were in
  • Kitchen with work space
  • Fit for our budget
  • One that would feel like home

This list will be different for everyone but it helps to know exactly what you are looking for.  Be prepared for this criteria to change and evolve as you become more knowledgeable.  Ours did.  Be flexible.  We didn’t get our double slide out but the space available with our one super slide works.  Our unit met all the other criteria.

Final Thoughts

Some might say we purchased our RV quickly.  I’ve read that it takes some people years to find what they want, others months, and we took just a few weeks.  The truth is, we planned to take much longer.  We were in no hurry, but we found the one that just felt right sooner rather than later.  Our advice, follow your gut.  When you find your RV, you’ll know it.

What was your RV shopping experience?  How did you or would you choose your RV?

 

 

 

 

 

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Hello all who wander…or want to! The beginning…

 

Have you ever wondered what’s around the bend, over the mountain, through the trees?  We did so we set off on a retirement adventure in our RV, Ruff Road, and our three dogs.  This has been a journey already and we want to share our journey with you, just in case you ever wandered what’s around the bend, over the mountain, and through the trees…

Retirement…

This all started as we were nearing retirement age.  Gary had recently retired and retirement was in sight for me.  Like so many others, we had worked long hours in demanding jobs for years while raising our children, being there for others when needed as much as our jobs would allow, and helping my mom and Gary’s aunt as they aged.  Like so many others, we had a large house and yard to maintain and of course, our animals- We’ve always had dogs, but sometimes we had fish, cats, and even chickens.  I am the wanderer and Gary is the fisherman so we had to squeeze in these recreational preferences as best we could over the years.  I’m overwhelmed just thinking about how busy our lives were for  so many years.  Also, we had several passings within our family and with each loss came the realization that life is precious and we should make the most it.   Gary was able to retire early in 2016.   I wanted to join him.  But what could we do?  I wasn’t quite retirement age yet. Fortunately, we had financially planned for retirement and with some number crunching and MUCH discussion, I decided to take the plunge.  My wish is that we had been more frugal and started REALLY planning much earlier.  Life happens.  Word to the wise:  Start now to plan for your future.

Tiny House Living, RV Living, Travel?

I knew I wanted to retire but we had no set plans on what we would do once we retired.  Our original retirement plans were all over the place:  stay in our house of 34+ years, buy property and build, buy a house in the mountains or on the river…But, what about what’s around the bend, over the mountain, through the trees?  Would we be happy looking at the same view for the …rest …of …our …lives?  In all of my researching for houses, cabins, property, I stumbled across tiny house living and that appealed to me.  I watched video after video of living in tiny houses or even on a houseboat.  The truth is, we had a large house and only really lived in a fraction of it.  Living in a smaller space was a doable possibility.  That still left the problem of where and how.  Then, in all of YOU TUBE’S wisdom, videos started popping up about RV living.  Hmmm…I was interested.  I wanted to learn more.  Could we afford it?  What were the pros and the cons?  Would Gary like this idea?  I listened to more RV living videos.  I shared the videos with Gary.  He liked it!  We both loved this idea of living and traveling in our own RV.  So the decision was made in December 2016 to just start looking for our RV.

Shopping for an RV…

We could just start looking, right?  We knew I had 6 months, one year, or heaven forbid, four years before I retired- no set retirement decisions had been made at this time.  So I set my preferences in my RV Trader App:   https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.DWS.rvtrader&hl=en

Gary and I started visiting RV dealerships in our area.  We educated ourselves on the different types of RVs and the pros and cons of each.  I really wanted a Class C RV which is the box type RV built on a truck chassis with an overhang over the cab, like a UHaul.  Then we fell in love with Fifth Wheels.  Fifth Wheels connect to a receiver in the back of a truck and are more roomy and maneuverable than a travel trailer.  Some even have kitchen islands and ceiling fans.  Class Bs, extended vans, raised roof vans, conversion vans, were just too small for the two of us and three dogs.  Class As, motor homes that are larger, rectangular units were ruled out thinking they were too expensive to even consider.  The more we looked, the more confused we became.  Each class of RV had something to love and something that we didn’t like.  Within a class we found the same like this but not that situation.  But it’s ok.  After all, we were just looking, doing our research- no hurry.

Then, one day during our looking blitz, we headed to see RVs at Tampa RV after talking to the owners at an RV show.  They were great people but we never made it to their lot.  On the way, we stopped off at Lazy Days in Tampa.  I’m pretty sure I heard an angel choir.  Gary says the same.  I had that feeling that “this is it!”.  How could that be?  After all, we were just looking.  We met with our salesman, Anthony, who created a list of units to view based on our criteria- cost, preferences, fuel type…  Now most RV lots will take you around in a golf cart but here you had to have a golf cart because the site is over one hundred acres!  The inventory was huge.  It is a great place to just look.

I love how we found Ruff Road!  We had just looked at a unit that we liked a lot, but I wouldn’t say loved.  Anthony had to move the cart further away to make room for other golf carts.  This caused us to have to walk past several RVs that were not on our list.  As we were walking, we both stopped at the same time.  One RV caught our eye.  The price was over our budget, but we asked to view it anyway.  We heard the angel choir the second time that day.  THIS unit had everything on our list.  We were able to negotiate a price that was more in our ballpark and that day we put a down payment on our Class A Fleetwood Excursion, Ruff Road.  There is no harm in looking, but beware of just looking.  You just might find the one that calls your name.  And so it began…

We were just walking to the golf cart…