Okay, to make this winter seem shorter, and to try and shorten the time for us..... I'm wondering if anyone here is planning on heading out ft in the class of 2016? Maybe I won't get any bites, but just curious who else is planning on 2016 and where you're at with plans etc? I know i've seen some mention it, just wondering how many are actually shooting for that deadline. Anyone else that can add any advice for our last year in S&B feel free to share your wisdom. We've started downsizing drastically at this point, and are preparing to list house on 3/17/16. Thought maybe the luck of the Irish would help move it quicker! Anyone out there???
Ran n Jo said
06:09 AM Feb 24, 2015
Hi! We are hoping to be part of the class of 2016! We've started downsizing and are going to be bringing in a realtor soon to find out what we need to get done to have the house ready for the market next Spring. DH is hoping to retire in early Spring.
We're going to the Rally in April and plan to ask a lot of questions and take a lot of notes. We have a pretty good idea about the setup we want and our budget. I'm interested to see other responses as well.
Jo
marianne57 said
06:02 PM Feb 24, 2015
Hi Jo,
Have fun at the spring rally! We went last spring and it answered a lot of our questions and since then we've been getting rid of the "extras" we won't want or need. We wouldn't mind going to next springs again but it will all depend on the sell of the house at that point. Keep in touch and hope your year goes as planned! Maybe we can connect next spring :)
jlb27537 said
07:03 PM Feb 24, 2015
While we are from the class of 1993/2000 I want to wish you a great experience. We started part timing in '09 and still consider the years we had on the road the best years of our 49 years together. Now, with only 8 months in the RV, it is nice to go "home" to the big kitchen counter and 2 bathrooms....
We are going to repeat the year of '08 this next summer, only the same thing will be the states. Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
Good luck on your dreams.
Bobc said
07:18 PM Feb 24, 2015
our plans right now look like the summer of 2016. We have started the down sizing and working on getting the house ready to sell hope to put on the market this late spring or early summer. Once the house is sold we will order our new FT home. We want no dept at all so the house has to go first. We are planing on renting for a short time before we finally leave (wife not real happy about that) but I think there will be much less stress once the house is gone. You have come to a great place, We have been planning now for more than a year and the info we have gotten from the wonderful people on this site has been tremendous.
Enjoy the journey!!!
Ran n Jo said
07:35 PM Feb 24, 2015
Thanks, Marianne! We plan to bombard everyone at the rally with questions. We are expecting to go to the 2016 Spring rally as well but we plan to bring our rig to that one!
I'd like to stay in touch over the next year so we can encourage each other. I guess this makes us the first members of the Class of 2016?
-- Edited by Ran n Jo on Tuesday 24th of February 2015 07:36:23 PM
Camper Chronicles said
08:51 PM Feb 24, 2015
Hooray Class of 2016!!!
HighwayRanger said
10:28 PM Feb 24, 2015
We're getting set to launch in Spring of 2016. We plan to decide on a rig this Fall, and to make the big purchase right after the new year. We are still vacillating between a diesel pusher and a fifth-wheel. I've been researching for 6-8 years now, and I'm running out of gas. It's all been so theoretical thus far, but now it is getting close. I just wish we had our mind made up. The decision process is agonizing, because we want to get it right the first time.
Anyway, we'll figure it out, we'll order the RV, and will be on the road around April/May of 2016.
See you on the road!
Roy
-- Edited by HighwayRanger on Tuesday 24th of February 2015 10:29:37 PM
Bill and Jodee said
10:53 PM Feb 24, 2015
So excited to see a next year class here!
Best of luck from the Class of 2015
We will be at the Spring Rally and look forward to meeting you and hearing about all your plans.
Jodee
MikenRobin said
06:19 PM Feb 25, 2015
We originally were planning on hitting the road FT when I turn 62, thinking we would need SS to support us. However...we just cant wait, we had a 29 ft TT that worked just fine for us, but when we got the fever for FT we decided to purchase a fiver now so we could pay it down by the time we retire. Sounded like a good plan, but we just cant wait. We've decided to sell the house next spring, live in the 5th for the summer then hit the road on my 60th in Nov. I don't want to wish my life away, but it is all we think about anymore. Looking forward to meeting you all at the rally this spring.
Mike
Ran n Jo said
08:37 PM Feb 25, 2015
Jodee (and Bill) and Mike ( and Robin), we are looking forward to meeting you as well. We're less than two months away and I'm getting excited already!
Mike, we've already moved our launch date from Summer of 2018 to Spring of 2016 which will be about 6 months from Randy's 60th.
Jo
-- Edited by Ran n Jo on Thursday 26th of February 2015 06:07:54 AM
-- Edited by Ran n Jo on Thursday 26th of February 2015 06:08:17 AM
MikenRobin said
04:26 AM Feb 26, 2015
Jo, its funny how our launch dates have changed.
Check out a previous post and see Jims comments on moving up the date.
Thanks, Marianne! We plan to bombard everyone at the rally with questions. We are expecting to go to the 2016 Spring rally as well but we plan to bring our rig to that one!
I'd like to stay in touch over the next year so we can encourage each other. I guess this makes us the first members of the Class of 2016?
-- Edited by Ran n Jo on Tuesday 24th of February 2015 07:36:23 PM
I'm so excited to see this many post for 2016! How cool!! Yes, Ran n Jo, that would be wonderful to stay in touch and see if we're still on track through the year, but for everyone else posting here, maybe we can all shoot for the spring rally in 2016 to meet each other! I know what you mean Mike and Robin about moving up the date. We started with a 5 year plan and after attending the Rally in 2014 decided that 2016 when Barry turns 62 is it. I plan on workamping for a few years, but that's fine by me. If it were up to me....I'd go now, but I'm trying to figure out how to take the least hit on 401, stocks and everything else, so we'll hold out until next spring to list the house. Stay in touch everyone.....and yeah to the class of 2016!!
Gambler said
08:16 PM Feb 26, 2015
We will be hitting the road in mid to late summer, looking forward to seeing the country and meeting a lot of good like minded people.
Brenda and I will also be at the spring rally and hope to meet some of you.
davecharnigo said
11:29 PM Mar 2, 2015
Hi everyone
We should be in this years class. Sold the house, sold, or gave away, almost everything else away. We're temporarily renting an apartment in San Pedro Ca. Until we can get our rig together. It felt so great to get rid of all that stuff.
We we are close to buying a heartland sun dance 37' fifth wheel.
Hopefully by April we'll be on the road!
Dave
Not A Clue said
12:41 PM Mar 6, 2015
We are planning for the Fall of 2016. We already have our rig and are upgrading stuff to get it just right to live in it. Upgrading is on track to be completed by then.
Will be selling the Mobile Home we live in now and hopefully pay off the Motorhome.
We will then be debt free.
Have a few things to do to house before selling, most have been completed.
We have already started to downsize.
Can't wait to get started traveling!
-- Edited by Not A Clue on Friday 6th of March 2015 12:41:46 PM
DebbieM said
01:24 PM Mar 6, 2015
Welcome! After spending some time on this forum, you'll have more than a clue in no time!
The Restless Youngs said
03:28 PM Mar 6, 2015
Ditto what DebbieM and others have said. Also, having a group to go things with at the same (or similar) times was really great. A "virtual" support system of sorts...
marianne57 said
06:23 PM Mar 6, 2015
Not A Clue wrote:
We are planning for the Fall of 2016. We already have our rig and are upgrading stuff to get it just right to live in it. Upgrading is on track to be completed by then.
Will be selling the Mobile Home we live in now and hopefully pay off the Motorhome.
We will then be debt free.
Have a few things to do to house before selling, most have been completed.
We have already started to downsize.
Can't wait to get started traveling!
-- Edited by Not A Clue on Friday 6th of March 2015 12:41:46 PM
Welcome Not A Clue!!! Glad to see you're heading out in 2016 too! Hopefully we can all meet up sometime. I'm excited to see everyone making similar plans and hopefully we can give each other support and suggestions. Best of luck on everything!
osanmike said
10:15 PM Mar 31, 2015
We were planning on starting in 2017, but have decided to retire a year earlier. Should be leaving Hawaii by June of next year and start looking for our DP and hopefully we will be on the road soon after. Have been planning for a few years, and I know this last year will probably fly by, but it seems like forever right now.
Not A Clue said
02:22 PM Apr 2, 2015
marianne57 wrote:
Not A Clue wrote:
We are planning for the Fall of 2016. We already have our rig and are upgrading stuff to get it just right to live in it. Upgrading is on track to be completed by then.
Will be selling the Mobile Home we live in now and hopefully pay off the Motorhome.
We will then be debt free.
Have a few things to do to house before selling, most have been completed.
We have already started to downsize.
Can't wait to get started traveling!
-- Edited by Not A Clue on Friday 6th of March 2015 12:41:46 PM
Welcome Not A Clue!!! Glad to see you're heading out in 2016 too! Hopefully we can all meet up sometime. I'm excited to see everyone making similar plans and hopefully we can give each other support and suggestions. Best of luck on everything!
Hoping to meet a lot of FT people and sharing stories and traveling plans!
Bobc said
06:16 PM Apr 2, 2015
Well we are about to start phase 2 of 4 for the class of 2016. The house officially goes on the market Wednesday, my god it has been a ton of work getting ready, and it still feels like it will never stop.
The good news is the market is pretty good right now and the realtor thinks we should sell fast.
Once the house sells phase 3 begins, finding something place to rent and ordering a new 5th wheeler and ordering the new Dodge Ram5500HD. Both will take around 6 months or so to take delivery.
Then the final phase is to retire May 1,2016 and we will be off and free to start our new adventure joining all our new RV-Dream friends who have help us get through all this planing stuff. Thank you so much.
It will really be nice to get to the point where the biggest decision we have to make is what color
shorts to wear each day, I can only dream now. Looking forward to meeting everybody in 2016.
Steve and Liz said
01:47 PM Apr 3, 2015
Hello class of 2016!
I’m glad to see so many people in similar situations. Misery loves company, I guess. (The only misery is that we can’t pick up and go now!) Liz and I are really looking forward to the Rally this month and hope to learn a lot along with meeting many new folks. We plan to leave a week from today on April 10th and head West from Southeast Georgia for a while before turning back East to Sevierville.
We have started the downsizing, but we are off to a slow start. We just told the kids last weekend. This “full timing” thing doesn’t really fit our usual M.O. so they were somewhat surprised, but excited. I think that they are starting to eye some of our stuff.
We want to put the house on the market as soon as we can next year so we will be busy this summer. We have decided on a rig and, if all goes as planned, we will order it in the early summer and pick it up at the factory in the Fall. We will have the winter to settle in with it down here in the South and see what we might need before hitting the road in the Spring of 2016.
Safe travels to all and check out the blog we just started to learn more about us than you would ever want to know.
Bobc good luck with your house sell and nice to see you are leaving too in 2016. I hope that housing market stays good through this year and into next!!
Steve and Liz, nice to meet you too, and welcome to 2016! We're listing our house next March and hoping it will sell quickly too. What rig did you decide on for your new home?? It looks like our class is growing daily, and it's exciting to see! You will certainly learn a lot at the rally....it was a wealth of info for us last year, and we'd like to go again next year just to meet the rest of the 2016 group and get a refresher on everything. Have fun and welcome everyone!
Steve and Liz said
04:37 AM Apr 4, 2015
marianne57 wrote:
Bobc good luck with your house sell and nice to see you are leaving too in 2016. I hope that housing market stays good through this year and into next!!
Steve and Liz, nice to meet you too, and welcome to 2016! We're listing our house next March and hoping it will sell quickly too. What rig did you decide on for your new home?? It looks like our class is growing daily, and it's exciting to see! You will certainly learn a lot at the rally....it was a wealth of info for us last year, and we'd like to go again next year just to meet the rest of the 2016 group and get a refresher on everything. Have fun and welcome everyone!
Thanks Marianne. We are really looking forward to talking to everyone at the Rally about their plans and learning new stuff.
After several RV shows including a big one in Tampa and going back and forth between 5th wheel, Class A, and even another TT we decided on a Newmar DP coach. So, unless there is a change, we will special order it early this summer and take the factory delivery option and pick it up in Indiana in the Fall. Selling as much of my stuff as fast as I can.
Good Luck with your house sale, too.
Steve
fulltimingit.com
mds1 said
03:43 PM Apr 5, 2015
It's inspiring to watch the posts regarding when you are leaving fulltime.
Steve - I pinned your blog to my list of favorites so I can check it from time to time. WordPress has a widget to allow folks to "follow" but you may already know that.
Steve and Liz said
12:19 PM Apr 7, 2015
mds1 wrote:
It's inspiring to watch the posts regarding when you are leaving fulltime.
Steve - I pinned your blog to my list of favorites so I can check it from time to time. WordPress has a widget to allow folks to "follow" but you may already know that.
Mark
Thanks for pinning our blog. I am learning WordPress and I know there is a widget, I just need to figure out how to attach it. Checked out your blog and it is interesting and full of lots of great info. You are really planning ahead, it looks like. We are headed this Friday in our TT for a trip that will ultimately end at the Dreams Rally. Will be passing through Branson, MO for a few days on our way to Illinois. Hope the weather there is warming up a bit.
Steve
fulltimingit.com
Bobc said
10:45 AM Apr 16, 2015
Don't want to Jinx it, but we put our House on the Market Thursday April 9 and after a open house on Sunday ( over 30 couples showed up) we accepted a offer for our asking price on Monday. Now we have to get through the house inspection ( which should be fine as we did our own before we put it on the market) but as we all now anything can happen before the closing.
But for now we are moving forward and starting to pack stuff up, finish what seems like the never ending purge and looking for a place to rent for the next year before we retire April, 2016.
Oonce we close on the house we will be ordering our new 5Th wheel which we will have built for us ( takes about 6-7 months). and then order the truck to pull the beast. so far so good, about to start phase 3 of 4
Renting for a year is going to be different, but it is only for a year, may be harder on the dog than us. she is old and already confused by all the new action around the house. Plan is to go to a RV-Dreams rally in the spring of 2016.
Hope to meet all you wonderful folks who have been a great help to us through this process, i could not have done this without this forum.
we are starting to get a little more nervous as the plan is starting to come together. I am sure this is normal and we will deal with it as it comes
marianne57 said
05:42 PM Apr 16, 2015
Wow....how cool Bob! It sounds like it's coming together for you! I agree that there's great advice and wisdom here, and I know how you feel about the nervousness. Everything we do towards going full-time makes us realize we're getting closer and closer, and it definitely creates a little anxiousness. We'll keep our fingers crossed for your possible buyer and that everything works out great! Take care!
French Bikers said
08:31 PM Apr 20, 2015
Hi everyone, I'm not sure if this topic represent class of 2016 like Bill & Jodee started a year ago but I will jump in. To make a long story short we were planning to hit the road fall 2015, unfortunetely we changed our plan for 2016 therefore I had to say goodbye and good luck to all the 2015 class dreamers. I won't mention all the reasons that lead us to change our mind but after several discussions we think it was the best decision to take. The dream is still alive it will only start in 2016 so it's not a big thing.
Concerning our status, well the house is ready for sale and should be placed on the market in february 2016. Last week we went to look at our MH (Thor Tuscany XTE 40 EX), and we are in the negociation process. We are a biker couple therefore we will carry our babys, her's (Sportster 1200 name Marley), mine (Fatboy name Mistress) in a close trailer, again the trailer manufacturer will start building it next winter knowing that it should take 3 months. In the mean time we are still in the purging mode. If evreything goes according to our new plans we should finally hit the road for our maiden trip somewhere in oct 2016. Because has Canadian citizens we are bound to not more than 182 days a year outside our country and you probably understand that we will be part of all the Canadian Snowbird loll.....
I will take this opportunity to wish good luck to all the dreamers of class 2016 and hope that you will acheive your goal. We've been planning this moment for more than two decades so we know where we are at this present time and we know where we are going, we have done our homeworks and we know it's only a matter of a few months. I would also add that becoming FT is a lifestyle so I hope that people understand that it is more than a 4 weeks trip.
Thanks
Jean & Jocelyne
TRAILERKING said
09:50 PM Apr 20, 2015
It'll go by faster than you think...
Curtis and Rhandi said
08:12 AM Apr 23, 2015
We are the end class of 2015. We originally thought 2016 - but we've managed to come along in our plans a little quicker than I thought we would! We started last year getting rid of things. In a few weeks (after a visit from some family) we are going to have a huge garage sale and unload the majority of our items. June or July we buy our Fiver - September we buy our truck - and October it's on the road for us!!!!!! It's very exciting. Most important thing to me is to continue to plan, go over details, go over your budget over and over and over again - as you learn more an more your budget will change! Good luck to all of us! Can't wait to meet some of you out there !!!!!
Bobc said
08:51 AM Apr 23, 2015
update.
P& S has been signed by all, closing is scheduled for May 29 , we have found a nice Farm house to rent for a year.
we will be able to start moving in a week before we Close ( which is when the buyer has to have all there financing in place, so that would be the last major hurdle in the sale of the house/ they have been pre approved with 20% down so there should not be a issue)
we will be making our down payment to have a new New Horizon trailer built. still on schedule to be retired on May 1,2016
the adventure has begone . we are expecting i wild ride for a little while as the Dream becomes real. but we are getting pretty anxious, but i am sure that is natural.
French Bikers said
09:43 PM May 3, 2015
Hi everyone I'm just taking a few minutes to say that yesterday we have closed the deal and bought our MH, it's a 2013 Thor Tuscany 40EX. I would have like to post a picture with this message unfortunetely I don't have a clue how to do it. Now that we have finally found the MH, we will focus on the purging mode and the sale of the house which will be on the market next february. We are still confident that the Dream will arrive in 2016.
Jean
marianne57 said
06:36 PM May 4, 2015
Jean, Congrats on your new MH! It's exciting that you can focus on the sale of the house now. It's hard to believe that in another month we'll be 6 months to 2016!!! I'm sure you can't wait either!! Take care and congrats again!
French Bikers said
08:59 PM May 14, 2015
I'm a happy camper $$$$$ is coming in instead of always going out. I sold just under a thousand dollars worth of motorcycle parts and yesterday I got another 2k for my trailer. Beside the money it is nice to get rid of stuff that we won't need. We are planning a flea market and a yard sale this summer hoping to sell at least 2/3 of our stuff. I still can't beleive what you can keep in a house after so many years. By chance that every two years I went through the inventory, today I might have been called a compulsive keeper lol.....
Anyway things are going well right now, we try to do at least one thing each day regarding FT dream.
French Bikers said
09:07 PM May 14, 2015
marianne57 wrote:
Jean, Congrats on your new MH! It's exciting that you can focus on the sale of the house now. It's hard to believe that in another month we'll be 6 months to 2016!!! I'm sure you can't wait either!! Take care and congrats again!
Thanks, I was looking at your picture and I had a thaught for my dog, her name was Cannelle (Cinamon) in english. We had to let her go last march after 10 years, she was such a big part of the family, especially for my wife she's the one who came back with her one night. Golden Retreiver are such good dog, even my two sons had a hard time when she died. One day everything was fine and the next day the vet said she has a cancer and there is nothing to do.
Curtis and Rhandi said
08:26 AM May 15, 2015
Wow! Huge class of 2016! Cool! We will be the latter part of the class of 2015. For all of you still working it out, agonizing over Fiver/Pusher, etc....don't let it worry you! We went back and forth between a fiver and a pusher and a class A gas. The bottom line for me was the kitchen I could get in the fiver, as opposed to all the others. It was what we started out wanting, then changed our minds thousands of times before it was all said and done. We went with the fiver. And now that we have it, I'm REALLY glad we did!
For those that are going to finance their rig, do NOT sell your house before you finance. I'm sure most of you know this by now from the research. It's very difficult to get financing when you are a full-timer. There are places out there...but much more difficult. We purchased ours and brought it home last week, and at the end of the month the house goes up for sale. It's perfect because we are just going to take it to a local RV park and live in it while the house is showing.
Good luck to all of you - keep researching! Remember that what works for some may not work for you. Everyone is different. What is important is that you get out there and enjoy yourself!
marianne57 said
07:41 PM May 17, 2015
French Bikers wrote:
marianne57 wrote:
Jean, Congrats on your new MH! It's exciting that you can focus on the sale of the house now. It's hard to believe that in another month we'll be 6 months to 2016!!! I'm sure you can't wait either!! Take care and congrats again!
Thanks, I was looking at your picture and I had a thaught for my dog, her name was Cannelle (Cinamon) in english. We had to let her go last march after 10 years, she was such a big part of the family, especially for my wife she's the one who came back with her one night. Golden Retreiver are such good dog, even my two sons had a hard time when she died. One day everything was fine and the next day the vet said she has a cancer and there is nothing to do.
Yes, they are great dogs. We had a similar situation as you in 2013. I'm still not over losing her. She was only 8 and we went camping to a bluegrass festival for a week and she started to go down hill really fast. By the end of the week I had to help her get into the camper and I was finding lumps on her. As soon as we got home we took her to the vet and they diagnosed her with a very aggressive cancer and within 3 days we lost her. I still miss her so much! Maggie that we have now is part English Golden and part American Golden but her breeder is only breeding all English now, because they have less of the cancer gene. They are more cream/white in color but they usually live a longer lifespan. I doubt we ever get anything other then goldens only because of their great temperament. Take care....and I like that name (Cinnamon) :)
marianne57 said
07:45 PM May 17, 2015
Curtis and Rhandi wrote:
Wow! Huge class of 2016! Cool! We will be the latter part of the class of 2015. For all of you still working it out, agonizing over Fiver/Pusher, etc....don't let it worry you! We went back and forth between a fiver and a pusher and a class A gas. The bottom line for me was the kitchen I could get in the fiver, as opposed to all the others. It was what we started out wanting, then changed our minds thousands of times before it was all said and done. We went with the fiver. And now that we have it, I'm REALLY glad we did! For those that are going to finance their rig, do NOT sell your house before you finance. I'm sure most of you know this by now from the research. It's very difficult to get financing when you are a full-timer. There are places out there...but much more difficult. We purchased ours and brought it home last week, and at the end of the month the house goes up for sale. It's perfect because we are just going to take it to a local RV park and live in it while the house is showing. Good luck to all of you - keep researching! Remember that what works for some may not work for you. Everyone is different. What is important is that you get out there and enjoy yourself!
Curtis and Rhandi,
Thanks very much! We'll look to you all for advice since you'll be heading out before us! :)
Curtis and Rhandi said
11:07 AM May 18, 2015
marianne57 wrote:
Curtis and Rhandi wrote:
Wow! Huge class of 2016! Cool! We will be the latter part of the class of 2015. For all of you still working it out, agonizing over Fiver/Pusher, etc....don't let it worry you! We went back and forth between a fiver and a pusher and a class A gas. The bottom line for me was the kitchen I could get in the fiver, as opposed to all the others. It was what we started out wanting, then changed our minds thousands of times before it was all said and done. We went with the fiver. And now that we have it, I'm REALLY glad we did! For those that are going to finance their rig, do NOT sell your house before you finance. I'm sure most of you know this by now from the research. It's very difficult to get financing when you are a full-timer. There are places out there...but much more difficult. We purchased ours and brought it home last week, and at the end of the month the house goes up for sale. It's perfect because we are just going to take it to a local RV park and live in it while the house is showing. Good luck to all of you - keep researching! Remember that what works for some may not work for you. Everyone is different. What is important is that you get out there and enjoy yourself!
Curtis and Rhandi,
Thanks very much! We'll look to you all for advice since you'll be heading out before us! :)
Won't be too long for us now!!! Our house goes on the market May 29th - as of the 27th we will be living in our Fiver in town locally while waiting to close on the house. Decided since we will be selling everything, no sense in coming back to the house! We are really excited. October 1st is our take-off date - but I imagine living in the RV here locally will give us some decent insight of what is to come - a little bit anyway!
Jake62 said
05:09 PM May 18, 2015
I will retire in Dec. '15 and we (wife retired in '11) will hit the road full-time in Jan. '16. We've done a ton of research and have narrowed our search down to a specific DP pusher model, but still need to locate one to buy, preferably in Dec. or Jan.
We sold our house in July '13, so we are ready to leave D.C. We plan to store what little we have left after three years of purging, since some of our remaining items are "family antiques," etc.
I've loved my career and will greatly miss it. However, transition in life is inevitable for us all. I look forward to this transition, new adventures, exciting challenges and, or course, making friendships with many of you on the road as our paths cross.
Cheers, Tim
WahooTatoo said
05:33 PM May 19, 2015
Hi Ran and Jo. We met at the April RV Rally. I hope you guys are well and still planning on hitting the road in 2016.
George J Zimmerman (from Pittsburgh)
WahooTatoo said
05:39 PM May 19, 2015
HighwayRanger wrote:
We're getting set to launch in Spring of 2016. We plan to decide on a rig this Fall, and to make the big purchase right after the new year. We are still vacillating between a diesel pusher and a fifth-wheel. I've been researching for 6-8 years now, and I'm running out of gas. It's all been so theoretical thus far, but now it is getting close. I just wish we had our mind made up. The decision process is agonizing, because we want to get it right the first time.
Anyway, we'll figure it out, we'll order the RV, and will be on the road around April/May of 2016.
See you on the road!
Roy
We're in the same timeframe and boat Roy. We're thinking a 40' to 42' diesel pusher, and hitting the road FT in May 2016! Can't wait.
-- Edited by HighwayRanger on Tuesday 24th of February 2015 10:29:37 PM
marianne57 said
07:18 PM May 19, 2015
Hey WahooTatoo (George from Pittsburgh)....you're in the same time frame as us for May of next year. That's provided we unload the house in a reasonable time frame :) We're originally from Somerset area, so we're familiar with your neck of the woods! Good ole western PA winters! Hope everything works out well for you too, and things go as planned for you! Take care!
Bobc said
07:40 PM May 19, 2015
Hi guys we plan to head out in the summer of 2016. Just sold the house will be passing papers May 29.
We went back and forth between a MH and the fiver for 2 year. We finally decided on the fiver for 2 main reasons 1 the fiver just feels more like home to us and because the end game for us will be easier with the fiver as we plan to just keep it some warm in the winter and use as a seasonal camper and just get a condo or even just a different park model some place north ( from mass.) in the summer.
We will be ordering our new home and truck some time in June. ( will take 6-7 months to have built the way we want it.
Ran n Jo said
08:11 PM May 19, 2015
WahooTatoo wrote:
Hi Ran and Jo. We met at the April RV Rally. I hope you guys are well and still planning on hitting the road in 2016.
George J Zimmerman (from Pittsburgh)
Hi George! We are well and chomping at the bit to hit the road! Late spring of 2016 is the earliest we can do it though. Lets stay in touch, maybe we can do a class of 2016 get together like some of the class of 2015 did.
marianne57 said
06:24 PM May 20, 2015
Hi Jo.......a get together sounds great! Keep us posted, and maybe we can try and hit the spring rally next year before everyone heads out! I'd love to meet others starting in 2016 for moral support! :)
MikenRobin said
07:42 PM May 21, 2015
Ran n Jo wrote:
WahooTatoo wrote:
Hi Ran and Jo. We met at the April RV Rally. I hope you guys are well and still planning on hitting the road in 2016.
George J Zimmerman (from Pittsburgh)
Hi George! We are well and chomping at the bit to hit the road! Late spring of 2016 is the earliest we can do it though. Lets stay in touch, maybe we can do a class of 2016 get together like some of the class of 2015 did.
Hey Ran & Jo, if you're planning a get together, we're in. Hope to hit the road Sept. 1st 2016.
See you soon.
Mike
Bobc said
12:33 PM Jun 4, 2015
OMG, it is finally over. We finally after some stressful delays Closed on the sale of our house. Never really expected it to be that stressful.
But it is now over and done. the money is in the bank and we owe nobody anything.
Now to start the next phase and spend most of that money from the house on our new home to be.
we have found a wonderful old farm house to rent while we wait for our expected start date of June 2016 when we retire.
We hope to be placing our order for a new 5th wheel some time next week and the truck shortly after that, so we are well on our why of joining all you Dreamer. We are so excited to be move to the next step of fulfilling our own Dream, i just can not think of a better way to start out our retirement years.
Okay, to make this winter seem shorter, and to try and shorten the time for us..... I'm wondering if anyone here is planning on heading out ft in the class of 2016? Maybe I won't get any bites, but just curious who else is planning on 2016 and where you're at with plans etc? I know i've seen some mention it, just wondering how many are actually shooting for that deadline. Anyone else that can add any advice for our last year in S&B feel free to share your wisdom. We've started downsizing drastically at this point, and are preparing to list house on 3/17/16. Thought maybe the luck of the Irish would help move it quicker! Anyone out there???
We're going to the Rally in April and plan to ask a lot of questions and take a lot of notes. We have a pretty good idea about the setup we want and our budget. I'm interested to see other responses as well.
Jo
Hi Jo,
Have fun at the spring rally! We went last spring and it answered a lot of our questions and since then we've been getting rid of the "extras" we won't want or need. We wouldn't mind going to next springs again but it will all depend on the sell of the house at that point. Keep in touch and hope your year goes as planned! Maybe we can connect next spring :)
We are going to repeat the year of '08 this next summer, only the same thing will be the states. Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
Good luck on your dreams.
Enjoy the journey!!!
Thanks, Marianne! We plan to bombard everyone at the rally with questions. We are expecting to go to the 2016 Spring rally as well but we plan to bring our rig to that one!
I'd like to stay in touch over the next year so we can encourage each other. I guess this makes us the first members of the Class of 2016?
-- Edited by Ran n Jo on Tuesday 24th of February 2015 07:36:23 PM
We're getting set to launch in Spring of 2016. We plan to decide on a rig this Fall, and to make the big purchase right after the new year. We are still vacillating between a diesel pusher and a fifth-wheel. I've been researching for 6-8 years now, and I'm running out of gas. It's all been so theoretical thus far, but now it is getting close. I just wish we had our mind made up. The decision process is agonizing, because we want to get it right the first time.
Anyway, we'll figure it out, we'll order the RV, and will be on the road around April/May of 2016.
See you on the road!
Roy
-- Edited by HighwayRanger on Tuesday 24th of February 2015 10:29:37 PM
Best of luck from the Class of 2015
We will be at the Spring Rally and look forward to meeting you and hearing about all your plans.
Jodee
We originally were planning on hitting the road FT when I turn 62, thinking we would need SS to support us. However...we just cant wait, we had a 29 ft TT that worked just fine for us, but when we got the fever for FT we decided to purchase a fiver now so we could pay it down by the time we retire. Sounded like a good plan, but we just cant wait. We've decided to sell the house next spring, live in the 5th for the summer then hit the road on my 60th in Nov. I don't want to wish my life away, but it is all we think about anymore. Looking forward to meeting you all at the rally this spring.
Mike
Jodee (and Bill) and Mike ( and Robin), we are looking forward to meeting you as well. We're less than two months away and I'm getting excited already!
Mike, we've already moved our launch date from Summer of 2018 to Spring of 2016 which will be about 6 months from Randy's 60th.
Jo
-- Edited by Ran n Jo on Thursday 26th of February 2015 06:07:54 AM
-- Edited by Ran n Jo on Thursday 26th of February 2015 06:08:17 AM
Jo, its funny how our launch dates have changed.
Check out a previous post and see Jims comments on moving up the date.
I see that happens a lot here.
See you at the Rally!
http://rv-dreams.activeboard.com/t59162881/our-first-step-to-ft-is-a-doozie/
Mike
I'm so excited to see this many post for 2016! How cool!! Yes, Ran n Jo, that would be wonderful to stay in touch and see if we're still on track through the year, but for everyone else posting here, maybe we can all shoot for the spring rally in 2016 to meet each other! I know what you mean Mike and Robin about moving up the date. We started with a 5 year plan and after attending the Rally in 2014 decided that 2016 when Barry turns 62 is it. I plan on workamping for a few years, but that's fine by me. If it were up to me....I'd go now, but I'm trying to figure out how to take the least hit on 401, stocks and everything else, so we'll hold out until next spring to list the house. Stay in touch everyone.....and yeah to the class of 2016!!
We will be hitting the road in mid to late summer, looking forward to seeing the country and meeting a lot of good like minded people.
Brenda and I will also be at the spring rally and hope to meet some of you.
Hi everyone
We should be in this years class. Sold the house, sold, or gave away, almost everything else away. We're temporarily renting an apartment in San Pedro Ca. Until we can get our rig together. It felt so great to get rid of all that stuff.
We we are close to buying a heartland sun dance 37' fifth wheel.
Hopefully by April we'll be on the road!
Dave
We are planning for the Fall of 2016.
We already have our rig and are upgrading stuff to get it just right to live in it.
Upgrading is on track to be completed by then.
Will be selling the Mobile Home we live in now and hopefully pay off the Motorhome.
We will then be debt free.
Have a few things to do to house before selling, most have been completed.
We have already started to downsize.
Can't wait to get started traveling!
-- Edited by Not A Clue on Friday 6th of March 2015 12:41:46 PM
Welcome! After spending some time on this forum, you'll have more than a clue in no time!
Welcome Not A Clue!!! Glad to see you're heading out in 2016 too! Hopefully we can all meet up sometime. I'm excited to see everyone making similar plans and hopefully we can give each other support and suggestions. Best of luck on everything!
We were planning on starting in 2017, but have decided to retire a year earlier. Should be leaving Hawaii by June of next year and start looking for our DP and hopefully we will be on the road soon after. Have been planning for a few years, and I know this last year will probably fly by, but it seems like forever right now.
The good news is the market is pretty good right now and the realtor thinks we should sell fast.
Once the house sells phase 3 begins, finding something place to rent and ordering a new 5th wheeler and ordering the new Dodge Ram5500HD. Both will take around 6 months or so to take delivery.
Then the final phase is to retire May 1,2016 and we will be off and free to start our new adventure joining all our new RV-Dream friends who have help us get through all this planing stuff. Thank you so much.
It will really be nice to get to the point where the biggest decision we have to make is what color
shorts to wear each day, I can only dream now. Looking forward to meeting everybody in 2016.
I’m glad to see so many people in similar situations. Misery loves company, I guess. (The only misery is that we can’t pick up and go now!) Liz and I are really looking forward to the Rally this month and hope to learn a lot along with meeting many new folks. We plan to leave a week from today on April 10th and head West from Southeast Georgia for a while before turning back East to Sevierville.
We have started the downsizing, but we are off to a slow start. We just told the kids last weekend. This “full timing” thing doesn’t really fit our usual M.O. so they were somewhat surprised, but excited. I think that they are starting to eye some of our stuff.
We want to put the house on the market as soon as we can next year so we will be busy this summer. We have decided on a rig and, if all goes as planned, we will order it in the early summer and pick it up at the factory in the Fall. We will have the winter to settle in with it down here in the South and see what we might need before hitting the road in the Spring of 2016.
Safe travels to all and check out the blog we just started to learn more about us than you would ever want to know.
www.fulltimingit.com
Steve
Bobc good luck with your house sell and nice to see you are leaving too in 2016. I hope that housing market stays good through this year and into next!!
Steve and Liz, nice to meet you too, and welcome to 2016! We're listing our house next March and hoping it will sell quickly too. What rig did you decide on for your new home?? It looks like our class is growing daily, and it's exciting to see! You will certainly learn a lot at the rally....it was a wealth of info for us last year, and we'd like to go again next year just to meet the rest of the 2016 group and get a refresher on everything. Have fun and welcome everyone!
Thanks Marianne. We are really looking forward to talking to everyone at the Rally about their plans and learning new stuff.
After several RV shows including a big one in Tampa and going back and forth between 5th wheel, Class A, and even another TT we decided on a Newmar DP coach. So, unless there is a change, we will special order it early this summer and take the factory delivery option and pick it up in Indiana in the Fall. Selling as much of my stuff as fast as I can.
Good Luck with your house sale, too.
Steve
fulltimingit.com
It's inspiring to watch the posts regarding when you are leaving fulltime.
Steve - I pinned your blog to my list of favorites so I can check it from time to time. WordPress has a widget to allow folks to "follow" but you may already know that.
Mark
Thanks for pinning our blog. I am learning WordPress and I know there is a widget, I just need to figure out how to attach it. Checked out your blog and it is interesting and full of lots of great info. You are really planning ahead, it looks like. We are headed this Friday in our TT for a trip that will ultimately end at the Dreams Rally. Will be passing through Branson, MO for a few days on our way to Illinois. Hope the weather there is warming up a bit.
Steve
fulltimingit.com
But for now we are moving forward and starting to pack stuff up, finish what seems like the never ending purge and looking for a place to rent for the next year before we retire April, 2016.
Oonce we close on the house we will be ordering our new 5Th wheel which we will have built for us ( takes about 6-7 months). and then order the truck to pull the beast. so far so good, about to start phase 3 of 4
Renting for a year is going to be different, but it is only for a year, may be harder on the dog than us. she is old and already confused by all the new action around the house. Plan is to go to a RV-Dreams rally in the spring of 2016.
Hope to meet all you wonderful folks who have been a great help to us through this process, i could not have done this without this forum.
we are starting to get a little more nervous as the plan is starting to come together. I am sure this is normal and we will deal with it as it comes
Wow....how cool Bob! It sounds like it's coming together for you! I agree that there's great advice and wisdom here, and I know how you feel about the nervousness. Everything we do towards going full-time makes us realize we're getting closer and closer, and it definitely creates a little anxiousness.
We'll keep our fingers crossed for your possible buyer and that everything works out great! Take care!
Concerning our status, well the house is ready for sale and should be placed on the market in february 2016. Last week we went to look at our MH (Thor Tuscany XTE 40 EX), and we are in the negociation process. We are a biker couple therefore we will carry our babys, her's (Sportster 1200 name Marley), mine (Fatboy name Mistress) in a close trailer, again the trailer manufacturer will start building it next winter knowing that it should take 3 months. In the mean time we are still in the purging mode. If evreything goes according to our new plans we should finally hit the road for our maiden trip somewhere in oct 2016. Because has Canadian citizens we are bound to not more than 182 days a year outside our country and you probably understand that we will be part of all the Canadian Snowbird loll.....
I will take this opportunity to wish good luck to all the dreamers of class 2016 and hope that you will acheive your goal. We've been planning this moment for more than two decades so we know where we are at this present time and we know where we are going, we have done our homeworks and we know it's only a matter of a few months. I would also add that becoming FT is a lifestyle so I hope that people understand that it is more than a 4 weeks trip.
Thanks
Jean & Jocelyne
P& S has been signed by all, closing is scheduled for May 29 , we have found a nice Farm house to rent for a year.
we will be able to start moving in a week before we Close ( which is when the buyer has to have all there financing in place, so that would be the last major hurdle in the sale of the house/ they have been pre approved with 20% down so there should not be a issue)
we will be making our down payment to have a new New Horizon trailer built. still on schedule to be retired on May 1,2016
the adventure has begone . we are expecting i wild ride for a little while as the Dream becomes real. but we are getting pretty anxious, but i am sure that is natural.
Jean
Jean, Congrats on your new MH! It's exciting that you can focus on the sale of the house now. It's hard to believe that in another month we'll be 6 months to 2016!!! I'm sure you can't wait either!! Take care and congrats again!
Anyway things are going well right now, we try to do at least one thing each day regarding FT dream.
Thanks, I was looking at your picture and I had a thaught for my dog, her name was Cannelle (Cinamon) in english. We had to let her go last march after 10 years, she was such a big part of the family, especially for my wife she's the one who came back with her one night. Golden Retreiver are such good dog, even my two sons had a hard time when she died. One day everything was fine and the next day the vet said she has a cancer and there is nothing to do.
For those that are going to finance their rig, do NOT sell your house before you finance. I'm sure most of you know this by now from the research. It's very difficult to get financing when you are a full-timer. There are places out there...but much more difficult. We purchased ours and brought it home last week, and at the end of the month the house goes up for sale. It's perfect because we are just going to take it to a local RV park and live in it while the house is showing.
Good luck to all of you - keep researching! Remember that what works for some may not work for you. Everyone is different. What is important is that you get out there and enjoy yourself!
Yes, they are great dogs. We had a similar situation as you in 2013. I'm still not over losing her. She was only 8 and we went camping to a bluegrass festival for a week and she started to go down hill really fast. By the end of the week I had to help her get into the camper and I was finding lumps on her. As soon as we got home we took her to the vet and they diagnosed her with a very aggressive cancer and within 3 days we lost her. I still miss her so much! Maggie that we have now is part English Golden and part American Golden but her breeder is only breeding all English now, because they have less of the cancer gene. They are more cream/white in color but they usually live a longer lifespan. I doubt we ever get anything other then goldens only because of their great temperament. Take care....and I like that name (Cinnamon) :)
Curtis and Rhandi,
Thanks very much! We'll look to you all for advice since you'll be heading out before us! :)
Won't be too long for us now!!! Our house goes on the market May 29th - as of the 27th we will be living in our Fiver in town locally while waiting to close on the house. Decided since we will be selling everything, no sense in coming back to the house! We are really excited. October 1st is our take-off date - but I imagine living in the RV here locally will give us some decent insight of what is to come - a little bit anyway!
We sold our house in July '13, so we are ready to leave D.C. We plan to store what little we have left after three years of purging, since some of our remaining items are "family antiques," etc.
I've loved my career and will greatly miss it. However, transition in life is inevitable for us all. I look forward to this transition, new adventures, exciting challenges and, or course, making friendships with many of you on the road as our paths cross.
Cheers, Tim
Hi Ran and Jo. We met at the April RV Rally. I hope you guys are well and still planning on hitting the road in 2016.
George J Zimmerman (from Pittsburgh)
Hey WahooTatoo (George from Pittsburgh)....you're in the same time frame as us for May of next year. That's provided we unload the house in a reasonable time frame :) We're originally from Somerset area, so we're familiar with your neck of the woods! Good ole western PA winters! Hope everything works out well for you too, and things go as planned for you! Take care!
We went back and forth between a MH and the fiver for 2 year. We finally decided on the fiver for 2 main reasons 1 the fiver just feels more like home to us and because the end game for us will be easier with the fiver as we plan to just keep it some warm in the winter and use as a seasonal camper and just get a condo or even just a different park model some place north ( from mass.) in the summer.
We will be ordering our new home and truck some time in June. ( will take 6-7 months to have built the way we want it.
Hi George! We are well and chomping at the bit to hit the road! Late spring of 2016 is the earliest we can do it though. Lets stay in touch, maybe we can do a class of 2016 get together like some of the class of 2015 did.
Hey Ran & Jo, if you're planning a get together, we're in. Hope to hit the road Sept. 1st 2016.
See you soon.
Mike
But it is now over and done. the money is in the bank and we owe nobody anything.
Now to start the next phase and spend most of that money from the house on our new home to be.
we have found a wonderful old farm house to rent while we wait for our expected start date of June 2016 when we retire.
We hope to be placing our order for a new 5th wheel some time next week and the truck shortly after that, so we are well on our why of joining all you Dreamer. We are so excited to be move to the next step of fulfilling our own Dream, i just can not think of a better way to start out our retirement years.