Well we are now officialy fulltimers. We have been staying in our camper on the weekends while we got the house cleaned out. We still have a few things to do with the house but we are now staying in the camper full time. We still have our jobs here and cant move around the country just yet. Were excited for our future and this new chapter in our lives. However our family meaning parents and syblings are not so happy for us. My wifes brother felt he had to remind her last weekend that it is a camper and not a home, and her mother just wont talk to us. Our children are very happy for us and that is what is important our granddaughter loves to come to the campground is always asking when can she can come again. We knew there would be people that dont agree but didnt realize just how much contraversy it would cause, but we couldnt be happier with our new way of life! Now we cant wait to finally make it out on the road!
Mallo said
06:30 AM Jul 24, 2011
The brother is just Jealous and the mom is afraid she's not going to see her (control her life maybe). Change is hard for people and if your wife has always been close to her mother (miles wise I'm not going into the whole emotional aspect) then it's a big change for mom.
What is important is how your kids and grand kids see it and sounds like your grand daughter sees it as a big adventure. Just wait until you can take her places.
Mallo
PS Congrats on getting moved in see you down the road some place.
53 Merc said
07:40 AM Jul 24, 2011
Well, you see born2, you are using the wrong term when you refer to the place you are living. You say camper. That is what BIL is keying on. If you call it home, house, trailer or george, it is no longer a camper. You still have the right attitude, you are happy, and that counts.
azrving said
12:24 PM Jul 24, 2011
It's your life! Funny how some can criticize your new lifestyle and consider you abnormal and think of themselves as superior because they have chosen to live a "normal" lifestyle. Truth be known, they are just jealous of your independence and freedom to do as you please. Who said living in a stationary home is normal and the only acceptable domicile?? We put our dreams of moving west on hold because my mother in law made us feel guilty, she said we were selfish and were just trying to hurt her by moving across country. Guess what, that same person remarried and moved 150 miles away from her children and grandchildren, just 2 years after ruining our plans. I have always told my wife "when it comes to guilt trips, we are most certainly frequent flyers."
I hope you enjoy your new lifestyle and I hope we meet out on the road one day.
No more:
High property tax on a house that's dropping in value every year!
No more lawn to water, fertilize, mow (this procedure must be repeated over and over..lol).
No house to paint, roof to replace, gutters to clean, leaky faucets, high insurance, trees to limb, shrubs to trim, etc.
If you don't like your neighbor, view from your front (or rear) window, you can move to another location.
Trade in the high utility bills for boon docking or rv sites that include water, sewer, electricity, and trash removal in a nice daily/monthly fee!
NO, I will not miss my house!
-- Edited by azrving on Sunday 24th of July 2011 12:36:19 PM
janni said
12:38 PM Jul 24, 2011
Congrats and welcome to the the fold! Still laughing about that frequent flyer on the guilt trips! How many times do we have to tell them........life is too short! Carry on and know that some of the rest of us get those "comments" too. Listen to them, hear them out, think about it(just a little), and then blow it off!!
Terry and Jo said
03:24 PM Jul 24, 2011
Born2BeFree,
Yeah. You need to travel. Your avatar needs to be something other than snow.....
.....oh, wait....
.....we're suffering in 100+ degrees heat just about every day, heading for a record number of such days. BRING ON THE SNOW!!!
Seriously, listen to the others and also go to my blog and read that part at the very top of the page about Pioneers and Barking Dogs. Louis L'Amour said it so well many years ago.
Terry
Laura and Bunk said
05:31 PM Jul 24, 2011
Do Not Let Anyone convince/make you feel guilty about doing what you want to do! There is a whole big wonderful country out there, why shouldn't you get to know it? Just because they are stuck in a rut doesn't mean you have to be.
When I bought our "bus" I just announced to the family that I had purchased our retirement home. They all started asking where???
My answer:
Anywhere we want it to be, it is on wheels!!
The grandchildren are full of suggestions about where we should be when they have time off from school. They can fly out, we pick them up at the airport and enjoy!
Also we let the grandchildren know that they would have to learn to drive it so when we get too old they can drive us to our next destination.
Several kids now want the "bus" left to them in the will, the idea is catching on with the kids.
Now all we need is one of the houses to sell, getting itchy feet (or itchy wheels)
Anyway, my extended family is used to me running around the country, been all over the place camping with the kids, now we don't have to worry about rain getting the sleeping bags wet.
Don't let anyon spoil your fun.
Born2bfree said
07:00 PM Jul 25, 2011
Thank You everyone for the comments and suggestions. We agree that people are jealous and afraid to take a chance. There is a lot to explore out there and we can't wait to get started. Like we said just a few things to finish up then we will be able to hit the road, for now we will enjoy our new home and our new lifestyle. We have already met some really nice people and everyone is so helpful. I was laughing about our picture with the snow we will be changing that. We would love not to see snow again but that wil lbe a few years from now.
Froggi said
09:18 PM Jul 25, 2011
It's different. It's not traditional. It's not for everyone. But the decision is yours. I hear more and more folks going full-time while still working. In fact my current husband and his late wife were full-timers for several years before retirement. No lawn to mow...no house to paint...no property taxes to pay. Sounds good to me! LOL! Welcome...
phyllen said
09:05 AM Jul 26, 2011
We had so few negative comments from family and friends. Hey - maybe they were all GLAD to see us go???
Only semi negative was (is) from my daughter who turns 45 today. She has a 2 y/o and a 4 y/o who turns 5 on Thursday. Her concern was that her children would not spend much time with us. Then she said - I guess I should not have waited until my 40's to have the girls. Her request - send frequent postcards to the girls. We do. Sometimes two a week. They are making scrapbooks. When we are in the area (as we are now) we spend lots of time with them. We pick them up later today and keep until Thursday, knowing it will be four months before we see them again.
As someone mentioned, they changed their plans because of pressure from a loved one only to have that loved one change their own life. Children sometimes move away, siblings are busy with their own lives, parents do what is right for them and what they are comfortable with. We each need to do what is right for us.
Enjoy "your time" and never look back.
Born2bfree said
07:39 PM Jul 26, 2011
It's amazing how fast we settled in an really feel at home.We were out and my husband said to me lets go home and it was like yes lets go home. We don't have any regrets, I do hope our family comes around but if they don't I guess it's their loss. Life is short we want to enjoy all it has to offer. No this life style is not for everyone and we are glad, the campgrounds would be way to crowded,lol. We love the outdoors, ride our bikes and walk our dog and we have both lost alot of weight so it's working out great!
Thank You again everyone for making us feel so welcome!!!
BruceandTrisha said
05:58 AM Jul 27, 2011
This forum is an amazing support group! Reminds me of James Taylor singing "You've Got a Friend." "When you're down, and troubled, and you need a helping hand . . . you just call out my name and I'll come running . . . you've got a friend." When someone faces discouragement, everyone here jumps in to rev them back up. If you've got a "how to" question, the ones who have paved the path before us are there to show the way. It's like we're all sitting around the campfire even tho we're separated by miles and miles.
Y'all are just plain awesome!!!!
Waggin Tails said
11:03 AM Jul 27, 2011
Ditto what Bruce/Trisha said.
When we announced our plan for living on the road full timing, all we had were j-o-b-s, a house, debt and no RV. Today we are both retired, debt free with a small mortgage remaining and have our RV. Some folks thought we were crazy but after explaining our plan, they came around.
When my brother retired, he sold a small country house on 2 acres and purchased a much larger house on 25 acres. Works for him but not me. My wife's sister, who is also living in their RV on the road, says they have run away from home.
Terry & Jo have a blog (ignoringthebarkingdogs) that leads off with a short dialog about having a Pioneering spirit. That's defines many RVers.
Your forum name Born2bfree fits your plan. Enjoy life. Hope to meet you guys on the road some day.
Loretta said
01:51 PM Aug 8, 2011
We are planning on going full time the first part of next year and I am getting the same resistance. Of course my parents are older and they feel like they will never see us again. I always had the 'wanderlust" gene, so I am just looking forward to being able to meet new people and see new things. I hope I get to meet some of you one day.
kb0zke said
07:03 PM Aug 8, 2011
Well, we're the "older" ones now, since all four of our parents are gone. We've let our kids and siblings know of our plans to be full-timers when I retire, and so far no one as voiced any objection. My brother-in-law did jokingly comment that we would probably want to park at his house. I told him no, it would be far too difficult to get the rig (whatever we decide on) in and out of the driveway. We would visit once in a while, though, in the other half of our rv duo.
Our daughters are still single, and we've said that if they are still single when we go FT, perhaps once in a while one or the other could fly out to wherever we happened to be and spend a week or so with us. Both thought that would be fun. Our son and his wife have expressed a bit of interest in taking our mpg when we get the FT rig. We'll see where that goes when the time comes. Might not be all that practical for them by then.
Readytogo said
05:05 AM Aug 9, 2011
My parents (Bev's) were fulltimers in the 80's for several years. I don't remember anyone being upset. We bought our first RV and met up with them a few times. Out of 5 kids I am the only one that has the same dream. Hope we can start fulltiming in 1-2 years.
BruceandTrisha said
05:17 AM Aug 9, 2011
Read this quote today ----- perfectly said:
"Trusting anything, your family, your instincts, the dim-witted anchor on the ten o’clock news, its all a gamble, with plenty of promises and no guarantees, but I’m finding the longer I live, no matter how often I fall on my face, that folding is for losers. That winners take hits. Call it going all in, call it rolling the dice. Screw hedging your bets, bluff, raise, call, stand, again and again and again…"
There is such a common thread here. Most of us have had disapproval of our choices somewhere in the process. I've even met snowbirds and other RVers who can't figure out why you would want to full time. I'm always reminding myself that this is our choice and the right one for us. We've been full timing a little over a year now and I love our life on the road. I've already seen more places in a year than I saw in the previous 10. All of us hope those disapproving friends and family will accept our choices eventually. You seem to be a little like us in that our kids are very supportive and happy for us and for us that is they are the most important. Good luck on your journey, its a wild ride, a good one, but a wild one!!
dczrose said
06:42 PM Sep 27, 2011
We have been very luck in this aspect as my children/grandchildren and all other family members have been happy for us. Onle one sour apple- a sister who thinks Dave and I will kill each other in such tight quarters but we have been living in our RV for 4 months now and we have never even had an argument (inside anyway- LOL). Me tinks she's jealouse!
BruceandTrisha said
05:46 AM Sep 28, 2011
dczrose wrote:
We have been very luck in this aspect as my children/grandchildren and all other family members have been happy for us. Onle one sour apple- a sister who thinks Dave and I will kill each other in such tight quarters but we have been living in our RV for 4 months now and we have never even had an argument (inside anyway- LOL). Me tinks she's jealouse!
We heard the same thing! It's been 18 months and we feel and act like we're still on our honeymoon! I used to say any couple who could survive wallpapering would survive anything . . . but I've changed that to any couple who can live in the tight quarters of a camper can survive ANYTHING! Hoo Rah!!!
Singing4MyJesus said
06:28 AM Jul 22, 2012
We are planning on doing something similar Born2bfree. We are on a 3 year plan to be debt free. We both have great jobs with the State of Oregon. Once our debt is gone, we plan on buying a Class A diesel pusher. I've been doing a lot of research. We will sell most of our possessions as we rent and put in storage what we need to. We will continue to work and live in our RV just a few miles from our job for another year or so. It should prove to be quite interesting. We plan on working from our RV while on the road. We are both computer oriented (my husband more so). Right now, he repairs computers, builds websites and we've also videoed and photographed weddings, this is in addition to our full time jobs in juvenile corrections. We are so looking forward to this season of our lives. We cannot wait. Finding this website has proven to be invaluable.
Well we are now officialy fulltimers. We have been staying in our camper on the weekends while we got the house cleaned out. We still have a few things to do with the house but we are now staying in the camper full time. We still have our jobs here and cant move around the country just yet. Were excited for our future and this new chapter in our lives. However our family meaning parents and syblings are not so happy for us. My wifes brother felt he had to remind her last weekend that it is a camper and not a home, and her mother just wont talk to us. Our children are very happy for us and that is what is important our granddaughter loves to come to the campground is always asking when can she can come again. We knew there would be people that dont agree but didnt realize just how much contraversy it would cause, but we couldnt be happier with our new way of life! Now we cant wait to finally make it out on the road!
The brother is just Jealous and the mom is afraid she's not going to see her (control her life maybe). Change is hard for people and if your wife has always been close to her mother (miles wise I'm not going into the whole emotional aspect) then it's a big change for mom.
What is important is how your kids and grand kids see it and sounds like your grand daughter sees it as a big adventure. Just wait until you can take her places.
Mallo
PS Congrats on getting moved in see you down the road some place.
It's your life! Funny how some can criticize your new lifestyle and consider you abnormal and think of themselves as superior because they have chosen to live a "normal" lifestyle. Truth be known, they are just jealous of your independence and freedom to do as you please. Who said living in a stationary home is normal and the only acceptable domicile?? We put our dreams of moving west on hold because my mother in law made us feel guilty, she said we were selfish and were just trying to hurt her by moving across country. Guess what, that same person remarried and moved 150 miles away from her children and grandchildren, just 2 years after ruining our plans. I have always told my wife "when it comes to guilt trips, we are most certainly frequent flyers."
I hope you enjoy your new lifestyle and I hope we meet out on the road one day.
No more:
High property tax on a house that's dropping in value every year!
No more lawn to water, fertilize, mow (this procedure must be repeated over and over..lol).
No house to paint, roof to replace, gutters to clean, leaky faucets, high insurance, trees to limb, shrubs to trim, etc.
If you don't like your neighbor, view from your front (or rear) window, you can move to another location.
Trade in the high utility bills for boon docking or rv sites that include water, sewer, electricity, and trash removal in a nice daily/monthly fee!
NO, I will not miss my house!
-- Edited by azrving on Sunday 24th of July 2011 12:36:19 PM
Born2BeFree,
Yeah. You need to travel. Your avatar needs to be something other than snow.....
.....oh, wait....
.....we're suffering in 100+ degrees heat just about every day, heading for a record number of such days. BRING ON THE SNOW!!!
Seriously, listen to the others and also go to my blog and read that part at the very top of the page about Pioneers and Barking Dogs. Louis L'Amour said it so well many years ago.
Terry
Do Not Let Anyone convince/make you feel guilty about doing what you want to do! There is a whole big wonderful country out there, why shouldn't you get to know it? Just because they are stuck in a rut doesn't mean you have to be.
When I bought our "bus" I just announced to the family that I had purchased our retirement home. They all started asking where???
My answer:
Anywhere we want it to be, it is on wheels!!
The grandchildren are full of suggestions about where we should be when they have time off from school. They can fly out, we pick them up at the airport and enjoy!
Also we let the grandchildren know that they would have to learn to drive it so when we get too old they can drive us to our next destination.
Several kids now want the "bus" left to them in the will, the idea is catching on with the kids.
Now all we need is one of the houses to sell, getting itchy feet (or itchy wheels)
Anyway, my extended family is used to me running around the country, been all over the place camping with the kids, now we don't have to worry about rain getting the sleeping bags wet.
Don't let anyon spoil your fun.
It's different. It's not traditional. It's not for everyone. But the decision is yours. I hear more and more folks going full-time while still working. In fact my current husband and his late wife were full-timers for several years before retirement. No lawn to mow...no house to paint...no property taxes to pay. Sounds good to me! LOL! Welcome...
Only semi negative was (is) from my daughter who turns 45 today. She has a 2 y/o and a 4 y/o who turns 5 on Thursday. Her concern was that her children would not spend much time with us. Then she said - I guess I should not have waited until my 40's to have the girls. Her request - send frequent postcards to the girls. We do. Sometimes two a week. They are making scrapbooks. When we are in the area (as we are now) we spend lots of time with them. We pick them up later today and keep until Thursday, knowing it will be four months before we see them again.
As someone mentioned, they changed their plans because of pressure from a loved one only to have that loved one change their own life. Children sometimes move away, siblings are busy with their own lives, parents do what is right for them and what they are comfortable with. We each need to do what is right for us.
Enjoy "your time" and never look back.
Thank You again everyone for making us feel so welcome!!!
This forum is an amazing support group! Reminds me of James Taylor singing "You've Got a Friend." "When you're down, and troubled, and you need a helping hand . . . you just call out my name and I'll come running . . . you've got a friend." When someone faces discouragement, everyone here jumps in to rev them back up. If you've got a "how to" question, the ones who have paved the path before us are there to show the way. It's like we're all sitting around the campfire even tho we're separated by miles and miles.
Y'all are just plain awesome!!!!
Ditto what Bruce/Trisha said.
When we announced our plan for living on the road full timing, all we had were j-o-b-s, a house, debt and no RV. Today we are both retired, debt free with a small mortgage remaining and have our RV. Some folks thought we were crazy but after explaining our plan, they came around.
When my brother retired, he sold a small country house on 2 acres and purchased a much larger house on 25 acres. Works for him but not me. My wife's sister, who is also living in their RV on the road, says they have run away from home.
Terry & Jo have a blog (ignoringthebarkingdogs) that leads off with a short dialog about having a Pioneering spirit. That's defines many RVers.
Your forum name Born2bfree fits your plan. Enjoy life. Hope to meet you guys on the road some day.
Our daughters are still single, and we've said that if they are still single when we go FT, perhaps once in a while one or the other could fly out to wherever we happened to be and spend a week or so with us. Both thought that would be fun. Our son and his wife have expressed a bit of interest in taking our mpg when we get the FT rig. We'll see where that goes when the time comes. Might not be all that practical for them by then.
My parents (Bev's) were fulltimers in the 80's for several years. I don't remember anyone being upset. We bought our first RV and met up with them a few times. Out of 5 kids I am the only one that has the same dream. Hope we can start fulltiming in 1-2 years.
Read this quote today ----- perfectly said:
"Trusting anything, your family, your instincts, the dim-witted anchor on the ten o’clock news, its all a gamble, with plenty of promises and no guarantees, but I’m finding the longer I live, no matter how often I fall on my face, that folding is for losers. That winners take hits. Call it going all in, call it rolling the dice. Screw hedging your bets, bluff, raise, call, stand, again and again and again…"
We have been very luck in this aspect as my children/grandchildren and all other family members have been happy for us. Onle one sour apple- a sister who thinks Dave and I will kill each other in such tight quarters but we have been living in our RV for 4 months now and we have never even had an argument (inside anyway- LOL). Me tinks she's jealouse!
We heard the same thing! It's been 18 months and we feel and act like we're still on our honeymoon! I used to say any couple who could survive wallpapering would survive anything . . . but I've changed that to any couple who can live in the tight quarters of a camper can survive ANYTHING! Hoo Rah!!!
We are planning on doing something similar Born2bfree. We are on a 3 year plan to be debt free. We both have great jobs with the State of Oregon. Once our debt is gone, we plan on buying a Class A diesel pusher. I've been doing a lot of research. We will sell most of our possessions as we rent and put in storage what we need to. We will continue to work and live in our RV just a few miles from our job for another year or so. It should prove to be quite interesting. We plan on working from our RV while on the road. We are both computer oriented (my husband more so). Right now, he repairs computers, builds websites and we've also videoed and photographed weddings, this is in addition to our full time jobs in juvenile corrections. We are so looking forward to this season of our lives. We cannot wait. Finding this website has proven to be invaluable.