I feel the same as bill.......your way ahead of most starting out fulltiming, you have all the basics and will be able to get out there see how its being done and seeing whats available when your ready to upgrade.
as far as renting or selling , that has to be weighed out and its a personal thing........changing residency would most likely require selling so you cut all ties with your home state. but again this is a personal and financial choice.....there are alot of discussions on this and coverage of it through links on the main page.........I would really suggest catching up with one of the rallies that Howard and Linda are sponsoring or appearing at. the amount of knowledge and answers gleaned are well worth it
Edit by moderator: Deleted excessive line breaks. Terry
-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Monday 22nd of October 2012 03:37:33 PM
mesa48 said
02:37 PM Oct 22, 2012
My wife found this site a couple of days ago so this is my first post. We have just started the conversation about becoming full timers about a year or so from now. We own a home in northern Calif. We already have a 05 Challenger 5th wheel 32TKB that we tow with a 2007 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 4WD. I installed air bags on the truck when we bought the 5th wheel to level it out when towing. I am not sure if a Challenger is suitable for fulltiming or not but we are very happy with it the way we use it now. So we are in the research mode right now. Do we sell our home or rent it out, should we look for a different RV and should we establish residence in a different state than Calif. It should be and exciting year looking at all the different options.
Lucky Mike said
02:59 PM Oct 22, 2012
Welcome Mike........you came to the right spot. and Im sure you will get alot of experienced answers to your questions.
Great bunch here each having a wealth of knowledge in there own journey.
WARNING: This site can become very addictive, extreme loss of sleep has been known to occur during research ........Also separation Anxiety from spouse and computer....Please use caution!!!!!........LOL
bjoyce said
04:29 PM Oct 22, 2012
My free advice is if you can start full timing with the RV you already own you are ahead of most. At 32 feet your current Challenger should get you started. There is nothing like actually full timing to educate yourself in what you need, most find their actual full timing life and travel is different than they imagined it to be. Better to get started without spending a bunch of money on a new RV and realizing it is not the right one.
NorCal Dan said
05:32 PM Oct 22, 2012
Welcome to Dreamers. Just wanted to share one thought with you...the government will require you to have an address. When we sold our S&B and had no address we used our membership in Escapee's to establish a legal address in Texas. They have the directions on their website and it is very easy to do. Residency has multiple requirements so make sure you obtain professional assistance to ensure you cover your bases.
Terry and Jo said
10:47 PM Oct 22, 2012
Mike,
Welcome to the forums. The others are giving you good advice. There is nothing that says one has to have a certain size RV before going full-time. You have a good idea to stay with your current RV while you do the research. One thing to consider is to try to spend as much time in your RV as possible. Back many years ago, our 26-foot travel trailer and later a 26-foot fifth wheel were exceptional in size for the needs we had at the time. At that time, we generally spent only one week in them while on vacation.
Then, in 2009, we took our 26-foot fifth wheel on a two week trip to Colorado and discovered that anything over a week in it was getting uncomfortable, especially with regards to the furniture. That experience taught us that we certainly had to have something larger.
Now, having said all of that, I am jealous (to some degree) of where you live. I was stationed on a very small Army base near Petaluma, California back in the '60's. That was a great base to sightsee from, as we got to see a lot of beautiful country...Bodega Bay, Russian River, Fort Ross, Armstrong Redwood Forest, Napa Valley.....oh, and a number of neat attractions in San Francisco.
Welcome to the "family."
Terry
mesa48 said
12:23 AM Oct 23, 2012
Thanks for all of the kind and wise responses. Terry we lived in the Santa Rosa area for 25yrs with last 7 years in a rural area outside of Sebastopol. One of our favorite places to camp is Doran beach on Bodega bay. We now live a little north east of Sacramento. Keep the comments coming folks we need all the help we can get.
rclvnv said
02:43 AM Oct 23, 2012
Hello & Welcome. As always, when I respond, I try not to repeat what has already been said, all of it spot on. Go with what you have, is tremendous advice. We are happy with what we F/T in, and it's been 18 months. Till June of '13, we travel each summer (+/- 6500 mi), then home base in the rig for the school year.We decided to maintain Nevada residence, and have the UPS store as our legal address, works fine for us. When we are enroute, they fwd our mail. We will continue this when we leave, we will always spend several months a year here. We operate a consult business, which is easily done from the road. The key is to see what works for you. Our needs include a mi-fi set up, others easily get by on the data plan on their phone. As I said the mail fwd works for us. It works for voting as well. Take a deep breath, and remember that you have the time, finally to try various options, to find what is best. Travel safe. Nice folks here,as you will see.
I feel the same as bill.......your way ahead of most starting out fulltiming, you have all the basics and will be able to get out there see how its being done and seeing whats available when your ready to upgrade.
as far as renting or selling , that has to be weighed out and its a personal thing........changing residency would most likely require selling so you cut all ties with your home state. but again this is a personal and financial choice.....there are alot of discussions on this and coverage of it through links on the main page.........I would really suggest catching up with one of the rallies that Howard and Linda are sponsoring or appearing at. the amount of knowledge and answers gleaned are well worth it
Edit by moderator: Deleted excessive line breaks. Terry
-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Monday 22nd of October 2012 03:37:33 PM
My wife found this site a couple of days ago so this is my first post. We have just started the conversation about becoming full timers about a year or so from now. We own a home in northern Calif. We already have a 05 Challenger 5th wheel 32TKB that we tow with a 2007 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 4WD. I installed air bags on the truck when we bought the 5th wheel to level it out when towing. I am not sure if a Challenger is suitable for fulltiming or not but we are very happy with it the way we use it now. So we are in the research mode right now. Do we sell our home or rent it out, should we look for a different RV and should we establish residence in a different state than Calif. It should be and exciting year looking at all the different options.
Great bunch here each having a wealth of knowledge in there own journey.
WARNING: This site can become very addictive, extreme loss of sleep has been known to occur during research ........Also separation Anxiety from spouse and computer....Please use caution!!!!!........LOL
Mike,
Welcome to the forums. The others are giving you good advice. There is nothing that says one has to have a certain size RV before going full-time. You have a good idea to stay with your current RV while you do the research. One thing to consider is to try to spend as much time in your RV as possible. Back many years ago, our 26-foot travel trailer and later a 26-foot fifth wheel were exceptional in size for the needs we had at the time. At that time, we generally spent only one week in them while on vacation.
Then, in 2009, we took our 26-foot fifth wheel on a two week trip to Colorado and discovered that anything over a week in it was getting uncomfortable, especially with regards to the furniture. That experience taught us that we certainly had to have something larger.
Now, having said all of that, I am jealous (to some degree) of where you live. I was stationed on a very small Army base near Petaluma, California back in the '60's. That was a great base to sightsee from, as we got to see a lot of beautiful country...Bodega Bay, Russian River, Fort Ross, Armstrong Redwood Forest, Napa Valley.....oh, and a number of neat attractions in San Francisco.
Welcome to the "family."
Terry
Hello & Welcome. As always, when I respond, I try not to repeat what has already been said, all of it spot on. Go with what you have, is tremendous advice. We are happy with what we F/T in, and it's been 18 months. Till June of '13, we travel each summer (+/- 6500 mi), then home base in the rig for the school year.We decided to maintain Nevada residence, and have the UPS store as our legal address, works fine for us. When we are enroute, they fwd our mail. We will continue this when we leave, we will always spend several months a year here. We operate a consult business, which is easily done from the road. The key is to see what works for you. Our needs include a mi-fi set up, others easily get by on the data plan on their phone. As I said the mail fwd works for us. It works for voting as well. Take a deep breath, and remember that you have the time, finally to try various options, to find what is best. Travel safe. Nice folks here,as you will see.
Richard