I would've titled it new to the site, but after I went to register, it said that my screen name was already taken. For kicks and giggles I tried to log in with my old trusty password and it worked. Appears that back in 2008 (which was a very busy year for us), I stumble across your site and registered, but never posted (shame on me). This go around, I started back at the beginning of the RV-Dream (still have a long ways to go to get caught up) and felt like that I need to introduce ourselves....
We are Richard and Kim from Callahan, FL. (Callahan is the next little town north of Jacksonville). We paid our house off in February 2006 and bought a truck and camper at the end of April the same year. Being that we were still working full time jobs, we bought into the entry level of campers (big mistake). We also had kids, so we feel in love with the 2007 Wildcat 32' bunkhouse by Forrest River. Don't get me wrong, we loved the camper, but boy did we have problems with it. I won't bore you with all that as it would look like a novel when I got done. Either way our 2003 Dodge 2500 QC 4x4 pulled it just fine. Being that we didn't have a house payment anymore, we camped at least twice a month and sometimes every weekend. In 2007, we decided to do a cross country trip and go to Yellowstone National Park. Our oldest son was in college at the time and couldn't take two weeks off from school, so we flew him out there so he could travel back with us. All in our, it really put that "can't wait until we can do this full time" idea into our heads as 7,000 miles in two weeks was a bit too much. Here is a pic of our camper in front of The Grand Tetons
In 2008, we ended up buying another house in Callahan. Even though we still work in Jacksonville, we didn't want to live there anymore. Well this really put a hurting on our camping excursions, so we had to scale it back to once a month and an occasional week vacation.
We made another leap in 2010 when we stepped up and bought the 2010 Dodge 3500 CC dually. I was planning to upgrade our bunkhouse to a toy hauler and wanted a truck that would pull it and that my wife could still drive back-n-forth to work. Washing the Wildcat, I noticed that we started having the dreaded de-lamination issues others were having also. So in April 2012, we took the trade in beating and upgraded to a 2012 Heartland 41' Cyclone 3950 HD. Boy do we like this camper. When it rains outside, we stay dry inside (not like the Wildcat). Also, just about everything worked from the get go (again not like.....well you get the idea).
We do have a plan in effect for the full timing life, just it's another 15 years down the road. Until then, we will continue reading the Journal's of others and close our eyes live that RV-Dream.
Trabuco said
08:12 PM Oct 27, 2012
Richard welcome to the forum. Don't wait so long between posts. 7,000 miles in two weeks......yikes! It'll take me close to a year to do that many miles. But I understand the vacation mode.
Again welcome.
GENECOP said
08:37 PM Oct 27, 2012
Welcome back, good to have you...
Lucky Mike said
11:11 PM Oct 27, 2012
Welcome Back Richard!!!!!!!!!!
Rob_Fla said
01:47 AM Oct 28, 2012
Welcome back Richard.
It was good talking to you in the RV Dreams Chat Room the other night.
Sounds like you are on the right track now !!!
Terry and Jo said
02:44 AM Oct 28, 2012
Welcome, Richard and Kim.
You may have no idea of the number of folks who have registered here and never got over single digits on posts. I think many of them got the bug, realized the cost and trouble, and then just gave up. It's good that you didn't, even if you didn't post here. You have already begun the process by upgrading your coach and are planning to at least part-time RV as much as you can.
We aren't traveling yet ourselves, but we are living full time in our RV. So, if you have questions of traveling or non-traveling RV'ers, I think you have found the right place.
Good to have you as part of the family, so feel free to ask questions and make comments. We really do tend to learn from each other.
Terry
zigzag3337 said
03:35 AM Oct 28, 2012
Thank you all for the kind welcome.
We both love the RV lifestyle, just wished we didn't have to work to afford it. We are a part of a camping club here in NE Florida and have met some really great people. We feel like we have found some life long friends in the process and it wouldn't have happened if it was for RVing.
Again thank you and looking forward to sharing a campfire story with each of you one day.
jayc said
05:22 AM Oct 28, 2012
Richard and Kim, glad to see you here on one of the friendliest RV forums on the 'net. Another friendly and informative forum is the Heartland Owners forum (http://www.heartlandowners.org/content.php)
We have an active Heartland Owners club chapter in Florida and hope you will be able to make one of the rallies.
Edit by moderator: Activated link. Terry
-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Sunday 28th of October 2012 03:42:33 PM
Loretta said
02:31 PM Oct 28, 2012
Welcome Richard and Kim. We never thought we would be able to 'live the dream' but as soon as I put the house on the market, luck was with us and it sold in 5 weeks. I bought a 37' Intruder and I found I could retire with a limited income and we took the plunge. You never know what is around the corner. Did you ever think of working on the road?
Technomadia said
02:55 PM Oct 28, 2012
Welcome guys... and thanks for coming back and posting.
Chiming in on the suggestion above of working on the road - just wanted to say, it is totally possible. Many of us are doing it. Waiting 15 years until you can retire is a long time to put off your dreams, and a lot can happen. Don't know what your work is.. or how passionate you are about sticking with your existing careers, but if you think differently it may be possible to transition to mobile friendly income sources.
My partner and I are in our late 30s, and have been on the road full time since 2006 - running our software development business. Obviously, a much more mobile friendly career than others. But doesn't mean you have to be a techie to have possibilities. We're not the only mobile workers out here.
Anyway, just some food for thought.
- Cherie
Lucky Mike said
03:18 PM Oct 28, 2012
Ditto:.......I hit the road as Service Tech. Because of my background in several fields I was able to generate a very nice income....in fact my bottom line went up when I hit the road.
you have to look at the whole picture. it does have its ups and downs.....retirement is a factor, 401k.....and mostly Medical !!!!!. Things happen and when they do you have to be ready. some type of nest egg needs to be there.
make sure debt is paid down.....Debt free is the best way .
Everything is doable.........all your doing is moving From the house to the Coach and producing an income.......unless your part of the rich and famous.........in that case disregard the above and happy motoring!!!!!!!
Hdrider said
03:26 PM Oct 28, 2012
Welcome aboard!! Sounds like you already have a good understanding of RV's so when it comes time for the next step you should be more than ready.
Reading, studying and planning for us is what helped us feel we were already living the RV life style far before we actually were able to. It was part of the fun for us.
zigzag3337 said
07:29 PM Nov 1, 2012
Thanks again.
I'm a service tech in the elevator trade, so working from the road is not really doable for my line of work. Besides, when our time comes to take on the road, the last thing I want to do is work.
I'm also a member on Heartland owner's website (as zigzag3337). It really helped me making the decision when purchasing our TH. I found that Heartland has a great warranty and really stands behind their product. The best part is, we really haven't had any issues with the Cyclone, so thank you for that!!! A friend of mine has the Heartland Greystone and we've been talking about trying to attend one of the rallies in the future.
Another website that I'm on all the time is NEFLCC.com. Not trying to promote the site, so please don't take it like that. However, if anyone that's full-timing, part timing or weekending and would like to join in, everyone is welcome. Basically it's a family oriented camping club from newborn to seniors that enjoys camping in the North East Florida / South Georgia area.
Again thanks for the warm welcome and looking forward to hopefully one day share a campfire with you!
I would've titled it new to the site, but after I went to register, it said that my screen name was already taken. For kicks and giggles I tried to log in with my old trusty password and it worked. Appears that back in 2008 (which was a very busy year for us), I stumble across your site and registered, but never posted (shame on me). This go around, I started back at the beginning of the RV-Dream (still have a long ways to go to get caught up) and felt like that I need to introduce ourselves....
We are Richard and Kim from Callahan, FL. (Callahan is the next little town north of Jacksonville). We paid our house off in February 2006 and bought a truck and camper at the end of April the same year. Being that we were still working full time jobs, we bought into the entry level of campers (big mistake). We also had kids, so we feel in love with the 2007 Wildcat 32' bunkhouse by Forrest River. Don't get me wrong, we loved the camper, but boy did we have problems with it. I won't bore you with all that as it would look like a novel when I got done. Either way our 2003 Dodge 2500 QC 4x4 pulled it just fine. Being that we didn't have a house payment anymore, we camped at least twice a month and sometimes every weekend. In 2007, we decided to do a cross country trip and go to Yellowstone National Park. Our oldest son was in college at the time and couldn't take two weeks off from school, so we flew him out there so he could travel back with us. All in our, it really put that "can't wait until we can do this full time" idea into our heads as 7,000 miles in two weeks was a bit too much. Here is a pic of our camper in front of The Grand Tetons
In 2008, we ended up buying another house in Callahan. Even though we still work in Jacksonville, we didn't want to live there anymore. Well this really put a hurting on our camping excursions, so we had to scale it back to once a month and an occasional week vacation.
We made another leap in 2010 when we stepped up and bought the 2010 Dodge 3500 CC dually. I was planning to upgrade our bunkhouse to a toy hauler and wanted a truck that would pull it and that my wife could still drive back-n-forth to work. Washing the Wildcat, I noticed that we started having the dreaded de-lamination issues others were having also. So in April 2012, we took the trade in beating and upgraded to a 2012 Heartland 41' Cyclone 3950 HD. Boy do we like this camper. When it rains outside, we stay dry inside (not like the Wildcat). Also, just about everything worked from the get go (again not like.....well you get the idea).
We do have a plan in effect for the full timing life, just it's another 15 years down the road. Until then, we will continue reading the Journal's of others and close our eyes live that RV-Dream.
Again welcome.
It was good talking to you in the RV Dreams Chat Room the other night.
Sounds like you are on the right track now !!!
Welcome, Richard and Kim.
You may have no idea of the number of folks who have registered here and never got over single digits on posts. I think many of them got the bug, realized the cost and trouble, and then just gave up. It's good that you didn't, even if you didn't post here. You have already begun the process by upgrading your coach and are planning to at least part-time RV as much as you can.
We aren't traveling yet ourselves, but we are living full time in our RV. So, if you have questions of traveling or non-traveling RV'ers, I think you have found the right place.
Good to have you as part of the family, so feel free to ask questions and make comments. We really do tend to learn from each other.
Terry
We both love the RV lifestyle, just wished we didn't have to work to afford it. We are a part of a camping club here in NE Florida and have met some really great people. We feel like we have found some life long friends in the process and it wouldn't have happened if it was for RVing.
Again thank you and looking forward to sharing a campfire story with each of you one day.
Richard and Kim, glad to see you here on one of the friendliest RV forums on the 'net. Another friendly and informative forum is the Heartland Owners forum (http://www.heartlandowners.org/content.php)
We have an active Heartland Owners club chapter in Florida and hope you will be able to make one of the rallies.
Edit by moderator: Activated link. Terry
-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Sunday 28th of October 2012 03:42:33 PM
Welcome Richard and Kim. We never thought we would be able to 'live the dream' but as soon as I put the house on the market, luck was with us and it sold in 5 weeks. I bought a 37' Intruder and I found I could retire with a limited income and we took the plunge. You never know what is around the corner. Did you ever think of working on the road?
Chiming in on the suggestion above of working on the road - just wanted to say, it is totally possible. Many of us are doing it. Waiting 15 years until you can retire is a long time to put off your dreams, and a lot can happen. Don't know what your work is.. or how passionate you are about sticking with your existing careers, but if you think differently it may be possible to transition to mobile friendly income sources.
My partner and I are in our late 30s, and have been on the road full time since 2006 - running our software development business. Obviously, a much more mobile friendly career than others. But doesn't mean you have to be a techie to have possibilities. We're not the only mobile workers out here.
Anyway, just some food for thought.
- Cherie
you have to look at the whole picture. it does have its ups and downs.....retirement is a factor, 401k.....and mostly Medical !!!!!. Things happen and when they do you have to be ready. some type of nest egg needs to be there.
make sure debt is paid down.....Debt free is the best way .
Everything is doable.........all your doing is moving From the house to the Coach and producing an income.......unless your part of the rich and famous.........in that case disregard the above and happy motoring!!!!!!!
Welcome aboard!! Sounds like you already have a good understanding of RV's so when it comes time for the next step you should be more than ready.
Reading, studying and planning for us is what helped us feel we were already living the RV life style far before we actually were able to. It was part of the fun for us.