Hello Everyone!  We are Randy & Sandy Schafer from Central Lower Michigan!  We will have been married 37 years here next week. During that time we have camped in a travel trailer, 5^th wheel, fold down, tent, Class A Motorhome, Park Model, and a vintage 13 ft. fiberglass trailer.  YES, in that order!! LOL

We have been thinking, planning and talking about hitting the road full time for years.  We are self-employed and will be semi-retiring and working on the road. 

I am a former Commercial Interior Designer and draftsmen.  I have dabbled in art my entire life, 12 of that being a Lampwork Artist (making glass beads).  I currently dabble in fiber arts, crocheting, quilting, embroidery, etc.

Hubby, Randy, has been a Power Seller on Ebay for over 12 years.  He sells anything and has a wealth of useless knowledge that enables him to find valuable things that he can resell.  I have joined him by selling my beads, and now shoes.  Yup used shoes……thus the first part of our name Shoeby.  We will continue selling goodies and shoes to help cover some of the expenses on the road.  Plus, we wouldn’t know what to do if we were not out looking for treasure!

The name Shoeby_Doo really is a play on words that also includes our two very large fur babies.  Kylee and Dozer our Great Danes!  They will be traveling with us and if we are honest dictate a lot of our decisions.  Yes, they travel wonderfully!  They did 10 days in the 13 ft. trailer this past July and they loved it!  Let alone they are in the van 5-12 hours (with walks, plays and drinks of course) when we are working a “treasure trail”, finding goodies.

So our plans are as follows.  We are signing on the line today for a seasonal campsite here in Michigan.  It is the same campground that our two grown daughters, their hubbies and our 3 grandsons have seasonal lots at.  We will travel to and fro from there during the summer, but that will be our base.  Our youngest grandson (3mths old) has medical concerns that we want to be here to help with.  So being on the road 24/7/365 is not an option for us!  But being without the Sticks and Bricks is!!  We will be putting a decent size (36ft) 5^th wheel on the seasonal lot, shopping for it this winter.

Next May the house and contents that we don’t need are going up for auction.  Let someone else haul this stuff away.  Yup, we have done this before, in fact a couple of times! LOL Simplify, Simplify, Simplify!  Put that $$$ in the bank.  The house is paid for so we can live with that!  Now set back and relax in the 5^th wheel over the summer and start looking for the Motorhome that will be our winter home. 

Yup we are going to own both!  Neither one of us wants to travel in a truck or experience the cost of owning one that is capable of towing a large 5^th wheel.  We both love to travel in a motor home and the storage under a large class A will accommodate our ability to work a little on the road!

Hubby is a numbers man, and we have reams of paper and printouts with budgets, pros & cons, etc.  He was thrilled when he saw the proposed budgets available on here, and he was 100% on target. 

Now it’s getting the house ready to sell, sort through lifes treasures and pass them onto the kids.  Wait and see where our Son & his wife move after he leaves the Marines and goes back to get his Masters.  That could be a good spot to make a second landing spot!!  You never know!!  Until then we will be sucking in all the great info on here, making new friends, and working our behinds off to make this happen!!

Sandy & Randy Schafer

Thanks Cathy!  We just love our Big mutts.  They won't make this change in our life easy, but we wouldn't do it without them!!

Thanks Sherry for the kind welcome! We just love a group of people we don't have to explain the whys of what we have chosen to do without EYEROLLS! LOL