Robin and I have recently decided to pursue the FT dream. We had a four year plan until retirement. After our introduction to this site, one of the posters stated that we should be prepared to shorten our length of time till retirement. Boy was he right. Today we purchased a new 2014 Heartland 3650RL, we absolutely love it. We figured we would try to pay it off before we retire but now we are looking into retiring two years earlier than planned. We are signed up for the spring rally in TN and cant wait. Looks like a lot to figure out in two years. Now I have to figure out how to tow that beast, it will spend the summer on our seasonal site here in upstate NY. We heard an expression recently "we feel like a fifteen year old waiting for the 16th birthday to get our permit" That's us for sure.
Mike
el Rojo and Pam said
06:42 PM Dec 6, 2014
Congrats Mike and Robin! Not sure you'll make two years once you get your "permit". Just sayin.
Diana and Jim said
07:07 PM Dec 6, 2014
I remember writing that reply back on November 3. :)
"I would definitely go, as there are things you will learn now that will help you in the future. Another thing is, if you are like most folks, your timeline will move up. 2019 will become 2018, then 2017 and so on. If and when you go, do the open rig walk throughs and ask lots of questions of the owners. The ORW's are so much better than asking a salesman at an RV show about a rig. Also, you may even want to go to a second rally as a refresher, once you get closer to retirement. Many people do.
Here are a couple of ideas of other things to start on now:
1) Try to begin your purging process now. It will result in less stress in the end.
2) Try to live on the amount of money you think you will be living on when you retire, just so you get used to it. Put the rest away in an IRA.
Jim (and Diana)"
That's right Jim, and your post was very insightful. We have purchased Howard and Lynda's budget spreadsheets and feel we can make an earlier start to FT than originally planned. We are starting the purging process slowly and are making every move according to our GOAL. We have been giving the kids some items that we know will not go on the road with us, and even made a trip to the dump with unneeded items last week. Two years seems like a long time, but we realize it will come faster than we think.
Very exciting times indeed.
Mike
DebbieM said
09:51 PM Dec 6, 2014
Congratulations! Me thinks you will have a hard time waiting
MikenRobin said
10:04 PM Dec 6, 2014
Thanks Debbie and Steve.
Me Thinks your right.
Interesting that you and Jim and Dianna have answered our post as I have been following both of your blogs.
We do like your style of living like staying in the State Parks and Kayaks, that is our plans as well.
Hope to see you on the road when we get there.
Mike
Jim and Barb said
10:26 PM Dec 6, 2014
Congratulations on the purchase of your rig and moving up your date! Very exciting. I may not seem like it now but the two years will go quick. Barb and I had a 5 year plan and in hindsight it went very quickly. Here is a little advice, one you think you have purged enough, go over all of it again. We thought we had gotten rid of everything we could not live without and even that would not fit into our rig so we purged again. Now, after 8 months on the road we are finding things that we really don't need. Especially clothing, you really don't need a lot.
Good luck and keep us posted!
TRAILERKING said
10:37 PM Dec 6, 2014
Congrats and welcome aboard............
Alie and Jims Carrilite said
06:49 AM Dec 7, 2014
You are correct that the first step is a doozy. We went from a 3 year plan, to a 1 year plan, to a 4 month plan! Most all the pieces fell together for us.
We're in Texas for our 2nd winter, time flies when your having fun!
jrzygrl64 said
07:25 AM Dec 7, 2014
Congrats! Bill and I have a Landmark and we LOVE it!
We also had a 5 year plan that became a 2 1/2 year plan - and here we are now - living it!
Good luck!
The Restless Youngs said
07:40 AM Dec 7, 2014
Congrats!! We also had a three year plan that we've accelerated quite a bit. Within 11 months of making the decision, we had sold our house and the majority of our belongings and moved into our coach. Since we'd never RV'ed before, we wanted to make sure it was going to work for us, so we've been living in RV, still employed and working out the kinks....and saving money!!! We'll hit the road full-time in the spring. And while we would like to be out there "doing it" now, this plan--at the time--made the most sense for us as it was a nice compromise to our three year initial plan. Welcome and good luck!!
Camper Chronicles said
07:46 AM Dec 7, 2014
Congratulations !!! Big first step. We bought first and stayed in a seasonal site before full timing and it was very helpful In learning about the life before going on the road
-- Edited by Lee and Trace on Sunday 7th of December 2014 07:47:25 AM
BiggarView said
01:16 PM Dec 7, 2014
Yep that's a doozie all right. When we first discussed going FT a couple of years ago, our first estimate for our situation was 8-10 years. with research we have cut that in half. If we can catch a couple of advantageous breaks (Mr Murphy does not show his face again after the Pit Bull assault and some major car repairs on both our cars, yeah life happens) then we can possibly cut it 2 years. Whew, even that idea makes me nervous. What amazes me is how clear it becomes the more you look at reality and make the hard choices to make a dream happen, the more likely it WILL happen. Let the good times roll!!!
Glenn West said
03:45 PM Dec 7, 2014
On the tow vehicle, buy the dually you like. Don't listen to all the hype about towing numbers. All have exhaust brakes and more than enough power. All three are great trucks and will tow your new Heartland safely. Congratulations.
cherylbrv said
04:34 PM Dec 7, 2014
Congratulations! It took us 3 years to get from the decision to the road. It probably would have taken longer if my job wasn't downsized last year!
We also hope to be at the spring rally; looking forward to meeting you there!
gilljr said
07:01 PM Dec 7, 2014
Welcome and good luck with your progress. We started 5 weeks ago and wish we had done it sooner.
Diana and Jim said
07:23 PM Dec 7, 2014
Can't wait to see you guys out here, Mike! Two years will fly by!
Bill and Jodee said
07:27 PM Dec 7, 2014
So exciting! There's just something about the lifestyle that begs the question - "Do you really have to wait that long?" How wonderful that you were able to cut your prep time in half, and as others have said, I wouldn't be surprised if you cut it even more.
We moved up the house sale from next Spring to last month. With escrow closing this week, we are months ahead of schedule on that big piece! No way to move up our youngest's high school graduation on June 2 so our launch date of June 5 is pretty solid We might get the rig earlier than March though......
See you at the Spring Rally!!!
Jodee
marianne57 said
07:28 PM Dec 7, 2014
Mike and Robin Congrats! You're going to find after you go to the spring rally you may move your date up even more! We had a 4 year plan and attended the April rally this year and are now planning to head out in 2016! It's a great feeling and certainly very exciting to prepare everything for the big day, but the forum here is extremely friendly and helpful for any questions! Good luck and have fun planning!
rocknb said
12:29 PM Dec 8, 2014
Howdy Howdy MikenRobin,
Welcome to the excitement of PREP. It seems once you start thinking about FT'ng it is in the fore thought of almost everything you do. We are possibly the only odd ducks out here. I retired one yr ago in Dec and in Sept of this yr I mentioned to the wife that we should buy an rv and get out of the NW Missouri cold winters - due to my arthritis. By the end of Sept we had purchased a used 5'vr and already had the tow veh. After some repairs and up-grade to our 1998 Alpenlite 34'er, we left our ranchette ( not yet sold) on Thanksgiving day and headed south to TX. We have been here in Beeville, TX area now for a full 8 days. What a whirl wind !
WELCOME TO THE GREATEST FEELING OF FREEDOM!
-- Edited by rocknb on Monday 8th of December 2014 12:33:18 PM
-- Edited by rocknb on Monday 8th of December 2014 12:36:42 PM
-- Edited by rocknb on Monday 8th of December 2014 12:37:43 PM
MikenRobin said
07:02 PM Dec 8, 2014
Thank you all for your words of wisdom and encouragement. I tend to be more of a lurker and have absorbed quite a bit of information from this site and all those that participate. Sometimes I feel obsessed, and realize I need to take a breath, but I am determined to spend a portion of every weekend dedicated to our goal. FT starting on 11-30-2016, my 60th birthday.
OhMan... did I just say 60, all of a sudden I feel really old.
Mike
Terry and Jo said
12:12 AM Dec 9, 2014
MikenRobin wrote:
Thank you all for your words of wisdom and encouragement. I tend to be more of a lurker and have absorbed quite a bit of information from this site and all those that participate. Sometimes I feel obsessed, and realize I need to take a breath, but I am determined to spend a portion of every weekend dedicated to our goal. FT starting on 11-30-2016, my 60th birthday.
OhMan... did I just say 60, all of a sudden I feel really old.
Mike
The above in bold is a non-issue. We started living full time in ours, although static in one place for extended periods of time, since 2011 when I was 65. I'm now 68 and still happy with this lifestyle.
Terry
MikenRobin said
01:25 PM Jan 3, 2015
I guess I have to change our signature now.
New to us 2012 F-450.
If we could we'd hit the road tomorrow.
Terry and Jo said
07:06 PM Jan 3, 2015
That truck will definitely do it for you. You'll love the turning radius.
Terry
Diana and Jim said
09:49 PM Jan 3, 2015
Nice truck, Mike!
rocknb said
10:58 PM Jan 3, 2015
WOW, makes my F-250 feel like a little Ford Ranger ... Love the Fender Swells. Fine ride Mike
-- Edited by rocknb on Saturday 3rd of January 2015 11:00:58 PM
Robin and I have recently decided to pursue the FT dream. We had a four year plan until retirement. After our introduction to this site, one of the posters stated that we should be prepared to shorten our length of time till retirement. Boy was he right. Today we purchased a new 2014 Heartland 3650RL, we absolutely love it. We figured we would try to pay it off before we retire but now we are looking into retiring two years earlier than planned. We are signed up for the spring rally in TN and cant wait. Looks like a lot to figure out in two years. Now I have to figure out how to tow that beast, it will spend the summer on our seasonal site here in upstate NY. We heard an expression recently "we feel like a fifteen year old waiting for the 16th birthday to get our permit" That's us for sure.
Mike
Congratulations!!!
Jim
Jims Quote
"I would definitely go, as there are things you will learn now that will help you in the future. Another thing is, if you are like most folks, your timeline will move up. 2019 will become 2018, then 2017 and so on. If and when you go, do the open rig walk throughs and ask lots of questions of the owners. The ORW's are so much better than asking a salesman at an RV show about a rig. Also, you may even want to go to a second rally as a refresher, once you get closer to retirement. Many people do.
Here are a couple of ideas of other things to start on now:
1) Try to begin your purging process now. It will result in less stress in the end.
2) Try to live on the amount of money you think you will be living on when you retire, just so you get used to it. Put the rest away in an IRA.
Jim (and Diana)"
Congratulations! Me thinks you will have a hard time waiting
Thanks Debbie and Steve.
Me Thinks your right.
Interesting that you and Jim and Dianna have answered our post as I have been following both of your blogs.
We do like your style of living like staying in the State Parks and Kayaks, that is our plans as well.
Hope to see you on the road when we get there.
Mike
Good luck and keep us posted!
We're in Texas for our 2nd winter, time flies when your having fun!
We also had a 5 year plan that became a 2 1/2 year plan - and here we are now - living it!
Good luck!
Congratulations !!! Big first step. We bought first and stayed in a seasonal site before full timing and it was very helpful In learning about the life before going on the road
-- Edited by Lee and Trace on Sunday 7th of December 2014 07:47:25 AM
Yep that's a doozie all right. When we first discussed going FT a couple of years ago, our first estimate for our situation was 8-10 years. with research we have cut that in half. If we can catch a couple of advantageous breaks (Mr Murphy does not show his face again after the Pit Bull assault and some major car repairs on both our cars, yeah life happens) then we can possibly cut it 2 years. Whew, even that idea makes me nervous. What amazes me is how clear it becomes the more you look at reality and make the hard choices to make a dream happen, the more likely it WILL happen. Let the good times roll!!!
We also hope to be at the spring rally; looking forward to meeting you there!
We moved up the house sale from next Spring to last month. With escrow closing this week, we are months ahead of schedule on that big piece! No way to move up our youngest's high school graduation on June 2 so our launch date of June 5 is pretty solid
See you at the Spring Rally!!!
Jodee
Mike and Robin Congrats! You're going to find after you go to the spring rally you may move your date up even more! We had a 4 year plan and attended the April rally this year and are now planning to head out in 2016! It's a great feeling and certainly very exciting to prepare everything for the big day, but the forum here is extremely friendly and helpful for any questions! Good luck and have fun planning!
Howdy Howdy MikenRobin,
Welcome to the excitement of PREP. It seems once you start thinking about FT'ng it is in the fore thought of almost everything you do. We are possibly the only odd ducks out here. I retired one yr ago in Dec and in Sept of this yr I mentioned to the wife that we should buy an rv and get out of the NW Missouri cold winters - due to my arthritis. By the end of Sept we had purchased a used 5'vr and already had the tow veh. After some repairs and up-grade to our 1998 Alpenlite 34'er, we left our ranchette ( not yet sold) on Thanksgiving day and headed south to TX. We have been here in Beeville, TX area now for a full 8 days. What a whirl wind !
WELCOME TO THE GREATEST FEELING OF FREEDOM !
-- Edited by rocknb on Monday 8th of December 2014 12:33:18 PM
-- Edited by rocknb on Monday 8th of December 2014 12:36:42 PM
-- Edited by rocknb on Monday 8th of December 2014 12:37:43 PM
Thank you all for your words of wisdom and encouragement. I tend to be more of a lurker and have absorbed quite a bit of information from this site and all those that participate. Sometimes I feel obsessed, and realize I need to take a breath, but I am determined to spend a portion of every weekend dedicated to our goal. FT starting on 11-30-2016, my 60th birthday.
OhMan... did I just say 60, all of a sudden I feel really old.
Mike
The above in bold is a non-issue. We started living full time in ours, although static in one place for extended periods of time, since 2011 when I was 65. I'm now 68 and still happy with this lifestyle.
Terry
I guess I have to change our signature now.
New to us 2012 F-450.
If we could we'd hit the road tomorrow.
That truck will definitely do it for you. You'll love the turning radius.
Terry
WOW, makes my F-250 feel like a little Ford Ranger ... Love the Fender Swells. Fine ride Mike
-- Edited by rocknb on Saturday 3rd of January 2015 11:00:58 PM