Woohoo! One year from today--July 1, 2016--we'll be full-timers!
We first started thinking about this in the spring of 2014, as Cheryl was recovering from one of five surgeries she had that year for early-stage breast cancer. We almost lost her during the first one due to an unexpected complication, and there's nothing like a near-death experience to make you reconsider what's really important in your life. That's when I found Howard and Linda's website and started reading. (Like Howard, I'm a researcher.) Back when I was 25, I had spent 6 weeks traveling the western US and Canada with a buddy in a Westfalia VW camper van, but that was the extent of my RV experience. Cheryl had never even been inside an RV.
A few weeks later, I said to Cheryl, "You're going to think I've completely gone off my rocker, but I have this crazy idea...." Much to my surprise, this city girl who never liked real camping (like, in a tent) was interested. And so we began to learn together.
We visited an RV show in Dallas that fall, so Cheryl could at least see what a modern RV looked like. Then in December 2014, armed mainly with what we knew from RV-Dreams.com, we rented a 32' Class C motorhome in California (that's it in my avatar photo), and spent 12 days traveling around the Bay Area, Yosemite National Park and Napa Valley. We had all kinds of problems with the unit--in particular, the furnace failed and the part wasn't available quickly over Christmas, so we made do with a space heater while the temperature was in the single digits outside. I thought, "well, that's going to be the end of this idea," but in fact we had a great time. We loved the slower pace and the flexibility to make up our plans as we went along. It was such a contrast to the crazy schedule we kept at home with work and other obligations.
Now we were getting serious. In April 2015, we rented another RV--this time, a much nicer 40' Class A--and drove it from Atlanta to Sevierville, TN for Howard and Linda's Spring Educational Rally. Cheryl's one remaining concern was, what would other RVers be like? Would we have anything in common with them? Well, the Rally put that concern to rest in a hurry! We fit right in, and made lots of new friends.
So we made the decision to start looking for rigs. We felt confident enough to buy used, and we settled on a couple of different Heartland Landmark floor plans. Much faster than we thought it would happen, we found a barely used 41' 2013 Heartland Landmark San Antonio fifth wheel trailer, just 200 miles away, near Conroe, TX, and after three consecutive weekend trips down there--one to see it for the first time, one for a professional inspection, and one to pick it up--it became ours last Saturday. The same seller also had a 2012 F-450 with 48K miles on it, and we made a great deal on the combo. The trip home--my first time to drive anything that big!--was uneventful, and we even managed to get that huge trailer backed into a 12' wide storage facility on just the third attempt. Here's a photo of our rig, at a rest stop near Corsicana on the way home:
We've set July 1, 2016 as our official on-the-road date. At that point, I'll be 55 and Cheryl will be 53. There are several work and volunteer obligations that lined up to make that the right date, as much as we might like to go sooner. Meanwhile, we'll take a few weekend trips in the rig, and we're planning a two-week shakedown trip in December. We haven't told very many people yet, as I won't give my notice at my job until early next year, but at least we wanted to share our excitement with the RV-Dreams family!
Thank you to Howard, Linda, and everyone else here for all the information you provide and the enthusiasm you share. We couldn't have gotten to this point without you!
-- Edited by David and Cheryl on Wednesday 1st of July 2015 05:59:38 AM
Jim01 said
06:08 AM Jul 1, 2015
Congratulations!!!!!!
Yes, something like cancer really does change what you consider important. We've had a similar thing happen recently and know exactly what you mean.
Good luck with all your plans.
Jim and Linda
jayc said
06:21 AM Jul 1, 2015
Congratulations on finding such a nice rig. You'll love it! If you haven't already found it, please join us at the Heartland Owners forum (see link below).
David and Cheryl said
06:23 AM Jul 1, 2015
Thanks Jim!
I should have mentioned in the post that Cheryl is fully recovered and "cured"--meaning the 5-year survival rate for her stage and treatment is nearly 100%. (And if I may put in this plug: ladies, get your annual mammogram. Early detection can save your life.) But with that behind us, we want to get out and enjoy our good health. We've learned that you never know what's around the next corner.
Ran n Jo said
06:58 AM Jul 1, 2015
Congratulations on getting your rig! Welcome to the class of 2016!
2riker2go said
03:17 PM Jul 1, 2015
Congratulations all around - on your health news, plan and beautiful new home! Also, welcome to the Heartland family! :) Like Jay said, if you haven't already, join the Heartland forum. Both Harry and I have learned so much from the posts on there, and Harry gets a lot of his technical questions answered on those inevitable times when something comes up.
marianne57 said
05:16 PM Jul 1, 2015
Welcome David and Cheryl... Congrats for many things and best wishes as you continue your venture to go full-time next year! Welcome to the class of 2016 and hope to see you out there next year too! Take care and welcome again!
Camper Chronicles said
05:56 PM Jul 1, 2015
What a wonderful story...good for you guys!!!
DebbieM said
06:05 PM Jul 1, 2015
Congratulations! You'll love it out here!
Trabuco said
07:55 PM Jul 1, 2015
Congratulations on the recovery and the new rig! Great story.
FOSJ said
08:11 PM Jul 1, 2015
Congratulations! Get ready because the year will go by so quickly.
Barbaraok said
10:17 PM Jul 1, 2015
As a 20 yr ovarian cancer survivor, I say that sometimes looking over the edge at the dragon gives one the opportunity to learn what is really important in life - just like you guys have found. It is a wonderful life and we wish you the enjoyment that we have had the past 9 years.
Barb
jrzygrl64 said
10:26 PM Jul 1, 2015
Welcome to the forum! Congrats on your recovery and rig! We have a 2014 Heartland Landmark Grand Canyon - and we LOVE it!
Wishing you many years of health and happy travels! Good luck as you prepare for your new life - you're going to LOVE it!
PIEERE said
10:54 AM Jul 2, 2015
Like my Quotw says: Life is too short; Live it Now! I started my adventures in 1998 and did some workcamping; with a couple of changes. I had to give up the adventures in July 2012 due to health. Happy to hear that you both have taken the way out of the other world!
cherylbrv said
12:38 PM Jul 2, 2015
Awesome - CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!
It was really great spending time with you in Seiverville and I'm so thrilled you took the plunge. Many safe and happy travels in your new home on wheels. I hope our paths cross again some time soon.
This coming year is going to be fraught with busy-ness and a lot of emotions as you start the downsizing process, but believe me, the year will speed by.
Keep in touch!
Fergizmo said
01:19 PM Jul 2, 2015
Nice rig. I'M sure you will be happy in it. I'm also sure your counting the days. It will go fast. This life rocks!
David and Cheryl said
04:30 PM Jul 6, 2015
Thanks everyone for your words of encouragement!
We just spent a four-day weekend with some friends in Summit County, CO. We think that's going to be our first long stop next summer to get out of the Texas heat!
360 days and counting... :)
Sushidog said
05:38 PM Jul 6, 2015
Go ahead, rub it in!
Congrats on your sweet rig and your new LIFEstyle. Since she's new to you, keep it slow and like the truckers say, keep the shiny side up and the dirty side down.
Chip
David and Cheryl said
09:39 AM Dec 25, 2015
Merry Christmas and happy new year, everyone!
I thought I'd give a quick update, since it's been six months since my original post. We are right now six days into the two-week shakedown trip that I mentioned. We left Dallas on Dec. 20, spent a couple of nights at the Escapees park in Livingston, TX, and have spent the last three nights on the west end of Galveston Island at the wonderful new Galveston Island RV Resort. (As I'm writing this, I'm looking out at palm trees and waves breaking on the beach...aw, yeah :) .) Tomorrow we're headed for a few nights at Matagorda Bay Nature Park. After that, probably somewhere in the San Antonio area for New Years, and then heading back to Dallas...but we're trying to avoid being wedded to an itinerary, which is much less stressful, and how we plan to roll once we're full-timing.
We've made a number of improvements, large and small, to our rig, the most recent of which is the installation of a Splendide stackable washer/dryer on our way through Houston. First load of laundry was done last night. Woohoo! But in any case, the rig is starting to feel like home, and we're itching to make it so.
I'll be giving my six-months notice at work when we return, and then our plans will be really real! We've had to keep the plans relatively quiet, but we can't wait to start sharing them widely. We have started our purge, though it will kick into high gear once we "go public" with our plans. We plan to list our townhome for sale by April 1, move into the rig on April 30, and our new target departure date is June 15. We are planning to spend the month of July in the mountains of Colorado--and I can't tell you how much we're looking forward to not sweating through another Texas summer!
We want to wish everyone in the RV-Dreams family good health and happiness in 2016!
SuzieQ said
08:21 PM Dec 25, 2015
Sounds great! Glad Cheryl is doing better.
2riker2go said
06:26 AM Dec 26, 2015
Merry Christmas! These last few months are going to go by SO fast!! Hold on to your hats! :)
Julie and Casey said
11:36 AM Dec 26, 2015
Hi David and Cheryl,
Glad to hear things are going well on the "shakedown" trip. We are in Austin and this balmy weather has been great but alas, it's about to change. I see you are based in Plano, we spent 17 years there before returning home to Austin in 2009. Best of luck in these remaining months before hitting the road. We plan to join you out there in early 2017. Colorado sounds like the perfect first stop!
Julie
BiggarView said
08:06 AM Dec 28, 2015
David and Cheryl wrote:
Merry Christmas and happy new year, everyone!
I thought I'd give a quick update, since it's been six months since my original post. We are right now six days into the two-week shakedown trip that I mentioned. We left Dallas on Dec. 20, spent a couple of nights at the Escapees park in Livingston, TX, and have spent the last three nights on the west end of Galveston Island at the wonderful new Galveston Island RV Resort. (As I'm writing this, I'm looking out at palm trees and waves breaking on the beach...aw, yeah :) .)...
We want to wish everyone in the RV-Dreams family good health and happiness in 2016!
Sounds like you got out of Dallas just in the knick of time.
David and Cheryl said
08:31 AM Dec 28, 2015
BiggarView wrote:
Sounds like you got out of Dallas just in the knick of time.
Isn't that the truth! Fortunately no damage in Plano where our townhouse is, but how terrible for all the folks who were affected.
We are on Matagorda Island right now, with sustained 30 mph winds and gusts to 40 all night after the front came through. DW was a bit wigged out as the trailer shook and creaked, but all was fine.
Woohoo! One year from today--July 1, 2016--we'll be full-timers!
We first started thinking about this in the spring of 2014, as Cheryl was recovering from one of five surgeries she had that year for early-stage breast cancer. We almost lost her during the first one due to an unexpected complication, and there's nothing like a near-death experience to make you reconsider what's really important in your life. That's when I found Howard and Linda's website and started reading. (Like Howard, I'm a researcher.) Back when I was 25, I had spent 6 weeks traveling the western US and Canada with a buddy in a Westfalia VW camper van, but that was the extent of my RV experience. Cheryl had never even been inside an RV.
A few weeks later, I said to Cheryl, "You're going to think I've completely gone off my rocker, but I have this crazy idea...." Much to my surprise, this city girl who never liked real camping (like, in a tent) was interested. And so we began to learn together.
We visited an RV show in Dallas that fall, so Cheryl could at least see what a modern RV looked like. Then in December 2014, armed mainly with what we knew from RV-Dreams.com, we rented a 32' Class C motorhome in California (that's it in my avatar photo), and spent 12 days traveling around the Bay Area, Yosemite National Park and Napa Valley. We had all kinds of problems with the unit--in particular, the furnace failed and the part wasn't available quickly over Christmas, so we made do with a space heater while the temperature was in the single digits outside. I thought, "well, that's going to be the end of this idea," but in fact we had a great time. We loved the slower pace and the flexibility to make up our plans as we went along. It was such a contrast to the crazy schedule we kept at home with work and other obligations.
Now we were getting serious. In April 2015, we rented another RV--this time, a much nicer 40' Class A--and drove it from Atlanta to Sevierville, TN for Howard and Linda's Spring Educational Rally. Cheryl's one remaining concern was, what would other RVers be like? Would we have anything in common with them? Well, the Rally put that concern to rest in a hurry! We fit right in, and made lots of new friends.
So we made the decision to start looking for rigs. We felt confident enough to buy used, and we settled on a couple of different Heartland Landmark floor plans. Much faster than we thought it would happen, we found a barely used 41' 2013 Heartland Landmark San Antonio fifth wheel trailer, just 200 miles away, near Conroe, TX, and after three consecutive weekend trips down there--one to see it for the first time, one for a professional inspection, and one to pick it up--it became ours last Saturday. The same seller also had a 2012 F-450 with 48K miles on it, and we made a great deal on the combo. The trip home--my first time to drive anything that big!--was uneventful, and we even managed to get that huge trailer backed into a 12' wide storage facility on just the third attempt. Here's a photo of our rig, at a rest stop near Corsicana on the way home:
We've set July 1, 2016 as our official on-the-road date. At that point, I'll be 55 and Cheryl will be 53. There are several work and volunteer obligations that lined up to make that the right date, as much as we might like to go sooner. Meanwhile, we'll take a few weekend trips in the rig, and we're planning a two-week shakedown trip in December. We haven't told very many people yet, as I won't give my notice at my job until early next year, but at least we wanted to share our excitement with the RV-Dreams family!
Thank you to Howard, Linda, and everyone else here for all the information you provide and the enthusiasm you share. We couldn't have gotten to this point without you!
-- Edited by David and Cheryl on Wednesday 1st of July 2015 05:59:38 AM
Congratulations!!!!!!
Yes, something like cancer really does change what you consider important. We've had a similar thing happen recently and know exactly what you mean.
Good luck with all your plans.
Jim and Linda
Congratulations on finding such a nice rig. You'll love it! If you haven't already found it, please join us at the Heartland Owners forum (see link below).
I should have mentioned in the post that Cheryl is fully recovered and "cured"--meaning the 5-year survival rate for her stage and treatment is nearly 100%. (And if I may put in this plug: ladies, get your annual mammogram. Early detection can save your life.) But with that behind us, we want to get out and enjoy our good health. We've learned that you never know what's around the next corner.
Welcome David and Cheryl... Congrats for many things and best wishes as you continue your venture to go full-time next year! Welcome to the class of 2016 and hope to see you out there next year too! Take care and welcome again!
Congratulations! You'll love it out here!
Barb
Wishing you many years of health and happy travels! Good luck as you prepare for your new life - you're going to LOVE it!
It was really great spending time with you in Seiverville and I'm so thrilled you took the plunge. Many safe and happy travels in your new home on wheels. I hope our paths cross again some time soon.
This coming year is going to be fraught with busy-ness and a lot of emotions as you start the downsizing process, but believe me, the year will speed by.
Keep in touch!
We just spent a four-day weekend with some friends in Summit County, CO. We think that's going to be our first long stop next summer to get out of the Texas heat!
360 days and counting... :)
Congrats on your sweet rig and your new LIFEstyle. Since she's new to you, keep it slow and like the truckers say, keep the shiny side up and the dirty side down.
Chip
Merry Christmas and happy new year, everyone!
I thought I'd give a quick update, since it's been six months since my original post. We are right now six days into the two-week shakedown trip that I mentioned. We left Dallas on Dec. 20, spent a couple of nights at the Escapees park in Livingston, TX, and have spent the last three nights on the west end of Galveston Island at the wonderful new Galveston Island RV Resort. (As I'm writing this, I'm looking out at palm trees and waves breaking on the beach...aw, yeah :) .) Tomorrow we're headed for a few nights at Matagorda Bay Nature Park. After that, probably somewhere in the San Antonio area for New Years, and then heading back to Dallas...but we're trying to avoid being wedded to an itinerary, which is much less stressful, and how we plan to roll once we're full-timing.
We've made a number of improvements, large and small, to our rig, the most recent of which is the installation of a Splendide stackable washer/dryer on our way through Houston. First load of laundry was done last night. Woohoo! But in any case, the rig is starting to feel like home, and we're itching to make it so.
I'll be giving my six-months notice at work when we return, and then our plans will be really real! We've had to keep the plans relatively quiet, but we can't wait to start sharing them widely. We have started our purge, though it will kick into high gear once we "go public" with our plans. We plan to list our townhome for sale by April 1, move into the rig on April 30, and our new target departure date is June 15. We are planning to spend the month of July in the mountains of Colorado--and I can't tell you how much we're looking forward to not sweating through another Texas summer!
We want to wish everyone in the RV-Dreams family good health and happiness in 2016!
Glad to hear things are going well on the "shakedown" trip. We are in Austin and this balmy weather has been great but alas, it's about to change. I see you are based in Plano, we spent 17 years there before returning home to Austin in 2009. Best of luck in these remaining months before hitting the road. We plan to join you out there in early 2017. Colorado sounds like the perfect first stop!
Julie
Sounds like you got out of Dallas just in the knick of time.
Isn't that the truth! Fortunately no damage in Plano where our townhouse is, but how terrible for all the folks who were affected.
We are on Matagorda Island right now, with sustained 30 mph winds and gusts to 40 all night after the front came through. DW was a bit wigged out as the trailer shook and creaked, but all was fine.