My name is Tony and my wife is Madonna. No, not THAT Madonna
Anyway, we've been mulling over a major life change for a couple of years now that started with buying 36 acres of unspoiled land in Northeastern, AZ for what was originally going to be a "retirement" location.
Well, as with all things this idea started morphing as we were getting ready to sock away money for improvements to the land. We came to the conclusion that we weren't ready to commit large amounts of money to putting "structures" on that property and instead were more comfortable spending money on an RV that we could enjoy anywhere, not just our remote property.
So we did just that, and purchased a 4x4 F-150 that tows a Starcraft 13 R/T pop-up trailer. It's a pop-up that's designed to go to far off the beaten path and even has a forward cargo area for ATV's. We picked this up at the end of July and we've already enjoyed it for many weekends.
One night while relaxing in our pool in Phoenix in 100 degree weather, we were talking about how we so enjoyed boon docking in our pop-up in the numerous Federal/State lands here in AZ and the idea had popped into my head that why couldn't we do this on a full-time basis? I did some preliminary research and found out that it was quite doable, even if we weren't "retired" yet. Work-camping, telecommuting, seasonal work... it all makes perfect sense to us. We have no real ties to this "life" we have now, we both LOVE travel and new experiences and we're really close to being completely debt-free with the exception of the house.
Our land purchase will be paid for in the coming spring, we've conservatively figured that the sale of our household goods will net us somewhere in the neighborhood of $30K; that combined with the aggressive saving that we can do until 2011 when we tentatively plan to hit the road, we can have our new rig (mid-profile 5th Wheel & Tow vehicle) paid for and a years worth of expenses in the bank to fall back on and fill in the gaps while working various short-term/seasonal jobs.
So that's the current plan, subject to change at a moments notice!
One thing is for sure though, we're both committed to exiting this "Rat Race" and living a life full with new experiences and doing it on our terms, not someone else's idea of what our life should be :)
RodnReal said
07:18 AM Oct 15, 2009
Hi Tony,
Welcome to the best "fulltimer" forum on the net. Howard and Linda have put together a great site and it has attracted a ton of friendly, smart and helpfull people. We've only been participating a few months but have learned far more than we could have anywhere else.
Connie (Real) & I are kinda in the same place you are except we're a little older. We're planning on hitting the road full time in late May or early June of 2011.
--Rod
Speedhitch said
07:36 AM Oct 15, 2009
Hi Tony...sounds like a plan to me. I hope you get to do just that and when you do I hope you will stay in touch with the Dreamers. We would like for the two of you to join us in our next "Gathering" or at the next rally. We love new folks and new stories. Stay in touch and let us know how it is going.
jagco said
11:13 AM Oct 15, 2009
Sounds like a plan to me, too. Georgia and I are only weekend campers at the moment, but would gladly go full-time if we could figure out how to keep me insured. It's a complicated situation, but I am continually researching, so if nothing else, we can go full-time when she retires.
This is indeed the best full-timing forum on the net. I have learned so much in just a short time and Howard and Linda's almost daily journal is so much fun to live vicariously through.
I wish you the best and hope everything works out.
Jeff (jagco)
Terry and Jo said
07:50 PM Oct 15, 2009
Tony and Madonna,
Welcome to a great website. I suggest going back through Howard's journals and learning from him. You will be surprised of how much information you can glean from his experiences and mistakes. And, yes, Howard is honest enough to tell us ALL about his mistakes instead of being mum about it. He understands that he can provide valuable information to others.
Feel free to ask questions. None of us are expert in every aspect of things, but there is a lot of knowledgeable people here and they like to help. Also, for the forums that I tend to frequent (about 4 total), Howard and Linda's is the most active.
Enjoy the ride and the new experiences.
Terry
DagoRanch said
10:07 PM Oct 15, 2009
Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. I've already read the entire saga of Howard and Linda's plan. I especially liked the "old" journal that chronicled the year or so leading up to the big move, great stuff!
I really identified with their reasons for doing what they did, we came to very similar conclusions.
My journey started with a Grand Canyon river rafting trip in 2004. It was the best 7 days of my life and when I came back, I so didn't want to be part of the rat-race any more.
Unfortunately at the time, I was married to my first wife, who couldn't muster up the wherewithal to join me on that trip, even though that was the plan for over a year.
She just couldn't enjoy herself being in the outdoors, in nature, hiking, biking... it just wasn't her thing. We were married for 15 years, and the last 5 were eye opening, and we drifted farther apart. This on top of other reasons I won't get into, we divorced in 2006.
I met Madonna in 2007 and we were married in 2008.
We both found ourselves wanting so much more out of our lives, and both realized that our aspirations weren't ever going to be fulfilled with our former spouses. Both of us were married to people that just didn't have that "Gypsy/Adventure" gene in them. Her first husband had passed away in 2000 due to a heart defect that went unchecked for too long.
Madonna had never camped a day in her life, but she was willing to try... and she took to it like a duck to water. Being with the right person makes all the difference in the world.
So that's probably more than you all ever wanted to know.... but it's my story and I'm sticking to it!
Thanks again and I look forward to letting you all in on how we're doing with the plan.
We started selling off "Stuff" last week, we have a long way to go, but we have to start somewhere and we have lot's of stuff to divest ourselves of!
And we have an RV show to check out this weekend too! More 5th Wheel touring :)
-- Edited by DagoRanch on Thursday 15th of October 2009 10:11:03 PM
princess tonya said
09:22 AM Oct 16, 2009
Tony and Madonna-
Welcome. We will be official full timers in 2 and a half weeks. It's terrifying, but at the same time so exciting. I love your story about your wife. I always love to hear how couples met and their background.
It sounds like you guys have a great plan. Ours was kind of thrown together, but it's working ok.
Colorado_Kid said
12:02 AM Oct 18, 2009
Welcome to the forum Tony and Madonna. If you have a problem or a question there is a 99% chance someone here can help you.
JLitton65 said
09:49 AM Oct 19, 2009
Welcome to the forum Tony and Madonna. We are wannabes...we do have a 5th wheel, but we have a stix and brix house. Hopefully the market will come around. We are getting rid of stuff too.
We try to go camping at least every 6 weeks. Bad thing about that is we don't want to come home.
DagoRanch said
11:17 AM Oct 19, 2009
I hear ya on the not wanting to go home part, we feel the same way every time we go out boondocking in our PUP.
The real-estate market bums us out as well. Right now our plan calls for renting the house out, which presents it's own set of issues that in a perfect world we wouldn't deal with. Hopefully by the time we're ready to pull the trigger the market will improve enough to allow us to just walk away... right now it wouldn't be possible.
My name is Tony and my wife is Madonna. No, not THAT Madonna
Anyway, we've been mulling over a major life change for a couple of years now that started with buying 36 acres of unspoiled land in Northeastern, AZ for what was originally going to be a "retirement" location.
Well, as with all things this idea started morphing as we were getting ready to sock away money for improvements to the land. We came to the conclusion that we weren't ready to commit large amounts of money to putting "structures" on that property and instead were more comfortable spending money on an RV that we could enjoy anywhere, not just our remote property.
So we did just that, and purchased a 4x4 F-150 that tows a Starcraft 13 R/T pop-up trailer.
It's a pop-up that's designed to go to far off the beaten path and even has a forward cargo area for ATV's. We picked this up at the end of July and we've already enjoyed it for many weekends.
One night while relaxing in our pool in Phoenix in 100 degree weather, we were talking about how we so enjoyed boon docking in our pop-up in the numerous Federal/State lands here in AZ and the idea had popped into my head that why couldn't we do this on a full-time basis? I did some preliminary research and found out that it was quite doable, even if we weren't "retired" yet. Work-camping, telecommuting, seasonal work... it all makes perfect sense to us. We have no real ties to this "life" we have now, we both LOVE travel and new experiences and we're really close to being completely debt-free with the exception of the house.
Our land purchase will be paid for in the coming spring, we've conservatively figured that the sale of our household goods will net us somewhere in the neighborhood of $30K; that combined with the aggressive saving that we can do until 2011 when we tentatively plan to hit the road, we can have our new rig (mid-profile 5th Wheel & Tow vehicle) paid for and a years worth of expenses in the bank to fall back on and fill in the gaps while working various short-term/seasonal jobs.
So that's the current plan, subject to change at a moments notice!
One thing is for sure though, we're both committed to exiting this "Rat Race" and living a life full with new experiences and doing it on our terms, not someone else's idea of what our life should be :)
Welcome to a great website. I suggest going back through Howard's journals and learning from him. You will be surprised of how much information you can glean from his experiences and mistakes. And, yes, Howard is honest enough to tell us ALL about his mistakes instead of being mum about it. He understands that he can provide valuable information to others.
Feel free to ask questions. None of us are expert in every aspect of things, but there is a lot of knowledgeable people here and they like to help. Also, for the forums that I tend to frequent (about 4 total), Howard and Linda's is the most active.
Enjoy the ride and the new experiences.
Terry
-- Edited by DagoRanch on Thursday 15th of October 2009 10:11:03 PM
We try to go camping at least every 6 weeks. Bad thing about that is we don't want to come home.
The real-estate market bums us out as well. Right now our plan calls for renting the house out, which presents it's own set of issues that in a perfect world we wouldn't deal with. Hopefully by the time we're ready to pull the trigger the market will improve enough to allow us to just walk away... right now it wouldn't be possible.