Hello everyone:

I've been reading the blogs and following Howard and Linda's journal for several days.  I'm so envious of them sitting in the beautiful state park in Panama City,  Florida.  I finally signed up a couple days ago but not real experienced with this blog thing.

We are dreamers who hope to be full time May 1st. We decided about a month ago.  We have camped all our lives until about 4 years ago when we completely stopped.  We started out tent camping, then a trailer and then followed by 4 motor homes.  My husband, Bob, has a lot of health problems as well as we live on a tight budget.  All our lives we dreamed of the day that we could travel extensively but when the time came, we gave up the idea due to finances and health.

Reading the journals, blogs and web sites of other full timers we decided we could do this financially.  All we had to do was give up the "stick" house and believe me we are ready.  As far as DH's health, we'll work it out.  It's better to die doing something you enjoy than to die just sitting around waiting for it to happen.  So, our house goes on the market the middle of January (our realtor adviced not to do it in December) and let's all pray for a quick sale.

We have purchased our tow vehicle which is a Ford 2004 F350 SuperDuty Duelly(sp.) with a Diesel engine with factory towing package with only 79,000 miles. Our research tells us that is low mileage for this truck.  We are now looking for the 5th wheel.  If we find the one we want we will go ahead and buy with payments then pay off in full when stick house sells.  We are lucky in this respect as we have the income to do this as I am still working.  Willl be glad to turn in my resignation as soon as we have a buyer for the house.

This has gotten to long and I apologize.  So, will add more later.  By the way, if I don't respond to your posts for a few days, please forgive me.  We are taking a road trip for 5 days - granddaughter graduating from USF Saturday and we're going to be there for the celebration.

Can't Wait to leave this "rat race" and enjoy the peace and serenity of this world.  Hopefully, we can grow in spirituality and be a blessing to someone out there.

2 "old crows" and a dog named Berryjane.

It is an honor to have you on our forum and we all welcome you to the family of Dreamers. We hope that your house sells quickly and that you are on the road soon. Keep in touch with all of us and let us know how you are doing.

Welcome to the forum!

Glad you decided to follow your dream and get out on the road. You may find that some of the health problems actually improve once you get away from the "rat race" of living in a stix and brix house.

Keep us updated on the sale of the house and your progress towards full-timing.

As far as blogs go, you might want to go to www.blogger.com  and check it out. It's really not too difficult.

Jim

Thanks to Speedhitch and Jim01 for the nice welcome!  I've been wondering if there is anyone else out there as old as us.  We may be in a class by ourselves.  I am 68 and my DH is 73.  However, we're both very active and as I said I still work.  DH is retired due to disabilities.  I just regret that we have wasted all this time thinking we could not do this.  We know we can and we will.

Does anyone know anything about the air ride 5th wheel hitches.  They're very expensive and wonder if they are really worth their cost.  I believe they are sold out of Celebration, FL.  We have a goose neck hitch on the truck we bought and are really looking for a conversion for it since the gooseneck is rated for 25,000 pounds.  There ought to be a way to use it to pull the fifth wheel we're looking for.

As we travel to and from Tampa, FL this weekend we will be stopping at every RV sales dealer we pass looking for 5th wheels.  We have found a couple we like.  One is a 2010 Keystone Outback 33 ft and the other is a 2010 Heartland Sundown 34 foot.  Does anyone have any experience with these?

Later, Judy

"Two old crows and a dog named Berryjane"

Welcome Judy & Bob! You've found a great place to get trustworthy answers to what seems like a million questions.

As far as picking an RV, I'd highly recommend the Tampa RV show in January. You'd get a chance to see a LOT of Rv's side by side without driving all around the creation. You can walk through them, ask questions, & see what features are most important to you. We went last year & it really helped us a lot. I'd plan on going for several days if you're able.

Best of luck & welcome aboard!

First, let me say welcome to the family.  This is a great bunch of folks !!!  Second, don't worry about the time that you have missed, just enjoy the time that you have.  Many good times ahead !!! 

I will second Bob. I would plan on attending the Tampa RV Show.  This is a great place to see different types and styles and you can sometimes find a great deal there.  I know my wife and I are planning on going as we too will be looking for a 5th wheel in the future.

Good luck and keep us up to date.

Welcome to the group. You will find, as I have, that the folks here are very friendly and more than willing to answer your questions. Good luck on your quest for a camper,and then enjoy your time together. I am looking forward to our first extended trip come spring.

Hi Judy!  SO good to see someone else from Alabama on here!  Welcome to the forum.  I've only been on here a few weeks, but have been so impressed with the members.  They are some of the most courteous, knowledgeable people I've ever encountered.    Hope you find the perfect-for-you 5ver very soon!

Kerri

Welcome to you both!!! This is a great community of RVers so please join in. Don't worry about when you start this lifestyle what is important is that you have decided to follow your dream. Good for you!! We just started full-timing in August and just simply love this lifestyle. You actually might find that your health does improve. I hope so. Keep us updated on the sell of the house. The market seems to be getting a bit better so that will help.

Thanks to all of you who have welcomed us.  It makes us feel like we're home.  Sorry it took so long to acknowledge all of your replies but we were out of town - actually in Tampa, FL.  Don't know if we can get back in January or not.  But, would like to have more info on the show as to where it is held, the dates, etc.

Thanks to all!

Judy

2 Old Crows and a dog named Berryjane

Roll Tide and War Eagle, It is good to see some others from Alabama. Welcome to the forum. We lived outside of Montevallo on a few acres with horses. We decided to change our lifestyle and go fulltiming. We sold everything over 2 years ago and after finishing our work we hit the road and have been traveling and volunteering all over the USA. Alabama is still our home base and we are parked in our daughters driveway in the Birmingham area as we visit the family for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We have a Trailair Pinhitch which softens the ride for the truck and trailer. Hope you find a good trailer. We researched and shopped for a long time before finding just the right one and we have been very happy with it. It is important to watch the weights on what your truck is rated for and having enough carrying capacity in the trailer. We wish you the best and hope to see you on the road. God bless, Allan and Jeanne

Dreamers wrote:

---

Does anyone know anything about the air ride 5th wheel hitches.  They're very expensive and wonder if they are really worth their cost.  I believe they are sold out of Celebration, FL.  We have a goose neck hitch on the truck we bought and are really looking for a conversion for it since the gooseneck is rated for 25,000 pounds.  There ought to be a way to use it to pull the fifth wheel we're looking for.

One is a 2010 Keystone Outback 33 ft and the other is a 2010 Heartland Sundown 34 foot.  Does anyone have any experience with these?

-------------------------

Air ride 5th wheel hitches are very useful things as far as smoothing out the ride the heavier the fiver the more you might want one.  Our 5th Wheel is rated up to 15,500 pounds and we run with a standard Husky hitch and a Demco Glide ride pinbox that combo works very well for our size 5th wheel.

There is a goose neck adapter you can get and I know of people who use them and love them.  And as we have a flat bed a turn over ball hitch would of been the way to go but for the fact that we bought new.  Nu Wa the maker of our 5th Wheel advises against them because their frame manufacturers will void the frame warranty if you use one.  Since Lippert makes most of the frames out there I suspect this would apply to anyone else using those frames your going to want to check that.

Keystone Outback and Heartland Sundown we looked at both.  Not enough storage in those rigs for what we'd want to carry.  I suggest that when you find them sit in them for a good long time (an hour plus is what we did with our short list of rvs) and figure out where everything will go.

Also again check the warranty I doubt those two models are warranted for beyond seasonal use.  I may be wrong but the time limits on use per year was a bit of a shock on some of the units we were looking at.  Units the sales reps were suggesting as "the perfect full time unit", yet if something went wrong and I was honest about full timing in it I'd not be able to get repairs done......  I hate having to remember what the truth is supposed to be.

Mallo

 

Alan and Jeanne

We can't wait!  Do you mind if I ask where you found your rig?  We have our truck so have to fit the rig to it.  Have you had any problems keeping Alabama as your home base?  That is what we intend to do.  Will be using the UPS store here in Tuscaloosa for our mail.

Thanks so much for your reply!

Judy

-- Edited by Dreamers on Tuesday 15th of December 2009 03:07:30 PM

Mallo, thanks so much for your input.  This rig thing is really getting to us.  We found a new 38 ft Jayco Designer over the weekend - had everything in it you could think of.  But????  Do you know where we might find actual ratings and comparisons of different RV's?

Thanks, Judy