Greetings, all from another pair of "will-be's".

Our story is so similar to all of yours! He's 57, I'm 55 and we've been bitten by the Fulltiming bug.  No, we've never RV'd, but we've done a fair amount of overnighting in a 40' sailboat - coincidentally, I always called it the "floating RV."

Lucky for me, he is very handy, was a mechanic for years - understands and easily grasps anything to do with vehicle systems. And he has a CDL to boot. Yay!

And you can imagine the rest: The escape plan is formulating!  When we're not working (unfortunately, not very often) we are researching, researching! I've bookmarked about 30 internet sites in just the last month!

We're making a list of what matters to us in an MH and what would be a "nice to have". Thinking about new vs used...Reading about safety...Pondering where to start...all of the same things that all of you have done or are doing.

Right now the plan is to hit the road sometime in 2012 or possibly early 2013. We live in South FL, so we could actually start out in the winter. Figured we might head to Key West, swing around Southernmost Point and call that the official launch (yes, I know how narrow the streets are - so we'll probably "toad" it to and from there.)   We'd like to travel the whole US, possibly head into Canada and up to Alaska. Yup...ambitious!

No kids at home, no grandkids (yet), live in a condo that we could rent if we can't sell it and already have a storage locker to hold the stuff. At this stage, it's about saving money, constructing fulltiming budgets and carefully analyzing exactly what it will take to fulltime for a year or two.. or more.

Sure, we "could" go now..and in some respects, I want to. But he's in school and has another year and half left (went back to learn a new skill after the recession hammer hit and he was laid off). There will be a natural transition point at that time.

We'll go to the Florida RV supershow in January to see in real-life the MH's we've been "touring" virtually. I have no doubt that we are going to come away incredibly excited and even more determined to make the plan work.

So that's my story....I'd love to hear from any of you who have advice, suggestions, ideas - or just a friendly hello. Hope to be on this forum fairly often as we research, investigate and plan.

And one little detail I left out...we've been together nearly 40 years..and are still best friends. Living closely in confined space is something we know we'll enjoy, because we do it now. My only requirement is two toilets!

Thanks and happy RV'ing!

Mooline

-- Edited by mooline on Sunday 29th of August 2010 06:17:38 AM

Welcome to the forum.

You've found the right place to get all your questions answered. Lots of friendly folks here willing to help.

I think the sailboat experience will come in handy. It's surprising how much they are similar to an RV.

Good luck with your plans.

Jim

Welcome Mooline! This is a great site for learning and getting any questions answered. We are on a similar timetable to yours, but I know it will go by very quickly! :) Have fun with your research! Jessica

Thanks so much, Jessica and Jim! I really appreciate the warm welcomes and look forward to keeping in touch with both of you - and everyone else on this forum.

Question - for everyone: If you could give one and only one sentence of advice to us "will-be's"...what would that be?

Thanks again!

Hello and welcome to the Dreamers forum Mooline.

Enjoy your search for you're next home. It's an exciting phase to going full-time. When the DW and I started talking about going full-time we had zero experience with RV's. The best advice we received was to buy big, it saves you from losing money when you find the rig you purchased is too small and you need to upgrade.

Best of luck in making your dream a reality.

-- Edited by NorCal Dan on Sunday 29th of August 2010 09:13:12 AM

Welcome, these folks are great, helpful & have a wonderful resource here

Mooline...one piece of advice. Buy the highest quality you can afford...research, research, research. Don't buy any companies entry level rig, no matter how new!

(This was advise given to me by an RV inspector with many years in the business.)

Welcome, Mooline! We are pretty close in age to you - 54 and almost 56. And we are also "will-be"s in the research stage. We do have our house on the market. Glad you've joined us.

we may be only slightly ahead of you in the wannabe category but we will wait for you on the road...

Still a wannabee here. My line of advise that I still use? "Research, research, research..............." Just can't do it enough. The folks here are top notch and will help as much as they can. You just have to ask the question!

Thank you all so much for the many replies, advice and warm welcome! :)