Hi Everyone. Well, after 15 years the RV-Dreams Community Forum is coming to an end. Since it began in August 2005, we've had 58 Million page views, 124,000 posts, and we've spent about $15,000 to keep this valuable resource for RVers free and open. But since we are now off the road and have settled down for the next chapter of our lives, we are taking the Forum down effective June 30, 2021. It has been a tough decision, but it is now time.
We want to thank all of our members for their participation and input over the years, and we want to especially thank those that have acted as Moderators for us during our amazing journey living and traveling in our RV and growing the RV-Dreams Family. We will be forever proud to have been founders of this Forum and to have been supported by such a wonderful community. Thank you all!!
Like a lot of you guys, I'm working that long trail towards full time RV living. Conventionally it's a math problem, broken at times by "life" causing you to recalculate, and, it seems, always pushing that launch-date back further. I'm taking a different path, but the journey is very much the same.
I started out as a kid who didn't know three driving-vacations a year was unusual. Before I was 15, I'd seen 46 states and PR twice. I thought everyone saw the world from the back window. I actually grew to enjoy the smell of diesel fumes; they generally meant dinner was nearby, out on the road.
Then, for some reason I started chasing women, started a family, that didn't work so well, and started looking back. I love the travel; the new towns, the annoyance of having to learn a new city, and the fun you can have when you get lost there.
Way too late for dreams of being a fighter pilot, I had to re-light the last old dream I had: touring the USA like when I was a kid. Now this is me: http://CounterMoon.org
In 1978 I was fiddling with computers; wire-wrapping breadboards, making Z80's and various controller-things. I was the only one around doing it; Microsoft wouldn't be a household word for nearly a decade. I had this dream to tour the USA, take jobs on the road, and (somehow) get money downloaded to me. There were no ATMs, then. And staying in touch with the net was $6/minute!
In a vocational trade, I managed to get a 14' cargo van, brand new. Clean and perfect- no one has spilled oil (or worse) in there. It has computers, a furnace, ventilation, storage, all kinds of comfortable in there, minus a few things. No wasted space, and no cheesy cardboard walls.
When Mom no longer needs me as a caregiver, I plan to get underway. I expect I'll be on full-time, probably headed north someplace.
Don't let that launch date get pushed too far back. You never know what tomorrow will bring.
Jim
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Jim and Linda Full-timers from 2001 to 2013 http://parttimewithjandl.blogspot.com/ 2006 Dodge 2500 Diesel pulling a Heartland 26LRSS TT May your days be warm, and your skies be blue. May your roads be smooth, and your views ever-new.
Greetings Wheeldweller - As a child I too traveled. My father was a teacher and my husband was in the military. I have been in 42 states and 3 Canadian proviences. My husband has been all over the world. I am gadget stupid, but we took an early retirement due to health issues, so now I am trying to slooowwwlllyyy... teach myself the best I can about computer stuff. And we soon will be full time RVing in our motorhome, which will be our home. As Jim and Linda say "you never know what tomorrow will bring". Ann
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Don and Ann Miller 1979 Sportscoach 3300 Dodge M600 Chassis 440 engine, 727 torqueflite transmission 1989 Harley Electraglide Classic FLHTC
http://daze-m.blogspot.com
Yeah, I went to Canada once, I believe: it was Expo 67. Dad had a broken leg for some reason and he was able to get ahead in the lines; that was different for us!
And ya know, as many amusement parks as I saw, I never got to Disney. California is one of the places I never went, and with all the times in Florida (Dad knew every Stuckey's manager from Kentucky to Key West!) I only got to DisneyWorld once. There was an enormous grassy field, three bulldozers, and so much mud, they couldn't get the bulldozers outta there!
What a ripoff! (Of course, there were no lines, and no one took any money...)
As to gadget problems, maybe that's what I'm here for. I started as a child, wire-wrapping back in 1978. I've been in the computer field for so long, I grow very, very, weary at all the "Neo"s that think doing everything the hard way is the most attractive way to do it. I've been opening zip/arc/etc files for something like 30 years- I'm tired of it!
Nowdays I want to drive it all from a GUI, hit some check-boxes and get the job done. If I get 'dirty' with the details of the project at hand, that's fine. But I don't want to be knee-deep in technicalities with my tools.
One of the reasons the ubiquitous cresent wrench is so useful is that it's simple. Just adjust the thing to the size you need, and turn the handle. THAT is what I want computers to be. Tonka Toys. And that's why I love Ubuntu Linux.
http://UbuntuLinux.com
If you don't know how, or don't want to make a disk, write them and they will SEND YOU SOME FOR FREE. It's really cool. This is where you go when you've had it with Windows but can't afford/don't want a Mac.
I see you are a computer guru. I, myself, had once been asked to join MENSA (was 148) that was long ago before my inner cranium turned to applesauce due to circumstances beyond my control. But I think your plan is a wonderful thing and you should go for it. The future will someday be tomorrows past. Good luck! Ann
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Don and Ann Miller 1979 Sportscoach 3300 Dodge M600 Chassis 440 engine, 727 torqueflite transmission 1989 Harley Electraglide Classic FLHTC
http://daze-m.blogspot.com
I see you are a computer guru. I, myself, had once been asked to join MENSA (was 148) that was long ago before my inner cranium turned to applesauce due to circumstances beyond my control. But I think your plan is a wonderful thing and you should go for it. The future will someday be tomorrows past. Good luck! Ann
You're too kind to say so, thank you.
I too was high-powered once upon a time, but I swear I have NO IDEA what happened to it. Programming...even READING is hard for me now. I can still do it all, it's just very hard to get it done. And I miss it, too.
Wonder if we shared the same situation? It was just two weeks ago I learned I have gout, and have had, for many years. It was revealed I had high blood pressure at 21 after YEARS of headaches. (Hmm....wonder if THAT was where it went?)
Mine was brought on by stess (which helped to bring on my other health problems). I too have to read somethings over and over again, and somedays are better than others. Right now I am tired so I need to take a break for awhile. Tomorrow we will hopefully pick up a trailer to haul our bike behind our coach. Sometimes I get so angry with myself for not being able to remember things. Our kids refer to me as the absent minded professor. I can still read 5 different languages enough to get the gist of what they are trying to say. I can't write them and I can speak a little but most of it is buried in the deep dark recesses of what is left of my mind. Thank goodness my hubby is understanding and realizes that somewhere in there (my mind) a genius is lurking. Every so often I will have an epithany and can discuss quantum physics for awhile, then off it leaves again. Good-night. Chat latter. Ann
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Don and Ann Miller 1979 Sportscoach 3300 Dodge M600 Chassis 440 engine, 727 torqueflite transmission 1989 Harley Electraglide Classic FLHTC
http://daze-m.blogspot.com
I started out as a kid who didn't know three driving-vacations a year was unusual. Before I was 15, I'd seen 46 states and PR twice. I thought everyone saw the world from the back window. I actually grew to enjoy the smell of diesel fumes; they generally meant dinner was nearby, out on the road.
