Another newbie! - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Grams · RV-Dreams Family Member

Another newbie!

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

Welcome to the Family!!!!!

Grams · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks!

PIEERE · RV-Dreams Family Member

I have read your long post and Welcome to the best group of people on the internet! There is so much more to retiring and living than sitting in a rocking chair awaiting the day you die. I started doing this Rving and work camping gig in 2001 at the age of 50. I would not take back that decision as I have met and enjoyed friendships with more people than I ever did in my earlier lifetime. The end of March of 2012; if you read any of my posts in Rving with health issues; had a severe heart attack at 60 yrs of age and survived with 3 stents. I am sure happy that I had ten years to see much of the Eastern states from NY to Fl. and to the Midwest down to Miss. and Alabama. I now have plans (bucket List) to make it the the Great NorthWest as an Rv traveler instead of a work camper.

VanMar · RV-Dreams Family Member

Tammy,

Welcome to the forum from a fellow Ozarker. DW and I will be about six months behind you.

Vance

KellyVA · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hi Grams and welcome! I'm new here too and LOVE it. :) We will also be leaving grand daughters and got the same reaction from some. I'm sure I will miss them but we can get back here whenever we want so it will be OK. We love to travel and have to do it while we can.

Your house you are leaving sounds wonderful! I hope it sells quickly so you can get on to your next adventure. :) I'll be looking for you on the road for that meal...

bigboomer · RV-Dreams Family Member

Congrats Grams on joining the wonderful family of FT RV'ers who have a dream of a stress free and adventure filled lifestyle. We all have to make our own decisions as to what makes us happy and if you have chosen this way of life, GOOD FOR YOU! In time those that doubt will envy. The great thing that we have found about this forum unlike some other forums is that we are all just pretty common folks who just want to help each other do and get better at this. The comments and suggestions that we have seen posted are for the most part heartfelt and give us a sense that these folks care.

We have been FT'ing now since the beginning of August '12 when we closed one chapter in our book of life and opened another and as Sue says, "there is no reason to re-read that chapter as we already know what was written". It gets better every day and now we have those that questioned us thinking we might not be all that nuts after all!

Wishing you continued good luck with your endeavors and safe travels.

Les

janni · RV-Dreams Family Member

Welcome from another mid 50. I had a hard time leaving my kids and my little grands but have found that as time moves quickly on they are busy with their own lives and I cannot live mine entirely through them.
Les said it perfectly. "In time those that doubt will envy."
Enjoy the ride!

WestWardHo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hey Grams,

Welcome to this great forum. Could we please be first in line for dinner?

I can relate to the "kitchen stuff", planning on replacing our Big Country after the house sells and we spend a few months on the road to get more refrigerator and counter space.

Sherry

RVKevi · RV-Dreams Family Member

janni wrote:
Welcome from another mid 50. I had a hard time leaving my kids and my little grands but have found that as time moves quickly on they are busy with their own lives and I cannot live mine entirely through them.
Les said it perfectly. "In time those that doubt will envy."
Enjoy the ride!

Very well said! We're in our mid to late 50's. biggrin We have lived near our son for years. He and our dil have given us 3 grandchildren over the last 4+ years. But even though we lived within a few minutes of them we didn't really see them very often - mostly when they needed a babysitter. We're on great terms with them. It's just that their lives are very busy. We can't live our lives hanging about waiting for them to have time for us. We need to live our own lives and let them live theirs. Sure, I'll miss my grandbabies, and I'm sure they'll miss us, too, but we'll be through here often and in the meantime, the fulltime lifestyle will keep us young enough to enjoy them when we see them!

KellyVA · RV-Dreams Family Member

RVKevi wrote:
janni wrote:
Welcome from another mid 50. I had a hard time leaving my kids and my little grands but have found that as time moves quickly on they are busy with their own lives and I cannot live mine entirely through them.
Les said it perfectly. "In time those that doubt will envy."
Enjoy the ride!
Very well said! We're in our mid to late 50's. We have lived near our son for years. He and our dil have given us 3 grandchildren over the last 4+ years. But even though we lived within a few minutes of them we didn't really see them very often - mostly when they needed a babysitter. We're on great terms with them. It's just that their lives are very busy. We can't live our lives hanging about waiting for them to have time for us. We need to live our own lives and let them live theirs. Sure, I'll miss my grandbabies, and I'm sure they'll miss us, too, but we'll be through here often and in the meantime, the fulltime lifestyle will keep us young enough to enjoy them when we see them!

Mid to late 50's here too! biggrin Totally relate with what you both said. We live 5 minutes from our little grand daughters but as they get older and busier we see them less and that's just the way it happens. I remember my hubbies grandma told me that once my kids were in school we wouldn't see her much and I didn't believe here but it's true. Especially these days when everyone is running from pillar to post without much time to take a breath.

Grams · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome!

Janni is correct, as we are already experiencing the kids' busy lives. When the g-kids were younger we would have grandpa/grams' weekends and take them to area attractions. Now if we want to see them, we usually attend their ballgames (I'm NOT a sports fan, so not the greatest experience for me!) I'm sure I'll miss them, but with skype and e-mail, we will keep involved. I currently know more about their lives because of facebook and that connection will not change.

We plan to come home November - January with the thought process of being home for the holidays and get taxes done before hitting the road again. My mom and three of kids b-days fall in that range too, so that will be nice.

We plan to hit the road January 2014 and head to Florida for the rest of the winter. Then our thought is to start traveling the US coast line/boarder heading west.

Sherry and Kelly, the invitation is open for dinner ... hope our paths cross.

Camper_Boy · RV-Dreams Family Member

When's dinner...We are experiencing the same growing pains with family...they however have come full circle in reading our blog daily and can't wait to experience our travels now. The general discussions we have with recent retired people is they wish they would have embarked earlier.

Good luck selling and minimizing stuff, we thought we would miss it all, but just way to much to see and great people to meet to miss anything. Enjoy!!!

Oh, we have been on the road, since Dec2012.

JayKim-no regrets · RV-Dreams Family Member

Welcome Grams (and all new members!)

We are still static full-timers, living full-time in our RV, but not yet full-time on the road. Sometimes family members can be pretty selfish, it's a very normal reaction when you think about it from their point of view, we have been there all their lives (or all ours) maybe only a short drive away if needed, but always available to help them through the 'drama'. They don't understand that this will not change, it just may take us a bit longer to 'get there', or maybe it will enable them to cope with things by themselves and learn that not everything is such a big deal. Either way, they just don't see the big picture, only that we won't be where they have always thought we would be and that for them could translate to mean, you just don't care anymore. It's not a bad thing for us to realize that 'we' are also allowed to be a little selfish, we have 'earned' that right.

Once everyone gets used to the idea, i'm sure you will be surprised as to how everyone's 'new normal' makes us all so much happier

huggies Kim x