I just opened a group at RVillage.com with the same name Dreamers Class of 2015 so we'll have a map of where we're starting out. Once we each graduate we'll be able to see all the cool places our class is visiting.
It will also give anyone in the group the option to plan get-togethers.

Okay, the field is built, let's see if they come !

Jodee

So I set up the RVillage group and confirmed the page. Went on there a minute ago and no group. I'll try again tomorrow and try to figure out what I did wrong.

Jodee

Thanks Bob, note entry above yours. I'm working on getting it up today. Fingers crossed .

Jodee

We're in, JoDee. I'll go over to Our Village and try to join!

Roy

Yep, they got back to me once and were working on it but nothing since then. I'm sure they have dozens of things to follow up on so I'm being patient. I will definitely post here when it finally sets up. I can't figure out why it won't show up on the list, there seem to be more new groups every day.

Jodee

Just joined the group.  

Just wanted to say how cool this is that you're organizing like this. I started fulltiming in 2001 and in 2005 I was invited by friends to join the "Fulltiming Graduating Class of 2005" in Quartzsite. This started as a group organized under Escapees forum and the first time I had heard of anything like that. Anyway, I met the neatest people there and so many of us are still good friends and meet up on the road whenever we can. Some are still on the road, some not, but lifelong friendships were made. You're gonna have a lot of fun with this!
Malia

We're in!

Roy

Yeah Janice! Welcome to the class.

We will be at the Rally.  I am so excited

Next spring would be our first as well. Sure hoping we can make it work, even if we don't have the coach yet

Jodee

Back on track to being debt-free by Bill's retirement date of April 1 2015 - yahoo!! Looks like we'll be able to make the 2015 Spring Rally in TN as long as we can get a cabin. Although we should have the rig by then (fingers crossed), we won't have the time to make that round trip yet.

Looking forward, the time continues to crawl.....but looking back it's really flying by!! First NFL game aired last night which is always our first sign that summer is coming to an end .

Hope everyone's plans and preparations are coming together smoothly - would love to hear how other "classmates" are doing!!!

Jodee

Oh Jodee I hope you'll be at the fall rally!  We'd love to meet you two!

 

-- Edited by DebbieM on Tuesday 5th of August 2014 04:41:57 PM

Debbie - I sure wish we could make it to Goshen, but we just can't swing it . Part of me also thinks that having to come back to the S&B and the job for Bill (after going to the rally) would be pure torture as well! But the Spring rally is on our calendar, and I'm just waiting for the registration to open up!!!

David - you're my heroes! My last blog post was about "knowing it when you see it" so I love that you went for it!! I don't think you can do any better than a Tiffin . You may be the first of our class to "graduate" so keep us posted.

Jodee

Hi John and Carol!

Your furkids are adorable .

Will keep an eye out for you on our RVillage page - and sure hope to meet you at the Spring rally in TN.

It's great that you already have a rig that will allow you to head out without any debt. I made no money on my last two home sales but was so happy just getting out from under them! It looks like we'll do okay with this one next year (fingers and toes crossed!).

Enjoy all the planning and preparation - it's getting so close now!!!

Jodee

Hello class of '15. I am Adam, of Adam and Karen. We, along with Freyja, our Doberman Pinscher and my guide dog, should be on the road next year, hopefully by mid spring.

We purchased our new-to-us travel trailer on the last day of May, 2014. Like the couple above who bought the bus, we found this Dutchmen 30RL and it fit into our budget and "have to have" list. We decided it was close enough to what we wanted, at the price we could easily afford, that if we were going to do it, this was the one.

In a way, I'm lucky. Even though I'm legally blind, I still work part-time doing marketing for a local Chevy-Buick-GMC dealer. Last year, we traded for a 2011 Chevy Silverado 2500HD Ext Cab with the 6.0 gas engine with only 9300 miles. My General Manager made me a deal I just couldn't pass up. I don't really want a diesel (I just can't make it make economic sense), and I don't want a Crew Cab (too long and Freyja doesn't need it), so this was the truck for us. "Tyronne", as I call him, matches perfectly to the Dutchmen, so we should be set.....

Except for some customizations. I want to be able to boondock, so solar and increased battery power is in our future. I am planning, in stages, to add 2 Trojan T1275 batteries and 400 watts of solar to the travel trailer; expandable to 600 watts if the need arises. I am also a ham radio operator (my callsign is WK4P), and I need to install a couple of connectors through the camper's wall for antennas. Since our trailer is an '04, it has the big, deep space for an old, analog TV; this will make the perfect place for a radio/computer station; with some modifications, of course. Ham radio will provide us with communications and email service (yes, you can do email via ham radio) no matter where we are on this planet.)

One of our most difficult decisions is what to do with our "fun car". I dreamed up a PT Road Runner, a PT Cruiser Convertible customized with a Road Runner theme. The car contains elements from the '68, '69, '70, and '71 Road Runners produced by Plymouth and we really love this car. It's not a high dollar car, but it draws tons of attention; I don't know how many times Karen has seen people taking pictures of it as we drive down the road. We can keep it with us for the first six months of our trip, but after that, we'll have to find some place to store it; or, God forbid, sell it. We may give it to our daughter, but she is 22 and I'm afraid she'd destroy it like she has every other car she has ever owned. The back deck of the PT Road Runner is in our avitar.

I am an aspiring novelist, having published my first novel, "Barely Retired" early this year, and the response has been so good I'm working on the sequel, "Barely Home: Back to the Hills" right now. These are sexy, spicy mysteries involving a couple who retire and set out, in their 5th wheel, of course, on a "risque" adventure. Barely Retired started out as a stand alone book, but I now have a trilogy planned, with the third novel being titled "Barely Running". Warning: while my novels are far from erotica (reviewers say they have a great storyline), they do contain adult scenes and language. No, I am not a prude, lol.

Anyway, we have mapped out our first stop in SC for the spring of '15, unless our house sells quickly, which I'm not expecting. We have lived her for 20+ years and raised 3 children here, so we have a lot of things to sort through and a lot of emotions to go through as we part ways with most of our "stuff" (I always think of George Carlin when I say "stuff"). But we are ready for this, ready to hit the road.

While in college at Appalachian State, we lived in a Lakota tipi. Raising our kids in the '90s and '00s we lived in a stick and mortar house. Now, starting in '15, we'll live in a travel trailer. We've hit our 50s, but the adventure continues. I hope it never ends.

Sorry to write so much, but I do write 100,000 word novels, lol.

Hope to see y'all, our classmates, on the road.

Today, we made progress in preparing for our launch. albeit difficult ones. I, Adam, sold 2 pieces of ham radio gear, one of which I have really enjoyed a lot over the years and will miss. But, I can't have a world class ham radio shack on the road, so it had to be done. I truly feel that selling this equipment is proof of my dedication to our decision to RV full-time. Besides, all the money from the ham radio sales go toward upgrading the travel trailer or giving us a cushion for the road.

I also contacted a company about taking down my ham radio towers today. Another big emotional issue for me.

Karen took pictures off the wall this evening. Many of these were pics of our kids growing up. They will be stored, not thrown away. I know it was hard for her to pack their baseball, soccer, and basketball pics that had hung on the wall for many years, but, again, it shows her dedication to our new lifestyle.

I also contacted a friend who is a realtor to get the ball rolling on listing the house. Listing the house is an touchy issue of timing. List to late and it won't sell in time. List too early and the house sells before we're ready, forcing decisions that will likely cost us money. If the house sells sooner than I expect, I'm not against an early launch date, but I don't relish the thought of being forced to dump things I know I can sell and at least get a little out of; especially since every dollar we can get from our "stuff" will help provide the financial cushion I want to have in the first couple of years of our journey.

Doing great Adam and Karen! Many things are done "to us" over the years, making big changes in our lives. This is a huge change and you are doing it "for you" instead. A small consolation while giving up things, but it will feel wonderful when the dream is reality

Our timing next year is critical as well We're hoping we can do a 30-60 day rent back when we sell, otherwise we will be scrambling to get all the ducks in a row.

Keep moving forward!!

Jodee

Oh I'm so glad you're both 100%! And thrilled that Jocelyne is ready to be done with the job Sounds like you're on top of everything and on track to launch in 2015.

I look forward to hearing about your progress in the months to come. The closer we get the more we'll need to give each other occasional pep talks!!

Jodee

With timing being so important, here's hoping you're "a little better than average" so you have time to get through everything without additional stress! Hope you get your price and your timing

We plan to have the house "ready" at the first of the year then talk with our potential buyer for our own timing! Bill has moved up his retirement by one week to enable us to make the family reunion in NM the last week of March. Soooooo we have to sell house and buy rig before then. That will mean staying in the MH at local RV park until the youngest graduates on June 3. Should give us a nice break-in period .

Thanks for the update!!

Jodee

Hello Class 2015,

Tonight I'm feeling down, I know ihe feeling will not stay but I feel that there is not much going on toward FT. In fact I've been doing my homework for so long that almost everything is settle on paper but I'm still in a waiting mode everywhere. All the work on the house is done which will be on the market in february. I already sold a car this summer and the purge will be done next spring, regarding that matter family and friends asked me to make a pre-sale because they want to have the first choice pick over my stuff. I need to say that I'm the type of person that take good care of what he buy's therefore eventhough it is not brand new it still looks like.

I alreday meet the company that will built my close trailer, I already know the model of my rig and probably where I will buy it. I know which services I'll be using for tv, internet, cell phone but still everything seems to be on hold. I read the forum and I browse the net trying to learn something new that will help me get my mind out of the box but there is nothing new to me. Perhaps I've been planning this moment for so long and took all the steps to acheive the dream that I'm at a point that I'm having a hard time to wait.

I know that tomorrow is another day but I needed to share what I was going through. 12 months is no big thing and should go fast but still I feel that I'm not doing anything toward acheiving my goals toward FT. Maybe I should let go for a while and focus on something else and in a few weeks it will start all over again. Like I said FT is a life style that I've been awaiting for more than 20 years, maybe this is why I've a hard time to wait knowing it will happen next year.

Thanks for reading me. I'll get there no matter what.

Jean

I understand, Jean. Somedays, I realize we have so much to do, and I feel like I'm doing so little to get it done. Right now, my goal is to do something each day. Somedays I'll do more, but I need to do at least one thing each day; even if it's just to throw out an old hat or shirt. At least that way, I'm making some progress, if only a little.

Hello all, Norma & I have joined the class. Target date is July 15, 2015. Presently purging a lot of stuff. 35 years of collecting Trying to move target date up.

2009 Select Suites 36RSB3

2013 Silverado dually diesel

gilljr wrote:

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Hello all, Norma & I have joined the class. Target date is July 15, 2015. Presently purging a lot of stuff. 35 years of collecting Trying to move target date up.

2009 Select Suites 36RSB3

2013 Silverado dually diesel

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 Welcome to the 2015 RV Dream Class, hope that you will acheive your goal.  Don't worry about the purging exercise we are all in the same boat.  If you are not to sentimental with your stuff it should be easy otherwise it can be a pain.  Beside you already have your rig therefore one thing less on your mind to figure.  The main two things to do is the sale of your house & the purging, so you are on track.

Good luck

Jean