In reference to the New York Times piece "Retirement on the Road" I quote from today's opinion page..."Despite the larger numbers of retirees who want to hit the road, this one is very happy to be at home, where I have satisfying activities, frequent contact with friends and opportunities to spend time with my children and grandchildren.Being on the road, with a constant panoply of new places, new sights and new lodgings, wouldn’t hold my interest. Occasional travel: Great. All-the-time travel: Just too isolating"This was written in by Lenore H Forsted of Wynnewood PA.For those of us contemplating our future as RVers, it's a point well taken. When we are on the road we have a great time and talk about going full time or more time. Still looking at the options but home has it's advantages unlike any campground we've found so far. We're fortunate because we can travel as much as we want knowing our townhome is ready and available whenever we want to return home.

At this point I tend to agree, and more importantly, as does my DW. We can see being away RVing many months at a time, but we will always have a home-base to come back to. The article identifies many of the very same reasons why we will never be able to say we are truly full-timers, staying in close touch with children, grandchildren, family and friends will always pulls us back home. We do have many plans to go away for extended periods of time and God willing we will pursue those travels, but home is where the heart is and it will always be fun to get back.

I like the idea of a home port. Maybe it's a Navy thing. :)It's very doubtful that we'll be full timers.

What Mr. Forsted fails to realize that a large number of full timers end up finding that perfect (for them) spot and set down a more permanent existence there.Now imagine never having the opportunity to look for what place and staying in a place like, say, Wynnwood PA. That and I had to look up panoply.

I like the home port thing too though cutting the grass today for the first time since last March, & doing it in 85' heat with matching 85% humidity has me questioning how much I like being home.

I'll take the appreciation of real estate and not the depreciation on something with 4 wheels....Plus all the other things mentioned in the first post!

Too much of a good thing? Retirement on the Road NYT

27 Replies

John_Joey
Explorer
Sep 05, 2014
Not telling anyone they should FT or not, but what I've come across is many have a fear of the unknown. If you traveled to places that pushed your limits (not Las Vegas, Disney World, Cancun, Hawaii, etc...) during your working life then FT'ing will come easy in retirement.

It takes a sharp mind and physical ability to jump into an RV in your later years and take off for parts unknown where you don't have a safety net of family, friends, and professionals. In return for this effort/risk your mind gets sharper and your strength will increase. Like my Dad would say "use it or lose it."
NYCgrrl
Explorer
Sep 05, 2014
Escargot wrote:
I admire full-timers and have seriously considered it for myself until I realized I was caught in a loop of magical thinking. I'm just not cut out for it. I will retire in Dec '14 (YAY!!) and plan on RVing extensively for months at a time, but I will still hold on to my townhouse in metro San Diego as home base. Mine is a small complex of 12 units, and the HOA takes care of the maintenance, as such, I am free to come and go for any period of time I chose.

Although I appreciate new environments, I also appreciate the familiar. I'm planning on having the best of both worlds.

x2
Similar to my thunk and lifestyle except substituting a smaller than my current NYC coop for an HOA.
Escargot
Explorer
Sep 04, 2014
I admire full-timers and have seriously considered it for myself until I realized I was caught in a loop of magical thinking. I'm just not cut out for it. I will retire in Dec '14 (YAY!!) and plan on RVing extensively for months at a time, but I will still hold on to my townhouse in metro San Diego as home base. Mine is a small complex of 12 units, and the HOA takes care of the maintenance, as such, I am free to come and go for any period of time I chose.

Although I appreciate new environments, I also appreciate the familiar. I'm planning on having the best of both worlds.
stickdog
Explorer
Sep 04, 2014
Isn't wonderful we can all live our dreams. I'm retired and now free to wander.
tjfogelberg
Explorer
Sep 04, 2014
Lots of good ideas floating around here - my original post wasn't meant to knock full timing! In fact, we've seriously considered it or something closer to it.

Our townhome (HOA) has no outside maintenance. We can lock up and go. The neighbor collects our mail and checks inside as needed. I just installed a freeze alarm (MN). The townhome costs $20/day for association fee, real estate tax, insurance and all utilities. It's actually cheaper than camping LOL

As far as depreciation/appreciation, we're even $ on the townhome. The market has recovered from the depressed levels of '08 but it's certainly not been a great investment. It's a roof over our heads, a place to store "stuff" and at some point a piggy bank if we run out of assets later in life.
Lantley
Nomad
Sep 04, 2014
CKNSLS wrote:
I'll take the appreciation of real estate and not the depreciation on something with 4 wheels....

Plus all the other things mentioned in the first post!

And I'll take $0.00 in property tax vs. $10K.

There are lots of things to consider. It really isn't as simple as depreciation and taxes.
Finances are certainly a part of the decision but long term happiness is at the root of the decision.
BarbaraOK
Explorer
Sep 04, 2014
As usual, people who don't understand fulltimers assume that fulltimers are ON VACATION all of the time. That simply isn't true. Real fulltimers do exploring days, but other times they do rather mundane things like the laundry, cleaning, shopping, reading, crafts, etc. People who don't adapt often are those than never learn to get out of vacation mode.

And really does anyone think that some writer on a major paper is going to understand what fulltime RVing is all about?

Barb
Wingnusa
Explorer
Sep 04, 2014
We can't imagine being tied down in one spot again. Someday we'll need to but there's too much of the country left to see. If I want to mow the stinkin' grass I'm sure any RV park will let me do it to remember why I don't do it any more! I'll take the depreciation and enjoy the fulltiming life!!
96Bounder30E
Explorer II
Sep 04, 2014
Moved from General RVing
shenandoahvalle
Explorer
Sep 04, 2014
I would like to FT for a while...DW, no way, in fact she's not too enthused about any trip longer than a couple of weeks. I retired, she didn't want to (we are the same age), so we agreed that until she retired I would do some traveling with the dog, and she would fly in for short visits. I have been out 478 nights in the last 46 months. Now she is going to retire at the end of the year and I will not travel any where near as much. It has been an interesting and pleasant phase of our lives together and we are looking forward to the next phase. Worked for us.

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Too much of a good thing? Retirement on the Road NYT

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