We're going to full time for a year, looking for a new home.

Craig95005 wrote:
We've sold our house in California and are ready for a year's adventure in our Class A motorhome.

It will be a combination of seeing the nation and looking for a new home. We'll be auditioning locations that appeal to us as a permanent residence. We like California and may well end up back here but we're hoping to find someplace that we fall in love with.

Current plan is to head north up into Oregon and Washington and back, then along the southern states to Florida, up the coast to New England and Maine, then along the states and provinces along the Canadian border, and finally from Washington state back down to California.

We're in our 70's and love good food, friendly people, pretty scenery, and temperatures that don't get too hot. After living in the country for many years, we wouldn't mind a house where we could walk to - or at least aren't far from - shops and restaurants. If you have any location suggestions, they would be appreciated.

A couple of questions. 1) Is Good Sam a reliable mail forwarding service? 2) How do you register to vote, and what about state income taxes, when you have no permanent home address?

Thanks.

As direct answers to your questions....
1) Yes, but the mail forwarding service is not important. Where you choose to change your residency is. Where do you want to claim as your State of residency? If you want to stay a CA resident (really!) then you need property in CA and you need to pay them most all of what you earn!
2) You vote in your State of residency either in person or by mail.

The NW is an AWESOME place all Summer long but you have to be willing to endure zero sunshine for the Winter. Why would any RVer do that?
You mention a house. Is that your goal? Good luck trying to find one place where you will be comfortable all year long. Maybe you could look for a Summer and Winter residence. My choice would be the NW for the Summer and the SW for the Winter. Getting out of CA is certainly a really good choice but you MUST become a resident of some State.

We retired out of Temecula in So Cal. I was fed up with the traffic. Spent the better part of 4 years traveling in our 37'er, looking for a better place to live. 360 days of the year, So Cal's weather is unbeatable. I learned that the rest of the country has weather. So Cal doesn't. We adored coastal Alabama in the winter, but 3"s of rain every 4 days got old. And straight line winds? What are those? A last minute change of plans had us miss that awful tornado that devastated Moore, OK. I could go on . . . What we found was that anywhere we wanted to live had traffic as bad or worse than where we left. So we came back to Murrieta (right next door to Temecula), found a 55+ mobile home community where you own the lot. We bought an old unit, pulled it out & had a brand new unit put in with full hook-ups & parking for our rig. All for just slightly more than the depreciation would have been had we bought the brand new 43' Dutch Star we were considering. Our plan now is 3 months on the road. 3 months at home. This country has some beautiful places to visit, but after being spoiled by So Cal's weather my entire adult life, it is home.

Chick, we'll put Franklin and Clayton on our list.

Frank, very familiar with Anacortes, gateway to the San Juan Islands. Nice town and great RV park there. Washington and Oregon are definite possibilities.

Craig:

We've lived in Washington for all but three years since we emigrated from England in 1968. After I retired, we had a good look around for somewhere smaller and more attractive than Everett. We found Anacortes and have lived here for 18 years.

It's a small town (less than 20,000 people) but a very active one. A high proportion of residents are retirees. Houses aren't cheap, though. Ours is a 3-bedroom rambler, just over 1700 square feet + a 2-car garage and would sell for around $300,000. We're across the street from some big homes on the waterfront of a salt-water marina. They can run beyond the $1M mark. Anacortes is quite a hilly town, though not much over 600 feet high, and there are lots of nice view homes also.

The climate is just right for us - very similar to the UK. Summer highs are in the middle 70s. Winter highs rarely stay below freezing. It can get gloomy and wet in winter, but we're just in the wind shadow of the Olympic mountains and our annual rainfall is around 25", compared to 36" in the greater Seattle area.

I don't plan to leave here unless I develop major health problems requiring us to be closer to family, or if I'm wearing a wooden overcoat.

Let me tell you from a FL native that the summers are horrendous. I will say that winters are usually great, however, I remember some Christmases where it was actually hot. We aren't beach or pool people, so staying cool in the water is not an option. The only option is to get out for a few months to some place cooler. As mentioned earlier, the N. GA mountains are really nice. We used to have a cabin in Rabun Gap, which is basically Clayton GA. Clayton is a nice small town, and we love the area. If we didn't have family and a grandson in central FL, we'd probably move to the Clayton area. You also might take a look at Franklin NC.

Craig95005 wrote:
... John&Joey, we are aware of the red/blue situation and we'll just have to see. I love people in the South but there will be some difference of opinion.

I was fishing on a pier in FL once (when it was a southern state :B) with a gentleman that I've know from other years. When he asked me if I knew the difference between a Yankee, and a **** Yankee. I smiled and laugh, and said no.

He said "A Yankee is someone who comes down here and spends money and enjoys the area and the people. A **** Yankee is someone who moves down here full time."

He was a good guy, we both and a laugh an went on to catching more fish. FWIW can't buy a fish off that pier in FL now, too many **** Yankees I guess are fishing it. :W

As diverse and beautiful parts of CA are, there is no way a retiree on a limited budget can exist in that state. Taxes are outrageous, gas prices among the highest in the nation, license fees and regulations enough to kill a horse, its a wonder that anyone still can aford to live there.

Hope you folks keep sharing your adventures. We live in the Seattle area, lovely bride is retired, and I am still working, at least until next fall. We are planning more trips, and are looking at settling somewhere else, for a home base. Kentucky is close to the top of our list, due to some wonderful friends south of Owensboro. Harley riding is important to us, so we are looking with that in mind. Northern California is also beautiful, as are parts of Utah, but not sure we could base there.

If you're looking for ONE place to settle I'd suggest you test that place in both the winter and the summer months.

Thanks for your responses. We already have a nice 37 foot motorhome and six years ago did a 4 1/2 month trip around the country, so we already know that we thoroughly enjoy the RV experience and don't get on each other's nerves in those close quarters. John&Joey, we are aware of the red/blue situation and we'll just have to see. I love people in the South but there will be some difference of opinion.