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

Sounds very doable even if it isn't planned to the n'th degree. I 2'nd going to the Escapee website and doing a crash course on all things FT'ing

My one thought for you is the fact that you're from CA. You might find nice area's, but you may find the Blue vs Red state thing an issue as time goes on. So not only do the people have to be friendly, but they need to hold your base core viewpoints for a happy long term move.