Am I completely crazy?
Looking for some advice... But first, a little background information. My wife and I have been married 10 years, are in our early 30's, and just had our first baby in August. We have 3 medium si...
Forum Discussion
Lots of (more) good points being brought up...thank you!!!
At the risk of sounding like I'm defending a decision or already made up my mind, let me counter with a few points...
-We really liked the Forester that we sat in at the show, but would realistically be looking at a 35-40 ft MH *IF* this ever follows through. We're still early in the research, but so far, we like the Minnie Winnie, the Vista LX, and the Jayco Seneca.
-My wife works at a hospital, and has already decided that she will be going from full time to PRN so that one of us can be home with the baby every day and avoid child care. She could, and I suspect, would, still work part time during the weeks that I'm on night shift.
-For the week that I'm working the day shift, we still have family and friends (including the 4 other new mothers just in our neighborhood alone) that my wife would be able to spend time with.
-Yes, there are nights that I am up all night, but the majority of nights I still sleep 6+ hours and could watch the baby during the day. Those other days, we have friends, family, church, and drop in day care here in Dallas that I can utilize.
-Admittedly, the time we are back in Dallas has been the sticking point...that's just going to take some research, but I have seen at least a couple of the options locally (my parents have spent the last 3 years travelling in a 45ft class A, so we've visited some of the local parks when they've come to town.
-The EARLIEST we would consider setting off wouldn't be until the baby is at least a year old
-The MAXIMUM amount of time we would commit to is a year
-Our neighborhood is a small community of 30 new homes, 3 of which are currently being rented. And I don't know how else to say it, but the price point at which we would rent would negate MOST of the concerns about bad renters, although I know there's always some risk that is unavoidable.
-My wife is on board with this (admittedly, she is more cautious and much more of a planner than I am) but this isn't just me dragging her along with my dream
-We would plan our destinations around the fact that we have the dogs and the baby...by that I mean, we like to chase fair weather that favors spending the day outside. She is from Colorado and we spend a lot of our vacation time in mountain towns where we can reasonably expect to have the dogs accompany us around town or at least find lots of dog friendly, outdoor activities.
-I constantly have to evaluate, watch, and generally stay on top of the weather at work, and I know you can't plan for everything (every pilot has been caught unaware at some point, or something unforecast pops up)...but given the nature of what we're proposing, we would certainly avoid certain destinations when inclement weather is expected.
-Travelling the entire United States sounds great, but yes, 7 days at a stretch does not allow for extended trips. Most of the places we are looking at going during the weeks off are 2-8 hours away. I enjoy the driving (it's what I do for a living) and 5 days is still a really good amount of time to get away.
-Yes, a 70 ft boat is apples to oranges against even a 35-40 ft MH, but at least we've experienced cabin fever, tight living spaces, and the day in day out maintenance of generators, water makers, holding tanks, and the adjusted lifestyle.
If you've made it this far, I apologize for the wordiness...I have a tendency to ramble stream of consciousness.
I keep coming back to this: When maternity leave is up, we'll go back to the day to day life we've known and are comfortable in. We'll take a couple of week long vacations during the year, and I'll still get to be home 3 out of every 4 days with my son. But we have this amazing opportunity before he's ready to start school and we'll really want to settle down where we are. I'd hate to wake up in 10 or 20 years, when I may have given up this schedule to work 9-5 in middle management, and have wasted the chance to spend more time like we've had these past 2 months together just the 3 of us (and the dogs) doing the things we enjoy in the places we love. We've had a taste of life on the road, and it's whet our appetite for more. Even better, my wife has expressed an interest as well, but ultimately, we're both a little scared of the unknown.
That's all (for now)
Thanks again y'all, this thread has really forced me to think about a lot of these issues, and brought up new ones for me to consider, and I really enjoy reading your posts
At the risk of sounding like I'm defending a decision or already made up my mind, let me counter with a few points...
-We really liked the Forester that we sat in at the show, but would realistically be looking at a 35-40 ft MH *IF* this ever follows through. We're still early in the research, but so far, we like the Minnie Winnie, the Vista LX, and the Jayco Seneca.
-My wife works at a hospital, and has already decided that she will be going from full time to PRN so that one of us can be home with the baby every day and avoid child care. She could, and I suspect, would, still work part time during the weeks that I'm on night shift.
-For the week that I'm working the day shift, we still have family and friends (including the 4 other new mothers just in our neighborhood alone) that my wife would be able to spend time with.
-Yes, there are nights that I am up all night, but the majority of nights I still sleep 6+ hours and could watch the baby during the day. Those other days, we have friends, family, church, and drop in day care here in Dallas that I can utilize.
-Admittedly, the time we are back in Dallas has been the sticking point...that's just going to take some research, but I have seen at least a couple of the options locally (my parents have spent the last 3 years travelling in a 45ft class A, so we've visited some of the local parks when they've come to town.
-The EARLIEST we would consider setting off wouldn't be until the baby is at least a year old
-The MAXIMUM amount of time we would commit to is a year
-Our neighborhood is a small community of 30 new homes, 3 of which are currently being rented. And I don't know how else to say it, but the price point at which we would rent would negate MOST of the concerns about bad renters, although I know there's always some risk that is unavoidable.
-My wife is on board with this (admittedly, she is more cautious and much more of a planner than I am) but this isn't just me dragging her along with my dream
-We would plan our destinations around the fact that we have the dogs and the baby...by that I mean, we like to chase fair weather that favors spending the day outside. She is from Colorado and we spend a lot of our vacation time in mountain towns where we can reasonably expect to have the dogs accompany us around town or at least find lots of dog friendly, outdoor activities.
-I constantly have to evaluate, watch, and generally stay on top of the weather at work, and I know you can't plan for everything (every pilot has been caught unaware at some point, or something unforecast pops up)...but given the nature of what we're proposing, we would certainly avoid certain destinations when inclement weather is expected.
-Travelling the entire United States sounds great, but yes, 7 days at a stretch does not allow for extended trips. Most of the places we are looking at going during the weeks off are 2-8 hours away. I enjoy the driving (it's what I do for a living) and 5 days is still a really good amount of time to get away.
-Yes, a 70 ft boat is apples to oranges against even a 35-40 ft MH, but at least we've experienced cabin fever, tight living spaces, and the day in day out maintenance of generators, water makers, holding tanks, and the adjusted lifestyle.
If you've made it this far, I apologize for the wordiness...I have a tendency to ramble stream of consciousness.
I keep coming back to this: When maternity leave is up, we'll go back to the day to day life we've known and are comfortable in. We'll take a couple of week long vacations during the year, and I'll still get to be home 3 out of every 4 days with my son. But we have this amazing opportunity before he's ready to start school and we'll really want to settle down where we are. I'd hate to wake up in 10 or 20 years, when I may have given up this schedule to work 9-5 in middle management, and have wasted the chance to spend more time like we've had these past 2 months together just the 3 of us (and the dogs) doing the things we enjoy in the places we love. We've had a taste of life on the road, and it's whet our appetite for more. Even better, my wife has expressed an interest as well, but ultimately, we're both a little scared of the unknown.
That's all (for now)
Thanks again y'all, this thread has really forced me to think about a lot of these issues, and brought up new ones for me to consider, and I really enjoy reading your posts
