Choices after coming off the road ...

[RoadXYZ]

Just wondering what others have done when the decision has been made to no longer travel in the "full-time" mode in our RVs .. know there are some who continue to live in their RV units, and some even spend 6 months in one place, and 6 months in another place.

But would like to hear some stories of choices.

Anyone willing to share ?

BTW we have been full-timing in our TT since 2004 and for one more 5-month season will be going in October/November time-frame to Central Oregon to volunteer for the state parks thru March ...

Summers are spent with our children and grandchildren.

[avan]

Part of our story is planning and part was pure dumb luck market timing. Always have been a real estate investor and so when we went FT in '97 we bought a FL RV resort lot for spending some winter months recharging our FT batteries. Over our 14 yr run, we bought and sold several more lots ending with our last one in Silver Lakes Golf & RV Park in Naples, When we decided to come off the road, we put the lot, the MDT and the 5ver up for sale separately. That was early 2011 and the resort market was still hot here. All sold to separate buyers within 30 days.

And so we started looking. That same hot resort type market was a very cool regular residential market and we found a 10 yr 2BR/2BA old deep waterfront condo with slip, direct, no bridge Gulf and 10,000 Island Nat'l Preserve access, large boat marina/fuel etc in the project, here in the Naples area offered as a short sale. Offered dollar for dollar what we rec'd for our vacant RV lot and 2 months of hotel living later, moved in.

DW passed 6 months later and after a few years of struggle with my loss, finally bought a Class C {B+) fir my new summer travel schedule. Did 5 months of summer travel in both 2015 and 2016 (2016 travelog linked in my sig) and just starting to plan for 2017.

My post FTing home:

[Surviver76]

Hi Guys, RoadXYZ, I love Port Orford and will be there again for summer of 2017... One of the most beautiful and romantic places I've ever visited... I was full time in 2014 for a while and then rented a house in the Bend OR area and traded up on my Lance TC to an 8'6' which travels much lighter than my previous 4000.. Then returned to FTing and spent the entire summer hanging out in Florence OR and up and down the Oregon Coast.. Bandon, Pt Orford, Coos Bay and north to Yachats.. Absolutely fantastic in the summer... Then the long coastal rains began and headed south to Yuma AZ where we are renting a house for the winter... I'm antsy as hell and can't wait to get back to FT.. I'll be heading back to Oregon coast to do it all again... Lunch at Griff's on the Dock... It doesn't get much better than that...

[JAXFL]

Rent, rent, rent, rent....

3 month someplace, then 3 in another... And again and never go back to the same place again unless you loved it there...

Example... 3 months in a city in Europe like Worms Germany, then 3 months in some city like Bent Oregon state, then 3 months in Key West, then 3 months in a city in Cambodia like Battambang, then the next year someplace else.

[N7SJN]

2gypsies wrote:
OP: I think you made the right choice. Moon River gets good reviews and it'll be perfect for your family.

However, I'm amazed you kept a storage unit for 13 years and are now sorting through it!

It is just us ... we have "stuff" we use in the winter while volunteering, etc. and "stuff" we use in the summer while off the road .. just us ... know that have never added up the "costs", but one kinda has to understand that we had a fire once which took School Annuals, baby books, photo albums, precious memories, Summer/Winter Clothing, etc. etc. Sometimes one just 'collects' and when we started out we were thinking of five (5) years, and time just sorta flew by ... different strokes for different folks ....

And in case one is wondering we went from one size to half that size storage unit over the years ... and no relatives with a spare garage. Just more people out there who do this than you would imagine ... some have apartments and store their ski, golf, hunting, sports equipment, etc. ... as well as businesses who store either inventory or business records ... just saying.

[2gypsies1]

OP: I think you made the right choice. Moon River gets good reviews and it'll be perfect for your family.

However, I'm amazed you kept a storage unit for 13 years and are now sorting through it!

[RoadXYZ]

Since started this thread have been so busy with this and that ... haven't returned until tonight - thank you all for postings ... we have been looking around the Tri-Cities area where our daughters live and have come up with a couple of plans. One is to put our rig in an rv park which is unique in the area as has all the lots with privacy fences, and a small yard .. freedom to put up decorations, plant a small garden, etc. and can stay as long as we follow the rules, etc. And they are expanding so will need to call them by next February for a space in April.
Not sure if anyone on the Net has been to Moon River RV Park, Richland, WA or not, but that is the name of place we are presently looking at. Daughters would prefer we get an apartment, but for now that is not an option, think we enjoy our neighbors being a few feet away instead of on the other side of the wall.

In the meantime we are going ahead with our volunteer plans in the Fall/Winter time frame, and meantime are sorting thru our storage unit stuff as to what can be donated, given away, or shared. Next May it will be 13 years on the road, and that is a long time to move from here to there, although in 2011-2012 we did come off the road to help one of our daughters for a few months. And except for last year, we always come back here in the summers to spend time with great-grands and grand-children plus of course our daughters. Time to sign off ... Shalom.

[Roni__]

We just came off the road after almost 6 years. We thought we'd never quit as long as we lived, but the time came that we both just really needed our own office space.
We bought a house in Florida in one of the areas we loved best after traveling around the country.
The RV is in a handy storage facility ready and waiting for us to plan our next trip or take it out to the Gulf for a camping getaway.
We will miss full-timing, but there are other pluses to having a stick and brick at this time in our lives.
The one the big downside is the bills! We went from being debt free to now having a mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities,...what a bummer...lol!

-Roni**

[DouglasC]

We full-timed for almost 11 years. End of the 1st year out we bought a lot at the Escapees Rainbow Plantation in southern Alabama. We had been there twice and decided that we liked the area and felt that it would be a good place to settle down at when we "came off the road". Initially we put in 2 full hookup sites on the 1/2 acre deeded lot and only spent about 4 to 5 weeks a year there as we continued our full-time travels. Eventually we built a house on our lot and stopped full-timing. It's a "double edged sword" - - we love our house and all the great folks at the Rainbow Plantation but often wish we were back on the road again.

[DeepLiquid]

2gypsies wrote:


There's a procedure for knee replacement called 'manipulation'. Under anesthesia they bend your knee to break up that scar tissue. It worked great for a friend of ours. You've got many more years to go with that knee.

Thanks, I'm not eligible for a manipulation, the only fix I can get is another surgery to scrape the quadriceps tendon free of scar tissue, but they say it will most likely come back. So, for now I'll deal with it and adapt as best I can.

[2gypsies1]

DeepLiquid wrote:

BarbaraOK wrote:


Your mind may think that you can do all sorts of things, but your body ages and it will let you know that it is time to adjust some of your ideas to reality. :W

That's where I'm at now at 55. Had a knee replacement last year and it didn't heal up great (I scar badly so there's a lot of internal scarring that impedes full movement), prior to that I thought I could do anything, now a lot of activities give me pause.

There's a procedure for knee replacement called 'manipulation'. Under anesthesia they bend your knee to break up that scar tissue. It worked great for a friend of ours. You've got many more years to go with that knee.

[DeepLiquid]

BarbaraOK wrote:


Your mind may think that you can do all sorts of things, but your body ages and it will let you know that it is time to adjust some of your ideas to reality. :W

That's where I'm at now at 55. Had a knee replacement last year and it didn't heal up great (I scar badly so there's a lot of internal scarring that impedes full movement), prior to that I thought I could do anything, now a lot of activities give me pause.

[Dutch_12078]

When we decided we wanted to spend our time on the road, we sold our mountain top home but kept our Adirondack lakeside vacation cottage that's been in the family since 1947. Over the years since retiring, as our travels permit, we've worked on remodeling it for year round living with an eye towards living there full time when the time comes to hang up the keys. Both of our daughters live nearby and help keep an eye on the place, as well seeing that the lawn gets mowed or the snow plowed as needed. Our annual costs for taxes, insurance, heat, electric, etc, only amount to a few thousand dollars per year, and most of that is covered by the interest and dividends from investing most of the house sale proceeds. The work is far enough along now that we could move in any time, but we still prefer living in our motorhome when we're there. We only sleep in the cottage when we're doing some interior work in the motorhome or taking it to a shop for maintenance of some sort. We added a full hookup RV site as one of our first projects after selling the house. It's not the sort of setup that appeals to everyone of course, but having a place we know we can call home when needed does give us peace of mind as we grow older.

[NYCgrrl]

DeepLiquid wrote:
Really appreciate the reality check I'm getting from this thread. In my mind I want to be on the road forever, my SO wants the question "where will we end up when we come off the road" answered before being willing to give up the condo. I guess it really is magical thinking to believe life on the road wouldn't get tiring at some point.

I don't think it's unrealistic to think you can live on the road until the end of your time(s) IF that's what you and yours want AND you are prepared for life's speed bumps:).

[BarbaraOK]

DeepLiquid wrote:
Really appreciate the reality check I'm getting from this thread. In my mind I want to be on the road forever, my SO wants the question "where will we end up when we come off the road" answered before being willing to give up the condo. I guess it really is magical thinking to believe life on the road wouldn't get tiring at some point.

Your mind may think that you can do all sorts of things, but your body ages and it will let you know that it is time to adjust some of your ideas to reality. :W