Contemplating A Lifestyle Change

[ToMich]

My wife and I are contemplating the idea of selling our home, buying a Class A diesel pusher and traveling. I am a retired veteran. This change poses many questions and I would love to find folks who have been through this experience that wouldn't mind answering some questions and maybe sharing some of the pitfalls they have encountered along the way. I would especially appreciate hearing from other retired veterans because there are some issues I would want some feedback on from them. Hopefully this process isn't all as scary as it seems right now and in a couple years I can join some of you out on the road.

Tom

[tonyandkaren]

Lots of good advice! You might enjoy reading some of these blogs from fulltimers - http://www.hitchitch.com/links.html I'm sure any of them would be happy to answer questions.

[2gypsies1]

Join the Escapees RV Club which is geared for full-timers. It has been our 'on-the-road' family. To get the most out of it you have to do things that they offer and be active in the organization. Being in one of their parks around the holidays is a MUST. There is so much activity and great meals and everyone is in the same lifestyle so we all 'connect'. The Benson, Arizona one is tops!

Escapees also has a wonderful mail service. In fact, they have so many customers that they have their own zip code. They have highly automated equipment for sorting and mailing and we haven't had any problems receiving our mail using their forwarding system. It costs us $85/year and they will send it out anytime you request it. Ours is sent Priority to a local, small town post office and we received it in 2-3 days. You'll learn that you never have it sent to a big city P.O. Some RV parks will let you receive it there, also. You have your choice as to how you want it mailed. Each household is given their own street address. It's not a P.O. box so there's no problem dealing with driver's licenses, registrations, etc. That address is our permanent physical address used for everything, including Medicare, financial accounts, etc. Of course, you can do a lot online now but some things still have to come through the mail.

We opted not to have a family member handle our mail. They have their own lives.

As far as getting rid of "stuff" - that's all it is. It owns you. Once you begin it is very liberating to be free of it. We didn't store anything as we felt our tastes in furniture would change over the years, etc.

We have also done a lot of volunteering in national and state parks and our speciality is giving lighthouse tours. It not only gives you a free camp spot in very special places but it keeps you busy, you meet great people and you're giving something back to a worthwhile cause. Volunteering in schools helping with reading with the elementary kids is also fun.

After 16 years we bought a small 1100 sq ft home in a very active 55+ community. It took us that long to decide where we wanted to buy again. We knew we didn't want to go back to snow and cold. The house came completely furnished to our liking even down to the towels and silverware. That will be our winter home because we just can't get the 'RV traveling' out of our systems. We absolutely love it.

Good luck to you!

[sdianel_-acct_c]

ToMich: thank you for your service to our great country! DH is former USMC. We have been full timing for 5 years and love it!
1. Have a written plan. Helps sanity. Have some huge garage sales. No more than 2. Then give heirlooms to family, donate everything else except clothes and toothbrushes! Decide what will work in the RV (remember weight). You will need much less on the road. We decided not to put anything in storage based on feedback from others on this forum.
We have a 2004 33' Country Coach Allure with 2 slides and we full time in it.
We have our mailing address in Florida at daughters house. She forwards our mail. There are mail forwarding services that will also provide permanent addresses. Just make sure your state will allow DMV renewals of drivers licenses and tags with that address. One in FL is www.myrvmail.com check out their website and it will give you some ideas even if you choose another state. We used them for awhile and their service was excellent. You can view your mail online. We use the VA Pharmacy and that is challenging. Meds are mailed and forwarded by daughter. We try to get enough meds to last 6 months. We travel back to Florida every 6 months for doctor appts, see the kids and grandkids and hit the road again. Check into SMART travel club. They may have some answers too. Just take one thing at a time. It can be overwhelming, but remember it will all work out.

[Roads_Less_Trav]

We've been traveling full-time for over 6 years and still love it.

The easiest way to lessen the intimidation is to remind yourself this is not "forever." It is a new phase of life that is very exciting and that will open new doors for you. However, you can always return to a stick-built house and a conventional lifestyle.

Your wife might enjoy our website (in my signature). You both might find some useful tips about full-timing on this page:

Tips for living the fantastic full-time RV lifestyle

You're on the brink of a fabulous new adventure where you'll discover wonderful new places, meet lots of interesting new friends, and you'll probably even learn a thing or two about yourselves that you never knew before.

GO FOR IT!!!!

[2peasinapod]

ToMich wrote:
Thanks to all the replies so far. I'm not Medicare yet. Another year and a half to go, so for now I'm on TriCare Prime so will probably be on Medicare if and when this all happens. Thanks Marine for all those years of sacrifice. Air Force myself.

My wife is intimidated in a different way than I am. I'm intimidated at the complexities of parting with a physical home and all the years of accumulation. How do you handle medical situations when you don't have a home? How do you get your mail that you can't get electronically? I guess I could use a family members address for my mail then have them pack it up and send it to me periodically, but are there other alternatives? How do you maintain a drivers license if you don't have a physical address? These are just some questions I can come up with. I'm sure there will be more as time goes by.

My wife, on the other hand, is intimidated at the idea of not having a physical, fixed location home. I tell her every day would be a vacation and an adventure.

So she's the planner and could get us from where we're at now to where we want to be (on the road). I'm more the adventurer and can help her get over her concerns of not having a fixed address.

We'd probably be looking at buying a used (no more than 10 year old) Class A diesel pusher. Not having had one, and with so many options, how does one know if they're getting ripped off or not, by a dealer OR a private seller? Where and when is the best place to find used motor homes?

So many questions. So much to think about. My head hurts. 🙂

Okay, time for sensory overload

Tom

Hi Tom,
I'm an Air Force vet (4 years & out, '69-'73) and my wife is an AF brat.We have decided like you to hit the road full time some time in the next year, We don't own a house and getting out of our apartment lease is no problem. My main concern is that we both have Medicare with the United Healthcae Advantage Plan (right now still no premium). I don't want SSA or Medicare looking at us if we use a mail forwarding service. I know for licensing & registration each state is different but I'm not sure how that would affect our Social Security or Medicare. Any thoughts from anyone would be appreciated.
Chris

[Executive45]

Begin by deciding on a State for residency. We chose South Dakota over California mainly for tax reasons. Buying a coach and paying close to 10% sales tax wasn't appealing. SD is 3%, so we saved a ton of $$ right there. They also have no State income tax so that too was appealing. I decided to retire, (3rd time :)) in July, so we started moving all our stuff to SD...registration, voter, bank accounts etc., in December. Once I retired, we took a trip to SD for our driver's licenses. We use Americas Mailbox which is simply a mail forwarding service. We send them an email and they send us our mail C/O General Delivery wherever we are.

If your wife is hesitant about leaving the "nest" behind, think about traveling the first year to see if there would be somewhere else you'd like to live. We decided we like Az weather, and the DW has family there so we winter two months there. Bought a mobile home out of a foreclosure and it gives us a place to store those things you just can't part with and the kids don't want. While in Az for two months, we schedule our annual checkups and dental work along with fido's annual and any service that needs to be done on the coach. Then it's off on another adventure...enjoy the life..my feeling is we've spent most of our life protecting it, now's our chance to see what we've been protecting.....Dennis

[jmtandem]

Thanks to all the replies so far. I'm not Medicare yet. Another year and a half to go, so for now I'm on TriCare Prime so will probably be on Medicare if and when this all happens. Thanks Marine for all those years of sacrifice. Air Force myself.

My wife is intimidated in a different way than I am. I'm intimidated at the complexities of parting with a physical home and all the years of accumulation. How do you handle medical situations when you don't have a home? How do you get your mail that you can't get electronically? I guess I could use a family members address for my mail then have them pack it up and send it to me periodically, but are there other alternatives? How do you maintain a drivers license if you don't have a physical address? These are just some questions I can come up with. I'm sure there will be more as time goes by.

My wife, on the other hand, is intimidated at the idea of not having a physical, fixed location home. I tell her every day would be a vacation and an adventure.

So she's the planner and could get us from where we're at now to where we want to be (on the road). I'm more the adventurer and can help her get over her concerns of not having a fixed address.

We'd probably be looking at buying a used (no more than 10 year old) Class A diesel pusher. Not having had one, and with so many options, how does one know if they're getting ripped off or not, by a dealer OR a private seller? Where and when is the best place to find used motor homes?

So many questions. So much to think about. My head hurts.

Okay, time for sensory overload

Tom

I would start with the Escapees webpages. They address many of your questions/anxieties.

[ToMich]

Thanks to all the replies so far. I'm not Medicare yet. Another year and a half to go, so for now I'm on TriCare Prime so will probably be on Medicare if and when this all happens. Thanks Marine for all those years of sacrifice. Air Force myself.

My wife is intimidated in a different way than I am. I'm intimidated at the complexities of parting with a physical home and all the years of accumulation. How do you handle medical situations when you don't have a home? How do you get your mail that you can't get electronically? I guess I could use a family members address for my mail then have them pack it up and send it to me periodically, but are there other alternatives? How do you maintain a drivers license if you don't have a physical address? These are just some questions I can come up with. I'm sure there will be more as time goes by.

My wife, on the other hand, is intimidated at the idea of not having a physical, fixed location home. I tell her every day would be a vacation and an adventure.

So she's the planner and could get us from where we're at now to where we want to be (on the road). I'm more the adventurer and can help her get over her concerns of not having a fixed address.

We'd probably be looking at buying a used (no more than 10 year old) Class A diesel pusher. Not having had one, and with so many options, how does one know if they're getting ripped off or not, by a dealer OR a private seller? Where and when is the best place to find used motor homes?

So many questions. So much to think about. My head hurts. 🙂

Okay, time for sensory overload

Tom

[DianneOK]

Welcome aboard soldier...ask away !!!!

[rockportrocket]

Well I only hope u spent all that time in OUR MARINE CORPS. But in case you didn't, tks . I have about the same, 100percent disabled, so there are many of us in that leaky ole boat.

[HappyKayakers]

Being retired military, you already have a head start on many fulltimers. First, you'll have a paycheck. Second, you'll have health insurance. Tricare Standard has worked for me all over the country. I also purchased the dental care for retirees from Delta Dental.

On edit: How much RVing experience do you have?

[Eycom]

Welcome to the forum. Feel free to ask questions and the experienced folks here will try answer or point you in the right direction for acquiring more information.

[accsys]

The easiest way to do this is to ask specific questions. You will find many retired military on here, including myself. I don't full-time but since we are away from our "home" base seven months at a time, we have done most of everything a full-timer has to do except sell the house. You need to also state if you old enough for Medicare and what version of Tricare you have.