Keep the car?

2gypsies wrote:
So it sounds like YOU are the one that wants to do this, not the wife.

Also, why wouldn't you be moving? That's the joy of full-timing!

I brought the idea up; she's not sure what to think about it just yet. I could go either way at this point. If she flat out says no, then we're over it.

Not having retired or fulltimed before, we're not sure what to expect and how we'll want to do it. To start, we like the idea of pulling into an RV resort in Tuscon and just hanging out for the winter. Plus, we're retiring early and we want to keep expenses down to get a handle on cash flow and simply having quit our jobs. That in itself is turning out to be stressful. So monthly and/or seasonal rates are attractive. Boondocking appeals to us, too. But before we spend a bunch of cash modifying the trailer, we need to get out there first.

Basically, it's trying it all out to see what fits for us.

Keep the car.

In the fall of 2004, we started out with our HDT, two eight hundred pound motorcycles and our 5th wheel trailer. Later, bought a bright red Toyota Matrix and sold the motorcycles. The Matrix averages 35 mpg. It's not our chase car, it's our lead car. The wife leads and I follow. Works better for us since she is the navigator. We keep in touch with FRS radios. Have owned the car almost 8 years and have over 100,000 miles on it.

As for parking everything on a site. Haven't had any problems. Maybe once a year we have to park the truck someplace else in the campground. But when the wife calls for a reservation she tells them what we have and if they have a site that will fit us.

So it sounds like YOU are the one that wants to do this, not the wife.

One thing that's important to us in traveling is being able to view things as a couple and talk about what we're seeing. It's part of the whole 'experience'. It definitely wouldn't be pleasant to be driving alone - for us, anyway. Everyone is different.

Depends on where you're driving but navigation could be a problem, too. Having an extra set of eyes looking out for turnoffs or traffic hazards is a plus.

We thought like you after 8 years of a 5th wheel and driving the big truck. We moved to a motorhome towing the Jeep for the next 8 years and it was wonderful. The Jeep gave us a lot of entertainment. We enjoyed getting off-road and exploring. We also loved geocaching and the 'find' took us to many backroads.

Also, why wouldn't you be moving? That's the joy of full-timing!

Since you've been thinking of this, give it a try.

Only additional thing I'd suggest is picking up a couple of CB's or good FRS radios so you can talk to each other. We don't do the chase car thing as we have a TH with our motorcycle so have a 2nd vehicle. But, a lot of our enjoyment over the past 2 1/2 years is talking to each other and pointing things out to each other. Having the ability to talk to each other might make it more palatable for your wife.

tinner12002 wrote:

Bumpyroad wrote:
that is one reason I wouldn't want a large 5er/TT to full time in. the TV would have to be enormous and I would want a small 4x4 etc. to scoot around in.
bumpy

I use my dually as a daily driver and its really not that bad, you get used to knowing pretty quick as to where you can and shouldn't park!

I always consider the phrase "not that bad" to really mean, "sucks but I can stand it".
bumpy

Bumpyroad wrote:
that is one reason I wouldn't want a large 5er/TT to full time in. the TV would have to be enormous and I would want a small 4x4 etc. to scoot around in.
bumpy

I use my dually as a daily driver and its really not that bad, you get used to knowing pretty quick as to where you can and shouldn't park!

We had a chase car when we were in our fifth wheel/ dually combo.

We traveled at least once a week though. After about 9 months, neither of us were happy.

A large part of fulltiming, was to experience it together. Even though we had UHF radios to keep in contact, and tak about stuff we saw, it wasn't the same.

40 mpg vs 15 in the dually, and the ease of parking were the great things. The mpg in the chase car, since it was paid for, made up for the extra cost of registration and maintenance, and kept the miles very low when we sold the dually, decreased truck maintenance, and wear and tear.

The downsides... if you move a lot, and enjoy your spouse, it isn't great. Certain parks, especially State and County Parks had an extra vehicle charge... usually $7 a night, which greatly increased camping rates.

If you plan on being in one spot for quite a while, which it sounds like you are, it's extremely beneficial. If you move alot, not so much.

Best of luck with your decision.

avan wrote:
We full timed nearly 15 yrs and like Stacy above, we pulled our rig with an International MDT. We put nearly 400,000 miles on our truck. It was our toter and our daily driver. When we traveled, we liked to travel "together". That was as much the point of our full timing as was seeing the country. We never considered traveling separately for any reason and certainly not one that involved a few MPG difference.

My wife was disabled and she loved driving the truck. Shopping was her avocation and there wasn't a shopping center parking space in the country that she couldn't whip that sucker into. She especially liked it when she pull in to a grocery store parking space in some town, climb down out of the cab with either her cane or her walker and watch the drool from the guys sitting outside waiting for their wives to finish shopping. She'd come back and tell me about this guy who would say "YOU drive that?" and about the guy who'd ask if she minded if he looked inside or if he could look under the hood. She thought it was a gas!

Did I say that we got to travel together?

I know others may differ and that's OK but with the right truck, the fewer MPG is a bit irrelevant. I bought the truck used (a couple of years) and after driving it all those years and putting on 400,000 miles (it was barely broken in :) ) I sold it over the net to a buyer over 5,000 miles away in less than 30 days for well more than half of what I paid. And what I paid was quite a bit less than what is now paid for a new F350 today. Drive your 1 ton and your car for a combined 400,000 miles over 15 yrs and see if you can recoup 60% of your purchase price. If not, subtract that extra depreciation from your gas savings and see where you are. Oh, and did I say we enjoyed each others company as we drove the back roads of this country?

FWIW.

Yes, traveling together is our biggest reservation. Thanks for posting this.

We full timed nearly 15 yrs and like Stacy above, we pulled our rig with an International MDT. We put nearly 400,000 miles on our truck. It was our toter and our daily driver. When we traveled, we liked to travel "together". That was as much the point of our full timing as was seeing the country. We never considered traveling separately for any reason and certainly not one that involved a few MPG difference.

My wife was disabled and she loved driving the truck. Shopping was her avocation and there wasn't a shopping center parking space in the country that she couldn't whip that sucker into. She especially liked it when she pull in to a grocery store parking space in some town, climb down out of the cab with either her cane or her walker and watch the drool from the guys sitting outside waiting for their wives to finish shopping. She'd come back and tell me about this guy who would say "YOU drive that?" and about the guy who'd ask if she minded if he looked inside or if he could look under the hood. She thought it was a gas!

Did I say that we got to travel together?

I know others may differ and that's OK but with the right truck, the fewer MPG is a bit irrelevant. I bought the truck used (a couple of years) and after driving it all those years and putting on 400,000 miles (it was barely broken in :) ) I sold it over the net to a buyer over 5,000 miles away in less than 30 days for well more than half of what I paid. And what I paid was quite a bit less than what is now paid for a new F350 today. Drive your 1 ton and your car for a combined 400,000 miles over 15 yrs and see if you can recoup 60% of your purchase price. If not, subtract that extra depreciation from your gas savings and see where you are. Oh, and did I say we enjoyed each others company as we drove the back roads of this country?

FWIW.

That is what we do. The Wife follows in the Nissan Versa. It works well for us. Also if we sometimes have different things we want to do, I take the Truck and she takes the Nissan,