No turning back now

[jeeperdude10]

Well, we have sold the house, now to get all the STUFF we accumulated distributed between the kids and out of the way. We will be hitting the road come January-February, looking forward to it, albeit a bit trepid-have never ever not had a stick and brick, somewhat overwhelming feeling. Anyways what is the best way to get into the mindset of "doing your own thing", other than just taking it one day at a time with no destination in mind, and no time to get there?
Kinda like when I retired.....want to want to....then it comes, whoa!, guess it all does work out. Both the DW and I are fully committed to it, so I figure it will work out just fine!
Any advice, warnings, "pot holes" to avoid????

[RoadXYZ]

We have made journeys in which we have both stayed overnight, days, weeks, and months .. it has just depended on where we were, where we wanted to be, and what was happening. A few places we have stayed a week before moving on, only to think back and wonder why we didn't stay longer, so have gone back and stayed a month.

One of the bonus points to traveling full-time is all the options. One thing we have had to consider when traveling to see relation/friends is to watch the weather .. sometimes it is best to change the routing or to stay over until the weather gets better .. sometimes we have traveled with reservations, and at other times we have called before noon to make reservations ..

My personal choice is to know in what area we will be in either tonight or for the week .. sometimes there are special events going on in an area i.e., Annual Festivals, etc., so those times are usually more expensive for lodging of any kind .. have found that a couple of times the last few years .. so researching is kind of important.

The first 6 years of Full-timing we came onto this site frequently, and since then only a occasionally, however, my experience has been that RV.Net is the main reason we have stayed on the road all these years - since May 2004.

[missourijan]

Good tips from other posters. Try to follow the 2-2-2 rule, travel about 200 miles, stop by 2 and stay 2 days. Actually, I would recommend picking a state or region and take a month or more to see all you want to see. Get Passport America and Good Sam cards only. You can get burned out by traveling too much. Travel the "red roads", the secondary highways in the Wal Mart Atlas are in red. Get a Wal Mart Atlas, Mountain Directory, Next Exit Guide. Yes, there are apps, RVparky, Allstays but I hate using the small screen on the phone. Plan where you are going to stay well ahead of federal holidays. Visit city/county/state parks and Corps of Engineers parks. Do you have your Golden Access pass? You get free entry into all National Parks & Monuments and 1/2 price camping at all COE parks nationwide.

[Barbilou_and_Fu]

When we (Minnesotans) started out, the main goal was to avoid winter. We drove too far, diesel fuel was exorbitant, had to keep criss-crossing the country for ailing parents, etc. It was stressful. Ended up in Mexico, bought a house on the west coast there, and now go to Minnesota summers to see the grandbabies. No more stress, I don't even get dressed half the time. And I sincerely doubt I'll ever freeze my nose hairs or have gelled diesel fuel again.
You never know what this life will bring you. Keep an open mind. Yes, turn here, see where this road goes. Maybe there's ice cream...

[Valkyriebush]

Consider joining the Escapees Club. Great asset for FTers. Mail service, Home base parks. Look into it. $39.00 year. Consider a home base leased lot at one of their parks for a little stability and storage. Great people too. Good luck. FT for five years, loved it. Now seasonal.

[rockhillmanor]

As mentioned above at first you will be driving all over the place enjoying the freedom and spending all your money on over night CG's. I did just that, power driving all over the place like I used to do when their were time constraints.

Then I found out that ALL CG's offer 2 week rates and 4 week rates. And WHAT a difference in price!

Once I knew that, if I pulled into a CG for just the night and found I liked the CG and the surrounding area I would ask for the 2 week rate or monthly rate and sit a spell and really enjoy the area and then move on.

If I had do overs I would have skipped the driving all over the place like I did out the gate and spent more time in each town I traveled to or thru.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Full Timing! :C

[sdianel_-acct_c]

To get rid of stuff we threw out lots of stuff, gave the family treasures to family members, put photos in plastic bins and stored them in daughter's garage, had one garage sale, and donated the rest to charity. Don't overthink it. Take the minimum with you. You can buy what you need on the road. Don't worry about what you will do. You will ease into the FT lifestyle. The trick is to stay busy but don't try to see it all at once. We try to take the US Highways and also drive about 250 miles per day. We leave about 10am and arrive at the next destination early. We stop midway for a break. When you visit a state, research it before you go or while you're there, and that way you will see all the great places. We just visited Minnesota and this forum was a great resource for beautiful places and nice campgrounds on Lake Superior. Have a list of must see places and things and keep adding to it. When we talk to other campers they tell us about great places and we put them on our list. We have been full timing for 6 years and have 120,000 miles on our RV but still have a list of places we'd like to see or would like to see again. Relax and enjoy. Getting there now becomes half the fun instead of just the destination.

[mockturtle]

2gypsies wrote:
If you have a far destination, don't think about it as one long trip. Break it up in small chunks and explore small areas. This is particularly true of planning an Alaskan trip which you must do...at least once. Stay off the interstates. Take advantage of small-town city and county parks to stay. Don't get stuck in a rut of returning to the same parks, especially as a winter destination. Try out different areas.

Hope you enjoy the lifestyle as we did for 16 years of constant travel.

X2

[2gypsies1]

If you have a far destination, don't think about it as one long trip. Break it up in small chunks and explore small areas. This is particularly true of planning an Alaskan trip which you must do...at least once. Stay off the interstates. Take advantage of small-town city and county parks to stay. Don't get stuck in a rut of returning to the same parks, especially as a winter destination. Try out different areas.

Hope you enjoy the lifestyle as we did for 16 years of constant travel.

[njtony]

just take your time and go with the flow... you never know what might come up. we make plans but have been very flexable. Had medical problems with family and that became a detour. Just have to go with it and make part of the plan. and 250 miles a day is enough, remember your retired. and if you want to stay I one place for a while, try work camping. Just have fun.

[Old-Biscuit]

YOU are NOT on vacation

250 miles on travel day is plenty

We 'moved' every week or so cause that is why we went FT.....to travel and see/experience the travel......but at a slow unhurried pace

LESS is MORE. In other words you do not NEED all that stuff. If in 6 mos time you have not used it.get rid of it..it is just taking up space and adding weight to haul around.

1 bag in 2 bags out.

Go to CAT Scales and get weighed.........do it every year you are FT.

Travel the secondary/back roads vs Interstates. See the country not the billboards. Small town America.
Strike up conversations with locals...they will clue you in on where to NOT go and to places only locals know.

Forget about Truck Stops...Flying J/Pilot/Travel Centers etc. Fuel is more expensive/places are crowded and Dirty
If you can get into/out of campground sites you can learn to do the same at service stations where fuel is cheaper (although prices are GREAT right now)

Work together..check each other when setting up/getting ready to travel.

And LAUGH everyday....regardless of what happens cause you are RETIRED and FTng!!!!!

[gbopp]

No advice. Just Congrats and enjoy your new life. 🙂

[Ivylog]

Seems like many new FTers rush around the country putting lots of miles on the first couple of years. They then settled down and stay longer in places and put fewer miles on the rig. Try and take 4-6 years to see all of the US and Canada not in one year.

Congrats on selling the house. January and February are great months in South Florida.