Well, we took a step in the right direction today. I took Tom to go and look at the Alpha fifth-wheel and the Ford F350. I was so happy that he kept an open mind and even started doing his own research!
Now that they holidays are over, it is time to REALLY think about, consider, and plan out if a fulltime RV life is for us and when and how we will/would go about it.
I’ve been spending a lot of time reading everything on a website called RV-Dreams.com. I’m not sure if I mentioned it in my last entry or not, but it is a wonderful wealth of information and quite helpful.
I actually went and looked at some used RVs at a lot right here in Lebec across from the post office. I don’t think it will be difficult deciding what will be the right type of rig for us. Right now, after only looking at a handful and after reading the pros and cons, I’m really leaning towards a fifth wheel trailer. I really want to go down to Bakersfield to DC’s RV Center since we know the owners. It will just have to be on a day when the air is clear – good luck with that. Also, we have to consider that the owners we know are friends with people Tom works with so it would have to really be on the “down-low” about wanting a rig for full-timing. We could probably just tell them that we are looking at getting it now while Tom is still working in preparation for retirement. Tom DID just turn 60! Hehe
What would kind of be ideal, would be to purchase a fifth-wheel/motorhome and park it here and start selling/getting rid of things and figure out what we might need and/or be able to keep with what kind of space that we might have. If getting a fifth-wheel then we might be able to have the rig delivered and purchase a tow vehicle later. Who knows? There are so many options to think about and consider.
Do we really want Tom suffering with his job too much longer? Would the possibility of him getting a job that afforded him the ability of traveling from place to place? He could freelance as an interim PD or on-air talent covering vacancies or vacations? What could I do to help bring in income? Build up activity on the craftystuffandmore.com website; post items on Etsy and eBay; PRO Services (Practical Reasonable Organization); what else?? There would definitely have to be something since all of our savings and retirement were lost on the bed and breakfast.
How do I get Tom “on-board” with this idea and fully believe in it without being a “Negative-Nelly”?? hehehe : )~ I’ll just have to get a lot of research done and prove to him that I’M serious about it and believe I can do what needs to be done.
Our lives seem to have been changing every couple of years anyway, it’s getting close to moving on to a new chapter. If we begin planning now, who knows when the next chapter will begin, but at least we would have a goal to look forward to. It might give Tom some comfort and sanity dealing with his frustration with his job.
I just finished reading the entire series of journal entries on RV-Dreams.com of their pre-full-timing journey. It is so very informative and entertaining. I’m looking very much forward to reading the entire 9 years all the way up to the current journal entries too.
The idea – sell everything and live in an RV and work for expenses – wherever and whenever. Crazy, right?
The idea isn’t new. We’ve mentioned it before, but more of a “Hey, we should get rid of everything and find something we could do traveling and living in an RV.” Kind of a “hahahaha”, but with a twinge of, “Gee, that would be cool if we could swing it.”
The subject came up while talking to Gayle (our neighbor and landlady) outside yesterday afternoon. The people that live back-to-back from us have a large motorhome parked in their yard, and we thought they had already left for the winter to go to their home in Arizona. We both figured that perhaps someone is just storing the rig there.
Anyway, Gayle and I were talking about more simple lives, changing lives, getting away from stress, etc. I looked at the RV in mid-conversation and the wheels in my head started turning and gears started grinding, and smoke started coming out of my ears. (I don’t know that for sure, but with the way my mind was spinning, it is entirely possible.)
That whole afternoon and evening my thoughts were multiplying. Questions were rising. It was all I could do not say anything to Tom about it yet. I wanted to do some research first. So today, I started looking stuff up about living in an RV fulltime.
First I sat down and started writing out a plan. If I was going to be brave enough to bring this idea up to Tom, I would need a plan. Answers to the questions he was going to have and certainly rebuttals to his protests. Knowing full well that he will be negative to it right from the beginning, that there “is no possible way” for us to afford it. I wanted to have my ideas in writing and have had spent some time reading as much as I could.
I came across a couple articles that I read and found helpful before finding a fantastic web site called RV-Dreams.com. This site is written by a couple that has been living fulltime in their RV since August 2005. They give lots of tips and advice and provide links for even more information. I read their site for most of the day. I sent the link to Tom – we’ll see how Mr. Negative feels (if he even reads it).
I’m not saying that this is something we can jump right in to, but I truly believe it is something we can work towards making it a reality.
First things to do would be for us to build up our means of income – such as for me to build up and spend more time and effort on Craftystuffandmore.com (my crafting website); getting some experience and references with my desire for being a professional organizer; and for Tom to get his voice/production work going and to get clients and referrals. He could/we could also do blogging and social media work. We could check with artists we know and see if there is any side work we could do for them.
Another thing to do is to start selling off things if we make this decision. We’ve already started selling some items, keep selling all items!
It’s the usual story: boy meets girl at radio station with a country artist, thinks she’s with someone else, but follows her to her car for her phone number anyway. (With much persistent prodding from a friend, that is! – Thank you Adam!!)
Ok, so, we met in March 2000 in Reno, NV started seeing each other. Two years later moved in together. Two years after that went on a life changing vacation to Fiji.
We learned a lot from the people there. The native Fijians are gentle, happy, and kind people and seem to love their lives even though they still live in small villages in huts with dirt floors and wash their clothes on rocks by the river. (No, they aren’t cannibals anymore!) They live simply and enjoy their lives.
When we returned to our daily lives of working our butts off forty plus hours a week to pay for our million dollar home, brand new cars, and other luxuries, we didn’t feel the same. We felt that “something” was still missing. We felt that there was more to LIFE.
Two years after that we bought a bed and breakfast business in Montana. This was a lifestyle that was supposed to afford us the “luxury” of being together more and enjoying life. However; the timing was not good for us and we both spent all of our retirement on a dream that we quickly woke up from with nightmare results.
Two years later (see a pattern here?) – Tom was back in radio and Lori back in an office, but in California. Hating life again. Then, two years later (again), an opportunity to go back to Montana, in radio surfaced. So, back to Montana for, you guessed it – two years.
One day, Tom received a phone call asking him if he’d be interested in working at the legendary radio station that Buck Owens started in Bakersfield, CA. We said, “…no thank you!…” “…we’re happy here…” But, then we got to thinking about how far away we were from family (mostly in Reno) and how much we missed our friends on the west coast, and our youngest daughter in the central valley of California, and after many offers, Tom finally accepted and off we went, back to California.
Now, in all this time, we got married in 2008 and still hadn’t given up the dream of a simpler life, with more time together and less hassles from other people and annoying jobs working for other people and not working for ourselves. Tom loves his radio, but the “corporate’ business it has become just makes it not so fun anymore. We talked about wanting to travel and how much we like to drive. We joked about being truck drivers and having one of those great big semis and living and working in it. Or… we talked about buying a motorhome and traveling and living in it when we retire.