The research and conversations continue. The new job is good. It’s nice that the job is part-time and flexible.
We have an appointment on Saturday to meet with Mike and go over financing, go over the Alpha again, (Tom and I together), and to take the F350 to a mechanic to have it checked over.
We are seriously considering this whole idea!! Me, more so than Tom, but he’s getting there. He even talked to our friend Colleen in Montana, that has a fifth-wheel about it.
We decided I really need to find a job for a while to help us qualify for a loan and to make payments on the new vehicles.
I went to see the Alpha again and did a pretty thorough inspection of her. Mostly of cosmetic things since the rig isn’t in a position to hook up and check systems. I talked to Mike (Ryder) the sales guy at Grapevine RV for a little bit and he said that he would accept a deposit ($1000. per vehicle) to hold the set for us until financing etc. goes through – we’ll see.
My next goal for the day was to go job hunting. I started right off the bat by asking Mike, but he didn’t have anything. Then, I stopped at the clinic in Lebec and a feed store in Frazier Park and then a real estate office and got a job! The property manager there really need administrative help and so I started this afternoon!!
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.