A Response

Rich (Hi Rich! Welcome aboard!) commented on my last post that 1) he wishes I would update more often 2) where are we now? and 3) that we must be rich because we change RVs like shoes.  So in response...

I haven't been posting a lot because we haven't been doing a lot, most recently due to a bad toothache but overall because I've been suffering a bit (okay, quite a bit) of depression over the past year due to my mother's death and having to deal with her estate.  I haven't wanted to go exploring or doing much of anything, honestly.  But I'm working on pulling myself out of that.  Stay tuned.

Currently we're in AJ (Apache Junction, Arizona) which is one of my favorite places simply because of the Superstition Mountains.  They are rugged, distinctive and change appearance with the play of sunlight, the weather, the clouds.  We have friends here and simply like the area and the proximity to shopping, restaurants, theaters, etc.

Are we rich?  Far from it.  We live on Denny's pension which is by no means extravagant.  A fellow RVer/blogger once said that it takes however much money you have to full time.  Which basically means, if you have little money, then you will buy a used truck/car/RV, have it outfitted with a generator and/or solar panels, boondock on BLM land or Walmart parking lots or state parks or wherever you can find economical camping.  Buying a pre-owned campground membership works to keep expenses down too, if you find a deal with low/decent annual fees. You learn that you cook at home instead of eating out a lot, you search for the free places to see or visit attractions in the off season/off times for better rates, you borrow movies from the library or the $1 Red Box and watch them at home instead of going to the movie theater and hitting the concession stand.  In other words, you find a way to live within your means.  That doesn't necessarily mean that you are missing out on anything, it simply means that you learn the little tricks to making your money last longer than the month does.  Fortunately there are tons of RVers who write wonderful blogs, many of whom put their finances or a reasonable estimate out there for others to see and learn from.  And the switching RVs like shoes, yeah okay.  We have owned RVs since 1993. Have we owned more than many people? Yes.  Have other RVers owned more RVs than we have?  Absolutely.  But it doesn't matter what we do or what anyone else does.  You make a list of what you consider vital expenses; campground fees, meals out, playing golf/going to the theater/bowling/increasing your wine collection--whatever, insurance for your rig and tow/towed vehicle, groceries, maintenance for your vehicles, remembering that you no longer have yard maintenance and property taxes and house maintenance.  You research, research, research, you go camping and you find fulltimers and you talk to them and listen and you research some more.  And maybe one day you'll decide that maybe you'll never have enough money to do this.  And that's when you'll have to decide whether or not you want to live the lifestyle badly enough to find a way to make it work or you'll just walk away from the dream.

It's not irreversible once you do it--but you may just find it's the best thing you ever did.

Good luck, Rich.  Happy Trails.  Hope to see you out there someday.  We'll be the ones in the new rig.  Because we're going to be out here a while longer.