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What is the Fulltime RV Lifestyle?
It isn't a singular thing. It's whatever you make of it. You might stay at the same place for several months and then
move on. You might spend no more than a week at any one location. You might only stay at places with full services and amenities,
or you might stay at places with only a babbling brook and a shade tree. It's what ever you want it to be, the only commonality
between fulltimers is that your RV is your home.
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| December 2008 |
Why Fulltime?
For us, it's the pursuit of better cycling weather. The south is nasty in the summer, the NE is impossible in the winter.
We just want to be able to ride more often than not, and avoid the nasty weather. We had hoped to be on the road this year.
The ice storm in December of 2008 was almost more than we could bear. Without power for 8 days, and the damage to almost every
mature hardwood for miles around was just the icing on the cake for a very depressing year. The picture is of our driveway
the morning of December 12, 2008.
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| March 2009 |
Economic turmoil continues to tug at us from both ends. On the one hand banks have rejected TARP and there is no help
for those still trying to pay mortgages, only for those already in foreclosure, or those who "overstated their income" on
their loan applications. On the other hand, you can only protect a homestead and an RV, campground, or seasonal landing pad
don't qualify as homesteads, only the stix and brix, so you have to protect the house to keep the fulltime dream alive. Now
we add cash for clunkers, so those that drive old gas hogs getting 10mpg get $4500 when they trade it in for a 12mpg SUV.
If you've been a good steward of the planet, driving a 12 year old car that gets 27mpg, you get no bailout. Once again the
Government rewards bad behavior while good folk get the shaft.
We can't really move forward until we can sell the house, and that won't happen until mid-2010 if we are lucky.
Now that it's March 2009, the complete picture of tree damage is starting to emerge. It is not a pretty sight.
How are we going to do it?
Our original plan was to spend three to five years touring the country before we set up a homebase. In early 2007, we
had several months of, sometimes very intense, conversations. Mostly of the Venus vs. Mars variety.
So, the three to five years touring around the country after we hit the road to find a homebase was compressed into four
weeks several years before we hit the road. I flew and or drove to several locales, purchased a winter homebase in
Texas, and in late 2007 found a very nice piece of land in upstate New York (finger lakes). The homebase locations are a separate
discussion from where to domicile. More Info
Even with established seasonal homebases, there are many questions that still need to be answered:
How do you do your banking?
How to get medication?
How to get internet service?
How to get television service?
Homebase vs. Domicile
Even with our plans becoming a little more concrete, the question of Domicile vs. Homebase is still unsettled. While
we will own a small piece of TX, it won't be our domicile address. We still plan to have our official domicile address be
in Livingston Texas. We will need mail forwarding for 6-9 months of the year and even while in Mission, we'll still be
"on the road".
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| Sunrise |
Retama Village
Our winter homebase will be in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) at a retirement development, Retama Village. Over the next year, I'll be making this our permanent winter homebase. More Info
This is a little bit of a gamble, but one I feel really good about. I strongly believe that the Rio Grande Valley is
about 1-2 years away from a dramatic explosion in growth and the next boomer retiement location.
You can find upscale homes for about $100,000 and permanent RV pads with upscale amenities for under $50,000.
These prices are about 15 years behind the pricing of the Florida panhandle and Arizona, parts of the country that I just
can't warm up to. (Note: I wrote this paragragh in Feb 2007. In Oct. 2007. Homes were $140,000, and the cheapest RV pad is
now $49,900) There are a few other places in the RGV that are cheaper, but we think the structure, and sense of community
within Retama Village is worth the premium price.
Summer Homebase
While the winter homebase is in an established community, the summer homebase is definately not. The summer place is
a raw hunk of land close to Bath, NY in the finger lakes. I am quite familiar with this area, graduating from Haverling in
1979. Between the wineries and the bicycling, it is as close to Nirvana as it gets on this planet for me. More Info
By the Summer of '10, we should have a fully developed personal space there with room for the occasional friend to stop
by.
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