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Old 11-28-2012, 08:27 AM   #15
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Still in the planning stages and working. So I've had plenty of opportunity to share the idea with friends, family and coworkers. First outta the box for us is that we no longer have family here and while that's what brought me here - mom and pop moved here - they have gone on ahead to their final resting place - and it's the job that has kept me here.

Got into a nice apartment a few years back and started the downsizing. For us - the older we get, the less space and fewer things we need or want, much less care to maintain. Having spent years traveling and vacationing in a class B - we knew a Motorhome was in the retirement plan.

As we reflected on the above - it was easy to come to the conclusion that full-time was a real option. We then started looking at what might follow if we wanted or needed to end the journey. We decided that retirement living could be anything we wanted it to be - mountain cabin - beach hut - deeded RV pad w/wo small house etc. There is nothing wrong with the DFW area but for us at least - it doesn't scream retirement Mecca.

When I explain the above to people nearly all get it. There are some that don't but most see it as an adventure and realize nothing much is forever. So why not? Now don't tell anyone I said so - but preparing for full-time is a ton of work. Planning, researching, saving, buying, selling - unpacking things you haven't seen in years, having garage sales and the list goes on. We gave ourselves about 18 months to be ready to roll and before pulling the early retirement trigger. Hopefully that's enough time to be fully ready. Just figured we did not want to spend one second of retirement time doing that stuff. With luck we'll be ready on time. If not and with a little more luck - the job will still be there and we'll move the goal line a bit.

Back to what people think about all that - the most common response I get is: "Wow! That's exciting. I always wanted to go/see such and such.". I say - well, why don't cha? If I can do it, anyone can.
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Old 11-28-2012, 09:17 AM   #16
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We got some really funny looks, like 'are you crazy?', to 'Wow, I wish I could do that', to 'oh, I could not give my house.'
Well, I guess we are a little crazy, we have to follow our dreams, and giving up the house was the easy part. No more mortgage, property taxes, mowing, utilities, lots of rooms to clean and full time jobs. Our MH is like a small studio apartment, there are wheel on it and we can pick up and move on whenever the mood strikes us. We have made so many wonderful friends.
Our son worried and was against it, our daughter understood and told us to go for it. We have been FT for almost 2 years now and plan on going for a long time. We only live once in this world. We wanted to enjoy life after kids and see this country. We visit friends and family we haven't seen in 30 or more years. We have no regrets other than not doing it sooner.
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Old 11-28-2012, 09:17 AM   #17
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For those that understand, no explanation is necessary.

For those that don't, no explanation is possible.
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Old 11-28-2012, 09:45 AM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Route 66 View Post
For those that understand, no explanation is necessary.

For those that don't, no explanation is possible.
Exactly!
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Old 11-28-2012, 10:30 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig_R

Exactly!
I feel silly now having replied at all. LoL
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Old 11-28-2012, 10:37 AM   #20
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Quote:
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For those that understand, no explanation is necessary.
For those that don't, no explanation is possible.
Like Harley Davidson, "If you have to ask, you wouldn't understand"
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Old 11-28-2012, 10:59 AM   #21
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Quote:
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I feel silly now having replied at all. LoL
Don't feel silly. Route 66 just summed it up in two short sentences what the rest of us wrote and spoke paragraphs about.

Kind of reminds me about the story of the Philosophy Professor who passed out a test to his class. When the students turned the test paper over they only found one question. The question was, "Why?". The class wrote paragraphs on the subject and in the end the only student who passed the test only responded with two words, "Why not?".
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Old 11-28-2012, 11:32 AM   #22
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Quote:
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Kind of reminds me about the story of the Philosophy Professor who passed out a test to his class. When the students turned the test paper over they only found one question. The question was, "Why?". The class wrote paragraphs on the subject and in the end the only student who passed the test only responded with two words, "Why not?".
From my first hand experience years ago with college philosophy exams.
Question: What did Michael Polanyi mean when he said xxxxxx xxxxx?

One sentence from the entire book Personal Knowledge. We all wrote feverishly for an hour. I managed a B+. Read an A paper and couldn't distinguish a difference other than grammar. Have often wondered what answering - "Who knows. We could ask him if he were here." might have gotten.
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Old 11-28-2012, 12:06 PM   #23
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The best comment was from a stranger. She said, "Wow! you are living the American dream."

And I agreed.
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Old 11-28-2012, 11:47 PM   #24
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We have a wall hanging directly over the sofa in the fiver---"Trust your crazy ideas".

We felt it fit perfectly. Full-timing for 5 1/2 years, and still loving it!
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Old 11-29-2012, 09:01 AM   #25
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Our friends and family all thought we were nuts when we started, 6 years ago.

Now, most of them have followed our travels, and are a bit jealous of our lifestyle.
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Old 11-29-2012, 09:16 AM   #26
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Our friends and family all thought we were nuts when we started, 6 years ago.

Now, most of them have followed our travels, and are a bit jealous of our lifestyle.
Because we share a lot of photos with friends and family via Facebook we have also begun to get that same reaction.
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Old 11-29-2012, 05:23 PM   #27
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Our two boys (22 and 24) are somewhat worried about us, but I think that will fade with time.

People we meet and talk to are almost always supportive and, I think somewhat envious. A lot of people would like to size down and have fewer resposibilities, but do not want to give up the creature comforts and possesions they have. My way of looking at it is "Full-time in an RV beats full-time in an old folks home." We are far from finacially independent (read not broke--but badly bent). We are surviving on Social Security alone. We lost a lot of money when we sold our house because of the slump. But, we are able to travel and see and do things that others dream about. No, we do not eat out and we budget fuel use. I would not change but very little about our life style. I have had more fun in the first six months on the road than I had in ten years of "normal" living.
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Old 11-30-2012, 11:41 AM   #28
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We went fulltime 6 1/2 years ago. We didn't plan very well financially and quickly found out that we need to park host 6 months of the year. If we had stayed at our stressful jobs and in the house we believe we would have had heart attacks. If we hadn't quit those jobs and sold that house we would have missed the first 9 months of newborn triplet grandchildren, staying for 3 months after DH's 47 yr old sister passed away from cancer or spent quality time with my grouchy 90 year old Dad. When people tell me they can't leave their "house, friends, or grandchildren", I just think, you don't know what you are missing. To each his own! My workplace is a campground booth 20 feet from the ocean and a million dollar view. Someone has to do it!
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