Here We Come! 30 Days Till Full Timing!

[RickO]

We're almost there! We just accepted an offer on our stick house and all of it's contents so with the close of escrow we'll be on the road full time! Can't wait. We've been doing extended travel (about half time) for three years waiting for the real estate market in California to rebound. That hasn't worked out so well for us so we just took the plunge and agreed to sell the house in spite of a 30% drop in price.

Oh well. things can't always work out exactly as we'd like. The important thing is that we can now proceed with getting on with the next chapter in our lives. DW is freeking out a little at the thought of not having a stick house but in the end she's as gung ho on going full time as I am.

We're all smiles now!!!

[Jim Stewart]

Congrats on the sale! My wife and I went full-time in 1997 and then I started another business in 2001 and we came off the road. Our mistake was storing everything she wanted to keep when we went full-time. We now have a stick, fully furnished, MH, just acquired lot in the Florida Keys and we still have 8K lbs. of stuff in storage in New Mexico.

We should have gotten rid of it when we went full-time. Well, part of next years trip is to go to the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque and get rid of 7.5k lbs of stuff and only bring back what she really wants.

Again, congrats and happy trails!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ken-55]

Congrats!!!!

. . . and Thanks!!!


. . . . . . . all of you full-timers out there are an inspiration to those of us who can't break away yet. We just got our feet wet with a used RV earlier this year and love it. It may be 10 years or more before we can follow in your tracks, but the experiences and information you all share will help us get there . . . even if we are a little jealous as we read of your exploits!

[gil2val]

We also made the mistake of coming off of the road two years ago and buying a fixer upper. We are now working day and night to get this thing done and get back on the road. "you don't know what you've got till its gone" . . . oh well at least we get another chance and this time we won't be so foolish!!

[MonacoMama]

RickO...Congrats on the pending sale of your home! I am sorry that you are having to take the beating on the price...but at least you are able to get rid of the home now...
I can remember when you first started looking at rigs to buy - and look where you are now!
Good Luck and Happy Travels....
(Maybe we will run into you at QZ inJanuary! )

[Hidesert]

Congrats Rick, our stick has been on the market for 6 months in calif, once sold were heading out in our 5th wheel to purchase a used DPMH, and not looking back at Calif.

[Boris and Natasha]

RickO -
Congratulations on the sale of your stick house. We sold ours (also in CA) and started FTing on July 7th. We have no regrets!

The next month will fly by and be emotionally and physically exhausting and exciting. Sometimes all at once! But, before you know it, that will all behind you and you'll be chasing your dreams down the interstate.

Cheers!
Mary

[full-timer]

Congratulations,Rick and Nancy. I know the excitement you feel. Remember you won't be on vacation so no reason to hurry. Go slow and smell all the roses.

Joe

[RickO]

Thanks to all for the encouragment and kind words. We're now 60 days into it and loving every minute. So far we've made it to Kerrville, Tx where we're spending a couple of weeks before heading back to Arizona for Christmas with the grandbabies.

MonacoMama; special thanks to you for even remembering me from my early, awkward posts. I don't think there's any chance we'd be here full timing now if it weren't for the education that you and the rest of the forum provided. We were even motivated by your Outdoor Resorts Indio post to check the place out and we didn't leave for nearly five months!

It was a total of 27 months between the purchase of my first RV of any type and hitting the road full time. You just can't do that without "a little help from your friends". This forum is an incredible resource and really does provide a valuable service to the entire RV industry.

[Chickadee]

Rick, Nancy, Peanut, Lola & Bailey!!! (Whew, that's a gang!! )

Been following your posts and nice to see you're "on the road!!"

Was wondering.....where'd you stay in the Kerrville area?? Wife and I (and the 3 cats) will be migrating West toward AZ from here near Tampa at the end of January. We've never stayed in the Hill Country and are polking around for possible campgrounds to visit awhile on our way West.

Hope to meet ya sometime down the road. Steve & Lynette

[RickO]

Hi Steve and Lanette...it's good to hear from you.

We're currently nearing the end of a two week stay here in Kerrville, Tx. We're staying at the Buckhorn Lake RV Resort. It came highly recommended by some folks we met while staying in Arizona last month and they were right. It's a very upscale resort so you won't find a bargain here but it really is a remarkable place. The park is in three sections. There's an open public section... an "executive" section which is really just like the public section except it's adults only... and then a privately owned section where people have bought their sites and placed some pretty dramatic improvements on them. We're renting from one of these owners. We paid $275/week. Rates in the public area are closer to about $38/night. I won't take the space to list the benefits of this place but it really is something special...ie: they had a sit down dinner for 350 on Thanksgiving and there's an on site massuese. The park is very near I10 but we haven't noticed much road noise but the public section is closer to the road. Executive section is set well back from highway.

We've driven by two other parks in the area. There's a KOA well off the highway which doesn't look too bad. There's also a place I think is called "Carefree RV Resort" but it's really right on a busy road in town. We've seen that Guadalupe River Park gets good ratings but we haven't checked it out.

As you head west from here, depending on how much you drive per day, you may well want to overnight in Fort Stockton, Tx. We would recommend Fort Stockton RV Park. It's on the eastern outskirts of town on I10. It's cheap and has it's own cute little cafe. Your next overnight stay may well be Las Cruces, NM. There we really liked Hacienda RV Resort. They're not cheap but they have really nice drive throughs, and the best dog run and laundry facilities we've ever seen. One more suggestion would be Kartchner Caverns State Park in Arizona. It's about 8 miles south of I10.

Feel free to shoot any other questions our way. Monday, we'll move into a park which is actually near downtown San Antonio to do some sight seeing and attend a Spurs game. The park gets good reviews but I'm a bit skeptical of a down town park... we'll see.

Safe Travels.

Rick and Nancy (Peanut, Lola & Bailey don't really spend much time on line)

[Chickadee]

RickO:

Thanks for comeback. Yeah, others have mentioned Buckhorn Lake as well. Soooooooo.....is it snowin there now? Thanks for all the Hill Country info. Don't know if we can get in for a short stay, but will likely try Buckhorn. Thanks again. Steve & Lynette

[RickO]

It did snow a bit yesterday am and it was 18 degrees last night!!! It figures. Right after I gush about this place they get the coldest weather they've had in years.

You shouldn't have any trouble being able to stay here at Buckhorn for a short stay now. Depending on your plans and budget, you may want to ask at the desk if there are any owners units for rent in the "Club" section. It's not much more money and you get the use of the owners covered patios, some furniture, etc... but I don't know if they rent those for less than a week at a time.

Godd luck and be safe.