(When we met online almost 18 years ago, we almost passed on an IRL meeting, based on names alone ... but then we did, and the rest is history ...)
We are heading into our golden years (I'm 62, he's 64), though I'm still working part time as a biotech patent attorney - I work remotely, so anywhere I have internet, I can work. Charles takes care of me, the house (he's a retired home builder and master carpenter, and pretty handy with most other things), and our shiftless adult kids (we brought 2 each to the marriage).
I tent camped during my first marriage with my kids, and loved it, but Charles never had camped and wasn't interested - I convinced him to do one 4 night trip in Sequoia about 12 years ago, and that sealed it for him - he HATED it.
In the spring of 2014, a couple down the block bought a gorgeous Class B Pleasureway and I started lusting for it - we got them to let us look inside, and pretty quickly realized that while it might work for two smallish ladies, it was too small for us - we are not so small. So we started looking around at Class Cs, but they were a bit pricey for new, and we weren't even sure we were going to like it (Charles in particular was REALLY dubious - he was, I think, humoring me by pushing for it and then hoping I would back out when he called my bluff).
And then at one dealer we saw her - Sallie Forth as she is now known - a Class A, 2005 Coachmen Mirada QB30. No slides, no frills, queen bed, with less than 25K miles on her. She has a small fridge, stove and oven, microwave, functional A/C and heater, toilet - just the basics. We got her for well under $30K, and started to learn how to travel in her - taking short trips, buying stuff to make us more comfortable. We quickly realized that we needed a toad - and that NONE of our 4 older cars could be flat towed, so we found a very high mileage 2003 Jeep Liberty, got it working properly, and got Libby hitched to Sallie, and we set out for an 1800 mile trip last October only 3 weeks after Charles had very extensive hernia surgery - possibly not the smartest move. But despite his discomfort, we had SUCH a good time, and we were utterly hooked.
Over the last year, we have taken a number of trips of varying lengths, culminating in a 3000 mile trek from San Jose to LA, Phoenix, Carlsbad NM, Santa Fe, Flagstaff (actually to visit friends in Sedona), Vegas, Reno and home - and we decided that we loved traveling in the RV so much, we needed to be doing it full time. And Charles, to his surprise, REALLY loves RVing after all!
So we are putting our house in order (decluttering, divesting, packing and moving stuff into storage), preparing to put the house on the market and get out of Silicon Valley - my work doesn't require me to be here, and so we're just going to leave. The hard part is that all three of our adult 30+ children have fallen on hard times and are living with us (which is one of the reasons we keep feeling like we have to run away), so there is some combination of guilt for kicking them out and leaving them to fend for themselves, as well as realizing that we should have done it sooner. But it is painful to watch them struggling with us abandoning them. And ditto my father, who is almost 85 and lives with a woman who won't marry him because she doesn't want to become financially responsible for him - and she can kick him out at any moment.
SO our intention is to sell the house, use some of the proceeds to buy a 2012-2015 Class A that is much nicer than Sallie (even after putting a sway bar in her, she rides like an old truck - it's bone-jarring), with slides, pack up the three fat cats, and head for somewhere else. We will travel, see the National Parks and the beauty of our country (and maybe Canada too), and visit various cities that we may want to move to for retirement (Phoenix? Las Vegas? Sedona?), stay there in the RV while we decide if we like the place, and then buy a fixer upper for Charles to remodel to our tastes, that has a casita for my father and/or whichever kid(s) fail to make it in San Jose without us, or my derelict brothers - in which case we will have recreated the situation we are running away from right now!
We are currently lusting after an Allegro Red 38QRA (two toilets! we're old!), four slides. We think we can do this for a year, easily.
I look forward to getting the hell outta Dodge ASAP. I packed up the chatchke cabinet this evening, and thought "I don't want to see this stuff for quite a while, at which point I MIGHT decide I missed it, but ... maybe not." I think about being on the road ALL THE TIME, and can't wait to join you road warriors.
The fat cats - who are trained to come to my bed, line up and sit down for treats (the little one is now as big as the middle one - that was from a couple of months ago):
Diana (and Charles - and FatBoy Onyx, Mimi and Milo)
Linear Mode
