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Old 07-05-2022, 04:06 PM   #15
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Howdy!

Take a deep breath and calm down. I’m sure when you lived in your stick and bricks things needed to be fixed or repaired along the way. RVing is no different.

“Happy Trails”
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Old 07-05-2022, 06:38 PM   #16
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..... Can anyone talk me off this ledge? I’m not sure this was the right decision. I’m 74 and hubs is 75. Maybe we waited too long to do this.
While thinking about to answer your queation, I had a good laugh. Grand daughters wanted sauage. I am not sailing or walking on a Pacific beach because DIL is recovering from pnumonia and I am helping.

I can not talk you off the ledge. The bad news is the ground is crimbling a way. Oh wait that is how our first MH was finished off by a idiot tow truck driver.

You have to decide what you want to be doing the day before you go off the ledge.

The night before Rita was having a great time sitting around a campfire with many friemds of 30 years where we used to live. Two weeks berfore we took our grand daughter camping for the first time.

And two before heading north every, as we did every year, Rita got the ok from her cardiologist.

Let me share a good memory. We were sitting in the front MH on new yesrs day in San Antinio. In the back of the MH, I guy is laying on the engine replacing the water pump.

As we limped into town, we pulled into the first repair shop hoping for a emergemcy number. We taked to guy who knew a guy who called a guy who had a shop in his back yard.


what I am saying is that problems are part of the adventure. It may not be how you panned the day but you may look back and say .....
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Old 07-05-2022, 06:55 PM   #17
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I hope you're aware of the road collapse on the Alaskan Hwy. Check out detour in advance. The Cassier would be an option.
We are and always appreciate your help and guidance. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us and please continue to keep us ‘steered’ in the right direction.
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Old 07-11-2022, 06:44 AM   #18
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We had experience with Motorhomes some years ago and totally loved it. We have always dreamed of full timing. We finally did it, this past April. We sold the house and just about everything in it. We bought a 2014 Foretravel IH45. It is a beauty. We had it totally serviced and checked out. We drove away very excited that we finally did it. From the beginning one thing after another has been a problem or gone wrong. No internet, crack in the windshield, wiring problems for the toad. There are other minor problems, but the straw that’s breaking this camels back happened Saturday. While on the way to a campground in Tennessee on I24, there was metal debris in the road. Considering we are 45’ long towing a pickup, you can’t exactly swerve like you can in a car. Well, the metal kicked up and caught our transmission. We were dead in the water on the side of the road for 10 hours before a wrecker could make it to us. This is going to cost mega bucks. I’m so close to tossing in the towel. Can anyone talk me off this ledge? I’m not sure this was the right decision. I’m 74 and hubs is 75. Maybe we waited too long to do this.
The old saying "they do not build them like they used to" is equally valid today.

Although some of your troubles are not related to the manufacture of your RV, one does need to be handy to full time RV. A lot of techs are not well trained to fix problems, the put in new components and hope the problem is fixed.

We get calls and emails day in and say out like your comments, you are not alone. As mentioned above, full time RVing takes a lot of work to get things not only right, but the way you want them to be.

Do not think of an RV as a home on wheels, think if an RV as wheels with an inhabitable space on top. Your home does not vibrate unless there is an earthquake. RVs are subject to stress and strain that your home is not subjected to.

Hope this helps you with your understanding, we are here to help at iRV2
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Old 07-14-2022, 09:41 AM   #19
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Thank you!

Thanks to everyone who posted and talked me off the ledge!! I’m feeling so much better after reading all your wonderful and encouraging comments. Sometimes as humans we need to have a shake to see the picture as it should be seen. Yes, I’m frustrated, but I know it’s in the best place to be fixed and eventually we’ll get on the road again! Again, many thanks to everyone! You are one of the big reasons why this lifestyle is so amazing! God bless you all and happy and safe travels!
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Old 07-15-2022, 06:23 AM   #20
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Thanks to everyone who posted and talked me off the ledge!! I’m feeling so much better after reading all your wonderful and encouraging comments. Sometimes as humans we need to have a shake to see the picture as it should be seen. Yes, I’m frustrated, but I know it’s in the best place to be fixed and eventually we’ll get on the road again! Again, many thanks to everyone! You are one of the big reasons why this lifestyle is so amazing! God bless you all and happy and safe travels!
You nailed it!

"You are one of the big reasons why this lifestyle is so amazing!"

We always try to help when we can, if someone is struggling on the road, stop and help them!

FYI, this is how we invented our product, stopped to help a class-c broke down on a very dangerous stretch of highway in Mexico.

Pass on the blessings
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Old 07-15-2022, 08:18 AM   #21
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I am sure I will be branded an RV heretic but I wouldn’t ever completely dive in and not have a home, even if it were modest digs somewhere. Too many things can go wrong, and with today’s extreme shortages of help and parts repairs can take months.
A small condo or something similar that doesn’t require a lot of upkeep allows you to have a place to go should the road turn against you. It gives you a place to keep all those things that don’t fit in the RV yet are too valuable to you to just discard. Should health become an issue, you have a place to receive care and recover without worrying where you are going to park.
I know it isn’t financially feasible for everyone, but having a static home as a fallback option is the only way I would go on the road. I’ve got too many decades of experiences to commit to a lifestyle that pretty much depends on everything going off without a hitch.
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Old 07-15-2022, 03:39 PM   #22
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I am sure I will be branded an RV heretic but I wouldn’t ever completely dive in and not have a home, even if it were modest digs somewhere.
You obviously don't know the wonderful freedom full-timers have and the reason they want to full-time; most often, to get rid of all the 'stuff' they've accumulated over the years that isn't used and to experience the awesome feeling of shedding it all, and no time constraints to see this beautiful country of ours!
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Old 07-17-2022, 08:20 AM   #23
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I am sure I will be branded an RV heretic but I wouldn’t ever completely dive in and not have a home, even if it were modest digs somewhere. Too many things can go wrong, and with today’s extreme shortages of help and parts repairs can take months.
A small condo or something similar that doesn’t require a lot of upkeep allows you to have a place to go should the road turn against you. It gives you a place to keep all those things that don’t fit in the RV yet are too valuable to you to just discard. Should health become an issue, you have a place to receive care and recover without worrying where you are going to park.
I know it isn’t financially feasible for everyone, but having a static home as a fallback option is the only way I would go on the road. I’ve got too many decades of experiences to commit to a lifestyle that pretty much depends on everything going off without a hitch.
Not being able to part with a sticknbrick and get rid of a life time of unused stuff is exactly why 75% of the population does not full time travel in an RV. That is fine if it works for you.

We found that everything that "we could not part with" fit nicely in a 10x20 storage locker. Since being full time we have had surgery recovery time in our RVs and it is no different than being in the sticknbrick, actually in some ways it has been much easier. Knee replacement surgery was one case that was much easier in the fiver.

As far as parts shortages or being stuck and not having a place to go we maintain a leased RV lot in Florida. Anytime we would have to spend a lot of stationary time off the road in our RV we would simply stay there. In the 11 years of full timing we have only been out of our "RV home" for 2 nights and that was for an oil pan gasket being replaced when we had a brand-new 43' DP. During that same time frame, we have had friends who were out of their sticknbrick for 10 days while their house was treated for bed bugs and a son who was out of their house for a month while their home was repaired after a kitchen fire.

There are a lot of great and wonderful sights in this country, and we will continue to try to see as many of them as we can for as long as we are able. There will be plenty of time to sit on a front porch somewhere later.
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Old 07-29-2022, 09:39 AM   #24
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Originally Posted by Bigceasar View Post
I am sure I will be branded an RV heretic but I wouldn’t ever completely dive in and not have a home, even if it were modest digs somewhere. Too many things can go wrong, and with today’s extreme shortages of help and parts repairs can take months.

A small condo or something similar that doesn’t require a lot of upkeep allows you to have a place to go should the road turn against you. It gives you a place to keep all those things that don’t fit in the RV yet are too valuable to you to just discard. Should health become an issue, you have a place to receive care and recover without worrying where you are going to park.

I know it isn’t financially feasible for everyone, but having a static home as a fallback option is the only way I would go on the road. I’ve got too many decades of experiences to commit to a lifestyle that pretty much depends on everything going off without a hitch.


We full-time to simplify our life. We love our lifestyle. Owning both a house and a RV to snowbird with, didn’t make sense to us. The house was constant work with all the yard work. I didn’t want to become the grounds keeper for the rest of my life. Let someone else do it. This way I also get to spend our kids inheritance. We have helped them out a lot up to this point. It’s now time for us! You only get one shot at retirement. We are making the best of it and enjoying every minute of it.
Not to say we haven’t had any problems with our motorhome. Something is always in need of repair or upgrading but I do all my own repairs. It keeps me busy doing something. I am slowly getting a new RV piece by piece.
Oh and by the way my wife just had a knee replacement in Toronto. Our home base is in Alberta. It is a two year wait in Alberta for a knee replacement through the public system. We snowbird in Florida and on our way back to Canada this last spring we stopped in Toronto to get it done at a private clinic. No waiting at a private clinic, it wasn’t cheap but it was bone on bone and at this point in our live we decided we can’t wait two years. In Canada you can’t go to a private clinic in your own province. The motorhome was the perfect place to recover from surgery.
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Old 07-29-2022, 11:50 AM   #25
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My wife is a "throw the towel" type of person. I'm at the other end of the spectrum...nothing seems to detour me. The bottom line is if you want to completely avoid things happening, then don't leave the house. If you want to experience life, then take the "stuff happens" in stride!
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Old 07-30-2022, 08:45 AM   #26
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Yep, I'm in the same boat as the OP. My story here.
Quickly going through my $50k emergency fund.
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Old 08-02-2022, 05:39 PM   #27
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Unfortunately, a lot of endeavors in life fail because things happen beyond one's control.

Either you weather the storm or give in and return to a safer harbor so to speak.

For other's contemplating big moves in life...the old adage is you need enough cash to fix any issue 100% (which means if your RV cant be lived in, you need the cash/income to buy another one that day or pay top dollar local rates/travel to a adequate place to live while the RV is fixed).

Last year I had a fender bender 1200 miles from where I stay. After 2 weeks and 4 states all saying they couldn't repair me anytime soon... a large amount of duct tape, a spare turn signal bulb and a lot of nervous energy...I just continued our trip and drove the vehicle another 4000 miles back home. All the RVers said I was crazy, all the collision shop guys said..."no sweat, drive her home". After getting home, it took 3 months to get the parts. Luckily it was drivable, but in the beginning I was prepared to stay and get it fixed despite the out of pocket living costs. At 3 months in New England, who knows what that may have cost.

So there is no right or wrong answer whether you give up or not... but if you continue the lifestyle...yes the pile of cash or loans better cover a big chunk or you better buy some insurance to cover this type of issue just like good homeowners insurance fixes your house and pays for you to live someplace while the repairs are taking place.

Does it always work out so smoothly? Heck no, that's why you have a reserve ion a reserve cash fund.
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Old 08-03-2022, 01:52 PM   #28
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What happened to OP and Computerguy is truly scary. We bought our motorhome used 5 years ago. The previous owner had to replace the Allison Transmission. That was with 31,000 miles on the clock. In the 5 years since we bought the motorhome, we've added another 30,000 miles. The cost of the Allison replacement was $8,000. Initially we purchased a warranty for the motorhome which cost $1,000. However since it has a $1,000 deductible we decided to drop the warranty after one year.

To be honest, I'm not sue what I'd do if we had an engine failure. After reading Computerguys thread, I think I'd lose my mind if I experienced that kind of misery. Sorry Computerguy. No one should have to endure what you experienced.

But the reality of RVing, whether or not full time, is that catastrophic failures happen. Fortunately they're rare, but that raises a question. How much of a cash reserve is necessary. I'm not sure of Computeguys age but the OP's age is closer to mine. Just turned 79 and while I could afford a catastrophic failure, I'm not sure I'd bother fixing it. Especially since in my case since an engine failure in a Workhorse chassis will cost at least as much as a Ford F53 V10. That would be close to 50% of the value and likely closer to 75% depending on market.

So from an economic standpoint, it would be a real crap shoot to put that kind of money into an older motorhome. However, Computerguy had a 2015 which he purchased new. So it's a different animal. With a good engine, it has to be worth $100,000 or more. The only question I would have reading a few of Computerguys other posts, will the Bounder hold up. He certainly had his share of issues with a new motorhome. Still, all things considered, going back to work, as he suggested would be a major lifestyle change. Don't know his age but he mentioned going back to work. Question I have is why not work from the road. I suspect that is pretty doable with that kind of background. Also, finding a low cost park for a few months/years could put him back in the game. Tough decision for sure.

The OPs story is different. The Foretravel is a highend motorhome with significant value. As difficult as it would be to pay for a new transmission, with one caveat, I think that is the way to go. The caveat is money. Personnally I would only be comfortable with at least $50,000 in emergency funds. Even then I'd think twice before doing the repair. However the real question mark is your age. Since you're in your mid 70's, what would you do if you sell the motorhome and go back to owning a stick built or renting. I'm 79 and in relative good health. When I think about hanging up the keys and spending maybe 10 to 20 years watching TV and doing yard work I get uncomfortable. My mother lived to a week of her 99th birthday. If I make it to 85 or 90 and remain in good health I would like to continue RVing. It has so much to offer compared to sitting in the stick built. Tough decisions for both.
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