Preperation, Part 2... Plan, plan,WAIT, plan

So we've decided that we want to sell our dream home, the one we thought we would stay in until... we want to become full-time RV'ers and we want a Redwood 36FB. Now the real work begins...

THE HOUSE -

We list the house for sale in the winter of 2010, right after Christmas. After we talk it over with our agent and sign the papers he asks for the key to put in the lockbox... Ruth and I look at each other... do you know where the key is I ask?... No she replies... it took us 3 days to find them... we NEVER locked the doors in that house the entire 11 years we lived there as it was so far off the grid. I even left the keys to the car in the ignition with the car in the front driveway!  So where do I find the key to the house... in the car, unlocked in the driveway of course! When we find the keys we call the agent and he comes by to put it in the lockbox... and we get a call to show it. Ruth and I both freak out...what, they want to come look at OUR house... what if they want to buy it!!! We tidy up and get ready to leave... Ruth is crying, I'm freaking out...we start to pull out of the driveway and see our neighbor getting his mail. We stop, tell him what's going on, why Ruth is crying and off we go. After returning home the neighbor comes over and tells me he wants to talk...they want to buy the house and rent it back to us till we're ready to hit the road... too good to be true... and it was!!! !!! We sign a contract and the deal is set. The bank drags their feet, and when I say drag I REALLY mean drag... six months later and after our neighbor has since purchased another home in the Savannah area they tell us they cant wait any longer, that they have used the funds they had set aside to purchase the other house... so we're back to zilch!

So we start over, sign an extension on the listing with our agent and wait... fortunately the wait was not too long before we start getting lookers. We get a call from an agent saying she wants show the home to a woman so we get out of the house for the afternoon. Funny, we could always tell when the house was shown...  when we return home and try to go into the house... the door is locked!!! When this happens we just go around back and go through one of the sliding doors which were not locked either. Then we get a call from the same agent, they want to return, this time with the guy, a couple from Athens so we wait for a call telling us when...and we get a knock on the door...they're there, at our house, unannounced AND without the agent??? Well, turns out they are a great couple, love the house and after a couple of more visits and another long bank delay we sell the house and close at the end of October 2012. Turns out he is a musician and play Celtic music, plays often in Dahlonega, so the move is great for him...he works in Atlanta and has to commute at least 3-4 days a week (about a 75 mile drive one way)...better him than me!!!

Funny thing about moving, the longer you have to prepare, the longer you wait to get started! Knowing we were going to move, and knowing we were ultimately moving into an RV we knew we needed to get rid of stuff...LOTS of stuff!!! Going from a 2100 sq. ft. home with huge basement and attic full of stuff to an RV, maybe 400 sq. ft.???
We started, at least Ruth started, going through stuff pretty quickly, me...we had plenty of time so what's the rush and besides most of the stuff is Ruth's anyway, I have very little... HA!!!! Big mistake!!!
Regardless, once we know we had a deadline the pressure was on. Ruth had eliminated a huge amount of our stuff, some to consignment, some to our children, lots to charity and even some in the dumpster. But we still had more that imaginable. I finally got busy going through my stuff...
I've been a volunteer with the Boy Scouts for close to 30 years... Boy Scouts is a program where you get a t-shirt or patch or both for most any event you participate in and I have been involved with several committees who enact policy and have lots of meetings so I had LOTS of paper and books. Needless to say, I had tons of Boy Scout stuff and sorting through it all was overwhelming...do I keep it of get rid of it, if I get rid of it should I give it so another Scouter or toss it...so over 30 kitchen garbage bags of shirts and at least 6-8 trips to recycling later I have a box one single box, to store, pretty good huh??? Took lots of time to go through all that stuff!!!
The closer the closing date got, the more stress, Ruth is dealing with leaving the house, dealing with a job she really dislikes and me. I'm closing in on a HUGE assignment for the Boy Scouts which is consuming more and more of my time, not to mention I'm still trying to work...at least a little. To make things worse, the Boy Scouts has a meeting scheduled in West Virginia the weekend before we move...let's just say the final weekend didn't go well... but we survived it and we got moved. There are too many people to thank, lets just say THANKS to everyone who either helped, or prayed, or encouraged us!!!

Praise God our daughter Erin, who is a great real estate agent and has a great eye for a deal, she had a house we could live in until we got ready to hit the road. Thank you Erin!!!!!! So off to Athens we go, happy, sad, anxious, excited, all of the above, and then some.

Did I mention that we REALLY miss Dahlonega, our friends there, our church there...we miss Dahlonega!!!

THE RESEARCH -
Once we decide to focus on the Redwood 36FB I start researching... the Redwood company, fifth wheels, towing, trucks, hitches, accessories, full time RV'ing, campgrounds, insurance, mail forwarding, residency, on and on and on and on...

There is an incredible amount to learn about this lifestyle and every time I learn something I find out more that I don't know. So I'm spending every waking hour not doing Boy Scout business or work or enjoying family time researching. And I keep finding out more. and more.

Just a few topics...
Truck - to pull a 5'er you have to have a truck, not just a pickup that you typically see on the road but a TRUCK. Most street trucks are 1/2 ton, the Ford F-150, Chevy/GMC 1500, Dodge 1500. Trucks used for RV'ing are typically 3/4 ton (Ford F-250, Chevy/GMC or Dodge 2500 or 1-ton pickups, Ford F350, Chevy/GMC or Dodge 3500's. The truck needed is dictated primarily by the weight of the trailer you tow and the weight on the hitch.

Don't go by what RV dealers tell you...do the homework!!! RV dealers dont know about trucks, at least many don't, you really need to do the research yourself. I started off hearing from dealers that a 3/4 ton would do the job for a bigger 5'er... not true, especially for a coach as big as the one we purchased. There are really two big considerations, total weight of the trailer and the weight on the bed of the truck (called pin weight). A 5'er as big as ours requires a truck capable of towing LOTS of weight, a 1-ton truck as a minimum.

Once you get into one-ton trucks you also have to decide whether you need 2 (SRW) or 4 (DRW or Dually) rear tires. Again, it's about weight!!! So after much research, and many discussions with truck dealers, RV dealers, friends and fellow RV'ers I decide that we need a one-ton dually truck. So the search begins...Ford, Chevy/GMC or Dodge? Gas engine or Diesel? 2-wheel or 4-wheel drive? On and on... Have I mentioned that I really don't like going to car dealers, well I think we visited at least 20 looking at different trucks. Then we learn about COSTCO's discount program, so we go visit the dealers who are in their program, there aren't many. You can save a bunch with their program...and we did!!!

We purchased a 2012 Ford F-350 in October 2012, it was the end of the 2012 run, the 2013's were hitting the street so we had to hurry to get a '12. Ended up with a very nice truck..2012 F-350 Dually, 4x4, Diesel that is fully loaded...even has air conditioned seats!!! Who knew!!! BTW...these beasts are EXPENSIVE...even with the discounts!!!
The truck is VERY comfortable, a BIG necessity when you spend so much time in it. Plenty of room for Ruth and I AND the 2 cats... Have you travelled with cats...lots of meowing. We find it best to let them out of the carrier and spray pheromones all over the place!!!

Residency & Mail - We lived in Georgia, Georgia has state income tax. I really don't have an overwhelming desire to give Georgia my money if I don't live there so we start looking for other options. There are not many states that do not have a state income tax and even fewer that are conducive to people living on the road. The most RV friendly and most commonly used by RV'ers are Florida, South Dakota and Texas, none of these have a state income tax and all will allow you to title your vehicles without actually being in the state. We weighed all three, along with many others, and first decided on South Dakota.
To complete the process you have to be in the state to get your drivers license and register to vote, I didn't really want to go to South Dakota so we decided on Florida. To declare residency in Florida several things have to happen, sort of a domino effect so I started the process. We had been planning to celebrate Christmas with the family on the beach so I started the process in October. The first step was to establish a presence,  I did this by subscribing to a mail forwarding service. These are awesome... you have your mail sent to them, they hold it and post on a website what you've received. When you're ready to get it you just go online, select the items you want forwarded and tell them where to send it. I tell them to shred the stuff we don't want. The next step is to change our address with banks, and cell phone carrier to the Florida address (there's a reason for this step).

We left for Florida in early December and stayed for almost 2 months (thank you Mary McClendon for putting us up). In addition to the family Christmas, which was awesome, we were able to get our drivers license and voters registration changed AND we looked at many, many campgrounds for our winter "digs" in 2013-2014. Getting the license and voter registration was really easy, time consuming, but easy, doing so required proof of citizenship (the new Homeland Security requirement) and proof of residency which consisted of the mail from the bank and utility bill with our Florida address. Time consuming because...it's government, do I really need to say more...
So BLAM... we are Florida residents! No more Georgia state income tax AND we got to spend two beautiful WARM months in South Florida...then back to the cold and wet winter of Georgia where we hibernated and got rid of more stuff.

Next up... the RV purchase... stay tuned...

Preparation... Part One

A Little Background Info

Ruth and I have been camping both separately and more recently together for quite some time.

I began my camping adventures as a kid in South Florida, I remember a particular summer when I was about 13-14 when  my friend across the street and I set up a tent in my back yard and spent most every night during the summer "outside" when I had a perfectly fine bed in the house, just so we could camp! Looking back at those memories, it was one of the highlights of my childhood!!! Also looking back... what was I thinking, it was HOT, I grew up in Miami where summers are incredibly hot, but in those days we didn't have air conditioning so who knew it was hot! Those childhood camping adventures continued through my teen years and were some of my most memorable experiences but fell away to work, the military and other interests. But the longing to be in the outdoors has never wained. Much later, after a long hiatus, I started camping again when my son, Danny, joined the Boy Scouts and we began our scouting career (thats a whole book in itself).

Ruth's camping also goes back quite a way, she too has been an outdoor enthusiast for quite some time. She spent an extended summer with a good friend in Europe after graduating college and they explored a variety of different "sleeping" arrangements. Ruth, having two daughters, didn't spend much time camping during the girls youth but was ready and willing to join me once I came on the scene in the mid 90's.

In the Beginning...

So begins our camping adventures... at first in a backpacking tent, graduating to a car-camping behemoth tent, adding a blow-up queen size mattress and finally giving up on ground camping, well almost, I still on rare occasion will rough it, but it's not too often. From there we graduated to our first RV... a Coleman Pop-Up, the biggest of the biggest, with all the luxuries of home... including a toilet! Man, we were living large, no more sleeping on the ground in the sweltering heat or frigid cold.

As we explored the Southeast, pulling the pop-up and going through the set-up and tear-down process many, many times we quickly realized the time needed to perform these tasks and I soon realized that it took me longer to set-up the pop-up than a tent, but the perks were definitely worth it!!! This was great, we could have the entire family join us and we all had a place inside to sleep. Ever seen 7 people inside a pop-up, especially on a cold rainy night ? I thought living in a military barracks was cozy, but this gives new meaning to close quarters. <grin> Then came Eli, our grandson and camping got ramped up, sometimes every weekend of the month during the spring and fall.

And, the list of STUFF to take with us grew, and grew, and grew to the point that we ultimately completely filled every nook and cranny of the deflated pop-up, the front storage compartment, the bed of the truck AND the back seat!!!  Then to include the kids vehicles which were filled to overflowing. Stop the madness!!! I've come to realize that you just cant have too much stuff, or can you, more on that later.

As Ruth and I were camping America, well at least a VERY small part of it here in the SouthEast, we spent quite a bit of time discussing our future. We both love to travel and really struggle with the costs associated. We were struggling with the costs of living in a BIG house, a beautiful home on the river in Dahlonega Georgia, our dream home, which we built and really loved. BUT, it was expensive and we were no where near paying it off. So in about 2008 we starting to think of alternatives...

The What If's (dreaming)...

Staying in campgrounds you cant help but see all the different options there are for RV'ing, motorhomes, Class C RV's, travel trailers and Fifth Wheels... so we began  the What If...

What if we sold the house; bought a smaller, less expensive home and bought a small RV? So we began the treks to the RV dealerships to look at options, you know just dreaming...at least at first. As we looked at the so, so many different options we started thinking about other what if's...

What if we sold the house and bought a bigger RV, one we could live in? At this point we had ruled out small RV's, really had focused in on motorhomes and 5'ers. The Class C's were too small and the 5'ers have so much more room than the travel trailers. So we began the search, still not sure this was what we really wanted but leaning more in the direction of fulltime RV living. We started off looking at motorhomes and 5'ers around 30-32 feet long but quickly realized that there were some serious limitations to a rig of this size, so we moved to 34-36 foot models. At the same time we were looking at what was parked in campgrounds and started looking for specific brands and models. As we were looking at motorhomes and 5'ers we started thinking about associated costs of motorhomes vs. a 5'er, we decided that to move a 5'er you would obviously need a truck to haul it but once parked you could use the truck to get around. With a motorhome you either haul a second vehicle or disconnect everything and drive the rig wherever you want to go (we realized this one afternoon as we watched a very nice man become extremely agitated as he disconnected all the hook-ups and raise the  stabilizers so they could go to the grocery store). We decided that a second vehicle was not the way for us to go. As we looked around  we found our first real "dream machine", a Keystone Montana, then we saw the Montana Big Sky, then the Forest River Cardinal... and then we started thinking about other what if's...

What if we sold the house and bought a RV designed for fulltime living? Sometime in the fall of 2010 we were staying at Unicoi State Park outside Helen GA, we saw a DRV Mobile Suites that one of the campground hosts had and really liked what we saw from the outside so we pulled out the iPhone and started looking for DRV dealers and discovered that Southern RV, in Jonesboro GA, sold DRV. On the day after Thanksgiving in 2010 we drove down to Jonesboro to look at the DRV's. Man these are sweet rigs BUT expensive and heavy!!! Southern RV also sells Crossroads and Redwoods, both Thor lines. Brad, the owner suggested that we look at the Redwoods which at the time was a relatively new line and is designed for fulltime RV living and quite nice!!! They had 2-3 of the Redwood models on the lot which we looked at (we spent about 6 hours looking at the Redwoods) but really liked the 36FB which they didn't have. So we asked Brad to let us know when he had the 36FB on the lot so we could look at it.

Our chance came in early 2011 at the Atlanta RV Show. Brad had called us before the show to tell us that he was expecting delivery of a 36FB in February and that he was bringing it to the show along with several other models including a new DRV, the Tradition, a new line for DRV which was priced comparable with the Redwood. We trekked to the show to look at both the Redwoods and the DRV's and all the other stuff. I never realized just how many different RV manufacturers there are AND how many accessories there were for RV's!!! After looking through the 36FB we were convinced that this is the one for us, or is it?

Now that we THINK we have finally decided three things...

1. We want to sell the house...
2. We want to fulltime...
3. We want a Redwood 36FB...

So now on to the next adventure, stay tuned...