We had a great week of vacation last week and really enjoyed spending time with our sister Sue. We stayed on the go and it is a good thing we were real active, because we were constantly dining out! We sure do miss our sister. Cheryl has known her since birth, I was priviledged to meet her when she was 13 years old. The three of us went everywhere together, Cheryl's parents insisted!
Well we are back to work, the same ole grind. We are making time to research and shop for a motorhome though. We found a motorhome we like at Lazy Days in Florida (online of course).
There are a few features in this motorhome that we are not sure we like though. The "ushaped" dinette seems to be a bit much for just Cheryl and I, however would be very convenient when the grands are traveling with us. The white upholstery is scary for the same reason as the aforementioned grands. Also there is no place to put any recliners unless you remove the couch, thus losing a bed (also inconvenient because of the aforementioned grands. Other than that, we like this one:
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
We are still here and daydreaming!
We are still here, working hard and striving to reach our goals for fulltiming. Our lives have become a daily routine of rising at "0'dark thirty", heading to work and getting home with time left for dinner and a made for tv movie!
We do manage to sneak in some fun once in a great while. This week we are both on vacation and enjoying the company of our sister from South Carolina. It is so great to be able to spend time with her, she is a lot of fun. She is hoping to return mid September to help Cheryl and I shop for an RV at the Dallas RV show. She has a vested interest in what we buy, since she plans on traveling with us a whole lot!
We are looking at Tiffin motorhomes, since I saw Joe and Sherri's a while back. It seems I hear a lot of good things about the Tiffins. I am wanting a rear engine diesel (RED), but we will have to see how the ole savings account is faring at the time. We hope to buy no later than November, but may have to wait until January or February to increase the savings.
Anyway I wanted to finally post to let everyone know we are still here and still daydreaming about the RV lifestyle. I will close with some pictures of our "stay-cation" with our sister here in Shreveport.
We do manage to sneak in some fun once in a great while. This week we are both on vacation and enjoying the company of our sister from South Carolina. It is so great to be able to spend time with her, she is a lot of fun. She is hoping to return mid September to help Cheryl and I shop for an RV at the Dallas RV show. She has a vested interest in what we buy, since she plans on traveling with us a whole lot!
We are looking at Tiffin motorhomes, since I saw Joe and Sherri's a while back. It seems I hear a lot of good things about the Tiffins. I am wanting a rear engine diesel (RED), but we will have to see how the ole savings account is faring at the time. We hope to buy no later than November, but may have to wait until January or February to increase the savings.
Anyway I wanted to finally post to let everyone know we are still here and still daydreaming about the RV lifestyle. I will close with some pictures of our "stay-cation" with our sister here in Shreveport.
Friday, March 4, 2011
STILL SEARCHING FOR THAT PERFECT RV
As my last few days of "rest and recovery" wind down, I am taking advantage to the time to continue my research into RVs. I should say as my last few days of "rest" wind down, I will still be recovering, however I return to work on Monday :( ..... The doc realizes that since I am a "desk jockey" I can do my job with one arm and half a brain .....lol
Since this is the second rotator cuff surgery (the first on the right shoulder) and my tendency to attempt to exceed my physical limitations, we have decided to explore the motorhome option. It has been said that setting up a motorhome can be a lot less physically demanding than setting up a fifth wheel.
Here is my first choice in the motorhome choices:
Well maybe if I sell the house, everything in the house and the truck, then negotiate about 80% off the dealers invoice price............ :)
God bless us all.......
Monday, February 28, 2011
GETTING WELL, TIMES TWO
Hi all, just checking in to let you know I am still here and getting better everyday. I am referring to the recent surgery and not just my ego! I failed to mention in my earlier post, Cheryl has fallen victim to the flu :( and has had a tough time with it. She has been improving with medication (tami-flu). It has really been challenging around here with my being benched with one arm and her being down with the flu, but we are both getting well :)
One silver lining is that I have had plenty of time to think and ponder our future plans while being mobility impaired. I say it is a silver lining, however it could just be perplexing and dangerous! :) I have been giving a lot of thought concerning the "fulltiming" lifestyle. I have also been reading a lot of blog articles concerning the lifestyle and my attitude has changed a bit! I think I am re-evaluating the importance of being deemed a "full timer" and thinking maybe we may just want to be deemed as "any time we wanna goers" LOL. Now that classification needs a little work, doesn't quite sound as catchy as "full timer", but maybe it will catch on ;) ....
The decision to sell or not sell the house may be a mute point. Since the market is whacked right now, we may be better off to set our sites on something less expensive for our rig and keep the house. We would be in the sticks and bricks from November until about February, then hit the road in late Feb to destinations to be determined. Once we are living this lifestyle, we can then determine if we want to sell the house or make any adjustments necessary. :) ...... Now these have been my random thoughts and could change with my next mood! Cheryl is like-minded and will be happy just to hit the road, no matter what we decide..lol
Well I have rambled enough for today. If anyone has any opinions on my rambling thoughts, please let me know. I need all the help I can get! God bless us all......... :)
One silver lining is that I have had plenty of time to think and ponder our future plans while being mobility impaired. I say it is a silver lining, however it could just be perplexing and dangerous! :) I have been giving a lot of thought concerning the "fulltiming" lifestyle. I have also been reading a lot of blog articles concerning the lifestyle and my attitude has changed a bit! I think I am re-evaluating the importance of being deemed a "full timer" and thinking maybe we may just want to be deemed as "any time we wanna goers" LOL. Now that classification needs a little work, doesn't quite sound as catchy as "full timer", but maybe it will catch on ;) ....
The decision to sell or not sell the house may be a mute point. Since the market is whacked right now, we may be better off to set our sites on something less expensive for our rig and keep the house. We would be in the sticks and bricks from November until about February, then hit the road in late Feb to destinations to be determined. Once we are living this lifestyle, we can then determine if we want to sell the house or make any adjustments necessary. :) ...... Now these have been my random thoughts and could change with my next mood! Cheryl is like-minded and will be happy just to hit the road, no matter what we decide..lol
Well I have rambled enough for today. If anyone has any opinions on my rambling thoughts, please let me know. I need all the help I can get! God bless us all......... :)
Saturday, February 19, 2011
BODY REPAIRS GOING WELL
For those that may not know, I had some "bodywork" done recently. No, there was nothing wrong with my truck or Rv, the body that was worked on was mine :) The repairman did an excellent job and it would seem the repairs were successful (thanks Dr. Shane Barton). I have been sitting , sleeping and generally living in my recliner since the second of February and I am going stir crazy!
I did leave the recliner and house to go to physical torture twice already. Those were interesting trips. The first was easy enough, all I had to do was lay there and let the PT move my arm in all directions while watching me wince and make painful faces. Now he did a little of that on the second visit, but then he hooked me up to a rope pulley, a handle in each hand, then had me torture myself by pulling my left arm above my head! Those people are sadistic. I cannot believe they talk me into torturing myself and then I even pay them lots of money to do it! Oh well, as I have said earlier, oh the humor of a complicated mind...lol.
Well I have been sitting around the house for nearly three weeks now and you would think it would be a sort of preview of what retirement would be like. I kind of messed that up by setting up my home computer system to remotely connect with the servers at work and enabling me to work at home (man I dedicated). I don't think this absence from the office is a fair indicator of what retired life would be like, especially since I couldn't get off my rear bumper and do anything much! I guess in the next couple of years, I will just have to try the real thing instead :)
Until next time friends... God bless us all
I did leave the recliner and house to go to physical torture twice already. Those were interesting trips. The first was easy enough, all I had to do was lay there and let the PT move my arm in all directions while watching me wince and make painful faces. Now he did a little of that on the second visit, but then he hooked me up to a rope pulley, a handle in each hand, then had me torture myself by pulling my left arm above my head! Those people are sadistic. I cannot believe they talk me into torturing myself and then I even pay them lots of money to do it! Oh well, as I have said earlier, oh the humor of a complicated mind...lol.
Well I have been sitting around the house for nearly three weeks now and you would think it would be a sort of preview of what retirement would be like. I kind of messed that up by setting up my home computer system to remotely connect with the servers at work and enabling me to work at home (man I dedicated). I don't think this absence from the office is a fair indicator of what retired life would be like, especially since I couldn't get off my rear bumper and do anything much! I guess in the next couple of years, I will just have to try the real thing instead :)
Until next time friends... God bless us all
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
PAINFUL TIME OFF
Wow, once again it has been a while since my last posting. It never fails, I either get busy or lazy and end up procrastinating on the blog posting. This time though I have an additional excuse of being incapacitated. I am recovering from some surgical repairs to my left rotator cuff and trying to learn to operate with one arm for a while. Thank God that this time the surgery was on the left rotator cuff and I am right handed. :)
This will not be a lengthy post, because for some odd reason being able to use only one arm has reulted in my ability to type and I have succumbed to typing with only one finger! It is like my brain has made a special rule: one arm limits me to one finger? lol. Oh the humor of being a "complicated" person. Never mind my ramblings, I am also under the influence of some strong pain drugs ;)
I thought that being "layed-up" for a couple of weeks would give me an opportunity to catch up on some of my preparations for fulltiming, however the first week and a half after the surgery I was only good for comic relief to others! I was able to get some organizing done today and got rid of a bunch of paperwork that has been piling up. I was pretty happy about accomplishing something to uphold my status of "preparing to fulltime" and all with only one arm too! :)
Until next time, God bless us all..........................
This will not be a lengthy post, because for some odd reason being able to use only one arm has reulted in my ability to type and I have succumbed to typing with only one finger! It is like my brain has made a special rule: one arm limits me to one finger? lol. Oh the humor of being a "complicated" person. Never mind my ramblings, I am also under the influence of some strong pain drugs ;)
I thought that being "layed-up" for a couple of weeks would give me an opportunity to catch up on some of my preparations for fulltiming, however the first week and a half after the surgery I was only good for comic relief to others! I was able to get some organizing done today and got rid of a bunch of paperwork that has been piling up. I was pretty happy about accomplishing something to uphold my status of "preparing to fulltime" and all with only one arm too! :)
Until next time, God bless us all..........................
Thursday, January 20, 2011
GOOD INFORMATION
I don't post a lot during work weeks, however I wanted to give a special thanks to all who have given advice, information and encouragement concerning our decisions that we face. I am discovering there are a lot of others that have went through this process and also a lot that are facing the same decisions. Thank you friends for all your advice, information and support.
I don't have a lot of time to post this morning and I would like to acknowledge all the comments that were received on the previous post. Anyone that is facing similar decisions in their fulltime transition, I encourage you to check out the comments. Thanks again.............. God bless us all :)
I don't have a lot of time to post this morning and I would like to acknowledge all the comments that were received on the previous post. Anyone that is facing similar decisions in their fulltime transition, I encourage you to check out the comments. Thanks again.............. God bless us all :)
Monday, January 17, 2011
HARD DECISIONS
I have had a great "lazy long weekend" doing nothing but surfing the computer. I have also been doing a lot of thinking about upcoming decisions concerning my retirement or resignation (decision 1), buying a fifth wheel or motorhome (decision 2) and keeping the house or not (decision 3). I have always thought those would be easy decisions to make when the time came, however the time is here and I now know otherwise!
Decision 1, retire or resign. Why is this a decision, well if I retire it means I wait until March of 2015 to finally be free to travel when we want and not based on our work schedule. It also means the difference of collecting some additional pension money or not. The pension money would be about $350. a month, since I only would only have 10 years in that pension plan. If I did wait on that pension money, with rising fuel prices, it may equate to a tank of fuel for the rig! However is it worth working another 4 years to get it? I don't think my laziness is a factor in this decision; I have literally had a job since I was 15 years old (if you count the working in cotton fields, make that 12 years old!)
Decision 2, fifth wheel or motorhome? I know it is a personal preference thing. Cheryl and I both love the Mobile Suites fifth wheel and the Fleetwood Voyage motorhome. If we go with the fiver, we are also looking at a truck, cost could be as high as $130k. If we go motorhome, cost could be as high as $220k (we would cap it at that). Another consideration other than cost is health. I have a couple of health problems, will they effect my ability to setup a fiver? I am scheduled to have rotator cuff surgery on my left shoulder in a couple of weeks (fairly routine). I am not the macho male I used to be!
Decision 3, sell the house or not. I believe fear is a factor in this decision. Our house is relatively small, 1450 square feet. We bought it in 1997 and have some equity built (depending on the market). However we still have some mortgage left also! Emotionally (a term not used a lot by us macho males), selling it would be like cutting ties with our past life. We do want to get out there and travel, see America; we do not want to cut ties with our past life. Our family is important to us and at times it seems they are really dependent on us. Maybe we should just keep the house and use it as a home base?
I know that these decisions may not seem like a big deal, however they have been wieghing heavy on my mind lately. It helps to write about them and I am sure it would help to hear opinions and advice.
Until next time... God bless us all...............
Decision 1, retire or resign. Why is this a decision, well if I retire it means I wait until March of 2015 to finally be free to travel when we want and not based on our work schedule. It also means the difference of collecting some additional pension money or not. The pension money would be about $350. a month, since I only would only have 10 years in that pension plan. If I did wait on that pension money, with rising fuel prices, it may equate to a tank of fuel for the rig! However is it worth working another 4 years to get it? I don't think my laziness is a factor in this decision; I have literally had a job since I was 15 years old (if you count the working in cotton fields, make that 12 years old!)
Decision 2, fifth wheel or motorhome? I know it is a personal preference thing. Cheryl and I both love the Mobile Suites fifth wheel and the Fleetwood Voyage motorhome. If we go with the fiver, we are also looking at a truck, cost could be as high as $130k. If we go motorhome, cost could be as high as $220k (we would cap it at that). Another consideration other than cost is health. I have a couple of health problems, will they effect my ability to setup a fiver? I am scheduled to have rotator cuff surgery on my left shoulder in a couple of weeks (fairly routine). I am not the macho male I used to be!
Decision 3, sell the house or not. I believe fear is a factor in this decision. Our house is relatively small, 1450 square feet. We bought it in 1997 and have some equity built (depending on the market). However we still have some mortgage left also! Emotionally (a term not used a lot by us macho males), selling it would be like cutting ties with our past life. We do want to get out there and travel, see America; we do not want to cut ties with our past life. Our family is important to us and at times it seems they are really dependent on us. Maybe we should just keep the house and use it as a home base?
I know that these decisions may not seem like a big deal, however they have been wieghing heavy on my mind lately. It helps to write about them and I am sure it would help to hear opinions and advice.
Until next time... God bless us all...............
Sunday, January 16, 2011
WHAT'S NEXT?
That is the question on my mind for the past couple of weeks. What is the next step in our journey to change over to a fulltime (or most of the time) RV lifestyle? I know what the answers should be, yet know I find it sort of intimidating to be at the point where I need to make life changing decisions. We have reached our financial goals, no debt (except the house) and now I can easily go out now and finance a fulltime rig and even make a decent down payment. On the other hand I can put the house up for sale, wait a year and a half, then tap into our retirement savings and house equity to pay cash for the fulltime rig. Then there is the question of our 22 year old son who decided to move back in with us and start school! Things get complicated, its time for prayer :)
Saturday, December 18, 2010
WHOA, SLOW THIS HORSE DOWN.....
Ok, so I have gotten too busy again and not posted for a while. What can I say except, whoa..... slow down! Usually we start slowing the pace of things at work in December, however this year it is not the case. I guess they are freezing our paying but firing up the amount of projects we have! Oh well, it will not be too much longer before I will save them some money....... by retiring!
Just wanted to let everyone know we are well and still having our rv daydreams. I will try and post again soon. In the meantime here are some pics to prove our life is not all work and no play.
God bless us all..................
Just wanted to let everyone know we are well and still having our rv daydreams. I will try and post again soon. In the meantime here are some pics to prove our life is not all work and no play.
God bless us all..................
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