Thinking Of Past RV Decisions

First of all you will notice the new blog theme. I was looking around this morning at different themes I had found through my Google search and this one, called “Flat” jumped out at me. I’ve looked at hundreds of themes this past week and nothing ‘hit’ me like this one. So along with the permanent move to a hosted site and a domain ending in .net, I also have a theme that I feel will last a long time. Let me know if you have any problems with it loading, reading it on your smart phones and those that have tablets.

~~~ Found the sidebar on the new theme was too hard to read. Some where having problems loading the page. Voted to “go back to the white with red banner” ~~~

I don’t know why or where the thoughts of different RVs struck me but I did a quick journey back through RV Memory Lane. Not all the way but back to the 2013 summer. Long time readers remember that I have changed my mind a million times on motorhomes, trailers, trucks, tow vehicles … the list is long.

I will say that after I did all of this analysis again, I still feel I made the best decision of not selling the house and even not buying a motorhome nor a trailer. I’ll not go into details again about the pros and cons, but my ‘home base’ is paid for, low property taxes, great location and not much more than routine maintenance. As far as trailers or motorhomes go … how would I have been able to handle those last few weeks with Winston? Or fitting a 2nd large tall bloodhound into a small trailer?

So here is a short recap and photos of things I either passed on, bought and sold. In all cases, money had been put down for a purchase and not completed most of the time.

The Summer of 2013 I put a down payment on a refurbished Casita trailer, local seller and a tremendous refurbish job. I backed out of the deal because of the lack of space for a bloodhound and two basset hounds. Now in January 2016, that would be two bloodhounds that would have had to fit inside withe me and Heidi … I would had to sell it. It was a great trailer though, someone got a great deal.

It was sometime in August 2013 I had put a deposit on the 2013 Starcraft AR-ONE 17RD trailer. The only delay was their prepping the trailer for delivery. Those couple of days gave me time to 2nd guess my decision and change my mind. I really liked that trailer, although I am not sure how it would have done as a full-time trailer.

September 2013, Winston, Sadie and Heidi head to Arkansas to pick up the Lil Snoozy Trailer I had decided to buy. Hours before closing the deal I changed my mind and didn’t buy it. You can read about that 586 mile trip here.

It wasn’t 2 weeks later after backing out of the deal on the Lil Snoozy trailer and blogging that I would not travel with 3 hounds … blah blah blah, I turned right around and bought a 2003 Coachman 258db from a local seller. A week after I purchased it, due to a large oil leak, I had to replace the oil lines from the oil filter halfway back to the oil cooler in the radiator. (Thank you YouTube). I let it sit through the winter and sold it the 2nd day of great spring weather.

The day I bought it Sadie, Winston and Heidi gave it a close inspection … decided it was the way to go … it wasn’t long before Sadie used her Bloodhound Property Laws and claimed the couch as hers. That’s Winston in the driver’s seat.

 

 It snowed a lot that winter in the ‘tropics’ of Southern Indiana … It was a good ‘leak test’ for the Class C.

In May 2014, on a whim, I bought a 2006 Chevy 2500 HD 4×4 short bed pickup truck. My friend had just pulled it onto his used car lot for sale, minutes before I stopped by to just visit. With a bigger tow vehicle than the 2006 H3 Hummer I had at the time, I investigated truck campers and larger trailers. I kept this truck for only a month. It was a great truck but when I saw my current 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser for sale online, I traded the truck for the FJ and that put me back int the area of small trailers.

It was toward the end of May in 2014, about a week after getting the Toyota FJ, that I drove up to Northern Indiana to take a look at someone’s Escape 19′ trailer. It wasn’t for sale but that is the way Escape Trailers in Canada work. They will hook you up with someone as close to you as possible, so you can take a look, if you express interest in their trailers. I lost a large deposit on that decision when I backed out of it. Fantastic trailer though. IF I were to buy a trailer in the future, the Escape 19′ or 17′ would be the one.

It was sometime in June 2014 that I came to the conclusion I wasn’t traveling full-time with two basset hounds and a bloodhound. I would continue to downsize here at home, enjoy what I had and the area I lived. I had the feeling of contentment from that point forward. Yes, there have been times those thoughts of traveling come back to the forefront … but never as intense as they were from October 2011 – June/July 2014. We did travel for a week or so last June 2015. It was a great trip and I found out that it is possible with 3 hounds. Although the number of bloodhounds and basset hounds changed since that time.

I guess all of this is like me changing themes (templates) on my blog frequently, only this is not as drastic financially.

Sadie and Stella had a great walk through the field today here in the ‘tropics’ of Southern Indiana.

Starcraft AR-ONE 17RD is Back !!!!

The more blogs I read with people in small trailers, vans, tents....made me go back through reading a lot of saved information I had. Looked at a lot of pictures of all the above mentioned ways of living on the road. I then went back and re-read my blog posts on why I "almost" bought and why I didn't, I read comments to those posts.....I read emails concerning those indecision's.

Then Friday night after seeing my Cincinnati Reds lose a game on the road in the bottom of the 9th inning with their "Flame Thrower" on the mound .... I went to claz and looked at different trailers for sale. Claze is a site that combines all for sale sites on the net for whatever "term" you put in the search box. What popped up first in my search for Casita was the Casita trailer that was 30 miles from me in Bedford Indiana...from the same guy that told me he had two buyers if I did decide to change my mind. Well that trailer was still there and $600 cheaper on the asking price. He had dropped it off the site that sells nothing but fiberglass trailers to a website that sold trailers, rv's and 5'ers. When I didn't see it on the fiberglass trailer site I figured it has sold.

So I went back through my Casita notes, pictures and still could not see any way the hounds and I could survive full time in that 14' of living space.

What that did do was take me back to the Starcraft AR-ONE 17RD notes I had taken, the blog posts, and the pictures I had collected, or took and saved. The inside of that trailer looked large compared to the Casita. I looked at prices for used trailers and they were higher than what I was buying a new 2013 for. So by midnight Friday night my brain cells are scrambling like mice that found a ton of free cheese!! The more I read, the more I looked, the more convinced I was on the right path before in June when I backed out at the last minute with dollars in hand at the dealership.

Before there were some conflicts in opinion on how long the interior was based on the Model name "17RD" and what the dealership was telling me. I couldn't honestly tell what size the inside of the trailer was. Plus I needed to see if my hounds were bigger than I thought inside that trailer.

I decided about 2:45am....yes, AM....on Saturday morning (still Friday night to me), that I needed to go back to that trailer with a tape measure in my hand and perform some further investigation.

The first thing I measured were my 3 dogs, just to see how long they were and tall the bloodhound was. These measurements were used when I sat in the trailer later in the day. When I sat at the kitchen table and on the opposite end on the bed.....I stretched out the measuring tape to 29" (bloodhound length) to see what I was going to be looking at, along with 2 24"er's.  Surprisingly, everything looked like it should work.

Long story short ... the interior is 17'L and 6'9" wide. So the model number is the inside measurement instead of the length from tongue to bumper like most trailers are labeled. I don't think you want to see all the numbers but I measured aisle width, front entry space, bed size, bathroom shelves (potential ballgame/movie dvd's) ... cabinets, floor to ceiling (6'1") and that nice exterior storage space that goes the complete width of the trailer. I even measure the ground clearance to the lowest hanging pipe (11"), an inch higher than my H3 Hummer.

The 3 windows in back are not as big as a Class C or even a larger trailer but they are still good size. The top of the trailer has plenty of room for the solar panels installation. The AC is 8,000 btu's...I am guessing that is enough for a 17x6'9" space.  I won't use the AC any more than I do here at home, last year I survived the 100 degree temps with windows open and fans on, just to see what the cost savings would be at the end of the year.

Sooooo the Starcraft AR-ONE 17RD deal is back on. I will pick it up in a couple of weeks. I am having 2 vents changed out for 2 Fantastic fans, plus their prep which includes the anti sway bar, the brake controller installed, propane filled and the new Interstate Marine battery fully charged.

2012 Starcraft AR-ONE 17RD

The house is being listed with an AGENT!! for the first time on Monday.  The Chevy Truck and Mini Cooper that are on Craig's list will be added to eBay and/or Cars dot com on Sunday night 11pm local....so that 7 day listing will end on Sunday night 8 pm on the west coast. In my past eBay full-time selling experience that seemed to be the best time and day for me for total sales.

Anyone wanna bet if I change my mind?  lol lol

Plan is to be heading west no later than 30 October 2013!  When the vehicles sell, then I can leave at any time, with the house vacant, move in ready and with a real estate agent.

It took a while, I admit, but it feels great to finally have a firm plan of action and a totally different feeling within myself than anytime in the past.

Make That a Million and One Times

The night of my last post, the more I looked at my sleeping Bloodhound the bigger she got and the smaller the Casita room looked. Then when all three hounds were standing next to my desk chair wanting attention, I realized the Casita would not work.  My basset hounds are longer than the width of the isle in the Casita Trailer!!

No matter how much I wanted it to work ... facing facts ... it would not work.

So I called the seller, only 30 miles away, the next morning after sleeping on my thoughts and told him I had changed my mind ... that it was too small. He had 2 people in line to buy the trailer if I backed out of it.

I had positive feedback from readers and local friends on that decision. I knew it was the right decision as soon as I hung up from the call.

So now, what?

Yes, there has been a couple of outrageous emails ... enough that I shut the blog down, with no intentions of coming back to blog land. Then there were emails that were helpful and encouraging.

I came back to blog land because I caught myself writing a journal. Then I thought I already have almost 21 months of history already recorded, don't let a few bad emails make you run from blog land. I admit, I am usually not this open with private decisions and putting thoughts out online was somewhat of a question for me.

I'm back ... maybe all of my confusion will help someone, otherwise it will be a good record after I hit the road.

I found a Starcraft dealer nearby, so Saturday I drove on our "new" Interstate to check out this RV dealership loaded with new trailers and 5th wheels.  I am only looking at and have looked at trailers that I can pull with my H3 Hummer. That limits the size of the trailer but there are a couple bigger than the Casita that I think will work. Those are the Starcraft AR-ONE 17RD and the Lance 1575 w/slide.

I looked at, sat in, check out the bed, the storage and the roof for a 2013 Starcraft AR-ONE 17RD. They have given me a great price that includes a new battery, installed brake controller, ball mount, anti-sway bar and any changes I want as part of their dealer prep. 2 year warranty on the trailer and 14 year warranty on the rubber roof. Quoted sale price was $9,995.

This gets me on the road faster, under my budgeted cost, have some good feedback from people that are using it and a lot more space than I saw in the Casita.

So the plan can be the same as I last posted. Buy the trailer, park it in back and live in it, with the hounds and find out if we all will be road worthy. With my forced sequestration day off starting this Friday until the end of September, I see some camping trips on the horizon working only 4 days/week.

Thanks to an email I received from a follower, a suggested book has really helped me understand my insanity.

2006 Casita Liberty Deluxe 17'

After 21 months of research, changing my mind a million times, test drives in A's, C's, tow vehicles and sitting in 5er's and trailers, I decided to start with the smallest. That fits in with the goal I had in 2010 after reading about Glenn over at "To Simplify", was to downsize and travel. I will not go through the reasons I didn't buy the larger rigs but I will tell you why I bought this trailer.

1.  The least expensive cost for me to get on the road and a place to live.
2.  I can start this weekend to apply for workamping jobs if I wish to go that route, who knows I might have an offer from a location that I can't refuse.
3.  Trailer is in great shape with free add-ons included in the price.
4.  I have a ton of research bookmarked on Casita mods, repair, and places to go.
5.  Too many Casita owner love these trailers.
6.  Aerodynamic for good fuel mileage.  Without a tow my H3 is getting 17.8 mpg since it left the lot.
7.  Owners on forums have shown me it can be done with 2 adults and 2 large dogs so why can't 1 adult with 1 large dog and 2 short dogs fit ok?
8.  If I want to change it up later, these trailers have great demand and resell value.
9.  Small spaces equal less electric used for heat and A/C.
10.  Bigger bed to sleep on than the one's I used on Aircraft Carriers :)

All of you are thinking "what about the hounds"??  Well nothing has changed, they are going with me and THEY will decide where their comfortable spot is. Good weather days and nights, I don't plan spending time inside a trailer living on a computer ... I plan on sitting outside in the quiet watching the sky at night and hiking, napping, cooking, photography and writing during the days. As a suggestion from a friend that has been traveling for a long time in set ups like these, I will take a tent with me that is as big as a spare room, "sun room", "porch" when I feel like going large.

On days and nights like we experienced last night in Indiana the hounds and I will be in the "cave" waiting it out even if it's for days or weeks. I'll move before it is weeks. Last night we had tornado like winds that blew over power poles, trees and anything else .. along with more rain water faster than I had ever witnessed in my 17 years at this house. The Casita was in perfect condition today after high winds and hard rain.

I will install solar, the wiring already added by the seller. He is installing laminate flooring for me and as a "gift" he is giving me a new Sway Bar.  He has installed tubular lighting inside and rope lighting in all the cabinets spaces. He has installed an electrical system with LED warning lights to let me know (old and senile), that I have left something on that is using battery power. It was 92 and muggy today when I stopped by and the AC ran freezing temps inside or as cold as I wanted it...78 felt pretty good.

As we sat on each side of the trailer inside going over all of the operations and features, I noticed where my hounds could hang out even with 2 people inside the trailer.  Everything is as nice as it looks in the pictures. I must say inside it is in "mint" condition and the exterior is not far behind the "mint" rating.  TV has HD quality with an antenna that lays flat inside the door beside the tv. All appliances looks like they have never been used. The canopy is manual and has a new top that was changed just to make sure it was not aged.

I will be able to carry and store more water for my hounds and I inside my H3. I will have a full Baja roof rack where I will keep out of season clothes (not much), spare tire, Hi-Lift Jack (made in this small town I live in), and thinking of a drawer slide out system in the back of my H3 for tools and emergency equipment that I might need.  All ideas are from the Hummer Forum.

I've never been a "pack rat", so the storage inside the Casita is perfect for me.

So the plan is, within two weeks the seller will finish the floors, maybe in 3 days, maybe 14. It's hot back here and he is in his late 70's so I told him to take his time and do the floors on his schedule. He has a 2nd Casita he is working on to resell. This seller traveled in these for 30 years and I can honestly say loves these trailers....loves them.  Has been all over the Rockies, the west, Texas etc but the body wore out so he had to get off the road but he loves "rehabbing" these trailers and getting them back on the road for traveling and camping.

I will bring it home and park it in my backyard, hook up the electric, water and they don't know it yet, but the hounds and I will be moving into the trailer and we will find out real quick what works and what doesn't. My place of employment starts the Government forced "Sequestration" July 12 and that is scheduled to go through September. So as soon as possible with my weekly Friday off to save them money and a 3 day weekend, the hounds and I will hook up and go to the nearest State Parks or one National forest for the weekend. In fact where I work, they have a nice facility for RVs that is in a wooded area and borders a lake.

I have had many suggestions from everyone, local and distant, on whether to sell my house or not.  I can't decide if it should be Plan B or not. Most people tell me to travel 6-12 months before I make a decision whether to sell it, since I have ZERO experience in RVing, although I have experience tent camping and backpacking in the Rockies, Cascades and the Olympic Peninsula.  I would prefer to be on the road out west before the winter weather hits the Midwest and end up in Quartzsite AZ for my first big rally and possibly only rally. Boondocking off the grid is going to be my DNA. With small tanks, small fridge I will implement some of my backpacking and tent camping knowledge to extend my stays in the Casita.

If I didn't have dogs, i would go the teardrop route....yes, I'm serious about that. I want to get small and travel anywhere I want to go ... with this small trailer and my H3 4x4, I can do that. For the first time in my life I will learn and take the time to fish when the chances present themselves.

So there you have it.  After all the turmoil I put you through, this is what I have decided on with no doubts it will work.

I will have more pictures later but here are 5 basic views I took with my iPhone because I forgot to take my camera with me today.

Rambling Thoughts

It's been quite a week. Nothing new on the house, not a call, an email or even a "sniff". After 6 mos for the 3rd year in a row, my neighbor (not close), has taken down his For Sale signs. So we will see what happens on the house front, probably a slower process than I expected.

I test drove a possible different tow vehicle. I found a very sharp 2007 Ford F150 4x4 on cars dot com with the truck being only 30 miles from me. It was a one owner, body in mint condition, new tires, bed liner looked as if nothing had been ever loaded into the bed. Had a possible tire balancing problem at 60 mph (heavy vibration) but overall drove great. It was priced way below NADA value.

The problem was the dealer didn't want to give me anything for trade in for my H3 Hummer. Not really anything but a lower price than I expected. Due to the time of year, if dealers don't try to sell Hummers in the summer, there must be a reason for it.....not hard to figure out.

So, we couldn't close they deal and I am stuck with a H3 that I like but won't tow enough weight.

A few friends have told me to take the loss and trade the H3 for a truck. The trailer I want just dropped in price $5,000 the other day. Its a Bigfoot trailer, used a few times over an 8 year period.

I've always looked for trailers that would fit the tow rate of the H3 and one that is nice and even has a slide is the Lance 1575. The GVWR is below the 3,500 lbs. That rate has a factor of a 20% decrease for traveling in the western states and mountains. So far the only trailer I have found that has enough room is the Lance 1575 and is under the 3,500 lbs.

At the time I bought the H3 I honestly thought I was on my way of towing a Casita but I had never sat inside a Casita. I thought from the blogs and picture that the Casita was the winner for me hands down. So I was basically choosing between the H3 Hummer and the Toyota FJ Cruiser. I had test drove both and even as a past Toyota owner of different models, I preferred the H3 over the FJ.

I remember, without looking it up on this blog, that I had no desire to use a pickup truck to tow a larger trailer.

So like I was told today ... I have to decide where I want my comfort level ... in the tow vehicle or the trailer. There are a couple of other trailers that are below the 3,500 lb limit that interest me and I could see living in them full-time but I like the Lance. They are a 4 season trailer. Their 60 years of experience in truck campers moved over to the travel trailer side of the production line.

So we will see if I take a loss and trade the H3 for a truck and a little bigger trailer, 19'-24'.

For those wondering, yes ... I did have thoughts at times this past week, of keeping the house, the H3, the Mini Cooper and my old 94 Chevy truck .... then traveling only when I had the urge to get out of town or became bored. I really do like all of those vehicles.

There are a lot of things I like about 'sticks n bricks'.  I know what it's like to be in small push button showers while deployed 10 months at a time on aircraft carriers. One of the top 3 things I always enjoyed coming back home ... long long long hot showers. Those will be few and far between traveling in a trailer.

I like all that I own, the house, the H3, the Mini Sport and even the old truck that I drive 400 miles per year. I love college and NFL football on a large HD screen.

I can do most of those likes traveling in a trailer...showers will not be as long, the tv screen will be smaller if I even have a tv. My dual 27" monitor iMac will be a 15.5 Macbook Pro.

Everything smaller and shorter so I can have the ability to decide what my 'front yard' will look like. Or how warm I want my weather.

I am 4-1/2 hour drive from a Lance trailer dealer, unless I could find one at Camping World in Indy.  I'd like to take a look at one, sit inside for a while and see what kind of vibe I get. I have enough room to store in the H3 as I don't plan on taking a lot of stuff....water quantity could be my biggest item to carry.

One interesting thing that did make me flash back to a Class C ... with pictures and articles sent to me by an H3 owner, I can tow my H3 wheels down while sitting it in neutral without any adjustments. He tows his H3 with a Class  A.

On a final note ... I've been having painful problem with my right wrist, my "mouse" hand. At first I thought I had carpel tunnel but found out the wrong fingers were numb. I had chiro treatments, ultrasound treatments, a Futuro wrist and elbow brace, along with ibuprofen....nothing worked. The last few weeks I noticed a ganglion growing on top of my hand near my wrist.

Well as of today I am in hour number 5 of removal treatment without needles or surgery. I'll find out if the google search worked for removal of the ganglion.  I hope so, I don't have time for surgery.

That is all from the "tropics" of Southern Indiana.

Safe journey's to all that are traveling Arizona, and Colorado near the fires.

Teardrops and Casitas

The title and this post I think you will find a little humorous, makes me wonder where my mind is.

Occasionally I have seen and looked at Teardrop Trailers, thought they were almost an option if I were completely solo. Today I was reading The Blonde Coyote blog, about her living in a Teardrop Trailer full-time with 2 pretty good size dogs. No bathroom, no fridge, little storage yet light enough to be towed by a SUV.

Here is the humorous part of this post ... As I was reading her stories I was beginning to feel that I too, could travel full-time with 3 dogs, and a Teardrop Trailer towed by my Hummer. For a short time I even imagined I could handle no refrigeration and no bathroom facilities!!!  How crazy is that??  It was just a little over 8 days ago where I posted that the Casita Trailer was way too small for me an my hounds to travel full-time!! LMAO!

Yet, the Casita Trailer is like a condo compared to a Teardrop Trailer!  It has more room, a fridge and a bathroom and under my 4,500lb tow limit. Still after walking around inside the Casita 9 days ago, I knew there was not a way I could full-time in that with my 3 hounds.

Where is my mind at???? When today I thought for a short time, I too could be like The Blonde Coyote and travel in a Teardrop Trailer with 2 dogs.

I still feel the best combo for me is a truck/trailer and even this past week that has been narrowed down to a Ford F150 4x4 and either a Bigfoot or Nash Trailer.  I have a truck picked out but the dealer is about 70 miles away from me and it will be Monday before I can get in touch with them.

So that is the humor for the day ... Me, 3 dogs and a Teardrop trailer full-time.

Now, back to my frustrating puzzle of a new $96 36V Lithium Battery, a charger sent from Black and Decker ... it doesn't charge. The red light blinks continuously.

I relate that frustrating battery lesson to a potential future traveling problem where I am sitting out in no-mans land trying to figure out a fix and spending most of the day doing it.

Any recommendations for medical help or medication is encouraged.  (that is a joke for those that don't pick up on my sense of humor)

The Casita Trailer is Ruled Out

The Casita trailer option was ruled out today. 

While looking at the site for fiberglass trailers for sale today, I saw where someone within 30 miles of my house had two of them for sale. This man is retired, buys them in "as is" condition then cleans them up and adds his own electrical features that are really neat.

He had a 2009 16' that was still in the rebuild status and a 2006 17' ready for sale. The 16' model was a deluxe with the two separate chairs along one wall with a small table. As soon as I walked into it I knew it was two small and that was not including my big bloodhound and 2 basset hounds.

The 2006 17' was immaculate, one owner and never used. The carpeted walls and ceiling looked in brand new condition. He said he would put in laminate flooring if I wanted and tint the windows at no extra charge. A very nice man that said he and his wife had been camping in Casitas for the past 13 years but they were at the point due to health and age that there traveling days were over. Asking price was $12,500. It could have worked if it were just me but it would be pretty cramped with me and my 3 hounds.

So one option is taken off the list.

The options left have been discussed here over the 20 months I've been looking.

1.  Class A towing my H3 Hummer or my Mini Cooper.

2.  Class C towing my H3 Hummer or my Mini Cooper.

3.  A different truck and a 5th wheel.

4.  A different truck and a 19'-22 ft trailer.

My H3 Hummer can only tow 4,500 lbs and take off the allowance for driving in the west and I'm looking at smaller 17' light trailers...take the 3' off for the hitch and I'm in the same situation I was able to look at today of 13'-14' of living space and knowing its not enough room.

My thought process even before looking at the Casita was a Class A 30'-32' or a Class C 28'-31'.

I was glad I could finally see the Casita trailer up close. I commend those that fulltime in the Casita.

Well after this post, the cleaning process starts on the house. My deadline to mount the For Sale sign in the front yard is Sunday afternoon around 5pm.

I Went With My Gut Feeling

I ended up going with my gut feeling on making the purchase. After my 2nd trip to the RV to look at it again, in the same day....I came home and started having thoughts that lasted well past midnight. By the time I went to bed I had decided I was NOT going to buy it...but thought I'd sleep on it.

I got up on Sunday and the feeling was stronger than ever that I was about to buy an RV that I really didn't want.

What made it hard, was the Rv was very clean, great shape, low mileage .... but it didn't fall into what I had planned. The Class A was my first idea back in November 2011 but after visiting my friends in their 36' Monaco last summer, I had decided to go smaller.

My plan from the start was to "downsize" everything I owned before hitting the road.  Using the proceeds from my house sale to purchase an RV or trailer, not taking cash out of my savings. With this downsizing plan, I couldn't justify buying more RV than I needed.

I have always liked the 24' BT Cruiser's made by Gulfstream, with a couple of slides. I can still tow a 4x4 toad and it is a little bigger than a Casita trailer.

That night of many thoughts, I looked at a lot of blog posts, some forums, some pictures of smaller RV's and knew that is what I needed and had planned for.

The feeling after I called the seller telling him I would not be out for the test drive, was a much better feeling than the one I had when thinking about make the purchase. I knew then I had made the right decision.

Will 2013 Bring Changes?

Happy New Year to my followers and the other people that read this blog. I hope that 2013 will be a good year for all of you.

I looked at my post from last January and also the last two posts I had in December 2011. It was quite a surprise actually....and sad in a way.  The weather was the same and my thoughts were so similar to what I have now that I could have cut and pasted those posts for today.

To me that is a sad, depressing find.

I spend a year researching different RVs or trailer combos, read blogs from other fulltimers daily, get great advice by email .... then a year later I don't feel any different????  Really?? I guess in a way that shouldn't be surprising. I at times have felt like I have been in a major rut and I think seeing the blog posts from a year ago being so similar to what I was going to write today, confirms my feelings over this past year.

I think later today around the 2 football games I am going to watch, I will pull an old book from the shelf and re-read some different chapters explaining the "Stuck" phenomenon. The book is called Stuck -- Why We Can't (or Won't) Move On by Anneli Rufus....along with a nice fresh cup of Seattle's Best Coffee. Maybe there will be an answer in there somewhere.

Don't take all of this post wrong.  I haven't fallen off the deep edge. I have made attempts to look at 3 different 16'-18' Casita and Escape trailers, all with negative results. The one I liked the best, had all the mods I wanted, sold 2 days before I could make the trip to see it. The 2nd choice, I have not heard from the owner via forum reply, email reply and a phone message. The last one was just in what I considered bad shape. I got bad vibes as soon as I was walking towards it, but the price was right ... I guess for a reason.

Since they seem to hold their resale value, I may just buy a new Casita or Escape if I decide to go that direction.

"You mean the direction may be changing AGAIN??" ... you ask.

Yep, after 14 months I still can't make up my mind what I want to travel in.  I am just as confused about a RV/Trailer as I have always been.  Maybe that book today will help me sort that out.

Last week after reading Wheelingit, a blog I read daily ... I thought the room for me and the hounds, the floor plan and the ability to boondock on the desert floor is the best option. I was told early in my research, that the floorplan was the most important when buying an RV.  So I started looking at Class A's that were 32' - 35'.

Shoeless Joe is another blogger I read daily, with his 31' Jayco Class C. That set up would also give me plenty of room for my big bloodhound, ability to tow if needed and could get to a few more spots than the Class A could. He sent me a picture of his living room set up so we could match "sports addiction" ideas that would be nice in an RV.

Then there is the all-time favorite Casita boondocker - RVsue - with her two small dogs, great mods and how to do them along with all of her traveling information...so valuable to me.  We are similar because of the reasons to full-time, enjoying being off the grid and away from people. I'll remind you that even where I live now, at times I don't leave my house from the time I get home on Friday until I leave for work on Monday morning.

So those are the three lifestyles I have been looking at for the past 14 months, along with many others that I love to read about. Everyone in different situations, different phases of their RVing and different rigs. All great blogs and a great source of information.

So will 2013 be a year of making the change?

It might very well happen.  As I mentioned in December, due to a change in policy, I will be moving to a different position tomorrow January 2.  This takes me away from an accounting field that I enjoy more than anything even though the job was a PIA at times, like all jobs really. The important thing that might make me change my plan fairly quick and hit the road ... I am not excited nor motivated about this new job ... at all ... nada, no zip, a bad feeling that I am trying to be positive about.  It will be in an area of project management support instead of "crunching numbers and counting beans". There are just a few aspects of the job that I am not thrilled about.

So 2013 may be bring big changes and a lot more blog posts if things start heading in the direction of hitting the road.  When I am not thrilled about things are the times I make major changes ... I've seen it happen before.

So stay tuned.

Thanks for reading, comments are welcomed and be safe!

Feeling Content

I have to admit that the fall season is one of my favorite seasons here in southern Indiana. Great daytime temps of low to mid 70's and night time temps down in the 30's. There has been just enough rain to make up for the lack of last summer, so there is still the yard mowing every week. Attending football games at IU is great. Not a lot of wins but it's great being outside in good weather watching one of my favorite sports and teams.

During this change of seasons, I noticed a change in my urgency to "sell out" and hit the road. I didn't feel that "rushed" feeling of getting a bunch of things done so I could put the For Sale sign out in the yard. I'm still downsizing, took another huge load of clothes to the goodwill just last Monday and have disposed of a lot of things that I had not used in years. So the downsizing is still progressing. A couple of blog followers emailed me to tell me they thought all I needed more than anything was a vacation away from my home and local area. I thought about that on my daily dog walks through the field behind my house. They might be right. I haven't had more than a day or two vacation days off from work in 7 years and that includes the time I was working at home with my online business.

I also noticed a trend in the blogs I read. More and more people were saying how they were either looking for or had a 2nd location so they were not traveling every week or two constantly. Some had already returned to their winter locations where they will stay in their RV's or trailers until next spring and then travel during the spring and summer. A few that I follow are traveling and will travel full time during the winter, moving to different locations every few weeks.

I liked the honesty recently in a few blogs I follow. They each brought up things in my "con" column on my analysis spreadsheet for which of my 4 options to choose. I have always wondered how much I would be willing to compromise while living smaller on the road. I have always wondered about my short attention span and how that would affect traveling on the road full time. How soon would I tire of it and want to do something else? Or would I tire of it at all?

So I think I am back to my original plan that I had even before the thought of full-timing and RVs were ever a thought in my mind. That original plan was to keep my house that is paid for as a "base camp", and travel in warmer climates during the Midwest winter's or travel when the urge hit me and for as long as I wanted. Then follow whatever I felt like doing.

I am still wanting the travel trailer/truck/SUV combo.  I'll decide on either a Casita, an Escape, Bigfoot or the Lance 1575 towed by my H3 and visit the places I have been to in the past or the new locations I read about on my blog list. During those travels I believe all the questions I have had about what to do will answer themselves and only then will I know if I should "sell out" and hit the road full time or keep a couple of locations to stay at.

I am still sure that when I do travel I want to boondock more than anything and get off the grid as far as possible. With 3 hounds possibly my largest quantity of my supplies will be drinking water...for me and them. Who would have thought that water would be possibly the biggest quantity of all the stuff I would take with me? Yet it would have to be based on the water consumption of myself and 3 big dogs. (granted 2 of them are short but over 60lbs).

Thank you for the Amazon stories, I now know I would never want to work there.  :)

So in summary, not much going on here. I feel the "hibernation" stage approaching. In some ways I am like a bear once winter hits.

Next week will be 2 years ago when I read about Glenn on the Yahoo Business page and started my curiosity of RVing full-time.

Still Alive

I have had a few people email me asking me if everything is ok since my blogging seems to have taken a vacation. At the end of August I had huge amounts of motivation and action. Then Labor Day weekend hit with a lot of plans to get closer to putting the house for sale, downsizing and hitting the road after finding a tow vehicle and a trailer.

I hit a gigantic wall that weekend.

Did nothing on my list, watched a lot of college and pro football, mowed the yard once, did a lot of thinking, reading and looking at pictures of different setups and spent time around the house with the hounds.

I haven't done anything since.

I've been looking at google images, reading forums and talking to a few people that fulltime or have in the past with an SUV and a small trailer. As far as trailers I have narrowed it down to the Escape made in BC Canada, the Lance 1575 and the Bigfoot 17'-19'...possibly a Casita.

While I am still able to with good health, I want to travel to locations that are way off the path. It's the only experience I have in camping, but those were short stays, camping in a tent after backpacking in the Cascades in Washington. Still I want to be able to take a trailer/SUV as far back as possible and stay there. Also have the ability to stay on BLM or National Forests.

I chose to trade my Mini Cooper for a H3 Hummer, even with the low towing capacity of 4,500 pounds.  I am using the 75% of the max weight to find the trailer that will fit those limits while traveling in the west. I don't mind going slow in the truck lane, but I liked the comfort of the ride and if needed they can climb anything. It has low mileage, serviced regular at the dealership and in my price range. Currently just driving in the local area not towing anything, I am getting 19.2 mpg. The Toyota FJ Cruiser was my other option and a hard decision to make but I couldn't find one with less than a 100,000 miles within the price that I wanted to pay. Each has it's pro's and con's.

If I get out on the road and decide all of this does not work, then I'll go from there and buy something bigger. This combo gets me out on the road the fastest and without touching my savings. Also I have never wanted to take a bunch of stuff with me and fit the rv/trailer around what I was taking. I have wanted to buy the trailer/rv that I want and then decide from there what I would take. I have always said I can and have traveled light.

What about the hounds??? They are going with me just as it has always been the plan. Once I am on the camp site I will not be spending a lot of time inside the trailer. Bad weather sure, we all will be inside until it passes, it will be much bigger than a tent!! They don't take up a lot of space inside based on their sleeping habits. From the people I talk to that live full time on the road with dogs, they say a trailer 17-19' will be ok. I have done some testing here at home by using the smaller 2nd bedroom I use for my office/bicycle trainer/dog kennel and two desks, just to see how cramped that space would be with the hounds. It's doable without any problems.

I know it's a big change than what I have looked at, wrote about and questioned in the past 11 months but everything feels good in this.

All is good here in the tropics of Southern Indiana!

Cold and Snow

It's days like these that make me think of RVing full-time. It's just not the weather, currently 24 with a high today of 28 degrees. Being in southern Indiana I will miss most of the storm predicted for the Great Lakes region, still when I think of 28 or 80 as a high temperature for the day.....my mind goes into the wonder mode.

Besides the weather, it is time off from work that makes me start thinking full-time RVing is right for me. I am starting my 3rd day off from work before returning to work tomorrow on the 3rd. I have to admit I have been pretty bored actually and that feeling is about the same with each long weekend I get off work for a holiday. The hounds and I have a walk or two per day, even later today in the snow a walk will take place. I've read some of the new books I bought recently, watched football games yesterday and will today. I also attended a great college basketball game New Year's Eve with IU upsetting #2 Ohio State.

Still I woke up on the 1st with that old 'itch' to hit the road....maybe it is the weather or the new blogs I have found that have me thinking again about the benefits of full-time RVing compared to being retired and staying here full-time. Here the pace is slow, the scenery is nice but there is that 'itch' to take off. If I were retired and living here I am not sure there is enough things to keep me occupied day after day. Traveling will definitely be a part of the plan no matter where I am living.

One of my readers said it best and it has been an idea I have played with back and forth since October. Keep the house, take some trips and see if RVing works with me and my hounds. If I decided that I love RVing and wanted to do it full-time, then rent out my house and it is still here when I decide to come back off the road.

Also something I have always thought of with that plan, from my travels I might find somewhere I would like to live after I stop RVing better than the place I live now.

Last night when looking a new blogs I saw a blogger with the same Toyota 4Runner that I have pulling a 17' Casita. They have traveled up through Canada and up to Alaska. That is a huge difference than buying a 35' Class A diesel pusher isn't it? I like some of the advantages of the Casita set up and every since I bought the 4Runner this past November I have thought of the small trailer - truck combo.

Well enjoy the warm weather. As I set here watching the big snow flurries outside my window, I am going to have another cup of coffee, read some new blogs, look at some RV's - Casita's - Buses for sale as I prepare to watch college football for the rest of the day starting at 1pm.

A Slow But Nice Week

I thought I'd drop in and at least write something. Nothing going on to report as far as RV developments. I have decided it is too much trouble to sell some of my stuff online, so I have decided to give to goodwill or some local charities as I downsize my possessions. I do this annually anyway so there is really not that much to do.

My biggest job is converting important paper files to PDF's to store on my computer and external hard drives, along with converting my music to digital from a "zillion" cds and cassettes.

Have I decided exactly what I want to buy? No, I haven't. I have almost ruled out a trailer being towed by my 4Runner. So it's between an A and a C.  It would be easy to buy a Class A and tow the 4Runner but there are enough things that I like about a Class C to keep me from making a decision at this time.

It's great weather here in the "tropics" of Southern Indiana, cold at night nice (45's)  during the day. I am in the mode of preparing for the holidays, College Football Bowl games along with all of the college basketball games they are now showing on tv.

Reading some of my followers, I see that Don is traveling through the south now and headed for Arizona. Glen is back on the road and found a great place it seems in the panhandle of Florida. Shoeless Joe is battling rain and cool temps at his winter spot in Texas. I haven't seen anything from "4 Windows & a View" since she traded in the 24' Class C for the 40' Class C. I'm interested in how that change in RV's works out for her. Sue and the hounds are boondocking in Arizona in the Casita, she seems to be really enjoying those solar panels she had put on a few weeks ago. "Me and My Dog" is enjoying the winter spot in Quartzsite. I love her pictures and the stories of Katie traveling.

Wandrin' just made an interesting decision about his phone upgrade. I just did that last weekend but unlike him, I could not resist upgrading to an iPhone4. I went from an iPhone 3GS to a 4.  Yes, a 4...thought I was getting a 4S, wasn't paying attention and realized it a few days later.  I have 2 weeks to return the iPhone if I don't like it but after reading about the difference between the 4 and 4S and what I use mine for, I decided to keep the 4. It's not a big deal and probably more than I need anyway since I have an iPad. The iPhone 4 still has a great camera at 5 pixels.

There are a lot more blogs I read than I talk about in the previous paragraph but those are from the top of my head. I read all of these blogs and love hearing about all of the travels, the pictures and even some of the maintenance problems. I can only learn from that type of information.

For those on the road, I enjoy reading about your experiences and seeing your pictures. As always, be safe out there.

More Changes

I started thinking last week of trading my Camry for a different car just because there are a lot of them for sale on the car lots and on different web auto sites. I thought it might be easier to trade that car than sell it. They are a popular car, yet many available. I also wanted a better car for the winter weather. In the past I have had Toyota 4Runners and always liked them, but the used ones with low miles are hard to find.

Last Friday I had a salesman at the Toyota Dealership I have dealt with in the past, call me about a 4Runner that had been traded into his lot, 1 owner, bought new at that dealership and all the service was at the dealership. I told him when I bought the Camry to let me know if he ever had a 4Runner traded in and gave him specs on what I was looking for. So I did some research on the 4Runner and made the trade on Monday. It's a great trade. Camry's are great cars but I love 4Runners. If I eventually trade or sell all cars before I leave, the 4Runner will sell much easier than the Camry.

So, with that trade, it brought up a different option. With the V-8, same engine that is in the Tundra and Land Cruiser, it will tow up to 6,500 lbs. Just out of curiosity I started looking at different trailers. The Casita, Jayco and one very interesting... TrailManor. Could these be used for full-timing?? Some do.

So I have gone the full spectrum of looking and trying to decide on RV's. From the Class A's, the C's and now trailers.

Anyone out there have experience in trailers? I noticed on some blogs of couples with dogs full-timing in a trailer pulled by a small SUV or small truck. I will study those in the meantime to read about their experiences, but if anyone has any experience in the Truck/Trailer combo, let me know.

I had another couple of things checked off the list Monday and Tuesday. My new Larsen storm door was installed, more things were sorted to go to recycling this Saturday and a lot goes in the trash pickup tomorrow morning.

My "to do" list is decreasing on things I HAVE to do before departing.