Sebastian

This link hit home tonight while I was reading it. I've had a couple of friends tell me a lot of the same things. It was written a few years ago but still states the same thoughts I've had for over a year now.

The post here hits home: It sounds loud and clear!

No Progress

Just like before ... a burst of "I'm going to clean, downsize and sell", then back to the normal routine of work, watch ballgames, sleep, eat, work, watch ballgames, sleep, eat. Anyone else go through the up and down roller coaster when they were trying to decide what to do? I warned you that I had a college football and basketball addiction.

Email traffic is leaning towards "always have a base camp" and I see that more and more from the blogs I follow. That doesn't mean my base camp has to be in my current location. There is one thing I have noticed in my search of small houses in off the grid towns in the west ... much more expensive for what I live in now. I could buy at lower prices and then spend to upgrade to livable conditions. While I would be fixing up a new SB, that would also take time away from traveling. These locations that I am looking at are small towns in the SW, near larger towns such as the location I live in now ... only difference is the weather of course.

I was never much of a pack rat anyway, but I have still downsized a lot and am basically living in this house with the bare necessities.

It's too long of a story to go into but I found this past week, as of the end of December due to reorganization, my current job will change. My job is not going away, but due to approved changes, for me to continue to have "access" to the financial system that I currently have in performing my job I would have to change to the company that has that contract. I am not going to do that since I work for a great company and they have slotted me for a different position in the same department.

When I heard the news last week of the December 31 deadline, I thought for a short time it might be the right time to pack up and leave and get a taste of living on the road in the SW for the winter. I found out that I like my house, the land that I live on, a structured environment, with the ability to get away when I want even if it is just for the day. Also I have to admit, my hounds have a great routine and a great field to roam in.

So like a friend told me after my last post, "things can always change" ... it might have changed back to my normal routine this past week.

On the subject of downsizing I have a funny story just as an example on why it is so hard for the American public to resist the continuous buying.  Besides all of the junk email, TV ads and a few regular mail of coupons to save ... I bought 2 (TWO) things yesterday at 2 different stores. I bought a pair of shoes at Dick's Sporting Goods and a DVD recorder at Best Buy. For that I was handed the following by the cashier:

Dick Sporting Goods - a receipt that was 17" long!!!!  $10 off on my next purchase for filling out a survey. "Special" Holiday Financing offer.  They were shocked when I said I would use my debit card to pay.

Best Buy - a receipt that was 14" long!!!  For ONE item.  Same type of offers, surveys and a threat never to lose this receipt if my "disposable" DVD recorder were to stop working and I would want to return it. They seem to only last around 6 months anyway, thus the name "disposable".

Sorry the blog is boring, so up and down and no travel decisions but I'll take it one day at a time and see how it goes.

Boondocking and Isolation

Those two words in the title never seem to leave my thoughts and today came back into the mental scene like a high speed storm. Sell everything, hit the road and figure things out on the way.

How's that for a wide range of thinking?

I have 4 days off from work after tomorrow, the 21st, and plenty of time to shampoo my carpets, wash down the walls, a thorough cleaning, more downsizing and put that brand new "for sale" sign in the front yard. Yes, I know it's the holidays, I know its winter and maybe it will not sell during this time ... but at least it's a start and if I were to get lucky with a sale, then I hit the road.

I am not sure of the reason for the sudden change in thinking.

My favorite college basketball team is #1 until they get beat and they will get beat eventually ... maybe tonight. Yet, I know I can watch them anywhere in the USA with my Directv dish and transfer my service.

All I thought about today during a slow day of work ... was boondocking and sitting somewhere with warm weather, a slight breeze, sun and 3 hounds napping outside on a rug.

So we will see. I think I am going to be very productive these next 4 days and that will get me back in forward motion of clearing my house out, selling it and hitting the road.

What if it doesn't sell?  After a period of time where I give it a chance to sell, I'll buy a trailer, head west and see what the future brings.

RVsue's story has always been very interesting as well as her current blog posts. When I read last year, the reason she decided to sell out and hit the road I could see we had similar reasons.

Stay tuned.

Is Sadie a Hold Up in the Decision?

As much as I love my hounds, I wonder sometimes if my 80lb bloodhound Sadie is subconsciously keeping me from making a decision. Two "low level" basset hounds are much different than 2 basset hounds and 1 large bloodhound. Plus a "hound" is much different than those smart never run away shepherds. I would have to have all 3 of my dogs on 3 different retractable leashes because even with the older Winston (8yrs old), when they get on a scent, they are off and all 3 can run much faster than I can.

I know this from past experience in the hayfield walks in the afternoon and an unexpected deer shows up within their scent range ... and I know how slow I am chasing them.

So when I see pictures of other travelers hiking with the dogs unleashed, and they stay around without running off, I know that is not possible with the noses of my hounds.

With a tow vehicle that I am currently driving daily to work, that puts me in the range of a small trailer. The more I think of it, the more I could see me and 2 basset hounds doing it comfortably but that 3rd 80lbs of fumbling tumbling hound INSIDE something only 16'-18' makes it seem hard to imagine.

So that is why I asked, if Sadie, my big bloodhound has been the reason I have not been able to make a decision, when I am use to making decisions pretty quickly on other topics.

All through my google searches over the past 13 months, I have not found anyone RVing full time with a bloodhound or even a large dog with 2 other dogs. Definitely not inside a smaller trailer.

Based on weekend observations, my hounds sleep A LOT during the day while I am at work and also while I am around on weekends. Those naps could be on a rug inside a portable fenced area like RVsue uses for her two smaller dogs but when the winds are howling and the rain is flying, the big girl with the 2 basset hounds and I would seem to be pretty cramped inside a smaller trailer when I think about it.

Does that move us back to a Class C or a 32' - 34' Class A?  Even in times of $4 gas?

I have done all of my gas estimates with different types of RV's at $4 per gallon fuel in the past year. I am pretty close to an estimate of 8,000-9,000 miles traveled in a year, maybe less if I stay in places I like longer. Having lived in the west in the past for 20+yrs, I have seen a lot of Calif, Washington, Idaho, and Arizona. So I see myself doing less traveling than maybe some others I read about.

Still, I keep coming back to traveling full time with 3 hounds and 1 of those hounds being 30" tall at the shoulder, packing only 80lbs and a tail that can clean off a coffee table with a couple of tail wags. I will not even get into the drool stories....lol

I could do a Class C or A and used my current tow vehicle as my toad.

More and more to think about.

Nothing New Except the Morning Temps

As you see on the left side of this post, I follow a few blogs of others either snow-birding, RVing fulltime and a few that camp when they can get time. I follow more than what is listed to the left in Google Reader, so I do have a wide range of travelers and a wide range of ideas and thoughts.

Still, I remember to remember that each of us has their own situation in doing what we do.

Over the past month I have had time to think of what a typical day in retirement would look like if I chose to stay here in this house on a fulltime basis. A couple of days off during the week plus weekends gave me a glance into the future and one that turned out quite boring. I had thoughts asking myself "is this what you really want to do?" when I decide to retire and stay in this location? When imagining doing what the people do that I read daily about I asked myself the same question "is this what you really want to do?" I saw more positive images and thought "yes" to that question about traveling.

That thought process led me to take a look at the way I am always changing my mind more than I like in making this decision. Add in the comments on this blog, the stories of others in their blogs, the few private emails I receive about what to do and it keeps me in the mode of not making a decision.

I realized over the past 13 months since this urge of RVing fulltime hit me, my mind consistently changed with the change of seasons, situations at work and/or when I was just plain bored. Tired of the same routine that I and others in the workforce follow.

So really the answer is in all of this analysis I have been going through, I will not know until I just do it. Seems simple.

I have decided instead of jumping in 100% feet first by selling everything and hitting the road with my hounds and just the bare necessities and figuring it out as I go ... That I will keep my house, continue to downsize, buy a trailer and hit the road.

The date to hit the road is still undetermined but the search for a travel trailer is on as well as buying the things I will need to be off the grid in my travels.

I do know that the temps (20's) I wake up to and drive to work in makes it so tempting to buy something soon and leave but I don't feel like I am fully prepared to make that move yet.

Through my reading I am seeing more pulling off the road and staying in one spot longer. Are the fuel prices this past summer a factor? I know that fuel cost are very flexible and can be controlled by the amount of movement from one camp site to another. I have no doubt that I will be more of a boondocker than a traveling tourist.

In my case when comparing the 2 options of keeping the house and traveling or selling the house and traveling, my NET monthly expenditures are within $200-$300 of each other. Not a big difference. In either case I already have my tow vehicle.

As one friend told me "you only need shelter".

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.

At This Point in Time

I survived my grueling hours of watching college football yesterday. My favorite team lost as usual but they made it exciting after coming back from being down 27-0. During all of this viewing, the thought of "bordem" floated through and I wondered if I watch that many hours because there is nothing else to do in the area I live, and what would I be doing if I were in a different location....like on the road.

In today's tv land, and I am not a big time tv watcher, I could (can) watch a ballgame live anywhere I have an internet connection on my iPhone or iPad or iMac. That opens up a lot of possibilities. Yet, I remember a few years back when the NFL was on strike and games were not being played, I spent every Sunday (weather permitting) outside doing something. I did not miss the games as much as I thought I would.

So maybe the massive amounts of time I spend watching ballgames is more about my location, being bored at times, except when my favorite team is playing.

How does all of this rambling tie in with RVing full-time?

I found out yesterday (again) while watching too many hours of football, that I would rather be parked out in the "boonies" somewhere, outside enjoying the environment around me rather than being inside vegging out on the couch watching football. The thought of sitting in the dark night around a campfire, in a jacket for cooler temps, sounds much more enjoyable than sitting inside a house bored.

So as the title of my post says today ... At This Point in Time ... I prefer the Truck/SUV and a small trailer combination. Right now, and I know it could change in the future, but right now I need to get as far off the grid as possible and for as long as possible. I can do that best with a 4x4 and small trailer.

That desire of being off the grid and the blogs/pictures I read/see on a daily basis, keeps my desire strong for selling all I have an hit the road full-time.