Welcome everyone, to the CLASS OF 2016, where it's never too early to have fun. Tell us about yourselves and what you are doing to get to your graduation in 2016. We can discuss anything and everything. One rule..... have fun doing it.

Edited March 2, 2011 by imadtchmn

I guess I should introduce myself. I am a Dutchman, a Veteran and am looking to retire in 2016. I came from the class of 2020 when I thought I would not be able to retire until then. I am still working full time and vacation as much as possible.

The DW and I live fulltime in our new to us 2001 Dutchmen ES33 5th wheel. Although it needs some work, we already love the extra room it gives us with the 2 rear slides. We pull it with our, again, new to us 1998 Chevy dually 6.5TB diesel.

We have turned our home over to our DD, her husband and 3 children. They needed the extra room and it gives them a good start in life. They will have it paid off many years prior to their retirement with many years left to enjoy. It took us a while to downsize, about a year, but we did it. Looking back, I don't know why we had such a big place and so much stuff. Most we never looked at or used. I guess that is the American dream.

So much for me, now it's your turn. What are your plans to make it to retirement and live as a fulltimer.

Well this weekend is going to be rainy and cool so inside work on the rv will be the deal. Have some things to fix and repair. I orders some eterabond tape and on the next nice weekend will get on top and reseal all the seams and around all the vents, pipes and skylights. I want to make sure I have no problems with leaks. After I get that done, then I'll put on a new coat of silvercoat. No rubber roof on this 5vr. Still have some repairs to do on one of the holding tanks and will have to drop it down to get to the leaking area. Plenty to keep me busy for a while. Did manage to get everything in its place, but still have to get the tools together that I want to carry with us.

We are getting ready to plan a trip up to High Falls State Park for a weekend. I want to check out how this tows before we take our trip to Memphis, and make sure all is ok.

I have 2014 days till retirement and still counting down. Love it.

Well have a good trip to where ever you travels take you.

  imadtchmn said:

Well this weekend is going to be rainy and cool so inside work on the rv will be the deal. Have some things to fix and repair. I orders some eterabond tape and on the next nice weekend will get on top and reseal all the seams and around all the vents, pipes and skylights. I want to make sure I have no problems with leaks. After I get that done, then I'll put on a new coat of silvercoat. No rubber roof on this 5vr. Still have some repairs to do on one of the holding tanks and will have to drop it down to get to the leaking area. Plenty to keep me busy for a while. Did manage to get everything in its place, but still have to get the tools together that I want to carry with us.

 

We are getting ready to plan a trip up to High Falls State Park for a weekend. I want to check out how this tows before we take our trip to Memphis, and make sure all is ok.

 

I have 2014 days till retirement and still counting down. Love it.

 

Well have a good trip to where ever you travels take you.

Let me introduce my self, I'm Scott, aka SloPoke. You won't have to ask how I got that nickname once you meet me. We,

the DW and I, are planning on retiring in 2016 also........I hope. We reside in the very broke state of Califorina. We do not have a RV yet, But we did rent one when we went to the 2008 Escapade in Gelllete, Wy. We had a geat time.

When are you going to Menphis?? There is a BBQ compitition called "Menphis in May" that my wife and I would like to go to someday.

We are just starting to clean the house out and down size. I never new that a 1600 square foot house could hold so much stuff.

Well, enjoy traveling the backroads and I will be lurking in the background.

Slopoke

Edited March 5, 2011 by SloPoke

  SloPoke said:

Let me introduce my self, I'm Scott, aka SloPoke. You won't have to ask how I got that nickname once you meet me. We,

the DW and I, are planning on retiring in 2016 also........I hope. We reside in the very broke state of Califorina. We do not have a RV yet, But we did rent one when we went to the 2008 Escapade in Gelllete, Wy. We had a geat time.

 

When are you going to Menphis?? There is a BBQ compitition called "Menphis in May" that my wife and I would like to go to someday.

 

We are just starting to clean the house out and down size. I never new that a 1600 square foot house could hold so much stuff.

 

Well, enjoy traveling the backroads and I will be lurking in the background.

 

Slopoke

Welcome SloPoke, and yes, 1600 sq ft does hold quite a bit. We went from 2200 sq ft and a large shed and it took us almost a year to downsize to be able to live fulltime in our RV. It takes a lot of determination to get rid of things that you have owned for years on end, but to that end, you realize they are just things. We are currently living in our RV and realizing it is much better. The DW stated yesterday that "when I buy an item, another item has to go". A very true statement if you want to watch the weight you're carrying, and weight is certainly an issue.

Living in our RV, we also realized a large savings on our living expenses. In our stick and brick, our electric alone was running $350 or more a month, the RV less than $30.00. By doing what we did, we were able to pay off all our bills this month and it feels good to be debt free again.

From the sounds of your nickname, you already are in the mode for relaxation. There is no hurry on getting anywhere. One thing I have learned, if you have to hurry, something will slow you down, be it a tire failure or traffic, so just take your time and you will get there.

Well nice meeting you and I know you will look forward to getting your RV. Have fun in the forums and let us know how things are going with the downsizing and RV search. Any questions, feel free to ask.

Thank you for the welcome. I am not really as slow as I led you to believe, but the DW just commented that I will be lucky if I have the attic and garage cleaned out in the next 2 years. Oh Well, I will just keep plodding along towards our goal of getting out of the sticks and bricks and into an RV.

We are leaning towards a Class A diesel pusher in the 34 to 36 foot range. We keep going to the RV shows in Northern Californina just to see what is available. We will be buying used, so what is new today will probably be what we will buy in 3 to 4 years.

Well, enjoy traveling the backroads, and I will be lurking in the background.

Slopoke

Edited March 6, 2011 by SloPoke

Well I found that I had a leak in my black water tank. Seems there was a crack around the flange near the valve. After reading from others on various forums on how to fix this and problems they had fixing them, I order some eternabond tape. I was going to order some to redo the roof seams anyways. I got it in yesterday and last night I proceeded to do my repair. This is amazing stuff. I now have a black tank that no longer leaks and when I tried to pull this tape off, its almost impossible. Looks like I have found a repair tape that does what it says it does.

Looks like this weekend will be a good time to reseal the roof with the eternabond tape. Suppose to be in the 60's so not too hot or too cold. Over the next month or so, I will be putting on a few coats of elastimeric roofing since it looks like the roof has been poorly taken care of in the past. So far the repairs have been minor but I still have one wall on the lower half to fix in the bedroom. That will be a project for next month.

Take care and make sure to enjoy each day fully.

Got the roof mostly taped with endurabond tape. I'll need to get another 25 foot roll and then all the seams will be taped. Next up is the elastimer coating. Whew, what a job its been so far. Did have to do some repair to the roof in the ladder area. Had a soft spot but got it fixed with extra support in that area. Made sure to seal it really well.

Also, we have been having issues with the black tank draining. I finally got around to opening up the tank by taking out the drain valve and taking a look. OMG, concrete terror!!!! Seems that the tank was left dry for quite some time prior to us buying it. What a mess. I made a rod to break up the piles of "concrete" from below. Took about 3 hours to break it down small enough to be able to add water and drain it. Remember to always add about 5 gallons of water to your tank after draining. It will make your day much more pleasant. Finally about 8:00 Sunday night, I finished up. What a weekend it has been. Now back to work for some relaxation.

Have fun everyone.

I tried adding to this post, but it didn't seem to go through. This is only a test.

Edited March 20, 2011 by Harley & Nancy Ludden

Okay, I will try this again!

Questions. I have questions. Lots and lots of questions!!!

One is about how you and your wife handled the emotions of decluttering and selling your house. How scary was that for you? We are almost ready to put our house on the market. We meet with our realtor this coming week. We have new carpet to lay and some more wallpaper stripping and painting to do, then we will be ready to show it. Our decluttering is getting easier and easier as it goes along.

So I guess my biggest problem is leaving this big, beautiful house that doesn't get used. It is gorgeous to look at, but really of no value . . . . as the kids live right down the block and have an attitude about *coming home*. My DH and I might as well go "have some fun". Am I off the beaten path??? Any comments for my emotional disconnects from this gorgeous home??? (Maybe a woman could understand my feelings better. This seems to be more of a post for men. LOL)

Also, our realtor will rent our house for us, if it doesn't sell. We live in a quiet, Amish community. He says that there is a need in this area for rental homes. He will manage the property. It is just scary to leave the house in someone else's hands. Do you have any comments about this?

Oh, I forgot to explain that we owe $80,000 in mortgage. That is what I really want to shed, as our mortgage payments keep us back from traveling and/or enjoying life. If we lived here, I would want to do the Dave Ramsey thing and pay the house off. My DH is 72 and I am 66. In my opinion we are fighting against the clock of life at this stage of our life. Any ideas on this scenerio? I am assuming that you are much younger than we are. ha ha

We are going to the RVDream Rally in TN next month. I am hoping that a lot of our questions concerning changing our live style will be answered there. There are also some local Escapee Rallys in our area that I would like to check out. I think we can attend 3 of them without joining.

Thanks for any comments given. . . . . . yes, my motivating, underlying feeling would be *fear*.

Edited March 20, 2011 by Harley & Nancy Ludden

  Connie B. said:

Just wanted to say, Yes, woman are nesters. We like to have our "own nest", the nicer the better. When my hubby wanted to go on the road in an RV I was not at all excited about it. I thought maybe a few weeks or months would be OK but then I wanted to go back to "my house." Well, once we got on the road, I discovered I transferred my nest from that big house with 2.3 acres to take care of to my wonderful house on wheels. I no longer wanted the big house, yard, responsibilities, etc. The house on wheels represented freedom from all that upkeep and taking care of our stuff. Take your time. Try it out. I think you might find a big change in your allegiance. Good luck. Connie B.

Just talked with the DW, since Nancy was looking for a woman's point of view and she states the following. Houses are nice without a doubt, but it is much nicer not having to take all day cleaning and straightening up, the maintenance etc. It takes about 2 hours to fully clean and maintain the rv, leaving me much more time to enjoy the other things in life. As far as getting rid of things we've had forever, yes it was hard in the beginning, but once we truely got started, it got much easier.

Do we regret what we have done? Not in the least. Was it easy to do? Bending nails with your hands is easier. Enjoy life and have fun. Take chances. You only live once.

Well this past weekend was fun. Went to the grandkids baseball and softball games. Did manage to get hit on the head by a baseball from the field behind me while taking pictures of the grandkids. Man, did it hurt. No call of 'heads up' or anything. Felt like someone hit me with a baseball bat. Seen stars. The first responders there checked me out and after a few minutes, things returned to normal. Hope not to do any repeat of that again. Felt bad for the boy that hit that ball. Someone told me he just about quit baseball, and was quite upset he had hit me. Accidents happen, and sometimes in the strangest places.

Getting ready now to rebuild the entertainment/fireplace area of our 5th wheel. Doing the measurements and seeing what will be needed to make it the way DW wants it. She doesn't like the gold trim around the fireplace, so I am going to see what I can do to change that to a wood frame. Gotta keep momma happy you know.

Well that's it for now. Have fun and be safe in your travels, or trips to the ballpark.

This is the DW of SloPoke. I do NOT have a problem getting rid of the extraneous stuff in our life. I am a firm believer in the "Less is More" way of life. Now, SloPoke is another story. He can rid himself of useless "junk", but it will take him 30 years!!!!!!! My treasures are in Heaven, and what I have on earth, I am more than happy to "dump on" our children, as it will be their's sooner or later, so why not sooner?!?!?!?!. :rolleyes: So, update your faith, roll up your sleeves, and get to work. Life on the road will be so much more glorious in a simpler frame of mind. How do I get SloPoke moving?

  On 4/2/2011 at 9:51 AM, SloPoke said:

This is the DW of SloPoke. I do NOT have a problem getting rid of the extraneous stuff in our life. I am a firm believer in the "Less is More" way of life. Now, SloPoke is another story. He can rid himself of useless "junk", but it will take him 30 years!!!!!!! My treasures are in Heaven, and what I have on earth, I am more than happy to "dump on" our children, as it will be their's sooner or later, so why not sooner?!?!?!?!. :rolleyes: So, update your faith, roll up your sleeves, and get to work. Life on the road will be so much more glorious in a simpler frame of mind. How do I get SloPoke moving?

Hmmmm, light a fire, perhaps? Lightening the load is extremely important. If you have something that you are having a hard time getting rid of, give it to your children with the knowledge that if you need to use it, you can. Works fine for us.

Well the past two weekends have been busy with the grandkids and our children. My son is coming off the road (truck driver) and has purchased our old camper. This weekend will consist of driving to Springfield, MO to pick him up. Spending tonight and tomorrow night getting the dually ready for the trip. Not really looking forward to a hard 1700 miles in two days. Oh well, we do what we have to for our children.

The black tank still has a slow leak so it's back to the drawing board. Found some stuff made especially for black tanks so going to give that a try before having to replace the tank. Really don't want to do that if at all possible, although that is really the right way to do it. All the other tanks are ok. Hopefully will be starting on the entertainment area remodel in the next few weeks. Hope to have it completed before we head out to High Falls State Park for the Fourth of July weekend. That will be a blast. Grandkids will love it, I'm sure. We are going to Stone Mountain on that Saturday afternoon to watch the fireworks and return back to High Falls that evening. Found some more campgrounds close by that I didn't know existed. Thank you internet.

Well thats about it for now. Stay safe and enjoy each day.