Thought I would get a Class of 2019 thread up and running.  Come along and join.  It will be interesting to compare each other’s preparations and share in your successes leading to 2019.

Here is Karen’s and my story so far;

We stated planning in September of 2014 and found the Escapees forum shortly thereafter. We figured moving full time to an RV would be the best way to see the country. We never planned to retire in our current home which we will likely sell in the spring of 2019. My separation date from my current employer is no later than November 2019 or as early as July of that year. Karen has already “retired.”

We both enjoy the outdoors, having considerable time under our belts tent camping. Owned a popup camper then a 30’ travel trailer which we sold some time ago.  After much consideration, we have decided on a fifth wheel towed by a dually truck. Or plan is to purchase the rig well before we leave full time and burn up weeks of vacation getting used to it. 

After traveling around for a while, we plan on workamping or volunteering. So far, we have not set a domicile state but the Escapees location in Livingston Texas sure looks promising. We currently live on the north side of Kansas City Missouri.

Mark and Karen

Wow!

That is really not that far away.  Best wishes

  On 6/20/2017 at 2:58 AM, mds1 said:

We currently live on the north side of Kansas City Missouri.

You might want to consider attending the next Escapade which will be at the MO state fairgrounds in Sedalia the last week of May 2018.

Kirk, a friend also suggested attending the Escapade rally in Sedalia Missouri. How does that work should we not own the RV by then? I assume we would have to also decide to become members of Escapees which is most likely in our future anyway. We just don't have a reason to take advantage of the benefits of membership in full until we start to travel more frequently.

Actually, there are always some people who attend that do not own an RV and who stay in a motel or hotel nearby. And you do not have to be a member of Escapees, but do pay more to attend if you are not, and the vast majority of attendees are also Escapees. 

A very popular thing with new members and with those who are getting ready to buy an RV is to attend the Escapee Boot Camp that takes place just before the Escapade begins. It is a good way to learn before you buy and you could then stay over and participate in the rally as well. 

ok we will sign up for 2019 class. My husband retires in Jan. 2019 planning putting home up for sale spring of 2019 and hopefully it will sell by summer then we are off on our adventure !  We too did the tent camping for years then on to pop-ups then to a 25 ft. TT then in 2015 we bought our 2015 Grand Design Reflection 337RL 5th Wheel and a 2014  3500HD Chevy Silverado.  Figured better get it then so we could have it close to being paid off by the time we fulltime. We are excited, but sometimes getting everything lined up seems a bit overwhelming and our 2 sons which are both married and yes we have grand babies are just a little unsure of our decision. This will be great knowing people that will be going thru the preparation around the same time! Great idea! Thanks TJ

I might as well join the class of 2019.  DW and I retired  in our 50's... in 2008. I've been reading this site (and many others) since 2007. We are hoping to put the house on the market spring of 2019.  Gotta huge amount of work to do on the house before then.....but are determined to plow thru it.

We both had jobs in the transportation industry...I had a delivery area in 5 states and my wife is a retired railroad conductor. We love seeing whats over the next hill and are excited about 2019.

We have tent camped, backpacked and rented motorhomes in the past. We are planning on purchasing a class A in late 2018/ early 2019.

Well Skeet, it's you, tjsmiles and me in the 2019 group so far. We appear to be in the same boat as we are also fixing up the house and purchasing our rig in late 2018 or early 2019. Got some vacation time to burn up so we will be using the fifth wheel for that before going fulltime before the winter of 2019.  We had thought about selling the house early as they are selling fast here in Kansas City. But, the house is paid off this year so an apartment would be more expensive on  a monthly bases. We decided to do our best to get the house ready to sell by the spring of 2019 and maybe stay in the fifth wheel.

Hope to hear from you here on the forum as you get closer to getting things done.

Mark

Edited September 26, 2017 by mds1

Mark, I live in SW Washington state...about 35  miles north of Portland, OR. Real estate prices started going insane here about 16 months ago. I'm hoping it'll still be a sellers market in spring of 2019.

The falls rains should start here soon...so that means about 40-50 inches of rain .....between Oct to April. It's green year round...but ya sure pay for it. The summers can be wonderful ..I only used my AC in the house ...about 7 days this year.

We plan on chasing 70 degree weather when we fulltime. We're not as tough as you Kansas people...when it comes to heat/humidity

If you've never been out this way....you should put it on your list. Lots of mountains, streams and the ocean is only about 90 minutes away. If you want to experience temps in the 70's in August... the Washington coast would be the place to be.  I'm starting to sound like I work for the state vistors bureau. Take care......

You can add my wife and I to this Class of 2019.  I'll be retiring in the summer of 2019. 523 days , but who's counting! Hopefully we'll be off and running in the RV shortly thereafter.  We're heading to FLA this summer to purchase a place for snow birding. We've had our 40' DP for 5 years now and we so look forward to full-timing in it.  Currently here in NH, the RV in storage (sad face), and counting the days until we can take her on our first 2018 trip.  Over the winter I have been (not quite finished yet) installing 1300w of solar and 600ah of lithium batt, and associated chargers/inverters, etc.  it's been an exciting project so far. BLM here we come!

We'll need to put the townhouse on the market in early summer, but the market is good up here at the moment, so not to worried.

-Mike

  On 1/28/2018 at 4:54 AM, CigarBoy said:

  We're heading to FLA this summer to purchase a place for snow birding. We've had our 40' DP for 5 years now and we so look forward to full-timing in it.

-Mike

Congratulations on making the decision. It's a wonderful lifestyle!  I don't understand though why you will purchase something already. There are great states to investigate rather than going to the same place all the time.  Just wondering....

Hi 2gypsies, thanks for the feedback.

we had decided earlier to 'domicile' with FLA, and as we discussed more, DW felt she didn't want to "live in the desert" for 2 or 3 winter months, but would rather have a small place such as a manufactured home, with the RV port right out the side door.  A place for the kids to come spend the Christmas Holidays, a place to be 'ours' when we get to me too old (no IDEA what that age is yet) to fulltime RV. Who knows, we may love SOOO much to be in the RV 365 days, that we never use the place.

Plus I have family in FLA, and nearby GA and SC.

But great question, thank you for putting that thought out there!

-mike

That makes sense!  Enjoy!!

Just reporting back after my last post about seven months ago. We are still on schedule to purchase our truck sometime this summer or early fall. Maybe the fifth wheel in September or perhaps holding off until spring as we would not use it much the first winter.  We have narrowed down our list of fifth wheels to a common rear living room and the shorter floor plans (35' to 37') are most attractive. We have our top five trailers picked out and a few are separating from the pack. We feel comfortable buying the truck first because it will be a dually diesel and we know the weights of the trailers we are interested in.  Will be using the truck early while downsizing and fixing up the house.  We will be trading in or selling off at least one of our two family cars with the truck. Once the wife gets used to the truck we may sell off her car. Work provides a take-home car for me so that's an advantage should be decide to downsize to just the truck.

  On 1/28/2018 at 12:49 PM, mds1 said:

Just reporting back after my last post about seven months ago.

Thanks for the update! I enjoy hearing of other's experiences as it helps me relive my own.