The plan was to be full time by January 2019.  Things moved faster than we thought.  We've been living in the RV (but not traveling) since May.  We are parked beside a pond in Maine.  If you travel this way I highly recommend Parks Pond Campground in Clifton, ME.  The closing on the house is in two weeks.  My last case will end 9/11/18.  We go on the road full time 9/20.  I guess that makes us the class of '18, but here we are.  First stop is Gettysburg, then the Chapter 29 Rally in SC followed by some time in FL.  We will be traveling in western US and Canada in 2019.  The goals are to play golf in every state and province we visit and eat ice cream at small, homemade ice cream stands.

This has been a daunting journey from working to retired.  Divesting oneself of everything that will not fit in the RV can be difficult.  It seems the hardest part has been realizing that we are retired, not on vacation.  Retired carries a lot more responsibility for oneself than does vacation.  We are pretty excited, too.  There is a whole new world out there.

Wayne & Jinx

Congrats, enjoy retirement with gusto!  I don't think we could ever part with our SnB or possessions but have no problem leaving it sit while we travel during the winters.  Which, we have not done yet, wife still not quite ready to retire.  We might become members of the snowbird class late 2019/early 2020.  Don't forget the northern plains in your travel, it is awesome here, during the warm weather.

Best of luck to you and much happiness.  It's an awesome lifestyle.  Getting rid of everything was like a big weight off our shoulders.... free at last!  Remember to take it nice and slow and don't rush through the states. Every section of them has something to offer.

Congrats and enjoy!  We are loving every minute of it.

  On 8/14/2018 at 12:52 AM, Jinx & Wayne said:

There is a whole new world out there.

This is the beginning of a great adventure! Welcome to the world on the road.

Welcome to the retired club.

If you are going to golf in every state then would  include the course on the Top of the World Highway. I know its kinda long trip but it would count as every state. 

I would caution you that you need to go slow. And figure that rarely will visit an area only once. Alaska may be an exception. 

Enjoy,

Bill

  On 8/14/2018 at 12:52 AM, Jinx & Wayne said:

The goals are to play golf in every state and province we visit

That "we visit" portion is a good qualifier. It's kind of hard to RV to Hawaii.

Linda  

congrats!!. We have been full time for two years and love it!. Getting rid of all the stuff we worked our whole adult life for was hard.. But once that was done it was a huge load off the shoulders.. Now not sure why we ever needed it or the S&B.. Enjoy!!

Thank you all for your good wishes.  We close on the house tomorrow.  Initially we planned a trip that was too fast.  We figured out that we want to go more slowly.  We will take about a month or more to get to Florida from Maine this fall.  And, yes, we recognize that playing golf in Hawaii will require a plane flight or a cruise.

  On 8/30/2018 at 9:25 AM, Jinx & Wayne said:

 And, yes, we recognize that playing golf in Hawaii will require a plane flight or a cruise.

A cruise is more leisurely with no excess baggage charge for the clubs. I think you have to cruise out of Vancouver, BC, though because there's some rule about ships not being allowed to cruise between US ports without a foreign stop. At least there use to be such a rule; it's been awhile since we took a cruise.

Linda Sand

Back in ‘01 I retired after working continuously for almost 40 years, I hit the road the same day. It took a full 6 months to finally figure out I wasn’t just on vacation.  And you’ll enjoy your slow ‘n go attitude a lot better.

As for cruising to Hawaii, you can leave out of San Diego or Los Angeles, San Francisco or Seattle.

Finally. don’t forget to smile and enjoy!

  On 8/31/2018 at 6:05 AM, dhuse said:

As for cruising to Hawaii, you can leave out of San Diego or Los Angeles, San Francisco or Seattle.

I'm guessing all those cruises make a stop in either Mexico or Canada before heading to Hawaii. I think the cruise we took to Hawaii boarded in Seattle but stopped in Vancouver before heading across the ocean. We once took a cruise out of and back to Hawaii that had to stop someplace else before returning. Except we had someone on board get seriously ill so we had to turn around ahead of making that stop. We pulled into a port just long enough for them to disembark the passenger then we cruised along the islands a couple days until time for us to disembark. We didn't mind that because it let us do a late evening cruise by an actively erupting volcano--it was beautiful from our distance.

Linda

  On 8/30/2018 at 9:25 AM, Jinx & Wayne said:

Thank you all for your good wishes.  We close on the house tomorrow.  Initially we planned a trip that was too fast.  We figured out that we want to go more slowly.  We will take about a month or more to get to Florida from Maine this fall.  And, yes, we recognize that playing golf in Hawaii will require a plane flight or a cruise.

It took us 4 months one spring to get from Florida to Maine.      Take your time.   We try to follow the 2-2-2 routine:  200 miles a day, stopped by 2:00 pm and spend at least 2 days.    

  On 8/31/2018 at 12:18 PM, Barbaraok said:

It took us 4 months one spring to get from Florida to Maine.    

We went the other direction. Left Maine the beginning of November that year and traveled at the same speed the leaves changed. We had peak color for miles and miles. We did head inland some, though driving the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Natchez Trace. That was a great trip!

Linda Sand

If a cruise ship originating or ending in the States wants to have gambling, it must stop at a foreign port. You can cruise around the Hawaian Islands but there would be no gambling if the ship did not leave the islands and go to some foreign port.