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sumsmug · 03-31-2008, 11:17 PM

One day to launch. Right now, my wife and I are sat in an empty house, our last night in a "real" house before we leave our traditionally "normal" lives and start a new career in a new home, a 1986 25' Airstream. How we got to this point is lost in a blur of craigslist, ebay and gifting of items. We are, or were 3 weeks ago, a young professional couple, a PhD in particle physics a piece and a career in a major research company. However, looking back I don't think either of us were happy. We were not doing very interesting or useful research and the company we worked for was a truly unpleasant environment. Just as we started to look for alternative careers, the choice was taken out of our hands; our department was cut.

This forced our hand and we jumped. In the last month we launched a physics consultantcy company and decided that we were going to try take a different route to the path we had been following (house, mortgage etc...). We had been keen on airstreams for well over a year and had some experience with an older trailer (65 22footer). Indeed we had been looking for our own for the last six months. Well something must have been going right for us that week, for as soon as we decided to jump the ideal trailer came along at a price we could afford. We jumped.

Reducing our life down from a 2000 square ft townhouse to 20x8 aluminum box has been a challenge to say the least. Furniture was sold, items were ebay-ed, and family heir-looms were sent back to distant relatives for safe keeping. Now, nearly 1 month after we made the choice, we are ready to go. We vacate the rented house tomorrow and will tow our airstream out to the local state park, our first very small step on the full timing road. We will need to spend a week sorting things out and relaxing at bit. I dont think either of us has slept more than 4 hours in weeks.

We have probably forgotten lots of things, some vitally important I'm sure. Hopefully, half the fun will be finding out what.

Will let you know what happens and post some picks of the rig.
--

Happycampers · 03-31-2008, 11:30 PM

Good Luck and very happy travels.... Some of life's greatest life experiences come out of changes we have no control over. Have a wonderful time ....

centennialman · 04-01-2008, 06:49 AM

Wow! Great story..........please do keep posting your experiences here so we can all learn from them. Also....post pics of your trailer too....pics are great!

utee94 · 04-01-2008, 07:07 AM

I left my first job out of undergrad as unexpectedly as you just have, and at the time I was terrified. Turned out to be the best thing that has ever happened to me professionally. Sounds like your story might end up the same as mine.

Good luck, I look forward to hearing about your adventures in full-timing.

-Marcus

Royce · 04-01-2008, 07:37 AM

Sounds like a dream come true to me. Congratulations on the new coach. What could be better?

Zeppelinium · 04-01-2008, 07:47 AM

Wow! You are champion lemonaid makers, for sure.

As you go up and down this great country, you're going to go to some strange places, but these charming places will certainly add color to your life, particularly if you take the time to look everthing over from top to bottom. If you look carefully enough, you might even find Higgs under some obscure rock...

Happy, fearless consulting!

Zep
(aka Dr Quark, but this was unnecessary, wasn't it?)

**moosetags** · 04-01-2008, 07:51 AM

Congratulations on your "new" Airstream, and best wishes for a very happy simplified life. I'm jealous.

As the Vulcans say' "Live long and Prosper"

Safe travels,
Brian

doorgunner · 04-01-2008, 08:36 AM

Seein as you're somewhere in CA. Why not stop in at the NorCal Rally at the Russian River nextweek! There's lotsa room and you may pick up some "tips" about your trailer. Drive safe.

safari57 · 04-01-2008, 09:02 AM

Congratulations Sumsmug. It's interesting how life works to create new opportunities for us that we didn't realize were right there for us until that new door is forced open a crack.

It can be a very rewarding experience to take to the road for an extended period of time without the urgency of needing to be to the next stop at certain times. Too often we set arbitrary time lines on ourselves that saps a lot of the pleasure out of the journey.

Enjoy, start a blog so we can follow, and let us know which little towns and areas you find that are accommodating to this type of lifestyle. You never know who might decide to unplug next.

Barry

clancy_boy · 04-01-2008, 09:15 AM

Great story to start off with. I agree with everyone who has posted above - keep us in the loop as to some of you travels and adventures. And yes, try to stop at some of the rallies here on the AirForums. It would be great to meet you.

Safe Travels.... Happy Trails.....

sumsmug · 04-01-2008, 05:32 PM

Thanks for the godd wishes, we are spending the evening unpacking... will let you know how we are doing...

DEITZ645 · 04-01-2008, 05:46 PM

Sumsmug,
WOW, great story and good luck. My wife and I want to do the same thing you are doing, but we haven't received the kick in the pants that will put us on the road as full timers. We both have 22 years of service and have grown too comfortable in our jobs and the fringes to just up and quit . I keep hoping to get "downsized" as that will give us a one year paid vacation with severance. As everyone else has stated, please keep us posted on your adventures so we may live vicariously though you.

Happy trails and keep the shiny side up

sd90mac · 04-01-2008, 06:14 PM

Hi check out this thread http://www.airforums.com/forums/f221...ins-32395.html

This is the thread from Terry and I breaking down the house and rebuilding the sovereign. Some of it may be helpful to you.

By the way, keep a cheese grater, but if you already got rid of it, a potato peeler works very well to.

I wish you luck and happy camping. For us it has been a good experience.

Marie

overlander63 · 04-01-2008, 06:23 PM

In case you didn't know, a motor from a food processor does not make a good particle accelerator...

Seriously, one thing that will help when you're at "home" with nothing to do, is a Netflix or Blockbuster account.

sumsmug · 04-06-2008, 08:46 PM

Hi All

Well we are installed at French creek state park in PA. We are based out of the Valley Forge area for a while. Our great start was delayed for a couple of days, mostly due to a last minute concerns about the trailer, nothing major, but I just wanted to be sure before we started rolling down the road.

Right now I'm writing from the front couch of the Airstream (which, for some reason has been named "Simpkins"). Listening to world service and relaxing after an evening of working out things like water heaters, LPG tanks, water pumps etc... The only thing I'm unable to get working is the furnace and its pretty chilly this evening. I think I will get a small blow heater tomorrow, the power is free at this camp site, so it makes sense.

To be honest, the first night has been pretty easy. We don't feel very cramped, or like we have "given up" anything
by moving from the townhouse to the 25x8ft Airstream. If anything, I feels more comfortable to me. The last 3 weeks (or more) have been spent living in a house which is being taken apart around me, which doesn't make for a relaxing life. I think the wife feels the same, though she wants some kind of washing machine (see my washing machine thread).

More to come...

deauxrite · 04-06-2008, 08:56 PM

Congrats on the new life. We look forward to hearing more about your adventures. We are full timing in a 27 Safari. This is our second go around as full timers and we do not intend to go back to a "conventional" lifestyle. Life on the road is very good.

www.justkeepbreathing.us

sumsmug · 04-06-2008, 09:09 PM

Here's a pic of the rig, installed at French creek state park

sumsmug · 04-13-2008, 01:50 PM

Hi

Well we have finished our first full week of full timing. To be honest its been going pretty well, though its taken a full week to get to the point that we can actually sit down and do some work and update this thread.

I think its not the fact we have moved into an Airstream that
is the thing that is taking the most getting used to. Its the fact that in 1 month we totally changed our lives, not only where we live, but our jobs and general way of living. We are used to a 9-whenever job at a research lab with lots of (loud) people around and constant crisis mode. We, and myself in particular, have always worked in a urban environment; LA, Cambridge (UK), London etc...

Today, in contrast, we are camped in Intercourse, PA (yes it really is called Intercourse) right in the middle of Amish country. The campsite is almost empty. Sunday in Amish country is, to say the least, quiet.

When trying to imagine what this life would be like, the things we worried about the most have seemed (so far) to be the least difficult. Firstly, the space. To be honest, this has not really been an issue in terms of feeling cramped. The hardest part, for me, was trying to decide what books to part with (or put in storage). I tried to just bring ones we needed for work or books that are really important to us personally. Even so, I think I might have been a tad over optimistic about the storage space. The 100 or so ring binders of papers, notes and graphs were scanned own to no space on my hard drive, thats a massive saving in storage. I may consider looking to Amazon's ebook reader as a solution to some of the book, but I bet its going to be a while until some of the rarer titles will be available. The wife has found the storage space for clothes an issue (of course ). Once we sorted the "what-goes-where" thing, I actually like the small space. We never had much stuff as a family, and our houses always felt kind of bare and "unlived in". The Airstream feels very personal and cozy in comparison. The size of the kitchen, ops sorry "galley", isn't an issue either, I used to work as a chef and spend 12hr shifts on a smaller work station so this is easy in comparison.

The other thing that I worried about, towing and general RV issues I also feel much more comfortable with. The nice thing about Airstreams (and trailers in general) is that they are wonderfully simple. It doesn't take long to work out how everything works and how to fix things that do go wrong. The wiring, for example, is much simpler than a modern house.

Towing, so far, has not been an issue. However, I'm already looking at Veggie Oil or a kerosene mix, rather than pay the 4.50/gal for diesel.

The only thing that worries me is a slight sense of isolation. I haven't really talked to anyone (apart from the wife) all week. While thats fine, I hope I get a chance to meet more people soon. From what I read and my own limited experience I hoped that there were more people just "about". I think our current choice of campground and the time of year means we are living a pretty solitary existence right now.

This week the last few bits we were waiting for will arrive and we will start moving... somewhere. That's the discussion right now, where are we going? We have been so taken up with all the things that need to be done, bits that need fixing, address to be changed etc... that we never really considered where we would head. Here's your chance, tell us where is a good place to be a full timer right now. All we care about is that we need good EVDO coverage (for work), and not too cold. Anyone have any bright ideas?

overlander63 · 04-13-2008, 02:10 PM

From someone that used to live there, I can tell you Sundays would have to pick up to be considered "quiet".
We are fulltiming also, and I know the seasonal residents (called Snowbirds) are heading North in droves, so you will likely have company within the next 30 days. We will soon be in the same boat you are now, campground virtualy deserted for the season. A good thing about this is you can make mistakes for now and feel like an ID10T for them, but no one will see you.

If you have a topper (or truck cap, camper shell, whatever it is called in your neck of the woods), you can head over to Wal-Mart, or Target, and get several blue snap lid totes to keep your winter clothes in for Summer, and change to storing Summer clothes next fall. You can also use a couple of totes for canned goods and other sealed, non-perishable foods. This will make a lot of room in your coach. You can use this option for the books (we have a tote full of books, and another full of video tapes). I've also converted our home videos to DVD to save room.
Make sure the cap locks, and don't pile the totes up to where the casual passerby can see them just by looking in a window of the topper. Two totes high would be good, it will come up to almost the top edge of the bed.

whitsend · 04-13-2008, 03:35 PM

Samsmug (love the monikor) - A good rule of thumb - if you have not seen it, needed it or used it in XX time period, it's out the door. I use a 1 yr. time marker, but I also have a 6-stall horse barn, and no horses anymore, so . . .
I was also thrown into early'ish retirement (from my perspective at least) twice. I took the hint after the 2nd episode and have never looked back. Bought a very small ranchita in the Texas hill country, built a hail-proof shed for the AS, then built the barn a few years later, then the house a year or so after that. The daughter thought my priorities were way outta whack, but she's only 35 and not an Airstreamer (yet), so I feel I have to allow her some latitude. They usually come around, eventually.

As others have said, please do keep posting. Tell us where you are & how the experience is going, for you both. Most of us would enjoy meeting you as you move thru our areas and quite a few have free courtesy parking (mine is only on offer to another Airstreamer - no SOB's on THIS place. I'm also considered by some to be "remote" from civilization. Or to put it another way, there is no Starbucks out here. A sky full of stars, just no overpriced coffee.

Best of luck in your new lives. I commend you on your attitude & the path you both elected to take. Lots of us will live vicariously thru your posts, whether or not we admit it publically.