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.
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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!
__________________
Steve "Centennial Man"
1966 Airstream Safari - Her name is "Aunt Bee"
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.
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?)
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.
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
__________________ You never hear of people dieing in their Airstream, only at home and in hospitals. So, live long by getting out and enjoying your Airstream.
Barry & Donna Life is short - so's the door on an Flying Cloud (ouch)
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.
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
__________________
Carl, Elaine & Bailey Beagle
2006 30' Classic W Slide & Limited Package Katarina
1987 34' Excella 1000 Double Door Savannah
2006 GMC 2500 HD 6.6 Turbo Diesel Crew Cab 8' Bed AIR #14487 WBCCI #7429
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
__________________
When people lie to you, and refuse to honor their word, don't regret trying to follow a dream, new adventures and friends await you.
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.
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