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Old 06-22-2006, 09:04 AM   #21
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2006 16' International CCD
Los Osos , California
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Also...I would definitely try it out. Take a trip for a month and then come home and discuss it.

I have traveled a lot and it is true, there are some things that sound more romantic and exciting on paper than they actually are. But then there are those other things that just take your breath away...
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Old 06-22-2006, 03:09 PM   #22
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2005 19' Safari
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Helps with big decisions

Take loved one to special location, provide favorite (adult?) beverage, hold hands, listen to this song played loudly (tandem headphones?)
100 Years by Five for Fighting

Let us know if that helps.
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Old 06-22-2006, 04:05 PM   #23
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That song always helps me...(warm fuzzy smile)
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Old 06-22-2006, 09:39 PM   #24
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1975 27' Overlander
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Back in the early/mid Eighties I spent the better part of 3 years living in a cabover camper up in Anchorage. Camper was mounted on the back of a 1948 Diamond T truck along with my welder and torches and tools. Kind of lived like a troglodyte then - no credit or phone, few taxes, almost off the grid.
Had a home base in Mt. View where I had access to a nearby bathroom and enough 110v power in the camper to run a 60 watt bulb. The Aqua blue, 3 burner stove, Dometic Fridge, and heater all functioned perfectly on propane only. Wasn't much of a listener to music and never owned a tv till years after I returned to MN. No computers then. 60 watts was plenty.
Most of my time I stayed in Mt. View, going to to other places like Eagle River, Wasilla, once to Homa, and here and there where I worked. Was a mobile, if not traveling, welding service.
Sometimes I was chagrined to see how little I owned. People I knew had so much more of everything.
Dunno.
I came back and started getting stuff. And now have a pretty large pile.
Don't think it's enough to retire on yet. So I'm still carrying it along through life. Sometimes I grow weary of having it.
When I do, I look back at that time in Anchorage. It was a cool old camper.
Nice Birch interior and cleverly sculpted niches and cabinets for storage.
I could haul most every thing I owned on the back of a 2 ton truck.
I made simple, wholesome meals. I read a lot of great books under that bulb.
And I met people who influenced me. In a hundred large and small ways. Perhaps because I had time to let them.
It was simple. Free of clutter.
I suppose we're never truely grateful for what we have.
But I am grateful for having lived that way.
For a little while at least. And I sure wouldn't trade the experience for the aquisitions that my frends made in that same time.
Be nice to live that simply again. Somehow. If you could.
There'd be so much to part with...
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Old 08-20-2006, 12:08 AM   #25
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1972 25' Tradewind
Merrimakc , New Hampshire
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Full Timing not just for Old Timers

It sounds like you and your misses are both financially stable and able to do your thing from the road and you have health insurance to cover your bases. If you are really worried about losing the house, do what my aunt does and just rent it out (If that falls into your condo agreement) and let it pay for itself while you live on the cheap and hopefully live a life of wild luxuries with excessive spending money for rich pasteries and decadent chocolates. It sounds like you're just looking for permission to follow your tiki dream and I say yay.

I am going full time myself next month with my girlfriend Kelly and my cat and rabbit. I'm 25 and Kelly is 28 and we own a 25ft 72 Tradewind. We have been living in LA and NY and working pretty unfulfilling jobs to pay for our airstream-sized apartments and I haven't had health insurance in over 4 years. So to me full timing offers a pretty huge relief from the work all day to pay insane rent/mortgage prices. The only housing bubble I am interested in getting in is a silver aluminum one.

Hit the road and enjoy it before the global warming causes your TV engine to permanently overheat.

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Old 08-20-2006, 12:08 PM   #26
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Ultra-----write a book!!!-----------pieman
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Old 08-20-2006, 12:18 PM   #27
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Quote---"The middle class, ordinary citizen part of me says stay hitched to the wagon and keep on pulling it day after day because eventually we will get to the top of the hill and will have "won the game" in that we will have more of a guarantee of financial security many years from now."

Curt--this is an ASSUMPTION most of us. Reading the obituaries this morning I find a friend of mine stopped pulling at 50 years old.
We're
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Old 08-20-2006, 12:26 PM   #28
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Quote---"The middle class, ordinary citizen part of me says stay hitched to the wagon and keep on pulling it day after day because eventually we will get to the top of the hill and will have "won the game" in that we will have more of a guarantee of financial security many years from now."

Curt--this is an ASSUMPTION most of us have. Reading the obituaries this morning I find a friend of mine stopped "pulling" at 50 years old.
We're "Fulltimers in Process". Over the past 4 years, I retired--sold our home and all our stuff--moved into a little apt.--wife retired--spent 4 1/2 months traveling and campground hosting. WE don't ASUME anything but Lord willing, come spring, if my name isn't in the obituary, we're outa here for as long as our health permits or as long as we enjoy it. Don't have much--need much--want much-----Pieman
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Old 08-20-2006, 12:27 PM   #29
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excuse # 27---Pieman
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Old 08-20-2006, 12:39 PM   #30
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Curt, I full timed about 5 years and still travel in my moho for months at a time. When full timing, I had a 34' tag along. I have never looked back.

I'm now 65 and have a home base in florida in a 55+ park in the Ocala National Forest on Little Lake Kerr. I have the best of both worlds. I can leave in the moho and not worry about the security of the home base. When I'm in the home port, there is plenty of storage for the moho and boat.

Of course, the big reward of full timing is the people. It's a group of commrades that have pretty much overcome class distinction. A group well know for a collection of skills that can solve most any problem and are ready to do it. A group ready to have a cookout most every night.

The only cautions I would give to you is don't work so much you never smell the flowers and if camping public lands, stay with a group.

Good luck
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Old 09-03-2006, 09:47 PM   #31
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Sioux Falls , Arkansas
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Our Dream Too

My dream is also fulltiming(at a young age-not waiting til my social security days). My ideas on how to do it changed after reading "Your Money or Your Life" by Joe Dominquez and Vicki Robin. I realize that I can live frugally and invest the rest so that I can have "enough" to be financially independent and not have to work everyday. The book was written in the '60s so some updating must be done to address more current financial issues. My hubby and I sold the house and live in our Airstream now. It has reduced our living expenses considerably so that we will have the AS paid for while accumulating the funds to live independently. Both of us are happy and don't need alot of stuff to prove who we are. The book certainly gave us alot of focus on acheiving our goal and makes one realize that hitting the lottery is not necessary. Just a having a plan, self discipline and perserverance is all that is required. One thing to look into is an HSA(health savings account.) Not having insurance is very risky-you never know. An HSA lowers insurance premiums and if you don't use the deductible(the savings account part) , it just sits in an account and grows. Good luck and keep us updated.
P.S- We have no doubts about living in a small space together-about 13 yrs. ago realized we could make more $$ driving a truck, and have been teaming all this time- of course the AS seems huge when we go home.
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Old 09-04-2006, 12:49 AM   #32
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Hello,

A looooooooong time ago we put all our eggs in one basket. Bought a different home, but everything was essentially paid for and we quit working. It was great. I highly recommend it! But, we were younger and didn't think of medical bills and all that.... oops, then I got a surprise. Pregnant.

We eventually left our carefree life style and went back to work to be responsible parents, we never regretted dropping out for a while.

Now that we are older and are retired.... nothing could be better! Kids are grown... we have an airstream.... still have a permanent home and glad. Someday we won't be able to hook up and take off, so we have a place to be when that time comes.

You are right. Only you can decide. Lots of stories out there about what folks have done or wish they had done. No matter what you do, live your life to the fullest. Don't be one of those who sit around in their rocking chair thinking "I wish I would have..."

Mrs. NorCal Bambi (traveling in S Tardis)
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Old 09-08-2006, 03:27 PM   #33
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Austin , Texas
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Smile Full Timing

If I understand correctly you are considering a *NEW* Airstream? Why not buy someone's almost perfect "used" one and save fifty thousand dollars. That would take care of a lot of cushion. Or a hundred plus thousand if you are going to finance it? Don't buy a fixer-upper or a "vintage" project but one someone else has fixed up. Well, that's an idea, anyway. Smile. You can get SO much more house if you don't have to take the initial depreciation. Think about it and ask here for other's advice. I saw one poster on this very thread that has a 32 footer who said he wishes he had a 34 with dinette. Buy his. Offer him top dollar for it and put the 75 thou difference in savings.

Also, when it's all said and done, the hardest and most important question to answer, and the one that most people are too nice to mention directly, is what will it do to your relationship. That's the difficult thing to answer. Try it out. Go camping in bad weather. Be brutally honest with yourself/partner.

And are you thick-skinned? You can have a million bucks in the bank and have a wonderful life, but many, if not most, people who are slaves to their possessions and employment will still consider you "trailer trash." Probably some of your relatives too.

The question I asked myself was if I would regret it if I got to the end and had not tried it, but had continued to stay tied down. Still, after three years of full-timing I decided I needed a permanent base. I bought this farm where I am now on a lake between LA and TX, restored the house, spent enough on the fixings to buy two new AS's and have thoroughly enjoyed having three barns and a huge house for all the stuff I wanted to buy. Now I'm just waiting for a few more weeks to hit the road in the AS again. Will I sell the house? NO! I want to have a place to come park if I want to. If I do come back it will be in the Spring and/or Fall, and I'll park my AS at my own spot and probably still sleep in it here.

It's your life, and you just get one. (Well, as far as we know.) And the older you get, the more you will realize that it's very short.

Best of wishes whatever you decide. Remember it doesn't necessarily have to be an all or nothing sort of thing.

Waynon
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