March 29, 2015 by Lee and Tracy

Establishing Residency in Florida

After the kids left we were more than ready to leave Apopka and head up to St. Augustine to get our driver’s licenses and new license plates taken care of. Lee was taking care of getting the rig travel ready and I was on a series of conference calls for work, but he is so efficient it really didn’t take him long to get us ready to go. At the last-minute I shut the computer down and stepped outside the rig while he completed the final task of hooking the fifth wheel up to the hitch in the truck. For those who don’t know, I find this to be the most intimidating part of owning a truck/fifth wheel combination. So I am going to do my best to explain how it works. We have a Reese hitch mounted in the bed of our truck. The front of the fifth wheel has a kingpin which hangs down. See pictures below:

This is the hitch we have

This picture shows where the king pin is on the fifth wheel

This picture shows where the king pin is on a fifth wheel

You have to lower or raise the fifth wheel (using the landing gear in the front at the bottom) so the truck can be backed up right under where the kingpin is. Once it is straight you have to lower the fifth wheel down so the king pin can slide into opening on the rear of the hitch. If everything is the right height and the right angle the kingpin will click between these jaws and then you can lock the jaws closed around the kingpin.

Shows how the king pin and the locking jaws fit together

B. the king pin slips into A the locking jaws

Sound easy?? Well, it’s not. It’s tough for Lee who is very mechanically inclined and I honestly don’t know if I could ever do it alone. Once the kingpin is in the locking jaws it’s really tough to tell if it’s properly seated. There is a locking handle that theoretically will not go into place if the fit isn’t right but it is absolutely less than ideal. Needless to say Lee is extremely careful about how he hitches the truck, because we know of several people who have damaged their truck bed, tailgate, or the hitch when the hookup is not done properly.

Back to Tuesday.

I was standing outside on a call when Lee started to move the truck forward and BANG! the front of the camper slipped out of the hitch and dropped down on the back of the truck. Lee STOPPED!!! Very important because often people don’t stop here and the damage done is so much worse. I yelled stop and then got off the phone call I was on. Michele was very understanding later when I explained why. I have to say from this point, Lee was absolutely amazing. I was breathing pretty hard but he got out and slowly started checking out the damage. As you are going to see from the pictures below we definitely have a guardian angel. Although the weight of the RV landed on the truck bed side walls it was also cushioned by the Blue Boy we just bought which took all of the impact from the kingpin.

Full weight of RV on truck often crushes the back

Small side dent was all we received

The blue boy too the bulk of it...and has since completely reinflated back to its original shape and still works

The blue boy took the bulk of the weight..

Blue Boy after two days completely reinflated with minimal scratching

What is absolutely amazing is the blue boy has since “re-inflated” on its own and although it has some scratches was not punctured! It appears to still be working. If the Blue Boy would not have been in the back the kingpin would have likely punched a hole in the truck bed and crushed the tailgate. After much discussion we chose between the gate and the hitch as the blue boys permanent home because we can lock it in place and even though we need to remove it when hitching it’s a great way to use some largely unusable space. That decision (along with Lee stopping immediately) probably saved us thousands in truck repairs and a major delay until it could all be fixed. I can’t even tell you how blessed we feel about how this turned out. Lee is an extremely careful person. He double checks and triple checks everything. So let me say if this can happen to him it can absolutely happen to anyone.

Everything worked fine thankfully on the short trip to St. Augustine and I continued to work while Lee set up the camper. St. John’s Campground is attached to a flea market and we knew it wouldn’t be the best place to stay but needed somewhere close to Green Cove Springs so we could work on getting residency. Originally we were only staying a few days and then heading to Savannah, but I have work trips booked the next two weeks so we have cancelled Savannah and are now going to stay here. Lee needs time to get together everything for his business; signage, liability insurance, business cards, etc…and although this is definitely not a place I would pick to vacation it’s working well enough for us to meet professional requirements. Plus it’s Passport America and full hookup sites are $22 a night for two weeks which is a bargain this time of year in Florida. We really need to make back some of the money we spent in Apopka!

Wednesday we went right to Green Cove Springs and started the process of becoming residents. See below for a step-by-step of how the process went.

1. We chose St. Brendan’s Island as our mail service in Green Cove Springs, FL. ( After some initial issues with changing our addresses with Bank of America, we got all of our addresses changed and started receiving mail there…you need two pieces from either a bank or insurance company to establish residency)

2. Went to the Courthouse in Green Cove Springs to establish domicile. It cost $15 each (Visa/Master Card card accepted) and all we needed was our old NH driver’s licenses to get this done. No lines and took about 10 minutes. As a side note, we chose to go to the Court House/DMV in Green Cove Springs because it is a small town and they are familiar with people establishing residency and using the mail service there.

3. Drove next door to the DMV. On Weds at 10am there were two people in line in front of us. Driver’s licenses required a birth certificate or passport and proof of SS# (SS card, W-2, or pay stub. If you have a clean driving record they do not require you to take the written test, just an eye exam. If you do not have a clean record they can require a written and/or driving test at their discretion. They took the pictures immediately and printed the licenses. Cost was $44.25 each and all major credit cards were accepted.

4. Voter Registration can be done right at the DMV after you get your license. It’s free and they give you a card with numbers to call if you want absentee ballots. Update: The voter registration board very quickly sent me a letter that stated this was not a real address and they could not register me. I have voted consistently since my first time in 1984 and found this to be pretty upsetting, but at this point I am not really in a position to completely change my home state again. After asking some folks on the forum and reading the fine print, I emailed my Letter of Domicile to the voting board. Will see if this solves the problem.

5. Vehicle registration requires a VIN # verification of the truck, car, or driveable motor home, trailers and 5th wheel thankfully do not require this. If you drive it to them they will walk outside and do it for you, or you can take the vehicle to a police station or authorized car dealership and have them do it. I recommend driving your vehicle there as it was super easy. You also need titles for the vehicles in hand. If you own them outright, this is no issue. If the bank owns them, you need your loan account number and the address the DMV can write to request a copy of the title. This surprised us as I have read nothing about this requirement anywhere but luckily the DMV person Cheryl was extremely helpful and walked us through it. We ended up filling out all the forms in advance and then calling her with the account #’s and addresses. She called back within an hour to tell us it had been processed. She stated once the titles came in, we could pay over the phone and then she could mail the plates. We will see how this works and hopefully the titles will come before we leave the state. Worst case we could drive back down here from OBX and pick them up. Thankfully the tags don’t expire until August so we do have time, but we really want to get all this done.

Overall I was very pleased with the process. We would have been shocked if everything had gone off without a hitch and the woman at the DMV was so nice it made the experience exceptional. 3 out of 4 items in one day is not bad. I asked if I could have requested titles in advance but she said no it had to be done by the DMV for them to accept it. So we are here for another couple of weeks and hopefully it will all be taken care of before we leave. If we have to leave before everything is taken care of, my impression was they would mail the plates to us. I have to say that was by far the best DMV experience I have ever had in my life. Highly recommend going to Green Cove Springs if you have to get all this done.

Also, I thought I would mention that we managed to kill the pretty large ant colony that we acquired in Clearwater. Lee found it in the basement crawl space between the kitchen sink and the bathroom sink and there were hundreds of ants. We tried numerous things but the Combat Ant Bait Strips is what worked for us. We placed them along the ledges where we saw them crawling and they eventually took the poison back to the colony and we haven’t seen an ant in two weeks. Hooray!! I’m not usually this blood thirsty but those little suckers were everywhere.

I really needed to take a weekend “off” after last weeks marathon of activities so this weekend we just relaxed. We did pop over to the Flea market that is attached to the campground we are staying at and spent an enjoyable couple of hours looking at stuff we neither needed nor had room for. The place was huge and very popular with the locals, they even had some live music playing in the center. Don’t get me wrong, it was a true flea market with lots and lots of old stuff, but sprinkled in were some cool booths we really enjoyed. There was a nice used book stall in the flea market for example and Lee got a hardback copy of Hunt for Red October for $2 in perfect condition. When we got back to the rig and he looked at it, he realized it is signed by Tom Clancy! Overall its been a very busy week and as I will be traveling for the next two weeks for work (Nashua and Princeton) I was glad for some down time. Lee is going to use the next two weeks time to finish getting his business setup so he can start working. Also, next weekend will be exploring St. Augustine and I am really looking forward to that.

On a completely side note for those who are wondering where Lee’s comments are…he reads and edits every single blog post. Sometimes he wants to chime in and other times he isn’t feeling it. Can’t force the funny as he says. This puts me in a situation to leave the blog posts unpublished until he feels it or go ahead and publish them. As much as I would love for him to add to every post, I do think it’s important to keep it somewhat current. So think of it as a special surprise when he chimes in. That’s what I do.

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March 25, 2015 by Lee and Tracy

First Time Having a Daughter Stay with us

Lee has a serious case of hitch itch (the desire to move along which strikes some RVers who stay in the same place to long) but I am viewing the move with mixed feelings. I’m comfortable here in Largo. I know where the grocery store, etc. is, plus I’ve finally learned the roads, but now we are going to move on. Don’t get me wrong, this is definitely not the place we want to put down roots…it’s way too congested for us, but I am comfortable. It’s funny how quickly you can get into the habit of a place. Plus Rainbow Village has really provided a great long-term visit experience. I’ve written more below, but I would absolutely recommend it if you’re looking to stay in the Clearwater area for more than a month. Lee washed the RV, truck, and car and accomplished numerous other outside chores. As a side note, washing RV’s is not allowed in many campgrounds so you really need to take advantage of those that do allow it. It looked very pretty when he was done although he was adamant about not washing any particular side in full sun (something about hurting the finish and decals) so the chore did stretch out throughout the day as the sun moved.

In one of the periods where we were waiting for the sun to re-position, we went to an Asian market. I have numerous recipes that require pretty specific asian ingredients that you just can’t get at a regular store so I was excited when he stumbled across a full-sized Asian market. What a terrific experience! I almost want to put the $106 we spent into the entertainment category. I had a blast and the store was very neat with extremely clean restrooms and people at every check out lane to assist. What a refreshing change from most standard grocery stores. They had live fish in tanks for sale (including eel), tons of ingredients you wouldn’t find anywhere else (complete pigs feet, dried squid,etc.) and lots of items imported from China, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, and Korea. I was attracted to those labels that were almost solely in a foreign language for their authenticity and luckily the price label on the shelf always had an English translation. I did have to google a couple of things though to make sure I was getting it right but it was tons of fun. An entire aisle of noodles for example…how cool is that?

Best Asian market I’ve ever been to!

Sunday we took our time getting ready. It was a short drive (less than 2 hours) to Apopka and we couldn’t check in until after 1pm. Normally on a travel day we like to get up and out, but the short hop allowed us to take our time. The driving went perfectly and when we arrived at Magnolia County Park it was absolutely beautiful. There was a lake across the street, huge peacocks in the yard, and it was a very nice and clean facility. So we had big smiles on our faces when we walked into the office…until the camp host said he didn’t think we would fit in Site 11. I was confused by this as I specifically stated in my phone call we had a 4o foot fifth wheel and allowed the camp host to book our site. The host didn’t understand what had happened but suggested we drive back in our car first to see what we thought. We drove the route and although we did think we could squeeze into the slot, unfortunately we did not see how we could get out of the park as the last turn to get out was very tight between two low hanging trees. We also couldn’t drive back the way we came because the right pulling out would have had us hitting the electrical pedestal. So here we were in Apopka during spring break with Katy and Micah on their way to stay with us, and no site to be had. To the credit of the park hosts they were very nice and they called several state parks for us to see if they had a spot. There was one about three miles away which accommodates horse trailers but unfortunately they were not willing to guarantee anything beyond Thursday. Since I wasn’t willing to wing it with the kids, I started to push Lee a bit to see if he could try to make the spot work and finally he held the truck keys out to me. This was pretty effective as I realized I wasn’t willing to chance it so why should I expect him to do it? At that point we started looking and found a park called Lost Lake that takes Passport America. Lee called the number and we drove there, but the camp office was closed. Luckily there was another couple waiting and the owners (taking their first day off in three months) sent over someone to help us and the other couple. We got a huge pull through site with 50 amp and full hookups and although the weekly rate of $210 for this site had no Passport America discount we were happy to have it. Under normal circumstances we would not stay here, but the kids will mostly be at the parks or Cape Canaveral so really we only need a place for them to sleep and me to work. The wifi is really strong and although the park is pretty run down the people seem pretty nice and frankly I was glad we found a place at all at that point. I will say it’s the second time we have tried to stay at a State or Local park where we were assigned a site that we simply could not get into. Lesson Learned is to have more discussion with these type of campgrounds when making the reservations.

Because we got in on Sunday and the office was closed, the camp host told us to just come check in and pay tomorrow. We were quoted $210 a week over the phone, and we knew the Passport America price we were given would not apply to the site we were in. What we didn’t know until the next morning was that they were charging us $35 a night for 9 nights and then an extra $10 for each of the kids for each night, which was yet another $90. By the time we found this out it was late into the first night and we were totally set up. So we paid $370 for one week in a very mediocre park. The kids offered to make up the difference, but we weren’t going to make them pay for our mistake so…Lesson Learned is when finding a second site don’t just take the first thing that comes along. Take some time to research again even if that is inconvenient. I did go back later and called the owner we had spoken to and she said she would refund the $90 but when we went to the office the person working there said she didn’t know how to do it. By the time we left at the end of the week, she had figured it out, so we did ultimately get the refund. However, we would absolutely NEVER stay here again. See at the bottom of the page for my detailed campground review.

The kids came and so the week was really fun. We looked at our budget in advance and talked about how to handle it. We have $350 a month for entertainment and dining out, so obviously that wasn’t going to cut it. We didn’t mind going over some but this could quickly turn into a $1,000 week so we talked through it first with each other and then the kids when they came. The deal we struck was the kids paid for one of us to go to a park and we would drive them and pay for our own food. Lee went to Universal Tuesday and Wednesday and I went to Epcot with the kids on Thursday. Because they didn’t have to pay for a hotel room or car rental it made the vacation far less expensive for them and because we went separately and tried to keep food costs down it made it affordable for us. Plus the kids went with Lee to the store and we planned out some meals to make at the camper, and they chipped in for some of the groceries, and we bought some really nice steaks to make for dinner at the campground on Friday night. Saturday we all went to the Kennedy Space Center together and everyone paid their own way (which was more affordable because the ticket prices are so much lower their.) Altogether we still blew the budget some, but it wasn’t a complete disaster which was good for everyone plus sets a good precedent for future kid visits. When you have more than one and want to be fair, everything you do (in our case) needs to be multiplied by three so I feel pretty good about how the visit turned out financially .

Enough of that now onto the good stuff: here are pictures of the two days in Universal Studios which Lee, Katy, and Micah did. Katy and Micah are huge Harry Potter fans and really the purpose of the whole trip was to see these two mini parks within the two Universal parks. Universal has put half in one park and half in the other, pretty much forcing you to by a two -day park hopper pass (they give you a third day free, but despite the costs the kids (and Lee) had a really good time and were gone from park open to closing time both nights.

Kat bought a wand at Harry Potter world in Universal which is interactive with displays in Diagon Alley

Great shot of the dragon breathing a fire-ball

The Hogwarts train actually rides you from the newer section of the park to the old one

Thursday, Kat, Micah, and I went to Epcot. The first time I visited the mouse I was 5 years old (see picture below), and I love Epcot the most. Micah has never been to any Disney park at all, and chose Epcot as his park to visit so I was thrilled to go. We had a great time in all the countries eating a little snack in almost every one and the kids drank a little something in everyone as well. We were there open to close and definitely got our money’s worth.

My dad and I in Disney the year it opened

Katy had a nice chat with Alice

Hook was awesome

Katy and the Crocodile

Kat and Micah at the Tequila bar …they had a jalapeno and cucumber margarita that they said was delicious

Micah, me, and Kat at this great Moroccan restaurant at Epcot

Micah with his huge man crush on Aladdin

Tinker Bell was talking at me ...freaked me out a little

Tinker Bell was talking to me about pixie dust …freaked me out a little. Kat loved it

Micah was nice enough to put on every weird hat I found for him

So I thought this was a bear and put it on not knowing it was a beaver which as Micah says is funnier

So I thought this was a bear and put it on thinking I would freak Lee out …but it was a beaver which totally cracked Micah up

These made me laugh

Nice to see Katy can still be silly

Hydroponic Garden in Epcot

Loved the Topiaries

The Frozen topiary was really pretty

Friday we all took the day off and chilled. Everyone was pretty pooped from all the walking, even the kids. We went around Apopka a bit….which I truly am not that found of…and looked for some Roadside Attractions. The only neat thing I found was a beautiful Buddhist Sanctuary I stumbled across (only 3 miles from the campground).

Buddhist Sanctuary

Loved the Buddha

The dragon was very cool

So I was a bit bummed, but on the way back to our site we saw the coolest bus in our campground. It’s owned by a couple that train entertainment cats and it was AWESOME. I would have loved to have met them but didn’t see them around, but the bus speaks for itself. Interested in the story…check out CircusCats.com

The front of their bus was awesome

Circus Cats .com

Seriously you can’t make this stuff up

Saturday we went to the Kennedy Space Center and I was pleasantly surprised by how interesting it was. First of all they have RV parking close to the entrance for only $15 (so you can pop out and make your own lunch) and they also offer free dog kenneling. The complex has its own bus tour which includes several buildings and we got to go very close to the launchpads. It was a terrific combination of adult experience with enough interactivity for kids and adults alike and well worth the $50 admission price. As a bonus, the space complex is completely surrounded by protected wetlands so there are opportunities to see wildlife. We saw our first wild gator, an eagle, turtles, and numerous other birds. A retired engineer was in one of the buildings and he explained to me how the lunar module reconnected with the command ship after landing on the moon. Really interesting conversation and the engineer said, “I understand why people think we faked it. I worked on the projects for 42 years and I am still amazed at what we managed to accomplish with 1960’s technology.” Really enjoyed my conversation with him. My only disappointment was how small and isolated the astronaut memorial site was. I vividly remember the Challenger explosion that killed the first civilian teacher that went into space and unfortunately the Saturn rocket building really downplayed the two explosions that killed entire crews and significantly set back our space program. But other than that I was incredibly impressed by the entire experience and Highly recommend it if you are in the Titusville area.

Kat and Micah at Kennedy Space Center

Assembly plant is the largest single story building in the world

This huge transporter moves the rockets from the assembly building to the launch pads

The launch pad and water tower being worked on by Space – X

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These fences curve inward because apparently alligators can climb a 6 foot fence…yikes!!

Interactive movies were great

This eagles nest has existed since before the Kennedy Space Center was built

Our first alligator in the wild

Full size Saturn Rocket

Dave worked for NASA as an engineer for 42 years and he answered some questions I had

The beds were weird you have to zip yourself into them so you don’t float away

You think RV toilets are bad? In space you have to watch your pee and poop on a monitor to make sure none floats away

Slides aren’t just for kids !! It went fast

Read this if you’re a Colbert fan

Memorial plaque for the astronauts who have dies

Memorial plaque for the astronauts who have died

Sunday was the kid’s last full day and they went to Magic Kingdom, but we went to visit our rally friends Mario and Ellen. We haven’t seen them since April of 2014, and it was great to catch up. Ellen is finally retiring after 27 years in the same locale and although they are planning on taking long RV trips, they decided they don’t want to full-time quite yet. So Ellen is fulfilling her dream of living on the beach and selling her very nice modular home near Orlando. The house was really open and airy and the 55+ resort was super friendly. She’s selling it for under $50K and is willing to owner finance if anyone is interested! So Ellen and Mario will be part-timers living in their home at the beach in the winter and traveling the country or staying in their mountain campsite in Northern Georgia in the summer. Speaking of that, Ellen has a beautiful 1-1/2 acre full hook up wooded lot near the Appalachian Trail in Northern Georgia. She rents it out by the day, week, or month and offers a 20% discount to all her friends. The monthly rate is only $360 (all-inclusive) and it looks like a great place to hang out if you’re trying to manage your budget and want to explore that area. If you’re interested send her an email at EBendana @ yahoo.com, and mention you saw it here. We spent several hours with them and one of the coolest things was we walked through an abandoned orange grove next to her community. We picked a big bag full of tangerines…totally yummy right off the trees, and saw the ponds on the property. Hopefully we will get to see her and Mario in either South Dakota or Montana this summer as they are planning a 4 month trip which will be in the same area we are staying.

I know this is a very long post, but I wanted to mention that having four people in the rig went much better than I expected. We had plenty of hot water for 4 showers in the morning if we used the propane to help the water heater recover, the kids kept their stuff in our bedroom in the daytime which kept down on the clutter, and because I found I could be in the room with them for longer stretches. Still spent a lot of time outside and with at least some of us out most days it worked really well. I would definitely be up for trying it again. And finally, speaking of the kids, Micah proposed to Katy at Magic Kingdom and they came home engaged!!! I was so glad that we were here when it happened. We really like Micah and they have been very happy the last four years together. And in case anyone is wondering, we talked about the money for the girls weddings before we came on this adventure. It was important to me that the money was set aside just in case, so we should be all set there. Plus, now that we are mobile, we can spend more time with her prior to the wedding. Pretty exciting all around!!

The newly engaged Micah and Katy

Lessons Learned

When making a reservation at a State or County park be very specific about your length and height when talking to the camp host. Don’t only talk about the site but also discuss getting in and out of the park.
If you have daughters and plan on paying for their weddings, set that money aside before you embark on this life.

Campground Review

Rainbow Village 11911 66th Street Largo, Florida 4 out of 5 pinecones

A really great 55+ community that will take younger couples. It is centrally located to St. Petersburg, Clearwater, and Tampa and within 2 hours of Bradenton, Arcadia, and Fort Myers. Indian Rocks Beach is only 15 minutes away and despite the fact that it is located in town, the park itself feels somewhat isolated. With over 65% of the sites taken by permanent or seasonals, I would not recommend the park for short stays but really liked it for the 10 weeks we were there. The park has outstanding laundry facilities, a billiard room with 5 tables, large pool, card room, library, and a huge rec room. There are numerous activities every day and since many of the folks who are there are french Canadian many of the activities are offered on alternating nights in either English or French. The management was terrific, the people living there were incredibly nice, and it was exceptionally clean and well maintained. We stayed in site #433 which was tough to get into but worked great for us once we were there.

Magnolia Park 2929 S Binion RD Apopka, FL 3 out of 5 pinecones

Small state park in Apopka Florida is reasonably priced in a beautiful setting. The sites are on the small side and the entrance and exit would be extremely tight for a 40 foot rig. We chose to not stay here because we did not think we could get our fifth wheel through the exit. The camp hosts were very friendly and tried to find us another location to stay in. I would definitely recommend it if you have a smaller rig, but I was disappointed that the person I spoke to on the phone was not completely accurate on whether or not my rig would fit in the park.

Lost Lake RV Resort 3400 S. Clarcona Rd, Clarcona FL 1 out of 5 pinecones

Absolutely the worst park I have stayed in so far. The Lost Lake is basically a hole in the ground that used to have water in it. Lots of permanent residents in very old and very poorly maintained vehicles, but I will say the people who lived there were all very nice and friendly. We were told the 50 amp pull through we were given did not honor the Passport America discount but they had no other sites available. When we pulled up there was no one in the office and we had to wait (with another couple) for over 30 minutes until someone came to give us our sites. The next day when we went to pay we were told it would be an extra $90 for my daughter and her fiancée to stay with us for the 7 days. Eventually we did get the $90 refunded but it took multiple trips to the office. Visited the restroom on the way in and two of the three toilets weren’t working. Used it again on the way out and there was no toilet paper. I would never go there again and absolutely do not recommend it.

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March 17, 2015 by Lee and Tracy

Update on Dreamers Graduating Class of 2014 and Working from the Road

It’s been almost a year since we attended the RV-Dreams rally in Sevierville, TN and I thought it would be a good time to give an update on the Graduating Class of 2014. While we were at the rally we met tons of couples who were planning on full-timing and of the 11 couples in the pictures below 10 are on the road!! So for those of you reading this who think it all sounds great but could never happen for them, maybe this will be a little proof that it can happen 🙂 Also, it really demonstrates how different the life looks for different people.

Here is the newbie class of 2014...all the people we have been hanging out with all week !!

Back Row: Craig, Lee, Gene, Steve, Greg, Scott, Linda, Kelly, Bill, Pam, Red, Jo, Mario Front Row: Ben, Jo, Eileen, me, Cori, Debbie, Sue, Ellen, and Guy

Jo and Ben – Traveling nurses who have been on the road for a year in an Arctic Fox fifth wheel. They are on their third work contract and have been from Maine to Florida this year. They travel with a Malamute and a Shephard Mix.

Craig and Jo – A retired couple who waited three years to make their dream a reality as they took care of Jo’s aunt until she passed away. They travel in a Lifestyle Luxury fifth wheel and have mainly been in the southwest and southeast with some jumps up to the Midwest to get solar, Mor-Ryde suspension, and custom RV furniture. No pets but Craig adores every dog he comes across and the feeling is mutual .

Eileen and Gene – Both retired, just purchased their second Winnebago. They have been all over this year from Wyoming to Maine to the Florida Keys. They took a “break” in Florida for a few months so Gene’s mom could stay with them in a condo they rented, but will be back on the road very soon. They travel with a cavachon.

Lee and Tracy – On the road since November 2014 in an Open Range 386 FLR, we have been on the East Coast from New Hampshire to Florida. Lee just finished a 10 week RV Technician school and will be working as a Mobile Tech on the road and Tracy continues to work from the rig as a project manager with the same company she worked for before selling the house. No pets currently.

Cori and Greg – Have been stationary full-timing for a little under a year in their Country Coach Class A as they started a Solar business and finished other job responsibilities. They will be starting their wandering in April and will be doing solar installs on the road. They travel with a cavachon.

Debbie and Steve – Get the award for most miles traveled in their Montana Fifth Wheel. They started in California, went across the northern US, down the east coast and into Florida, and are now exploring the South West. Steve works from the rig for a large software company and Deb keeps them moving and organized. They are still waiting for their house to sell, but have the ability to full time while waiting. They are currently traveling with their son’s pitbull who is a total sweetie.

Linda and Scott – They did a bit of traveling out west in their Trilogy Fifth Wheel and then took a long-term work kamping assignment in Texas helping to start a brand new campground. Linda is a traveling nurse and Scott enjoys working at the campground they are at so much they may extend and continue to stay in Texas. They travel with two dogs and two cats.

Sue and Guy– Have been waiting to sell their house all year and finally decided they had waited long enough. Guy retired and they have hit the road in their Class A with their house still on the market, and couldn’t be happier. They are swinging through the Southwest, but then are heading back to the east coast. They travel with their little dog.

Bill and Kelly – Kelly and Bill are retired and living off their investments in their Landmark fifth wheel. They have traveled from the Midwest to Florida so far and are with their dog and two cats.

Pam and Red – Pam and Red are retired and just purchased their second fifth wheel a Grand Design Toy Hauler. They have been to Alaska, to Quartzsite and are now heading to Texas among many other places. Pam doesn’t have a blog, but sends us these great newsletters with beautiful pictures of the places they have been. They travel with three dogs. Of all the couples Lee and I have the most travel envy for Pam and Red as they are ALWAYS somewhere super cool.

Eileen and Mario – Are the last couple left in the group who are not on the road yet. Ellen finally retires in just a few months and they are trying to figure out what the next stage looks like. Mario loves his toys so they are currently in a toy hauler. I don’t think they travel with pets.

There are many other couples from the rally or the RV-Dreams forum who accelerated their plans and ended up going on the road in 2014/2015. Here are a few of them…it really was a good year for graduates.

David and Sharon sold their Bed and Breakfast and are now in Florida
Mitch and Cheryl sold their house and are traveling in Florida as they work on the road
Curt and Glinda retired and are hanging out in Arizona
Larry and Brenda retired and hanging out in Texas
Dawn Raye a soloist who is seeing the country which I think is incredibly brave
Jim and Barb retired and traveling all over and definitely get the most boon docking nights award

I know I talk quite a bit about these people we started the journey with, but thought this would be a good time to check in on how they are doing. We have had the opportunity since full timing to meet with 9 of the couples and will be seeing several more at the RV-Dreams reunion rally this May. In my mind we are family. Maybe we don’t see each other as much as we would like, and are spread out across the country, but truly an RVing family. Love you guys and very happy for all of you that your dreams are coming true. Go Class of 2014!!!

On a completely separate note I wanted to take a moment and give an update on working from the rig. So far our travel schedule has been pretty simple with 6 weeks in South Carolina and then 10 weeks in Largo, Florida. Now we are entering the phase where we will be moving every 10 days or so and I wanted to pass along some of my lessons learned. These are very specific to my particular work situation but hopefully they may help others. You should know we have two vehicles and I fly for work at least once a month, sometimes twice and the work trips certainly complicate things.

1. We have to plan our route at least 30 days ahead. My trips are mainly booked 30 days in advance and I need to know what airport I am flying in and out of in order to book the trip. This requires coordination in advance of where we will be and the necessity of being within two hours of an airport. Thus far on the East coast has not been a huge deal but as we move out west this will require more careful planning. The upside of the pre-planning is less stress and the ability to really look for a good campground deal. The downside of course is less spontaneity. Currently we are booked in campgrounds through May 15th, but are loosely schedule through July 4th.

2. The weekends are the only time we are guaranteed to be able to see local attractions. I am trying to book us in campgrounds on a schedule so we have two full weekend days to see local attractions. The two days do not have to be consecutive, but I like one Saturday and one Sunday if possible. When I am working from home we have the opportunity to see local attractions in the evening but many are only open during the day or if nature related only during daylight hours. In addition, I have to assume that a work trip could be scheduled at any time. Recently we booked a week in Savannah (which has been on our Must See list from the beginning) at a state park near the city. The price was high, $273 for a week, so we decided to try to just stay there one week, which essentially gives us part of a weekend. We booked the campground (which was already filling up btw) and two days later I was scheduled for a training class that same week. Usually, I do have some flexibility over my schedule, but other trips are mandatory. So we had a decision, do we cancel the week, try to stay somewhere else, or let the plans stand. When faced with these decisions, I like to make a plan and agree that unless there are extenuating circumstances this is how we will handle similar scenarios going forward. Ultimately we decided to keep the reservation as we would not be able to get our deposit back and there wasn’t really another campground close to Savannah that looked appealing. Does it suck that Lee will be in the really cool campground all week, and I will be in New Jersey…sure. But why should he suffer because I have a work trip, plus I am looking forward to the class its just a shame it’s in a not very exciting part of New Jersey lol. In order to make this work,btw, I will be flying out of Jacksonville, Florida on Monday and then flying back into Jacksonville on Friday and then driving to Savannah on Friday.

3. Travel days are complicated. We have two vehicles which means I cannot work from the rig while Lee drives. I am seriously tempted to turn in the company car, but it is saving us so much money when we get to a place I have held onto it. That may change once we are moving more, because I could work on the computer while Lee drove and we could travel any day and any time we wanted. With two vehicles I can only travel a few hours in the morning during the week. My conference calls start around 9am est usually and I need to be in front of my computer for most of them. Can’t do that while driving. So that means we have very short hops or we travel on weekends. We are still working through it, and again in the east it is less of an issue because new areas to explore are relatively close to each other. Should be very challenging when we get out west and we are dealing with longer drive times and the time change as well.

4. Vacation Days are used differently. Over the years my use of vacation days has morphed. When the kids were small much of them were used in kid related illnesses or activities. When they got bigger we used them to travel back to Columbus so the kids could see their grandparents. Finally we started taking a couple real vacations a year and I used the extra days for long weekends. (I have 4 weeks vacation a year.) My vacation schedule flips to a new year April 1st and I am thinking about using some vacation days as travel days to help make the schedule a little easier to manage. Occasionally I will want to take a week off (Rose Bowl Parade HOP and RV Dreams rally come to mind), but the best us of the extra days might well be allowing us to travel with no limitations or through areas with limited cell coverage. Will let you know as it unfolds.

So that’s what I have learned so far and at this point I am sure some of you are thinking is all of this even worth it. My answer is heck yes 🙂 The other night I worked until 6pm…drove 15 minutes to see a beautiful sunset on the beach…and then came back to the rig in time for my 9 pm call. I would have worked those same hours in New Hampshire but without the sunset on the beach 🙂

Lessons Learned

Depending on your work situation travel may be complicated and require planning in advance
Vacation days might be used as travel days or to extend a weekend to see extra stuff
There isn’t as much time as you might think to see local attractions during a work week. Allow yourself a full weekend in a place to really see the area.

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March 11, 2015 by Lee and Tracy

Second Budget

Well the second trip up north definitely did me in and I got laryngitis for the first time in my life. For a couple of days last week I couldn’t speak above a whisper and I felt pretty much like crap until the following Tuesday. I did manage to meet my daughter Kyrston and her boyfriend Jeremy for dinner one night. They drove 1-1/2 hours and I drove an hour and we met in Vermont. Thankfully the weather cooperated and we had a very nice time although I had to whisper my way through the dinner. Jeremy was pretty sweet about it and it was wonderful seeing Kyrston since we hadn’t been together since we left in November. When I got home on Friday I was a wreck, so I slept most of Saturday and stayed in the camper on Sunday as well. Dr. Jo came up to see us one last time before we leave Tampa and brought Peyton and Annubis with her. It was sad because although I know I will see her down the road I don’t know when. But it was so sweet that she drove the four hours round-trip to see us and hopefully we’ll see her and Ben sooner rather than later. So nothing exciting this weekend at all to share in the picture department, but I do have February’s budget finished.

February Budget 2015

The good news is we did better than last month!! Still over budget but only spent $3900 versus the $4100 for last month. The highlights are as follows:

Went over a bit in campground fees because electric here in Florida was much more than we expected ($88 for the month of January and we didn’t use AC once). So if you are staying in Florida for an extended period of time, factor that into your budget,
Groceries under budget…hooray!! Thank you Walmart Neighborhood market!
Dining out we went over by $82, but we knew that would happen this month and we did much better at communicating on this category so I still count this as a win.
Entertainment we were under by $106 which cancels out the overage in dining, but I would like to track those as separate categories and try to stay under in both.
We were under in truck fuel and used no relocation fuel which was great. We will see what happens in this category when we start moving again next week.
RV and Truck Insurance was high because we switched to a full-timers plan and had to prepay on one and were paying in arrears in another. One time blip. We will be paying $160 rather than $90 going forward though, but totally worth it for the piece of mind by having the right kind of coverage for our lifestyle. Next month I will adjust the budget on this once I get a clean monthly bill.
Ok… Home Improvement…went over by another $372. Obviously we need to get this category under serious control. It’s hard to complain though when Lee is doing such cool customization to the rig…but yes we have discussed it in detail.
Clothing we went over by $72 and that was all me and the new shoes I bought. I’ll take the hit on that one.
Personal care went over by $72. This is another category we will need to adjust because obviously $50 is not going to get it done for us, even going to Super Cuts.

So overall we did ok, especially for as much activity that we packed in with our friends. In March my daughter Kat and her boyfriend are coming to stay for a week, so that should be interesting, but they are chipping in on groceries which should help.

Couple of expenses not on the budget I did want to mention though;

I signed us up for the Escapees Rose Bowl Parade HOP. It’s been a bucket list item of mine since I was a teenager and the all-inclusive week will cost us $1680. The includes tickets to everything, transportation, campground for 7 days, and one meal a day. So I took $840 out of savings as a deposit and consider that our “vacation” this year.

We also had to buy a portable water tank and a macerator pump since we are staying for a week at a campground with no full hookups. This was on our original purchase list, but we didn’t buy it before we left. Thankfully, we got an unexpected refund check on our house insurance for $500 which covered the costs. How awesome is that!! My advice here is you will be tempted to wait and buy some bigger ticket items once you are out on the road. In some cases that may make sense as you won’t have enough information about what to buy until you try out the lifestyle, but I absolutely recommend a separate savings account for those items so they don’t come out of your contingency funds.

I also wanted to pass along that Jim and Barb of Jim and Barb’s RV Adventure just hit their one year mark and shared their annual expenses here. To prove the point that everyone’s budget and experiences are very different, they have traveled for a year with an average campground costs of $5 (they boon dock a lot). They also spent $7,400 for the year in fuel because they traveled quite a bit last year. I am so glad they shared the information so I could drive home the point that literally Your Mileage May Vary…. Plus they have a darn good blog :).

So that was my week. This week is all work, and getting ready to move on to Apopka. Then things start to really get interesting as we see how moving around and my working gel…plus first time with a kid staying with us. Should be interesting and lead to some new firsts!!!

Lessons Learned

When preparing for full timing set aside the money for big infrastructure items (blue boy, solar, wifi booster etc) that you don’t want to purchase up front but know you will need down the road. This should not be part of your contingency fund
Adjust your initial budget as real spend data becomes available
Everyone’s budget truly is different based upon how they travel and what their personal requirements for living comfortably are

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March 7, 2015 by Lee and Tracy

First Time in a Winter Coat since going on the Road

I skipped last Sunday in the post before last because it was already really long and I wanted to give it justice, so I am going to start there and work my way forward through the week. As you know, Lee has been attending RV Tech School for the last 8 weeks and although I haven’t posted much about it (will do a nice long write-up when he’s done) it has been a major part of our lives. One of the best things about the school is some of the people he has met and we had an opportunity to have dinner with one of the couples last Sunday. Fernando (Nando for short) and Jen have a really interesting life and prove there are all kinds of full timers out there. Jen, if I get any of the details wrong please forgive me…it’s been over a week and my memory is not what it used to be.

Jen and Nando have been together for over 15 years and are raising three boys (ages 13, 12, and 9) in a converted bus (38 foot 1994 Monaco Dynasty…with no slide outs), which means: not a ton of space for 5 people. Jen (like myself) works remotely from the rig and also oversees the boys curriculum as they are home schooled. Many years ago when they were younger they liked going to folk music festivals and Nando noticed that the food being offered lacked any ethnicity at all. So largely on a whim initially they started providing Mexican food at some of the festivals. Over time they developed some repeat customers and have used it as many years to supplement the income they made from their “regular jobs.” Fast forward and they realize they could make a living from just the festivals so they flew to Florida and bought a bus. This is where the story gets really interesting. Jen does not like to plan too far in advance. This is a lifestyle choice, not caused by any sort of laziness (Jen works her butt off to make this lifestyle work for her family) but because of how she wants to live. So, you know me, the uber planner…the thought of no plan makes me break into hives (not really but you know what I mean). but as we were talking I opened my mind to the concept. Which was easy because Jen and Nando are obviously very good parents (I know this because they frequently say “those damn kids…” with a smile on their face which only supremely confident parents have the guts to say ) so I opened my mind to what they are doing and it’s easy to tell they are totally making this work. They want a non-conventional life and they want their children to have the same and although that was not our choice I say more power to them. They sold their house and flew down and moved the three kids into a used bus in Florida. Which promptly broke down in Georgia. They got it fixed and made it to Nashville where it broke down again. At this point they had to stop and wait three weeks for the correct parts and eventually Nando fixed the bus himself. I asked if he had any experience with fixing this type of engine and he did not, but he’s a really smart guy and mechanically inclined so he figured it out. During this time period they also needed to be at a festival and there was some flying back and forth to make that happen. I would say in general that sums up Nando and Jen. They take life as it comes and do what it takes to make things happen. I admire that tremendously and frankly wish I was more like them.

Like us Nando and Jen discovered the RV Training Center school and since they are all about multiple streams of income (which is very smart in this life) took a 10 week break from the bus, rented a small house, and came down here for the school. I met Jen at the luncheon the school had for families a few weeks ago and immediately felt a connection to her, so when Nando asked us to go out with them for her birthday I couldn’t say no. Yes I knew we would go over budget on dining out, and was pretty pooped from a busy couple of weeks, but I really wanted to get to know them better and I am so glad that we did. They purchased family passes to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and had free friends passes and asked us if we wanted to start the day there. I had been wanting to go, plus can’t pass up free, so we met there around 12:30. Jen won’t take her boys to traditional zoos only places where animals are kept for rehabilitation and research so this place is right up her alley. I loved it because along with Winter (the dolphin with the mechanical fin from Dolphin’s Tale) they help many sea turtles. Right when we walked in the door, we saw they were operating on a rescued sea turtle, and seeing my interest, one of the volunteers took us on a back hallway tour and spent 20 minutes or so explaining the facility and what they do. It turns out they get no royalties from the movie because they are a non-profit and operate on donations, admission fees, and over 400 volunteers. This may seem like plenty but according to the volunteer the previous weekend they responded to 18 calls for turtles in distress (10 were brought back and 8 died on scene) ranging from turtles cut by fishing line, tumors, and even one in a trash can. The volunteer was very passionate about what they do and I really appreciated her taking the time to show us the behind the scenes. My favorite story was of a female sea turtle who was picked up initially 5 years ago. She was helped and released back into the wild. A year later she was found on the same beach and sent back for another issue. Two years later same thing and then just 6 months ago. Turtles are smart. It was like she was checking into the emergency room 🙂

Lee got this great shot of the turtle operation through the glass

Rehabilitating turtle in its habitat

The Winter part of the aquarium was less interesting to me. They have Winter blocked so it’s tough to get a good picture unless you pay extra which was disappointing. I understand the money is going to a good cause, but I hate that commercial feeling, but the sea otter area was a nice treat and we got to see the staff working with the animals preparing training them for release which was cool. Overall I am glad I didn’t have to spend $22 each to go, but I am really glad we got to see it and Nando and Jen were great to hang out with.

Winter..you have to pay extra for a good picture

Here’s her tale without the mechanical piece

Sea otters being trained

Look at that face

African Pelican from the movie live here permanently now

Nando and Jen

Nando and Winter

Me and Winter

After the aquarium we tried to go to a beach restaurant in Clearwater, but because it was a really nice day the place was packed. I really don’t like Clearwater beaches, they are packed with tourists and driving/parking is a nightmare. I much prefer driving down the coast a bit and going to the lesser known beaches which are essentially the same but with less crowds. We didn’t have a back up plan, so we starting driving down the coast and eventually came to a waterfront (marina side) restaurant called The Pub Waterfront Restaurant. What a find!! I had the absolute best meal I have had since we got here…Bay shrimp, the best spinach and cheese dip I’ve ever had, and some yummy ice tea. It was $50 all in with tip (damn those drinks and appetizers) but it was really, really good. They offer reasonably priced meals before 6pm, btw, and if you’re in the area I highly recommend it. We ate and had plenty of time to drive down to Indian Rocks beach and watch the sunset. So we blew the budget but made some really good new friends…I would say that’s a fair trade 🙂

I took the next couple of days for work and readied myself for my first work trip up north. Because of the storms two trips have been cancelled, but on Wednesday (the very best day to fly) I flew from Tampa to Atlanta to Louisville with no issue. The first day wasn’t that bad. The sun was shining and it was cold but not windy. The second day however I remembered why I am done with winter. Overcast, spitting snow, and the wind had a nasty bite…really not cool. The meeting was great, the people were nice as always, but I discovered I don’t miss the snow AT ALL. No nostalgia, no nothing, just a desire to get back to the warmer weather lol. I flew back on Friday and I would like to take a moment to complain a bit. First they have banned e-cigarettes in the Louisville airport which is absolutely ridiculous. Non smokers want smokers to stop and the e cigarettes are having an impact on that. So why ban them?? Mine smells like Berries btw, and it contains absolutely nothing harmful in it for anyone. Also, they took my toothpaste, which makes me crazy. The same toothpaste can pass security multiple times and then one bored TSA agent will snag it. Seriously, they need some consistent rules in these airports. Anyway the flight itself was fine and it was an easy switch of planes in Detroit. Then it gets interesting. There was a woman who was sloppy drunk in the seat behind me and the first thing she said as she sat down was “how quickly can I get another drink?”. I am sympathetic to folks who are nervous flyers, but drinking too much and then asking for more is just stupid. Turns out she was in the wrong aisle (misread her ticket, big shock) and she was in the middle seat next to me. So she sat down and could not get the seat belt to secure around her. I am sympathetic to people who are larger, but no way was I OK with a drunk person being unsecured in the seat next to me. I very kindly mentioned we could get her an extender and we wanted her to be safe and she immediately got tense about it. I stood up and walked back to the attendant and asked for a seatbelt extender. She immediately said, “Did she ask for one?” I said no but it wasn’t safe and the airline attendant said , “We have to be very careful how we handle situations like this.” So let me get this straight you can take my toothpaste, you can ban e cigarettes, but someone can not wear a seatbelt because they might get offended??? Ever seen the scene in the TV show Lost where the plane hits turbulence and the non seat belted passengers go flying up in the air and strike the people around them?? All I could picture was getting smashed flat in a turbulence situation. Just to be clear I would have had an identical reaction no matter what her size. So I went back to my seat and was pondering my next move when the lady literally climbed over me (without me getting up) and took a seat two rows back. Well that worked OK, and although I rarely talk to people I am flying with Jennifer my aisle companion and I spoke quietly for a few minutes. Turns out Jennifer was a really cool person and I actually ended up sharing my blog with her by the end of the flight. So Jen if you read this, I enjoyed talking to you very much.

Mom is in town checking on Grandpa and I knew I was going to drive over and see them. I made the colossally bad decision however to drive straight from the airport to North Palm Beach. I was hoping I would cut my drive time down but because I hit Friday rush hour traffic it actually took longer. So I flew all day and then drove for 4 hours to get there. Not fun. I did enjoy hanging out with them, Grandpa is doing very well considering his loss and Mom and I had a good time visiting the beach that I spent quite a bit of my childhood on. My grandparents lived on Singer Island when I was young and we spent many summers at their condo right on the beach. So we went to a local park and walked down to the old condo and I enjoyed seeing a different ocean. I did NOT like the jelly fish however which were everywhere, but the waves are much bigger and wilder and the beach sand although not white was much deeper. We had a nice walk and then got pedicures (mom’s treat) and then took Grandpa to Chinese for lunch. It was pretty overcast throughout the day so I decided to drive back a little earlier and about 15 minutes into the drive it started to pour. Very poor visibility…people had their flashers on…and it took me another 4 hours to make it back to Largo. So I love my Mom and Grandpa but the drive both was pretty awful, and I am spending Sunday just relaxing until I fly out again on Monday to Albany, NY. Time to pull out the winter coat again.

Tiny free park on nice beachfront property

Walkway to beach

The waves are so much higher and I used to walk on those rocks in low ride as a kid

The tiny three story building in the middle is the condo complex my grandparents lived in

The tiny three-story building (in the middle of the picture) is the condo complex my grandparents lived in

The condo I spent my summers as a kid in

Grandpa and Mom

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Camper Chronicles

Travel Tales from Working Full Time RVers

Month: March 2015

Establishing Residency in Florida

First Time Having a Daughter Stay with us

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Lessons Learned

Campground Review

Update on Dreamers Graduating Class of 2014 and Working from the Road

Lessons Learned

Second Budget

Lessons Learned

First Time in a Winter Coat since going on the Road