A busy weekend

This past weekend was beautiful. 75 degrees, Sunny and no wind. Saturday I spent a portion of the day cleaning the 5th wheel. Not a fast task when you use spray bottles, sponges and towels. No full water wash downs on the site! Sunday I spent about six hours to finish washing and waxing.  This coming week, actually starting tonight its supposed to get much cooler, 55-60 during the day and 35-40 at night. Sounds like that is pretty much the "winter" weather until around mid February.

Sunday Kathy and Nikki went to a craft show which turned out to be more of a painting show. But non the less they had fun together.

Its amazing how many people live and work in their RV's. There is a whole other life style we knew existed but much more prevalent than I ever thought. Our next door neighbor is a disaster chaser moving from disaster to disaster whether it be floods, toronados or more and estimates repairs. Seems there are quite a few insurance adjusters who live this life style.

It's pretty cool and I enjoy it more each day! Of the 30 some RV's that are here I suspect 30-40 percent work either part time, full time or are KOA Camp workers. We have met one couple who works at KOA's and got here in October. They will be here through April and then move to another KOA in Illnois. They seem to really enjoy it.

Chewie has made friends with the office staff and knows every time we walk by she can go inside and get a bone. Although we walk 4-5 times a day we only stop once or twice!

Kathy has found grocery shopping is a little more challenging because the frig and freezer only holds so much. She went today and everything fit!  We have found planning meals is the best way to shop.

Tonight we had Fiesta Chicken and veggies........

Turkey Day RV Cooking

This Thanksgiving was a little different for cooking. First of all RV ovens tend to be much smaller than a conventional oven. So cooking a Turkey in the oven (a large one anyway) will not work.

In our case, a few pies and some green bean casserole worked great. One thing I  found is preheating the oven is very important. It's small enough that if you put something in too soon it burns the bottom, and there is no preheat indicator to tell you when its at the right temp. If you really want to be sure a external thermometer is a must.

We went to Nikki's boyfriends (Mike) parents house for dinner. It was great! Lots of turkey, dressing, all the standard fixin's including corn bread that Nikki cooked that was really good.

We have rival families. Mike's mom is a die hard Packers fan, his dad a Dallas fan. Nikki and I wore our Detroit Lions shirts and started trash talk as soon as we got there. Well maybe me more than Nikki. Unfortunately, Detroit didn't show up for the game and it was an embarrassment!

That aside, we played a game outside that Kathy bought at a craft show which uses two nets that set up horizontal to the ground and have three rings. The object is to hit golf balls that are attached to birdie's, much like badminton birdies in the nets to score points with a pitching wedge. Scoring is the same as ladder golf.



When Kathy bought the game the seller mentioned getting some indoor/outdoor carpet for the pitching area's.  Definitely need that unless you want a yard with a lot of divots!  We stopped early and I put it away when no one was playing because I thought it would destroy Brian's yard. Then after dinner everyone wanted to play....OOPS!  Kathy gets the game and never got to play. We will have to set it up at the campground and play.

I was a nice day. Friday not much happening and will be going out to dinner later.

RV Furnishings

Here's a quick plug for Camping World. We needed a coffee table to replace the one we brought because it was just a little too big. We bought a oak one from Camping World with a lift up top. Wow is this great. Great quality and really fits nice. Something to consider if you need furniture in an RV.

Weather update: 79 and sunny! :)

A walk on the beach

What's nice about full timing? Staying in a area where you can walk on the beach on a sunny Saturday afternoon in mid November. It was beautiful yesterday, light wind and perfect temperature. Yesterday, seemed like a great day to go and do a few things, namely grocery shopping as the galley was getting a bit low. Before going we thought a walk on the beach would be nice, so in my usual way I plugged in Wrightsville Beach into my GPS. Two popped up so we took the closest. A drive down several roads with little traffic was great (there is a lot of traffic in Wilmington). As we came upon a beautiful entrance I'm thinking we have to pay. Hmm, turns out we were trying to get on Figure 8 Island. Yes, its Wrightsville Beach, but the exclusive, private island you've got to own a home on, and a part of Wrightsville Beach we weren't getting access too.  A polite armed guard told us to turn around and follow his directions to the public area :)

Words of wisdom, use the Wrightsville beach on Beach Rd when you want to go to the beach using your Garmin! Or better yet,  just follow those big green signs above the road that say...Wrightsville Beach :)

What's the same as everywhere else?  A packed grocery store on Saturday afternoon.

Planning for our big trip -

We've started talking about our next big trip. Looks like we'll leave sometime after Nikki move's to Georgia, in February.

Then we plan to drive no more than 4 hours a day and spend 3-4 days where ever we stop or longer if we feel like it. Below is our tenative path. Of course it may change a hundred times before we leave.

Our plan is to take 2-3 months to make the entire trip with the exception of Mount Rushmore. We'll spend some extra time in Tucson with my parents and of course alot of time with Bill in Colorado.

This puts us in Tucson around mid to late March and Bill's from April thru probably June. We want to be back in Michigan June-July but plan to hit Mount Rushmore in between.

Still very early in the planning but its exciting to plan for!

1st quarter 2012

Florida residents - Officially!

Somewhat challenging....Last week I called the Tax Collector's office in Pensacola to ensure everything was ready for us to transfer our Michigan status to Florida. No problems...come on down!!!  Wish it was that easy.  Monday morning bright and early we drove to Pensacola and went straight to the Tax Collector's office. After waiting about twenty five minutes we were called up and explained that we were full time RV'rs and declaring Florida as our homebase.  Unfortunately, the agent said...the law has changed and you have to be a resident of Florida and prove residency.  After a lot of discussion and talking to someone else the agent returned and said yes we could do what we wanted and our driver license would have our truck plate number as our address. After assuring us this would work, we allowed her to switch our truck and 5th wheel registration, paid the money and headed to lunch. Our driver license appointment was at 2:30.

After lunch we returned and at 2:30 were called for our drivers licenses. After presenting two forms of Florida info, our insurance policy showing the homebase address and our new truck registration showing the same thing, passports, Michigan ID's we were told, oh the law did change and we can't use a homebase address that you do not reside at.  Ugh...!!! 

Upset, we left and went to the Good Sam/Homebase office in Pensacola. We explained the issue and were told that each county enforces the law differently and that this county had decided to enforce it to the letter. The Tax Collector in Escambia county told us we needed a residence in Florida or a relative. Ah....Jackie, Kathy's sister!  A phone call made and within 20 minutes we had the form signed and Jackie's utility bill and lease to prove she lived there. Who carries that with them ?!?

Off to Santa Rosa county. They close at 4:30, we got there at 4:00 p.m. The were fast efficient and we have our Florida driver licenses now!

If you ever think of choosing a homebase where you do not have a residence make sure you check with the homebase company you are using regarding any changes or recommendations. If we had, they would have sent us to Santa Rosa first and probably not had any issues. Of course, you would also think if the homebase service knew about changes or different counties enforcing them differently you would hear from them.

In the end it all worked out and we got back to Wilmington Tuesday night.  And better yet, 27.0 mpg in my 2006 Dodge Ram 2500 Diesel with 130k. It just gets better with age.


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Becoming a resident of Florida

The week was quiet, warm and nice. Friday we left for Jacksonville, FL to visit Kathy's sister Jackie and her brother Tim. It's a 7.5 hour drive to Jacksonville from Wilmington. I love my Dodge Diesel!!!! 25.1 mpg on the way down. I'm curious to see if it improves when driving to Pensacola on Monday morning.

Saturday we went to the grand opening of the Camping World Super Center in Jacksonville. What a disappointment! The Camping World in Belleville, MI (near where we used to live) is 5 times the size of this one and much more selection, although this one had many more RV's for sale than the one in MI. Some black tank cleaner and a new under the cabinet coffee maker later we left :). Saturday night we went to Golden Corral to eat dinner, Tim's favorite spot!. Today is a rest day. Chewie got a bath and Kathy and Jackie went to Tim's to do some house cleaning. The weather was a little chilly in Jacksonville at 60 degree's with overcast and a light mist in the air. Looking forward to the warmer weather in Pensacola and some great gulf seafood for dinner.

Tomorrow morning we leave on the 5.5 hour trek to Pensacola. We have to register the truck and 5th wheel first, we then have our driver license appointments at 2:30. By tomorrow evening we will be official Florida residents. We'll drive back to Jacksonville Monday night and leave for North Carolina sometime on Tuesday.

Our first week....

Our first week has been very uneventful. Being in the warm weather has been wonderful. Nikki (our daughter) may be getting tired of us by now but hey, a free dinner at your parents is always good.  Over the weekend I washed part of the 5th wheel. We have started to make minor additions inside, like a magazine rack in the bathroom and hanging a few pictures. We still find it challenging finding things. We know we have them.....its just where did they go?

Saturday we went to Nikki's boyfriends house for dinner. Unfortunately, Mike's mom is a Wisconsin fan......too bad they lost :)  Having two Michigan State fans in the house was probably not putting the best foot forward.

I made my first Camping World order to the the site....It was very convenient in Michigan to just drive to it (only 25 minutes away). Here in Wilmington the closest Camping World is in Myrtle Beach, SC about an hour away. On the list, solar powered awning lights, awning deflappers and awning tie downs. From the last three items you can tell I don't like putting the awning up often whenever a storm is forecasted (which hasn't been often yet!

Last weekend we went to Wrightsboro United Methodist Church in Wilmington. It was a very nice church and we enjoyed the pastor's sermon. It reminded us of our church in Saline, MI (FUMC) when it was smaller and more personal.  ALOT of music at the contemporary service. Service started at 10:50 and we sang and listened to the choir till 11:50 when the pastor started. Typical service is 1 1/2 hours but it went by amazingly fast. I'm sure we'll go back. Kathy on Wednesday worked at the food pantry the church runs, and next Tuesday we will be helping to unload a freight truck of food. I must admit, I miss all of our friends of 25 years and seeing familiar faces at church but I'm confident we'll make new friends and find new programs to get involved in.

This week, I've been in Vancouver, British Columbia all week. Left on Monday, returning late Friday night. How nice it was to fly out of Detroit! Wilmington airport is small and easy but way too many connections to get anywhere.

We have trick-or-treat at the campground this weekend...living in the country in Michigan we did not have kids on Halloween very often unless someone drove them out to our house.

Soon we will make the trek to Pensacola, Florida to officially change our residency and get our new licenses and plates. Unfortunately, Pensacola is about a 15 hour drive from Wilmington.

And we're off!
After a crazy week of getting everything out of the house, we learned we still have too much stuff! Fulltimers are true minimalist! Only take what you must have and nothing more.

Saturday we started south on what was a long but uneventful trip to the KOA in Wytheville, Va. Pulling in around 9 p.m. we were both tired and just went to bed.  We got up around 7 on Sunday and ended up leaving the campground around 9 ish.  It is a beautiful day and uneventful until about an hour out of Wilmington, NC when a "pop" drew my attention to the side view mirror to see the fender skirt flying off the trailer and a blown out tire coming apart on the interstate.  I had all the tools and a spare, but it was challenging pulling the tire when you are practically in the right lane of the interstate. It's amazing how oblivious drivers are to what is happening on the road. 35 minutes later, tire changed and on our way. Yea!  I was commenting to Kathy that it is amazing how few people ever stop to help. No more than 5 minutes after that, there was a 5th wheel with a blown tire on the interstate side. We pulled up behind them to help protect them from the traffic and helped Richard and his wife get their tire changed. Actually I helped Richard while his wife chatted with Kathy at our truck. They are farmers from North Carolina who were on their way to Surf City for the week. Both in their late 60's it was nice to help, especially since we had just done the same thing not even 40 minutes earlier.

We got to the campground around 4. Checked in, parked in our nice site and set up. Our daughter came over for dinner which was very nice. We were never able to do that before because of where we lived. After dinner we had a quiet evening sitting outside just relaxing.........

We'll be at the KOA in Wilmington, NC for the next 3 1/2 months.

Less than a week to go. The house is getting empty. Tomorrow the remaining furniture goes to various people all over town. We started transferring the final household items to the 5th wheel last night. Organizing, protecting and getting it all ready. There have been so many farewell lunches, dinners, parties.....it's wonderful but tiring both physically and mentally. We leave Saturday and will be staying in Wytheville, VA Saturday night and arriving in Wilmington, NC Sunday afternoon. Can hardly wait!

2 more weeks

We've decided to leave Michigan October 15th. Heading to Wilmington, NC to start. Will be there through February 2012.

It's certainly been a challenge. We had a 3 day garage/barn sale and I was amazed at my collection in the barn.  Hmmm....what do I need seven caulk guns for?!  Sold everything but the essential RV tools, air compressor, impact gun and other small goodies.

Delivered our furniture to the kids. Our nephew in England (he's in the Airforce) had his shipped. Drove to GA last weekend and the remainder is going into storage for our son in Colorado. What a lot of work. We are both ready to go.

We decided to use GoodSam, American Homebase service for mail and will be going to Florida for registration and licenses. After following recommendations made by rv-dreams.com website I called Millers Insurance and what a good move that was! I'm impressed with the price, people and service! A great recommendation from RV-Dreams.

Now to figure out where everything goes in the 5th wheel.........

The start

How exciting and overwhelming at the same time. We plan to hit the road towards Georgia or North Carolina by October of this year. There is soooooooooo much to get ready. Picking the right place to be for a few months, getting rid of the house contents, we don't plan to store anything. We are making one big plunge!  Last night we created the "list" of things we need for the trip, for the 5th wheel and things we need to get done before we leave as well as things we want but suspect we can't bring.

We have decided since we are leaving our Michigan home of 20+ years that we will become residents of Florida for registration and voting using the Good Sam Service. We've heard nothing but good things about them.

The plan now is 6 months near our daughter who currently lives in North Carolina but looks like is moving to Georgia (near Atlanta) for a job and 6 months in Aurora, Co near our son. If they get tired of us or us of them, well we'll move on to the next place we decide.

Still working and not retired, I plan to work from my RV now instead of the house. But how much more relaxing could this be!  My wife is a teacher and she is not sure what she will do next.....still a thought in progress.