The Road to Full Time

The Trip Home and the Decision

Going Full Time after the winter we had in AZ was not a difficult choice. Not after all the great friends we met, and the awesome places we visited. The decision was the easy part. Making it happen- selling a house that we have lived in the past 40 years and cleaning out the "stuff" that we have accumulated during that 40 years- now that  was the hard part.

For us, at least, it seemed like every choice/decision we made, led to something else requiring a choice and a decision. As an example, the first big decision was what we were going to live in after we sold the house(the Airstream was out because of size) - Class A, Class C, or 5th Wheel? After a lot of discussion and research we settled on a 5th wheel. Make boiled down to Redwood, HitchHiker, or Mobile Suites. Mobile Suites won out mainly on recommendations of good friend. Then we had to decide what we were going to pull it with. The F150 we currently had would definitely not be up to the task. We settled on a new F350 Ford w/ 6.7 l Diesel engine and 8' pickup body and full crew cab. We did all this to maximize what we could take with us when we headed west to attend Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. The truck purchase speeded up the process of getting rid of "stuff", as it required us to trade in our F150 Pickup, Mary's Subaru, and me to sell my favorite Bass Boat. Sigh!!!

My Truck and my boat

Mary's car

Now that was a truly sad day when I had to part with my prized Bass Boat. With the truck in place, we started looking seriously at 5th Wheel trailer. During the course of looking at Hitch Hiker and Mobile Suites, we came in contact with Kansas RV Center, and eventually purchased our 5th Wheel through them.

At this point I am getting a little ahead of myself, so I'll get back to where I should be. When we decided that we would like to go full time we knew it was going to be a real challenge- cleaning out a house with over 40 years of accumulated "stuff", especially for the 2 of us with collection intensive hobbies as ours - Mary's - sewing(fabric) and me, fishing(tackle, rods, reels, lures, etc). Definitely an almost impossible challenge. Well in late April/early May we had a "meeting" and decided that if we looked at the project as a whole we'd never get it done, but if we looked at pieces and were satisfied with small successes daily, then we had a chance.

Here is an example of how things fell into place for us: I decided that one of the most salable things that I had was my gas powered wood splitter. There was a problem with starting it so I sent it up to my neighbor who is good with small engines for him to have a look, and mentioned that I was getting it ready to sell it. Next thing I know, one of his immediate neighbors is at my door wondering how much I was asking for it. I told him and he said he would take it. Then asks, why am I selling it and I explain that we are selling everything including the house to go on the road full time RV'ing. He looks around and asks if my firewood is for sale. I say yes, give him a price and he says he'll take all 7 cords(I was in the process of putting an ad in the paper to sell it). He then mentioned that his father in  law would love our location and spot. The next night the father in law visits us with the idea of purchasing my Stihl trimmer(which he did buy) and looked the place over. Asked some questions. Next day he was back and I walked him around the perimeter of the property. When done, he made me a cash offer for the place. The amount was no where what I thought the place was worth, but on the other side of the coin, we didn't have to go through a realtor, deal with a gaggle of lookers, or deal with a bank. Strictly a cash deal.

After the handshake and a $5000 deposit to bind the deal, it was then that we started looking for a 5th Wheel Trailer. Our interest in Nu-Wa MFG & HitchHiker led us to Kansas RV Center  in Chanute, KS. Not literally, but digitally, via the internet and email. We looked hard at some used HitchHikers but then settled on the Mobile Suites. They were a dealer for Mobile Suites and one of the more popular ones in the country, at least based on customer comments. I dealt with the owner and we finally settled on a unit and a price, with a contingency of trading our Airstream in should we have a problem selling it. The unit we finally decided on was going to have to be built for us and we got a target date for delivery that almost coincided with the end of the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque.

So now we had the ball rolling, In the short space of less than a month, we sold the house(at least we had a deposit on it), we traded the truck, car, sold the boat, bought a new tow vehicle and 5th Wheel trailer.

Now came the tough part - emptying the house and getting rid of our "stuff". Here is basically what we did in kind of a synopsis report.  We set a target date for closing on the house of 8/31/15. This so we could be on the road in early Sept. We needed to go to South Dakota to establish residency, visit with friends in Durango, go to Mesa Verde, and be in Albuquerque for the first week in Oct for the Balloon Fiesta. To accomplish our goal of emptying the house, these are the methods we used:
1. The Old Newfane Flea Market. On probably 5 or 6 Sundays I loaded up the truck w/ stuff. When you are basically giving stuff away for $1 you are not selling it, but we did ok and got rid of a bunch of stuff. Even made some money doing it.

We did do another Flea Market, this one on the Newfane Common to benefit the Newfane Library....

The famous and oft photo'd Windham County Courthouse in the background

Mary, manning the store

3. eBay was a big player for a lot of my "stuff": Racing memorabilia, fishing stuff, especially reels. I did quite well in fact.
4. Fishing Buddies - took 12 rods and 3 totes of fishing tackle with me when we went to Holiday Harbor Motel for the LCI Fathers Day fishing Tournament. The owner of the motel bought $300 worth of stuff(for his bait and tackle shop), and guys staying at the motel bought the rest of what I had brought with me. What was left at home, I got up to my brother in laws for storage until next year- another 4 totes of stuff.
5. Newspaper ads- the free ones for goods under $100 helped me sell stuff: Extension Ladder, Kayak, Metal roofing sheets.
6. Townshend Auction Galleries visited our place in mid-July to look things over and came back in early Aug and took most of our furniture out. Auctions in the coming 6-8 weeks will dispose of what they took. And then the check will be in the mail.
7. I was constantly filling up Contractors garbage bags with junk/stuff and probably made 6-8 trips to the Transfer Station with full loads of junk/stuff.
8. Word of mouth. Mary got a hold of some of her friends about our "stuff". I spoke with a couple of neighbors about "stuff" we had. I mentioned our "stuff" to the clerk at the Storage Facility we were going to rent space at and she and her husband made 3 trips to our place to get some of our "stuff" . The first two trips were for stuff that she bought, and the last trip was to take anything that we had left - for free.
9. As mentioned above, we rented a Storage Container to store stuff that we just couldn't bear to part with. We will have about a dozen totes of stuff, along with a couple of bikes and golf clubs in it.
10. Lastly, in the final week, I had Triple T Trucking drop of a 6 yd container for all trash that was left.

Last Friday and Saturday - Aug 21 & 22, we had people in and out of our yard going off with stuff like: (2) window air conditioners, Upright freezer, Treadmill, (2) Recliners, Lawn Tractor, (2) Lawn Tractor dump carts, Push mower, Pots & Pans, Gardenway Cart, Tarps, Chairs, a Printer-Copier-Fax Machine, Lumber, tools, Galvanized pails, Fire extinguishers. I am sure I missed some things, but basically a lot of stuff went out of here.

It is now Aug 27. The closing on the house is Aug 31. So much has been done, and I don't know where this summer has gone. It seems like we have been working full time for months. I can't hardly remember the last time that I went fishing. Now that is bad. Mary has been unbelievable in her persistence and dedication to the job at hand. I know it has been hard for her getting rid of some of her stuff. Probably almost as hard as me having to part with my Bass Boat. Oh, and in between getting the house emptied, we also did the following:
1. Had propane tanks refilled and terminated our service with  Keene Gas
2. Cancelled/stopped Direct TV service eff 8/16
3. Cancelled/stopped Fairmont DSL Service eff 8/31
4. Cancelled/stopped Green Mtn Power Service eff 8/31
5. Took 9 days off and went to St Lawrence River below Massena, NY to camp and visit with Friends Don & Debbie Miller and spectate at Bass Elite Series Tournament in Waddington, NY.
6. Took 6 days off and attended Escapee Region III rally in Hermon, ME(Bangor area)
7. While at rally in Me, had couple from northern Vt express interest in our Trailer and said as soon as they sold theirs they would be interested in purchasing.
8. Rec'd call on 8/24 that they wanted our trailer as theirs was sold. Made arrangements with them to meet them on our way out of the area on 9/1 to get deposit and seal the deal.
9. Bought new insurance for truck, trailer, and Umbrella from Agent in our new state of residency, SD.
10. Made arrangements with our Insurance Agent in Brattleboro to cancel all of our policies with them effective 9/1.
11. Contacted our Post Office about our mail and how we wanted it handled once we have left.

So, it has been a hectic, busy, non-stop summer. Will be so glad when house is finally sold trailer finally sold & delivered(in Ohio- but that is another story entirely), and we've taken delivery of our own new trailer. Then, I'd just like to sit down, relax and read a good book. Maybe have a beer or two also.