Just Sayin'

Just sayin' simplicity is good, but not always easy to come by.  Unfortunately the RV lifestyle is not as simple as it seems.  Sorry about not posting in so long.  My new years resolution is to post more, but it may be on a different blog.  When I get the blog set up (wordpress) I will let folks know the new link on this site. 

Merry Christmas and happy new year to all.

Yay! Awwww

We picked up our brand new Flagstaff 5th Wheel. YAY! We've been waiting for it a long time. We packed all of the possessions we were going to keep.  I was hooking it up for the first time and had an accident. Thank the Lord no one was injured.

We no longer have our camper. We had to unpack everything and send it back to Indiana for repairs. I have no idea when they will be done with the repairs.

It's very disappointing for both my wife and myself. Our plans have been altered. We are still looking forward to beginning our new RV lifestyle, but this sure knocked the wind out of our sales.

Our First Kampsite

Things are moving along now!  This Friday we will get the hitch installed on our Truck and pick up our trailer.  I hope to have some pictures of us and our new rig posted soon.

The plan:  We will pick up our camper on May 31st and park our fifth wheel in our driveway until June 3rd.  The Pekin, Illinois traffic folks said we had to have our truck attached to the trailer if we wanted to park on the street, and said we could only park 72 hours or be ticketed.  We chose to park on our driveway, which is not as long as the 5th wheel, so we will be across the sidewalk too.  This will give us a chance to load some stuff we into the trailer before our first night camping.

We've been ordering some essential hardware for our trailer through Amazon.  Who would have thought we can get RV supplies like sewer hoses, leveling blocks, wheel chocks and the like through Amazon.

We've made reservations at Kentuckiana campground near Hopedale, Illinois.  We have camped there in the past and are looking forward to our first camping trip in quite a while.  We plan to stay there at the campground about a month and will have garage sales and eliminate furniture from our rented house.  The campground Kampground is far enough away to give us a glimpse of what it will be like to live without family around, but still be close enough for both us and them to get acclimated to the idea.

I will be posting a campground review at the end of our stay.

Kentuckiana's site map:

http://www.kentuckianahome.com/pictures/maps/Kentuckiana_Sitemap.jpg

Many Firsts

After many, many years of doing the same old thing Cindy and I are going to begin a lot of firsts. As an example our pastor was gone over the weekend and since I am one of the deacons of our church I was able to participate in this weeks Sunday service. I was also able to spend some time with one of the church members and pray with them before their surgery. This was a great growing experience for me.

We finally found a vehicle to pull our fifth wheel. It isn't exactly what I wanted but I believe it is the right vehicle for us. It is a GMC Sierra 3500 crew cab with 2wd, and it's a dually. It is set up with a trailer towing package but doesn't have a hitch yet. I will be driving to Colmans Country Campers in Springfield Illinois within the next few days to get the hitch installed. This will not be a cheap installation. I believe it will cost around $1,400 for the hitch and installation.

I didn't get any replies to my question about full timers RV insurance so I ended up with GEICO insurance for both the Truck and the fifth wheel. The things I learned about full time RV insurance are: 1. I tried to deal with local agents and found they didn't seem to have enough time to answer questions. 2. RV full time insurance is really a combination of vehicle and homeowners insurance. 3. I would advise anyone to get replacement coverage. In case the trailer is a total loss they will replace the trailer with a newer model.

Direct TV is also something that will be a first as of June 3rd. We will be cancelling comcast soon. Cindy and I will be dish heads.

I believe our first campsite will be Kentuckiana campground by Hopedale Illinois. I will provide additional information about the campsite in a later blog.

Summary of our firsts:
First church service I helped to execute.
First time I went to the hospital to pray with someone before surgery (Cindy Helped).
First time Cindy and I will own a truck.
First time Cindy and I will own a fifth wheel
First time we will camp in our new home.
First time we will distribute our family heirlooms and furniture to our kids.
First time we will have a moving / liquidation sale of our possessions.


Our dreams are about to be realized. I should get the truck tomorrow and the trailer is at the dealership and almost ready to go. We should be able to pick it up within the next week.

I will begin blogging more often now that we will start camping soon.

I never look at tasks as things I have to do, but things I get to do by the grace of God. God is good.

Still waitin' for the 5th wheel.

Hey Everyone,
It's been quite a while since we posted. We are still in the process of squaring things away and can't really take our initial trip until I get the trailer and truck. The trailer we bought at the RV show is no longer our trailer. We decided to let the folks at "Colman's Country Campers" in Springfield, Illinois have the one that we bought for their own purposes and ordered one from the factory. It is due to be delivered by May 15th, 2013. It will take that long for the retirement process to be completed anyway, so it worked out for both Colman's and us.

It is harder than I thought to find good trailer insurance. I tried going through AARP (Hartford) and filled out all of the forms, only to find they don't insure full time RVers. I found a company called Foremost that sounds like a good deal, but when I went to one of the Farmers insurance agents in Pekin, Illinois they provided a quote but couldn't answer any of the questions I had. The lady at the agency said the quote 'is what it is' and did not attempt to answer any other questions. I intend to try a different agency that represents Foremost before I start looking at Good Sam insurance.

Even though we don't have the trailer yet I have been having a blast. Since I dont't have to go to work every day I've been able to do things that I've always wanted to do but haven't had the time or energy to do. I'm feeling better every day, spend more time with the grandkids located in Pekin and Peoria, spend more time reading the Bible and learning about Jesus and became a deacon at Town and Country Baptist church.

Cindy and I will be changing the name of our blog and possibly the hosting site. As we make changes I will post them to this blog.

If anyone can help with advice on which trailer insurance is best please feel free to post to this blog. I would like to have some suggestions.

No turning back now.

Well, there is no turning back on our full time camping plan now. We went to the Peoria RV show last night and purchased our fifth wheel. We were planning to buy a used fifth wheel, but decided to go with a new one instead.

We bought a Flagstaff 5th wheel. We decided not to go with the bunkhouse concept, since we will be camping with the grandkids much less than camping on our own.

I think I'm happy about it, but we spent much more than we originally planned.

We are still looking for a used F250 crew cab with a 6.4L diesel engine and a long bed.

Just Starting Out

I'm in the process of retiring from Caterpillar Inc. I've worked at multiple plants in the Peoria, Illinois area for the last 43.5 years, and supported supply chain processes for Greenville and Seguin plants as well. My wife Cindy and I have made the decision to do some full time RVing for at least a few years. I've decided that I will try out blogging to let folks know about our transition process and the things we are doing to prepare for the transition. I also want my family and good friends at Caterpillar to know that I'm OK and enjoying my retirement.

My first day of retirement begins on April 1st, 2013. Most of the forms have been filled out, pension options determined, health and life insurance decisions made, and social security benefits will start in April.

We have decided to purchase a used 5th wheel camper and truck to pull it with. Our little Mazda 5 just doesn't have enough zoom zoom for any heavy loads, and definitely does not have the room we require for living in it. We've made some decisions about how we would like the fifth wheel to be organized (center kitchen area, bunkhouse, 28 to 32 ft long), but could use some help from experienced full timers with the decisions and / or options we should be looking for. Both Cindy and I have been looking at RV and camping blogs trying to pick up some tips.

We are also starting the emotional process of eliminating the 'things' that we have purchased, and have been given to us over the last 42 years of marriage. Were planning to give as much as possible to our extended family, and have a moving sale for the rest of it. Items we don't sell will be donated to a Christian second hand shop.