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RE: Getting ready to go full time!!! Where to winter?
Gone4Good, LOL!! I know that Houston can get cold, lived there for years. But, it's in our price range to stay in Texas.
International travel doesn't have to be expensive.
You do Central America on $30 per day, per person. We spent less during our two months traveling aroud Belize and Gutatemala this winter than we spent traveling around Florida last winter.
Of course we could have spent less both years if we just sat still all winter, but we don't live in an RV to be stationary. :)
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Gone4Good
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05/19/12 09:20am |
Full-time RVing
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RE: Getting ready to go full time!!! Where to winter?
One of the things we discovered full-timing was how cold most of the country gets and how awful the RV is for cold weather. Our first year we spent in FL, and didn’t get reliably warm weather until we were as far south as Miami. If you look at a map, there isn’t much US territory south of Miami.
Still we had tons to keep us busy in FL – down one coast, to the Keys, up the Gulf Coast and around the panhandle. We move every 3 to 7 days and didn’t run out of things to do. FL is a great (if crowded) place to winter.
Our 2nd year full-timing we had moved further west and were really at a loss of what to do. Most of TX still gets very cold – In Houston, for example, I was scraping ice off my car windshield in early December. The very south of TX might be warmer, but it’s too small an area to keep us busy for all of those long winter months.
The solution? We hopped a plane and spent January and February backpacking around Central America.
For our 3rd winter on the road, we’ll almost certainly store the RV again. This time: Thailand and Southeast Asia.
Photo from this past winter in Caye Caulker, Belize
http://everywhereonce.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/caye-caulker-belize.jpg
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Gone4Good
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05/09/12 09:00am |
Full-time RVing
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RE: How did you start fulltiming?
We did basically the same thing, although we rented out our condo for the first two years instead of selling it.
If you can swing it, I'd get the motorhome before the house closes (you can always borrow to buy the motorhome and then repay the loan with house sale proceeds if you need to). It's too much of a PITA to try to coordinate a house closing with all the other stuff you have going on getting ready to fulltime. That is especially true if you're buying a used motorhome. If you find one you like, you can't be sure it will wait for you and you can't order another one if it gets sold out from under you.
Once you have your rig you basically have your house with all the stuff you need. So getting rid of all the old stuff isn't that much of a big deal.
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Gone4Good
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05/04/12 09:22am |
Full-time RVing
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RE: Jump start stored rig
We're going to be taking off for two months and storing the rig in a place that has a 30 Amp outlet. We won't have any ability to visit the rig during that time. I've heard that we shouldn't leave the motorhome plugged in, so I wasn't planning to; but was wondering what people here throught.
I assumed if the batteries were dead when I returned, I could always plug into the shore power to get her up and running.
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Gone4Good
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12/18/11 08:36am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Anyone here start young as us :)
It's funny. As 40 year-old fulltime RVers, we tend to be a good 15 years or so younger than most of the other fulltimers we run into. But in a couple of weeks, we're going to be backpacking through Central America where I expect to be a good 15 years older than most of the other backpackers we meet.
Stuck in the middle. Heh, heh, heh, heh.
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Gone4Good
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12/18/11 08:30am |
Full-time RVing
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RE: Is any one else still traveling?
We left in April 2010 and we're currently sitting at our 107th stop. In that time we've been from Montreal to Key West, back up to Medora, ND and down to Corpus Cristi, TX.
We're stationary for the month because we have some stuff to take care of. Then we're leaving the RV for two months to backpack around Central America. We'll be back in the rig come March and start rolling again.
Happy travels,
Brian
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Gone4Good
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12/04/11 09:28am |
Full-time RVing
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RE: Escapees/Livingston question
You don't say what insurance you're talking about. I know when we looked into SD we were told by three different independent health insurance agents (not affiliated with a mail forwarding service) that we needed to include proof of a physical adress, like a utility bill, with an application for health insurance.
That was a deal breaker for us, regardless of cost. We're Escapees as a result.
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Gone4Good
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11/24/11 07:42am |
Full-time RVing
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RE: Florida campgrounds hurting
That's interesting. We spent three months traveling around FL last winter and found it positively overflowing with RVs. We were told that some of the places we got into on short notice are normally booked solid, but we didn't find anyplace all winter long that was empty. I guess the business model requires 100% occupancy during the winter months.
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Gone4Good
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11/24/11 07:37am |
Full-time RVing
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RE: Where to spend a month close to Houston, TX?
We like Rayford Crossing in Spring, TX. Always stop if we are in the area. About 1 hour from airport.
Very nice place, don't know about monthly rate.
http://www.rayfordcrossing.com/
Looks like a nice park, although from the online reservation system it doesn't appear they have availability for the whole month. I'll follow up with a phone call to see if they can squeeze us in.
Thanks.
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Gone4Good
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10/21/11 01:34pm |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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Where to spend a month close to Houston, TX?
We're looking for a good spot to park for a month in December that is a reasonable drive to the Houston airport. We'll be flying out for a week so something within a 1 to 2 hour drive to the airport would be ideal. A place near the beach would be nice, but not essential. I'm not familiar with Galveston, but I've heard mixed things.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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Gone4Good
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10/20/11 07:17pm |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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RE: Bug Bites
I had a real bad episode at Skidaway Island SP with No Seeums. They left my legs tore up with little red bumps and itched for a week solid.
The worst thing about those little SOBs is that they're small enough to fly right through standard screen mesh. We we're down in the Keys when we first encountered these monsters. We were getting bit outside, so we figured we'd go inside. Nice mild night, left the windows open (screens closed) woke up with enough bites you'd think we had chicken pox.
I can deal with mosquitoes, black flies, fleas, even bed bugs. But No-Seeums keep us guessing whether we can have the windows open everywhere we go. They're a scourge!
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Gone4Good
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09/29/11 12:18pm |
RV Lifestyle
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RE: First RV Purchase- cold feet or normal for big purchase?
Hesitation like yours is (or at least should be ;)) normal for any large commitment like this one.
From what you've written it sounds like you've done plenty of homework, so I have no doubt you've given this big decision all the consideration it is due. What you don't tell us, though, is what specifically is holding you back. If you've thought seriously about this for a year, have run the numbers, really want to do it, and have finally found a rig that meets your needs and price point, what are you waiting for?
It sounds to me like you're suffering from analysis paralysis - a condition that prevents decision making because it is impossible to know anything with 100% certainty. I think you just have to accept the fact that every large decision has some risk. Don't let that fear of the unknown prevent you from doing what you want to do, especially when you've studied the situation from every possible angle as it seems you have.
As with most things, Mark Twain said it best:
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed in the things that you didn't do than in the ones you did do. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
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Gone4Good
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09/27/11 08:22am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Full (full full) Timer's Vacations?
Absolutely, for a couple of different reasons.
Reason 1) Visiting most large cities with an RV is a PIA. Day tripping into New York, Boston, Chicago, etc. isn't the same as staying in the heart of the city. We feel like we miss something when we do that. So we'll park the RV and rent a room in city. We found AirBnB to be great for that purpose - saved 60% on a New York City room recently.
Reason 2) The rig doesn't drive everywhere. I don't want to limit my travels to what I can drive to. This winter we're escaping the cold and spending two months backpacking through Central America. Next winter we may go spend a couple of months in Asia. There's a whole world out there and I want to see it all.
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Gone4Good
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09/14/11 01:44pm |
Full-time RVing
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RE: Looking for Good RV Parks AL and/or FL Panhandle
20 minutes down the road from Topsail you'll find Grayton Beach State Park. They also have full-hook up campsites.
Probably the prettiest beach I've seen anywere.
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Gone4Good
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09/14/11 01:35pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Jambalaya
The more difficult part of making scratch jambalaya is getting the rice to cook well after it is added to the pot. To much/not enough water....Too much heat and lack of constant stirring will burn as the rice fluffs.
The rice / liquid ratio is a bit tricky because you have to know how much moisture the vegetables add - it can be quite a bit. The proportions in the above recipe work pretty well. If you add or subtract stuff that provides liquid, you have to compensate somewhere else.
Also, if you simmer the rice for 10 minutes, turn once, and let stand covered with no heat for another 15 minutes, the rice cooks up nice and won't burn.
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Gone4Good
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09/07/11 12:30pm |
Camp Cooks and Connoisseurs
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RE: Jambalaya
Now for a little hint from a chef friend - use the leftover jambalaya and make Arancini - lovely "rice balls" - scoop with an ice cream scoop and roll in bread crumbs and bake or flour, egg, and bread crumb and deep fry. I love these little gems. Every time I have leftover jambalaya or risotto I make a bunch of the balls, freeze on a cookie sheet and bag & freeze. Then when I need them I can finish them any way I want. Perfect way to utilize leftovers.
Interesting . . . like little falafel balls, only with Jambalaya. I'll have to give it a try.
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Gone4Good
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09/04/11 07:27am |
Camp Cooks and Connoisseurs
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RE: Jambalaya
A brown jambalaya can be made from the same basic recipie by axing the paprika and adding a roux (flour browned in an equal amount of oil). Kitchen Bouquet is an easy roux substitute.
The truth is, though, that there are as many ways to make jambalaya as there are people making it. It's a great dish to experiment with.
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Gone4Good
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09/03/11 03:33pm |
Camp Cooks and Connoisseurs
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Jambalaya
Jambalaya's a good one dish meal that makes a ton of food and freezes well. We took a cooking class in New Orleans for some professional tips; added some of our own ideas and came up with this . . .
Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya
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Gone4Good
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09/03/11 10:24am |
Camp Cooks and Connoisseurs
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RE: Full Timer blogs
This is all what I suspected. It's not easy to get rich from a website.
Many of the folks I know who are trying to make a living off of their travel blogs do so by selling e-books, or using their subscriber base to get more traditional paid gigs . . . book deals, magazine articles, etc. Some do make enough from adds to support their lifestyle, but you'll notice that many of them live in places like Thailand - and do so for a reason.
We don't advertise on our blog, or sell anything; just our travel stories and photographs.
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Gone4Good
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09/03/11 10:10am |
Full-time RVing
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RE: Temporary RV Storage/Parking
We're going to be doing this for ten days when we fly home to New York and for two months when we fly to Central America this winter.
For the NY trip, we found a campground driving distance to the airport that also stores RVs. You see them time to time, campgrounds with a field of RVs just parked there. This makes it super easy, because we'll camp in the campground for a couple days before our flight and then just drive over to our "storage spot" the day of our flight.
For our longer Central America trip, I'll probably look for an indoor storage space.
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Gone4Good
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09/03/11 09:56am |
RV Lifestyle
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