Getting Ready for Life on the Road

We have been slowly getting ready for this adventure for a couple of years. We began going as "paperless" as we could in paying our bills and doing our banking. This eliminates so much mail that needs to be forwarded to us by our daughter. We can get mail through General Delivery any place there is a Post Office. We also pay as many of our bills with the credit card as we can. This helps to earn more Disney reward points each month. Of course, we pay the card balance each month since interest charges would far exceed any benefit to the reward points!

Before our house closed escrow we had 3 major garage sales to rid ourselves of so much stuff. Any RV comes furnished so we had no need for any of our furniture. Between the garage sale and our neighbors that bought stuff we managed to get rid of everything. Our kids didn't want any of it.....oh, please it just wasn't their style! We also sold lots of household goods that would have exceeded the space limitations of our small kitchen. It was a process in determining just how many tools, household items, and other "stuff" we needed to bring.

We love to read, so naturally we had to bring lots of books. Currently we have around 100 paperback or hardcover books on board. As we read them we will drop them off at the libraries in the various RV parks or campgrounds we visit. This is a good way to recycle and let somebody else enjoy a good book.

A few years ago we also bought into a campground membership program that will benefit us greatly as full-timers. With this program we have hundreds of RV parks or resorts available to us with a daily cost from "nothing" to $10.00 a night. We've tried several of the parks in the program on vacation trips the past couple of years and they have been most satisfactory. We look forward to using that program extensively now.

I also had to bring along my scrapbooking supplies. Those fit neatly into 4 large plastic bins which are stored in our basement of the motorhome. As I finish my projects I'll be able to use up some supplies and then pare down the bins to only 2. We stored some family heirlooms and family treasures in other sturdy bins at our daughter's house. When I want them they will be there for me.

Living out on the road prevents us from attending our hometown church on a regular basis. However, we have visited churches from Yuma, Arizona to Fairbanks, Alaska, to Nova Scotia in Canada and the experience has been great. We have met some wonderful and friendly people that have always made us feel welcome.

We have always been in love with road trips and traveling vacations. This dream come true will allow us to continue with that love affair. There are compromises with this lifestyle but the benefits to us far outweigh them. We're having a blast!