Where did this crazy idea of living full-time in an RV, traveling the country come from?

I took my first, solo, cross country trip in the summer of 2016 when I sandwiched the NEA Representative Assembly (RA) in Washington, DC, between a week of site seeing on the way to the conference and a week of site seeing on the way home.  I had traveled to DC many, many times and had seen most of the usual tourist sites, but I also knew there were many other things outside of the city that I really wanted to see.  Being a “Gold” person on the Real Colors personality spectrum, I had an itinerary with three or four sites to see each day, the route between sites with the approximate time it should take to get between each site, long before I departed Des Moines.  I also had hotel reservations for each night.  Of course, everything was documented in a notebook I treated like a Bible.  I packed my Chevy Equinox with clothes and took off.  I did a lot of things I had always wanted to do, like spending a whole day touring Gettysburg, and visiting the National Air & Space Museum Annex.    

I enjoyed this trip so much that when I got home, I immediately started planning a trip to the 2017 NEA RA, which was to be held in Boston, MA.  With almost a year to plan, I not only had a detailed itinerary like the year before, but went so far as to plan what I would wear on each day and had each day’s clothing in a Zip-Lock bag and packed them in what looked like a huge file drawer.  This trip to Boston and then up through the northeastern U.S. did not disappoint.  On both trips I took a lot of photographs and posted a sampling on Facebook each evening, much to the delight of many of my Facebook friends.

It was at this point that I decided I really like traveling and could see myself doing it upon retirement, whenever that might happen.  The only problem with my excursions was the cost of hotels and meals.  As I knew I would not have an endless supply of money, if I wanted to travel in retirement, I would have to find a way to reduce the cost of my nightly stays.

My family did a lot of camping when I was young, so I was familiar with different types of RVs.  So, I started researching what it would take to live full-time in an RV while traveling.  My research started with books and internet articles, then I discovered YouTube.  Here I discovered individuals, couples, and families who were living full-time in their RVs, sharing their adventures.  I started following about a dozen different channels faithfully watching each week when they uploaded their new episode.  The more I watched the more I thought I could do this.

Around October of 2018, I came to the realization it was time to retire after spending 42 years in education.  Nothing big had happened, it was just I knew it was time.  After submitting my papers, I started focusing on what my future was going to look like, and I knew I wanted living in an RV to be a part of it.  I started telling friends and family of my plans, thinking surely somebody would try to talk me out of this idea.  To my surprise, absolutely no one thought it was crazy (at least they didn’t tell me if they did).

On May 31, 2019, when I walked out the school door, my attention turned to transitioning to a retired life on the road.  However, there were setbacks, a fractured wrist and a couple minor medical issues initially delayed my plans.  It seemed like every time I was getting ready to take the plunge something else would happen.  The big one was COVID-19.  During my social isolation, I kept from going crazy by watching the YouTube channels and checking Craigslist and RV Trader every night looking for the right RV.

About the beginning of August 2020, I decided I was tired of the pandemic controlling my life, decided I could isolate in an RV just as easily as I could in my house, and started seriously taking steps towards my dream.  Making a long-story short, I found a fifth wheel trailer that had almost everything I wanted listed on Craigslist by a private seller, and it was in my price range.  Three days later I was the RV’s owner.  It took about six weeks to find a truck to pull it, but finally took possession of a 2020 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD diesel in October.  Two days after getting the truck my sticks-and-bricks house went on the market, five days later I accepted a full-price, cash offer on the house. 

I took possession of my RV in late October and moved it to the spare driveway of a friend to start cleaning and moving in.  The RV was about eight-years-old and had sat empty for about a year, therefore, while cleaning the trailer I started discovering minor issues that needed to be addressed, and decided I should put the RV into the shop to have it gone over by professionals.  Unfortunately, the shop couldn’t fit it into their schedule until mid-December.  Once in the shop, several issues needing to be addressed were found, parts had to be ordered, and the Christmas holidays delayed the work. 

I got the RV out of the shop in mid-January and moved it to a campground for what I thought would be two weeks while I moved in.  However, again, things got delayed.  Frigid Iowa temperatures caused issues that needed to be attended to.  But, finally, on May 5, 2021, I left the campground and headed out on the road.

Goals

            Visit all 48 continental states in the next two years, with a possible trip to Alaska following that goal.

            Try to visit places where the daytime low is above 70 degrees, unless I chose to see colder temperatures.

            Visit/tour each of the 48 state capitol building.

            Visit as many sites relating to the lives of the U.S. Presidents as possible.

            Visit as many U.S. National Parks as possible.

            As much as possible, relax and enjoy this country.