Hello Everyone

[GHostRiDer]

I am been watching videos of Bob and others for several weeks now. Reading these forums like soaking up moonshine. I mean the actual Moon, (I am a night person, work 7p-7a). Here I found a solution to the biggest dilemma of my life. How can I possibly retire early and live or drop dead in my old age working. I have a commitment until Sept 2018.  Everything I have read has inspired me and scared the living @#$$ out of me.

In the meantime, I have looked at all kinds of RV's and vans. I know what I want, at least to begin with, which I guess from the reading of things is way ahead of the game.  I have a house and lots of stuff to sell, good grief Charlie Brown. I want a small class C not over 24 ft.  I know I will put a Natures Head in it....no black water for me. I know I want to boondock and visit parks also. I know I will spend the winters in AZ or NM and the summers everywhere else. I have never been out west, what an adventure awaits me.

While I was sitting around thinking I had to wait, Bob showed me the answer. THANKS big guy!!!!  I could sell my house now, who knows what the market will be in a couple years or even a couple months. I can buy the RV, park it in a campground here, (have to check on that) continue to work, pay off a few small debts,  put all this mortgage and utility money in the bank for when I leave this lifestyle. I still have my truck to drive to work. 

Ps: I found it amazing that when people decided to do this and put their homes up for sell, some found them selling so fast. That's proof to me they were meant to do this.

"If there's a will, there's a way"

 

[highdesertranger]

Welcome GHostRIDer to the CRVL forums! To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips & Tricks" post lists some helpful information to get you started. We look forward to hearing more from you. highdesertranger

 

[Theadyn]

Hi and Welcome!!

 

[user 37446]

Hi and welcome!

Your choice of a vehicle will likely change as you research, maybe not. You will find (if you watch UTube videos on rv life) that several people have either upsized or downsized their rigs, some for obvious reasons (met a traveling companion) or found out their rig was too big, costly to maintain, un-stealthy, not able to get into places etc...

You actually will benefit from the timeframe you have, don't do the "meat cleaver" get rid of things method as you will regret it and it's emotionally costly. Take your time parceling things out. A good piece of advice I read somewhere was to tape out the interior dimensions of your rig idea (onto your floor) and see if you could spend several hours within that confine. I mean within it, not straying over the tape. You will want to simulate the bathroom and have a comfy chair in there, as you would a vehicle. If you cannot see yourself in it then you have an idea of what you may require. Don't forget that smaller vehicles (class B, vans) often do not have standing room...

Don't get overwhelmed, just spend "countless" hours watching UTube videos including the ones that are entitled "Why I quit fulltiming" or the like. You will get information about their mistakes or issues that may give you pause or simply advice.

Rely on posters with high reputation scores and don't get overwhelmed with the nitty-gritty details of electricals, solar etc. You have time and your choice of lifestyle may not even need that.

Enough for now. Read/watch/dream!

 

[ArtW]

Welcome!

 

[ClassyGlobal]

Welcome GHostRiDer to CRVL. I hope you find a cozy corner as you enjoy all the great people, stories and wealth of information this forum offers. Be safe and enjoy the roads ahead.

 

[XFILE36]

Welcome!  I am in the process of getting rid of stuff then will sell my home and my car.  The agent said they usually sell in my building in 1 to 4 weeks.  I don't know where u are located, but the market is good.  The hardest thing for me about this is getting rid of my things/clothes especially.  Be prepared for that quick sale!  I don't have money for storage now...  I will later.   It sounds like you have a good plan. 

 

[ClassyGlobal]

^
Clothes - have a $1 dollar rummage sale.  You'd be surprised at how much will go.  When you get your contract started for the sale and you know you are going toward closing.  Advertise on CL in the community section and put a few flyers out.  And let people come to your place where you have out ONLY the things you want to sell out.  You stand near the door count up their items and take their cash.  Whatever is left over drop off in bins around town or at the GCF, Salvation Army, Red Cross, Women's Centers, Homeless centers.  And don't look back.  Things are just that, Things.  Unless they have actual sentimental value most should be able to be parted with...

good luck

 

[rvpopeye]

Welcome aboard ghostrider !
You have found the way out .....now follow the path before you.

Oh yeah , gotta ask. Do you change into flames if you ride a motorcycle or was that just movie stuff??
Never mind,,,I Ain't Right !

 

[GHostRiDer]

All good advice. "Do I turn into flames" had to laugh at that. No, I carry my flames on my redhead. The name is from one of my favorite songs, "Ghost Riders in the Sky"  Right now I am just a ghost rider sitting in with all of you. I know I can't rush this, I have to have lots of yard sales first. Maybe I should mention things that have made me somewhat adaptable to this lifestyle.

I have moved over 9 times in 14 years. I get somewhere and within a short time want to change and move again. I grew up and graduated high school in the Appalachian Mountains with no running water or bathroom in the shacks we lived in. My mother moved us so many times, maybe that is where the never feeling settled comes from I have no family to speak of. My best friend in this whole world died in 2009. My SS retirement will not pay the mortgage on this house and the utilities I would have to leave anyway. I cannot see myself living in an old house somewhere, alone, waiting to die. I have worked since I was 14, I am tired now. Tired of being told what to do by someone else, tired of doing time. I have started over twice with nothing but the clothes on my back. I love being alone and am not afraid of the quiet and the time inside my own head. I have been single almost 20 years and learned to be very independent. I hate that society has turned into just a wasteful hoard. They walk around like zombies, glued to cell phones that are glued to their hands, never looking up to see the sky or the stars at night. Its all about how much they have. I too have fallen into that lie, but not to a great extent. Too many people, too much noise, I want to escape. Do you know what it is like to work all your life and then feel like you can never stop.

In an RV, I would have a car, a living room, a kitchen, a bedroom, and a bathroom. What more do I need? More important yet, its all I want.

 

[rvpopeye]

Ahhhhhh , THOSE Ghostriders ! Way better than that other one !!

I predict you'll be fine doing this....(the voices inside my head told me so) Skuh kuh kuh kuh kuh

 

[DLTooley]

In an RV, I would have a car, a living room, a kitchen, a bedroom, and a bathroom. What more do I need? More important yet, its all I want.

 A different million dollar view as often as you want isn't bad, going back to the favorites even better.

Having a vehicle ready to go does much for one's peace of mind.

 

[FlowerGirl]

I am been watching videos of Bob and others for several weeks now. Reading these forums like soaking up moonshine. I mean the actual Moon, (I am a night person, work 7p-7a). Here I found a solution to the biggest dilemma of my life. How can I possibly retire early and live or drop dead in my old age working. I have a commitment until Sept 2018.  Everything I have read has inspired me and scared the living @#$$ out of me.

In the meantime, I have looked at all kinds of RV's and vans. I know what I want, at least to begin with, which I guess from the reading of things is way ahead of the game.  I have a house and lots of stuff to sell, good grief Charlie Brown. I want a small class C not over 24 ft.  I know I will put a Natures Head in it....no black water for me. I know I want to boondock and visit parks also. I know I will spend the winters in AZ or NM and the summers everywhere else. I have never been out west, what an adventure awaits me.

While I was sitting around thinking I had to wait, Bob showed me the answer. THANKS big guy!!!!  I could sell my house now, who knows what the market will be in a couple years or even a couple months. I can buy the RV, park it in a campground here, (have to check on that) continue to work, pay off a few small debts,  put all this mortgage and utility money in the bank for when I leave this lifestyle. I still have my truck to drive to work. 

Ps: I found it amazing that when people decided to do this and put their homes up for sell, some found them selling so fast. That's proof to me they were meant to do this.

"If there's a will, there's a way"

Hi Ghostrider! I could have written almost every word of this, Thanks for expressing the chaos out here so well...I'm a NYC resident and have the same feeling as you-- especially about the screen zombies everywhere. Here, they bump into you constantly on the sidewalks because they can't be bothered to look up from their phones/ tablets....I'm ready for a big change, too....Nature calls! Let's get out!  ....From another trapped soul (for now), 

 

[WriterMs]

Ghost,
Sounds to me like your whole life has indeed prepared you for just what you are planning to do. You know from real experience that you can not only take it on but thrive with it.

Keep us posted!!!!

 

[GHostRiDer]

Thanks everyone for welcoming me. Life is a scary thing sometimes. Forks in the road come and your not sure which one to take. You can't go back and take the one you left behind and find out what might have been. Lots of people consider me brave. Many say I could never have done what you have done, or been through what you went through and still have my sanity. I have never been someone to say I can't do that, or I couldn't do that. Anyone can do most anything they want if they want it bad enough. I went to college in my late 40's to become a RN, one of the hardest things I have ever done. It was not easy. It was also one of the smartest things I have ever done. I read something one day that I have tried so hard to put into practice.

If your afraid to try its ok, be afraid, but do it anyway. Do it afraid until your not afraid anymore. Even if you totally fail at least you tried. That's all you can ask of yourself.

 

[GHostRiDer]

I don't have to retire early either. I can travel nurse. I have a compact license that would allow me to work in most of the Western U.S. All I have to do is work 13 weeks and have plenty to live on the rest of the year. Like I said I did at least one smart thing in my life, becoming a nurse. Oh by the way I live in Alabama for now.

 

[rvpopeye]

I had a GF once that was a travel nurse.
A GREAT way to finance a fulltimer lifestyle !