Im back!!!

[Freelander]

I haven't posted on here for a few months, I'm still alive and doing well.

 

[RoamerRV428]

Cool

 

[Freelander]

Well I left Quartzite earlier this year and went back home to Oklahoma, and found that my pipes had frozen and broke while I was gone, the Plumber wanted $6000 to repipe. And the house need some other repairs as well.

It had cost me about $600 a month for the 2 1/2 months I was gone, I was paying insurance, and utilities while I was gone. The insurance on the house was more than the insurance on the RV and car combined!!! And I was paying for Internet and phone service twice, once for the RV and again for the house. I can dump my tanks and get water for free, I don't need to pay for sewer and water, and I have solar and batteries for power. It was a better option all the way around. That is crazy!!!!! I don't need a 3 bedroom house, so I sold or, gave away, and threw out most of what I had and sold the house. Let the next guy worry about it.

Yes it hurts a lot to throw out 40+ years of stuff, but once you start it gets easier to do. You figure what you have to have, then cut that down by 1/2 and then by 1/2 again until you can fit your entire life into a 25 foot Motor Home. I sold the house and moved to Texas. 

NOTE: I don't have to mow the grass anymore or run that DAMN weedeater!!!

I went to Escapees and got a new mailing address and became a resident of Texas Ya'll, and am now living in a RV park in Houston and driving School Bus until next spring. Also Texas has no income tax and the sale tax and insurance is cheaper.

I will be leaving here next June after school is out and will be back on the road for a few months.

I figured I need to spend my winters someplace and AZ was nice but its dusty, and Florida is to expensive, so if Im going to be I Texas I might as well get a job to pay the lot rent here.

 

[travelaround]

Great changes! I'm impressed with how you got out from under that sticks and bricks money pit.

 

[tx2sturgis]

Oklahoma's loss is our gain....you might not have been born in Texas, but you got here as fast as you could!

 

[GypsyJan]

Good work, Freelander. I plan to join Escapees for the mail service and access to its parks when I go full-time in 17 months (but who is counting?!)

 

[shadowmoss]

Good to see you posting again.

 

[eDJ_]

Welcome back Freelander......and thanks for proving a point about the cost of sticks & bricks vs  houselessness.  But even though you lost some to get out from under the cost of your home,  you'll gain it all back before long.

I know some snow birds around here who are having a plumbers to install water drainage ports at the lowest point of their plumbing so they can empty all the water from it using compressed air before going away for the winter.  They shut off the hot water heater & drain it,  poor 50% RV antifreeze into the traps of the sinks and bowls of the toilets (after draining the toilet tanks) and purge the water from the lines with compressed air. What little water thats left in the pipes wouldn't be enough to do any damage if it froze.  I'm sure this could be done with an RV as well.

The compressed air blow out adapters aren't that expensive either. An auxiliary air tank or small home air compressor can take care of the rest. (again, just more cost of owning a home)

Air blow out adapters

 

[maki2]

Congratulations. Great job being pro-active and getting that extensive work for the transition completed.

 

[Freelander]

Welcome back Freelander......and thanks for proving a point about the cost of sticks & bricks vs  houselessness.  But even though you lost some to get out from under the cost of your home,  you'll gain it all back before long.

I know some snow birds around here who are having a plumbers to install water drainage ports at the lowest point of their plumbing so they can empty all the water from it using compressed air before going away for the winter.  They shut off the hot water heater & drain it,  poor 50% RV antifreeze into the traps of the sinks and bowls of the toilets (after draining the toilet tanks) and purge the water from the lines with compressed air. What little water thats left in the pipes wouldn't be enough to do any damage if it froze.  I'm sure this could be done with an RV as well.

The compressed air blow out adapters aren't that expensive either. An auxiliary air tank or small home air compressor can take care of the rest. (again, just more cost of owning a home)

Air blow out adapters

Well before I left I turned the water meter off, and turned the furnace Doen to 65, but it got below freezing for a few days and the pipes didn't make it. The house needed some other work, and I was just glad to get rid of it.

 

[wayne49]

How to winterize a sticks and bricks is way different than winterizing a RV.

BTW the pink stuff will discolor white material and it will dry out in arid climates, leaving a nasty pink residue.

The sink traps don't need any liquid, if the gray tank is empty and the sewer valve is closed and capped. Put the stoppers in the drains if need be.

 

[Ravella and X]

Welcome back, Freelander. Now that you're back, I'll leave one last light on until JDub gets home. And next time you plan on disappearing, give us a heads up, ya?

 

[Freelander]

Well things have moved quickly this summer. And I wasn't real sure what was going to happen, but I have it all working good now.

I applied for my SS and didn't think about survivor benefits from my wife, She made more money than me, but with on disability all those years, I never thought about her SS benefit.

So it appears I can draw on her account until I hit 66 years and 10 months, and then I can draw on mine. So I will start drawing that next month.

Next winter I may be back out in AZ for the winter. I dont have any long range plans yet.

 

[Cammalu]

Freelander aren’t you heading south anytime now? We have a couple more weeks here in KY if you pass this way we’d be glad to have you.

 

[Freelander]

As it stands now I will be here until June. School gets out on the 2nd and the lot rent is due on the 5th, so sometime between the 2nd and the 5th of June I will be pulling and heading north for the summer.

Next winter I dont know yet.