Prepping for the day to come - hello everyone

EagleOverFL1 · Apr 7, 2019

Hello to all,

My name is Jodi and I'm 58. I'm sole care giver for my 87 y/o Mom. I moved back to FL from AZ in 2003 to be close to my aging parents. My Dad passed July of 2015 at 85 and I moved in with my Mom 2 years ago. She has Altzhiemers now and has become my 24/7 F/T job. Watching videos of nomads around the country (and world) has been my destresser for about 6 months now. I traded in my Toyota Rav4 for a Dodge Grand Caravan and I'm in the process of converting it. I don't know when my Mom will join my Dad but when that time comes I hope to be ready to hit the road. Any way... thanks to all of you for sharing their nomadic experiences! Focusing on a goal for afterwards has helped me maintain my sanity in the present.

highdesertranger · Apr 7, 2019

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

cyndi · Apr 7, 2019

Hi Jodi! Welcome! More than a couple of us, on CRVL, have been caregivers for our aging parents. Hold onto the dream!

Zephyr · Apr 7, 2019

Hi Jodi, I appreciate the sacrifice you have made for your parents and are making now. CRVL is a great place to plan for your future life as a traveler. I'm planning on living as cheaply as possible. Your conversion of a Dodge Caravan is one I agree with and am interested in. I consider my old car and pickups as expendable since they are all high mileage and always need repairs. But they are paid for and I know their history. I priced some relatively new (2013-2014) used, under 100,000 mile vans. Lots of money involved. I am hesitant to consider monthly, forever payments on a van that may need repairs and only gets so-so mileage. I've only tent camped out of my car on vacations. Have you lived in/out of a vehicle before?

EagleOverFL1 · Apr 8, 2019

Hi Zephyr
No I haven't lived outside of brick & morter but I've camped all my life. When I was a kid we had a Greenbrier van that we camped in every summer. (I'm dating myself a lot by that lol) Greenbrier was an early camper van. We later got a pop-up trailer that replaced tents. So I'm familer with the concept and I have no doubt I will not have any difficulty making a transition to FT living. I want to see and go places across the US and Canada so I'm doing the stealth van so I can do urban camping as well as boondocking. My goal is to make my van completely self contained and completely electric. We'll see how that turns out lol.

vanman2300 · Apr 8, 2019

Hi Jodi. I'm sure you'll do fine once you hit the road. I watched the videos and read a lot on this forum prior to living out of my truck as you are are too preparing for the day to come. I can attest to the effectiveness of the videos and forums. In fact I was incredibly surprised how well prepared I was after all the advice I received.

The only thing that might be a problem for some people is the lack of interaction with others. However, the caravans Bob started was an excellent idea and would remedy loneliness.