Preparing

Ok…so we’ve decided we are interested in a life on wheels! Yeah, for us that means living and traveling in an RV, not just weekend warriors. What next?

Well, we have tons of questions!

Question #1: what kind of RV?
We knew nothing about RV’s in 2020, except that we’ve seen folks with camper trailers while we’ve been traveling. But really, what kind of RV would work for us? We started reading books, talking to folks, and subscribing to blogs and YouTube channels. There are many types of RV’s designed for different uses. As we did our research, what really appealed to us were fifth wheel toy hauler models. We aren’t going anywhere without our 2015 Harley Ultra (Grazia…Italian word for grace…God’s grace)! Then you start looking at RV manufacturers that make toy haulers. With a fifth wheel in mind (large enough to live in) instead of motorhome type, we realized we will need a truck to pull it! Ah, there’s our second challenge, we know nothing about trucks!

Question #2: What kind of truck?
Since we’ve never owned a truck, we had to do some research on trucks also. Again, talking to folks, reading blogs, watching YouTube videos and reading about types of trucks to pull fifth wheels. We learned lots of new acronyms and terms, like 1 ton, 3/4 ton, SRW, DRW, DEF, turbo-diesel, exhaust brake, pin weight, cab styles, and puck systems! What do all of these terms mean and why are they important? Hours of reading and research helped us understand that and determine the type of truck we needed. It really comes down to how much weight you are going to pull and how much weight you can actually load in both the truck and RV. Then you look at different builds for all the bells and whistles you’d like. From our research we feel our best setup is a 1 ton dually that can pull 30,000 lbs! And with that, we ordered our dream truck in Feb 2022! We chose a Chevy Silverado 3500 HD LTZ (DRW-dually). It took us 18 months to get to this point as we test drove a model in 2020. Doing our due diligence we worked with 3 different dealerships and ordered from the one we felt most comfortable (we measured by how well they listened to us, were able to meet our needs, were negotiable, and knowledgeable). With the shortages and crazy economy happening right now, we don’t expect it to come in for 6 to 8 months.

Question #3: What about all our stuff?
We were married in 1978 and since then have collected lots of stuff! We pretty much knew we had to sell the house in order to afford this dream, so does the stuff go in storage? Seriously, like how, where, when are we going to do this? How many YouTube videos can one couple actually watch? As I recall, one of the very first things we did was create a binder…because we started making lists! Lists of questions, lists of dreams, lists of resources and research…lists of ideas and lists of reflections. Yeah and then what do we do with all this stuff? What’s coming and what’s going? This question about our stuff might be the hardest challenge for us. We watched YouTube videos (Linda has already been practicing Marie Kondo style organizing for a few years now), but we really had to get serious. I mean how do you move from a 2400 sq ft house into a 400 sq ft home on wheels?
Emotions and thoughts run deep for this question. Some of the ways we started to unpack this question are in these questions:
a. What do we really need to bring
b. What can we live without
c. What would the kids want (not much, they don’t want your stuff!)
d. Do we chuck it? (is there value in items we might throw away?)
e. Do we store some things?
f. He won’t get rid of that! (and…she won’t get rid of that!)

So we started taking inventory. First what stuff do we have that can really be thrown out? Old papers or bills we don’t need. Papers and pictures can easily be digitized. What items in the house are broken and we won’t have time to fix anyway?
Ask the kids what items they would like to keep and start giving it to them (this accomplishes two things: one you identify what if anything they would like and two, you actually move stuff out of the house. Then identify what items you will want to bring with you. Guitars, amps, craft items, scrap booking, books, electronics, etc we each have our own stuff we like! Decide if you are going to store some items or sell the rest and get to it. We decided for us, not to store anything. We don’t need it and don’t want to pay to store anything. That means for us, everything else must go.
Now when you start thinking of throwing or selling, ask yourself, “is this worth something to someone”? It might be! We started watching YouTube on minimalizing and found out that there are places that will buy your old coins, gold, jewelry, vinyl records, cd’s, electronics, etc. Vinyl is hot right now…we sold our John Lennon Imagine album for $40! Another box of albums for $100! A 1976 high school class ring sold for $268! Who would have thought! Old tangled up chains and broken chains from jewelry were sold to gold and silver buyers (we were going to throw them out!) Be real mindful of what you have, it may be worth something before you throw it out.

Make some lists and set some timelines to get rid of stuff. Linda has scheduled a few garage sales already and we’ve done well getting rid of stuff. We both have been going thru our personal stuff and selling what we don’t want. Linda has been in charge of selling items with garage sales, FB Marketplace and Craigslist, we also have taken stuff to Pawn America, Gold Guys, and Coin collectors. Dan has some items in the house to fix and paint up a bit. It’s working, but you do have to prepare and make it happen. That’s why we are taking 2 years to prepare before get ready to sell the house and hit the road. And just to level set during this time, Linda is already retired, but Dan is still working and traveling full time till June 2023.
An important item for us was to have a way to track our progress. Dan made a list of all the house projects that need to be completed with projected timelines. Linda made a list of all the items to sell and what we’ve sold. She keeps track of the money from the sales and we’ve been putting it in an envelope marked “truck fund”. Periodically we take the money and deposit it in the bank in a money market fund and watch it grow…we might just have enough to buy that truck!

Part of the journey is preparing for the journey…and we are having fun getting ready. Yeah, there have been tears of joy and tears of sorrow, but it’s all part of the journey!