Bear in mind, Eddie, if you buy something like the "EddieLivesHereMobile" shown above, you can generate extra retirement income by selling ice cream to the tourists.
I made a decision over the last couple of weeks that is truly going to be life changing. I don't use that kind of term loosely, so this truly will be life changing for me.
As I have been doing renovations and upgrades to my house, all with an eye on selling next year and moving, I realized that about 45% of my monthly income has been going into the house. 45%!! Mortgage, utilities, cable/internet... throw the car payment in there, and credit cards, and I have no money to do anything other than work on the house. To sell it.
Well, I am 99% sure I am going to get drastic and make a life adjustment. Since I really don't play anymore, I have started selling off my gear. 3 keyboards (of 7) and a rack piece are gone already. Another rack piece will be seen tomorrow. All the money I make on that stuff is going to a separate bank account. That bank account will be earmarked for a Class C motor home, and by a year from now I plan to be living on the road for the rest of my time on earth. It will be a change to live in 160 sq ft, but my life is so full of excesses and repetitions (7 keyboards?) that paring down is a good idea.
I retired 17 days after I turned 62. The idea was that I would travel. I want to walk in both oceans. I want to see the Grand Canyon. I want to walk my dog on the trails of The Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I want to spend winters in Arizona and summers in the mountains. It is the house and related bills keeping me from doing that. I can either do "the house" or I can do "the travel", but not both. I have been pricing used motor homes, researching solar power, wifi and cellular amplifiers, talking to friends that I never met who have been doing this for 25 years. The concept of solar power for those times I am not near civilization is not really all that difficult to grasp. 2 panels on the roof, feeding 2 pairs of 6v AMG deep cycle golf cart batteries wired in series to become 12v, and a good 1000w pure sine wave inverter will cost me about $1000. That means $1000 for my electric power forever, vs the $75 a month I pay here. With no oceans and mountains. Just a couch. I'll take my 32" flat panel into the motor home, change to unlimited data, and stream TV from my laptop via Chromecast. I also have a Firestick and a Roku (another repetition).
I remember the drive and passion I had when I was working on my CD. I have the same kind of passion for this right now, and I hope it doesn't fade. Winters in Arizona, New Mexico or Florida, summers in TN, SC, NC... sounds like a life I will love. And worst case, if I hate it after a year or so, I can always settle back down somewhere.
So I have a lot to do. Computers I do not use need to be sold, etc. I have a year but some of this stuff can start going right now and the money go into the RV fund. All of you PG people around the country, beware!! I will be pulling into your yard in a couple of years! LOL!!
Why not rent one first? Take a couple months, head to California, and see how you like it. You could rent the same style camper you're thinking of buying, and get some real world experience with it.
Pacific Coast Highway from Santa Barbara to Big Sur is beautiful this time of year.
We have thought about getting a travel home in the past, not an expensive one mind you.
One of the things that has put us slightly off( as I'm not a DIY mechanic sort of person) I just got the impression that its better knowing a bit and being able to fix the engine or other stuiff yourself should something go wrong.
Windows 10 (64bit) M-Audio Fast Track Pro, Band in a Box 2024, Cubase 13, Cakewalk and far too many VST plugins that I probably don't need or will ever use
We have thought about getting a travel home in the past, not an expensive one mind you.
One of the things that has put us slightly off( as I'm not a DIY mechanic sort of person) I just got the impression that its better knowing a bit and being able to fix the engine or other stuiff yourself should something go wrong.
Or does it really matter?
Musiclover
I'll say, "being handy with tools and having mechanical skill is a huge benefit for any RVer." One of my RV friends is usually quite frustrated by his lack of handyman skills. Always asking for my help. I was an auto tech for 23 years and now fix motorcycles by trade. I can fix most things around the house and RV. Even electrical stuff. I'm just blessed with a knack. So, I'd say yes it matters. But, if you have lots of money, which I don't, then you have the equalizer.
If you don;t have automatic leveling jacks, be sure to get a socket and extension that fits the jack's bolt and an nice 1/2" cordless drill to turn it. Sure beats cranking those jacks by hand.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.
The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
If you don;t have automatic leveling jacks, be sure to get a socket and extension that fits the jack's bolt and an nice 1/2" cordless drill to turn it. Sure beats cranking those jacks by hand.
Been there, done that. Keep in mind, most scissor style levelers designed for hand cranking are not "levelers". They are stabilizers to reduce bouncing and rocking once you are set up. If you crank them too much in an attempt to "level" the unit you end up flexing the frame in such a way that your doors and windows don't open and close properly. So, be sure of what they are designed for. If that door jamming or not closing properly situation happens then you probably have "stabilizers" not levelers. And, if so, level first by finding a fairly level spot, use a rake and shovel to get one of the wheel spots closer, then get one wheel up on those little yellow plastic blocks or 2 x 8 wood ramps. Then stabilize it with light cranking on the stabilizers. The X jammers between the wheels really help too. They reduce tire bounce and front to rear sway which is a big part of the instability.
Eddie said: "The vehicle I will buy will be a glorified van rather than a true motorcoach.", about 18 feet I believe.
I seriously doubt if it would have levelers and likely wouldn't need stabilizers. The smallest of motorhomes, even 18-24 feet are made wider and can benefit from stabilizers, but just a camperized van wouldn't do much "rockin' and rollin'", that is, under "normal use" whatever that might be <grin>.
I want to walk my dog on the trails of The Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Before I developed Charcot's Arthropathy a couple of years ago, I was an avid backpacker and the Great Smoky Mountains national park was one of my favorite places to go. I have logged several thousand miles of hiking in the back country there since my first trip back in 1972.
Pets are banned from all of the serious hiking trails in GSMNP. They allow pets on only two small walking paths in the park; one at the Sugarland Visitors Center, and the other at the visitors center in Cherokee.
Pets are banned from all of the serious hiking trails in GSMNP. They allow pets on only two small walking paths in the park; one at the Sugarland Visitors Center, and the other at the visitors center in Cherokee.
I read that on the National Parks web site Keith, but I should clarify that my idea of hiking is likely not the same as yours, given that you logged that many miles. My knees have so few steps left in them that 1 mile is about it at one time for me. So a half mile out and a half mile back. Thus the "kiddie path" will pretty much be where we go.
I hate getting old ungracefully.
I am using the new 1040XTRAEZ form this year. It has just 2 lines.
1. How much did you make in 2023? 2. Send it to us.
Last week I stopped in to see a motor home they had after having a talk with myself and agreeing that this was NOT the time to let the cheap Slovenian make the decision to go as cheap as possible. Those cheap old units would have probably gotten me about 79 feet from my driveway without the engine seizing or the transmission exploding, so I went ahead and decided that trading in F'n Jay and adding some money would be a big enough down payment to buy a more reliable one for more money.
So, the salesman took me by golf cart out to see a 25 ft unit. As we looked at it, he said "How did you know about this one? We just took it on a trade and it isn't on the web page yet." It turns out that it wasn't the one I thought I was seeing but it was a lot nicer. So, we went inside and talked turkey and I put on a deposit and gave them a credit app. He said it was a little different from buying a car so it might be a few days until they knew anything. That was Thursday.
Today about 1, the financing manager called and said the bank wanted $2000 more down before they would approve me. I told her I simply didn't have $2000 more than what I told them I could put down, so unless they raised the value of my trade by $2000, I guess we had no deal. And I said "I really didn't want bad news on my birthday." (And it IS my 66th birthday!) She said "My manager is here. Stay by the phone and I will call you right back."
She called in 5 minutes and said that he agreed to kick up my trade in to cover that $2000. She got me a loan for 10 years at 7.4%, and that works out to a monthly payment of $215 a month, $84 LESS than my FJ Cruiser payment. My eyes actually lit up when she said that, because at some point (ASAP) that $215 will replace my mortgage payment and car payment, or roughly $900 with $215.
So, bottom line, I pick it up Friday. My next task is to find an old beater Jeep Wrangler to use as a daily driver so I am not running errands in a 25ft motor home. And then if the Jeep is enough car to do so, make it my toad so I can bop around places in a Jeep instead of an RV.
I now have to push to get my house ready for sale. I have laminate flooring to go in the living room, and now a guy to install it. Then some "as little as possible" cosmetics, and I will list so I can start living in this!
Last edited by eddie1261; 06/28/1702:04 AM.
I am using the new 1040XTRAEZ form this year. It has just 2 lines.
1. How much did you make in 2023? 2. Send it to us.
Add updated printing options, enhanced tracks settings, smoother use of MGU and SGU (BB files) within PowerTracks, and more with the latest PowerTracks Pro Audio 2024 update!
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Update your Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows® Today!
Update your Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows for free with build 1111!
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"The Tracks view is possibly the single most powerful addition in 2024 and opens up a new way to edit and generate accompaniments. Combined with the new MultiPicker Library Window, it makes BIAB nearly perfect as an 'intelligent' composer/arranger program."
"MIDI SuperTracks partial generation showing six variations – each time the section is generated it can be instantly auditioned, re-generated or backed out to a previous generation – and you can do this with any track type. This is MAJOR! This takes musical experimentation and honing an arrangement to a new level, and faster than ever."
"Band in a Box continues to be an expansive musical tool-set for both novice and experienced musicians to experiment, compose, arrange and mix songs, as well as an extensive educational resource. It is huge, with hundreds of functions, more than any one person is likely to ever use. Yet, so is any DAW that I have used. BIAB can do some things that no DAW does, and this year BIAB has more DAW-like functions than ever."
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