Originally Posted By: eddie1261
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. wink


http://www.cruiseamerica.com/



(This was Penny's idea, BTW)



Regards,


Bob

Dyslectics Untie!


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