Over a leisurely breakfast, Sandy and I were talking about our impressions of fulltiming at nine months into the lifestyle. I'm not sure what sparked the subject of our conversation; perhaps it was our beautiful view of the lake out our window or watching the squirrels play in the tall trees nearby in the near-perfect weather. Perhaps it was our anticipation of the grandsons and their parents coming out to the lake for a cookout.
It's probably not unusual for new fulltimers to take an occasional assessment after having changed their lifestyle so radically. It is only human nature to wonder if we made the right choice and whether there are any regrets in selling the house and reducing our living space by 80 percent. I'll go ahead and tell you that the answer is a resounding NO! No regrets!
It seems odd that our outlook on living arrangements could have changed so radically in such a short time. All it took was a two-month motorhome trip to the Pacific northwest for us to see that continuing to maintain a house didn't make much sense. We were rarely there, and we've already written here about the time, expense, effort and worry that went along with home ownership. It also seems odd that we view differently now the grand houses we drive by whose owners we once envied; we actually find ourselves happy we're not in their shoes! Why? Because they are walled in, tethered to one spot and not free to be wherever else they would like to be. We realize, of course, that this is driven largely by our awareness that we have fewer days ahead of us than are behind us. Forty years of keeping up a house was enough; now it's time to be free of it and indulge our dreams.
That brings us to our month-long stay near the kids and their visit to our RV park at Lake Conroe. We cherish the freedom to come here and be near them for as long as we wish, careful not to be underfoot so as to create extra work for them in their busy lives. We also try to help them logistically as much we can, our goal being to contribute more than we take away. It seems to be working, as they have not moved away and left no forwarding address. Here are some photos from their visit to the lake and some other places we've taken the boys:
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| Our spot at Lake Conroe |
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| Our Adopted Family of Ducks at our RV Space |
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| Watching the boats go by |
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| Pryce and his dad, Tyler, doing some fishing |
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| Pryce and Mason relax at our lakeside RV spot |
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| Arriving at Trader Joe's. This store will never be the same. |
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| A crown is a must at Burger King |
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| When spoons just get in the way |
Thank you, Lord, for this wonderful life; please forgive me if I don't appreciate it enough each day.
I am so glad that it is working for you. We are only 10 years full time and sure wish we did it a lot sooner. Enjoy every minute of it . Like you said sure beats being tied down to on spot.
ReplyDeleteWe hope for many more years yet. The only thing that will slow us down will be health issues at some point..
Ten years! Lucky you. Here's our wish for your good health and more good times.
DeleteHi Mikey. Enjoying your travels vicariously. How does piloting a motorhome compare to a plane?
ReplyDeleteTake care
Actually, there isn't a lot of difference. Perhaps that's why I like it! By the way, "unknown" puts me at a bit of a disadvantage. Why don't you email me at mike.sandy.mills at gmail.com?
DeleteWell, we too have made it to Texas. Running on a "schedule" that is tight for the next couple of weeks, hopefully, life with relax a bit after that and we will make it back to the Houston area.
ReplyDeleteIf you do and we're here, look us up; It's always nice to meet cyber friends. I always keep RVillage up to date with our location, if that helps. Happy travels!
DeleteHi Mike, can't agree with more about selling a house and going full time. As this is our first year also, we are excited about heading south in a couple weeks. No regrets. Safe travels.
ReplyDeleteHi, Bill! Lucky us and lucky y'all. ("Y'all" is an essential pronoun in Texas.) Since we're not that far ahead of you and Patsy in the fulltiming game, we sense your excitement and look forward to your posts. We're especially looking forward to learning your travel plans for the winter. Be safe, y'all!
DeleteI can see that life is good for you! Nice-enjoy:)
ReplyDeleteHi, Chuck! Say, I'm really glad you commented, because I began to wonder why your posts weren't showing up in my reader! I guess the feed had become corrupted, so I did a reboot on it and everything works fine now. Yes, life is good for us, and it seems equally good for you guys. Hope to run into you one of these days. Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteMike, it is encouraging to hear your positive remarks about full-time living. We are seriously considering it ourselves. We plan to do a few upgrades to the house, put it on the market and see what happens. We believe if it's the right decision, everything will fall into place. The more we travel, the more we enjoy the simpleness of living in our rig as compared to the house and constant upkeep. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteHi, Cheri! So glad you left such a nice comment, and I'm delighted to have you visit this rag of a blog. You should know that I have yours on my reader, and I see that you have so many things going for you to have a marvelous time in retirement. I think you hit on our #2 favorite aspect of fulltiming: Simplicity (#1 is Freedom). I also have to mention that your blog is especially interesting, not only because you write very well, but you are also delightfully expository, telling a story about what you see, feel and think. That's what interests readers--not just posting a bunch of photos without comment. You will treasure your blog more and more as time goes by if you keep it going. I've been writing this one for more than ten years, and I wouldn't take anything for having recorded all of our travel in this way. (It also helps us remember things we have forgotten as we get older.) God bless you with good health and safe travels; I hope we're so lucky as to meet up one of these days.
DeleteWell, we did make it down here to Conroe/Willis. Actually, we took a drive through the park and was impressed how sweet it was on the lake. Looks like many make it home year around. We're off to the LA area for awhile, likely will swing back through and may even pull up a pad next to the lake as we like that! Sorry we missed you yesterday, looking forward to your next post. Take care :)
ReplyDeleteOh rats! Sorry we were gone. Give us a heads-up next time and we'll be sure to stay put. Safe travels!
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