Any Full-Timers Out There?

[Dizzy-Dick]

Just wondering if there are any full-timers out there? Have been thinking of selling our home and property and trading our RV in for the largest I can afford. I am trying to put together the pros and cons, and could use a little addvice.

Any suggestions on this or experiences from you who have committed to life on the roads would be appreciated.

I tow a Jeep Liberty at this time but was wondering if an utility trailer large enough to hold the Jeep with space left over for odds and ends may be the way to go.

Thanks

[Radio]

Dizzy Dick is back! :bounce:

About time.:beer:

[AE5BI]

Yes. Feel free to check out our webpages and ask away...

[Dizzy-Dick]

First let me explain to Radio why I have been not on for awhile. Got hit with Ike last fall and lived in the RV for awhile. Then took it to Pennsylvania for a class reunion. Got back to find out my son had broke his back. It was months of trips to Houston and finally an operation to fuse three vertebrae. Just got our new roof on our home and things seemed to be getting better, then my wife got ill. Guess it will be awhile longer until we get to take the RV out.

Now for AE5BI. Wow, your web-site is greate. It was a great and we will take all into consideration. Since you are into astronomy, how do you transport your scope? My 16" DOB is over six feet long and the base is about four feet in diameter. When I had a travel trailer, I would take the mirror out of it and put it in the back seat of the tow truck. The tube and the base would then go into the bed of the pick-up. The bed was covered with a cap. Since I got the class-C, I have no-where to cary the scope.

That is one reason I was considering a covered trailer to put the Jeep in and the telescope and anything else that would fit.

Thanks again for the link to your site.

I have a web-site that I put up mostly for work, but have personal pictures on it, also. I wrote all the html from scratch and didn't really know what I was doing, so it doesn't look really professional. I haven't updated it since 2005 or so. It is www.4renterprises.com, if you care to take a look. At the bottom of the fist page is a link to my personal pages.

[Dizzy-Dick]

Oops, I mis-typed my web site address on the previous reply. My site is www.4r-enterprises.com - I had forgotten the "-" after the 4r. Sorry about that.

I also have a couple more questions, for now (grin). Driver's licenses. If I don't have a permanent address, how do you go about getting a license? And vehicle tags? I would like to keep my Texas plates, since Texas will give you your ham call on plates for only $1.00 extra. If I keep my post office box, would that do?

Another thing, my eye are very sensitive to light. I keep the sun visor down even on cloudy days. My class-C gives me plenty of shade with the cab overhang. But, what about those huge windshields in a class A? It looks like the top part is tinted, but will it be enough. Guess I will have to go take a test drive.

73's

[One Country Boy]

Good to have you back Dick. I'm not a full timer, so will not get into that. Sorry to hear about the wife's illness and the son's back. A run of bad luck there for a few months. Hopefully that is behind you.

Looking at your telescope, the idea of a covered utility trailer for the Jeep and other items might be a good idea. Good luck with your plans.

[Dizzy-Dick]

Thanks Jim,

I agree, a covered trailer would be ideal. Only problem is the extra cost and weight. But the pros are a lot more storage ares and it can be backed up wheare as when you tow a vehicle, you can not back up.

As it is now, I use the Jeep Liberty to store things when on the road. I haven't tried to put my scope parts in it yet, not sure if they well fit. Got to give that a try.

Hope you had a good weekend,

[AE5BI]

My scope is a 6" refractor so it is only 7-8" in diameter and I keep it in the original shipping box. It is about 5' long and fits long-ways in the only bay that goes all the way through. The stand is a tripod so it folds up to about the same size as the scope. I have some spinal damage and cannot even get it out. It doesn't matter, there are no stars in the San Francisco area :)

I will add your website to my links to sites of similar interest. I like going through your travel picts so update it when you can. I write all of my html in notepad. I used to be a software engineer so it seems natural to me. I make a lot of mistakes though.

I still have my DL in AZ since I don't work and don't own property in CA. The only iffy thing in CA is "if you intend to store the vehicle more than six months" but I am legal according to the DMV website.

Most people from TX keep it as their state of residence for tax and licensing purposes. For some states you are a legal resident if you say you are, others you need a mailing address. With the new identification requirements it may be that you have to have a physical address. You do for banks. We use a mail forwarding address and for banks we just give them our current campsite. There is no indication that you have to keep it current if you move...

[Dizzy-Dick]

Thanks for the info. I will try to get some updated travel pics on my web-site. Since I got the Class-C motor home, I have been to Arizona by way of northern New Mexico. (First trip to Arizona was via I-10) My home QTH is in Cut & Shoot, TX which is about 40 miles north of Houston. That was a good trip, even got to drive on old route 66 (grin). Saw some new country. Was also to Pensylvania for a class reunion.

Thanks again and 73's,

[jagco]

About your question about keeping your TX licenses.....there are mail forwarding services in TX that can help you keep a "residency" there and forward your mail for a price. Some will even handle title transfers, etc. I think Escapees has such a set-up, but don't really have any info about them. Just do a search for TX mail forwarding service and you should find out all kinds of info. DW and I are planning to sell the house and full-time when she retires. We couldn't possibly do it in the MH we have now, but we should have plenty of equity in the house at that point.

I wish you the best whatever you decide.

[AE5BI]

I show two mail forwarding companies in TX on my http://www.fulltimerv.us/mailforwarding/mailforwarding.html mail forwarding page. EarthClass offers addresses in several states but I don't know if TX is one.

[Dizzy-Dick]

Some unexpected medical problems in my family have popped up, so will have to put my "full-time" plans on hold for awhile. Thanks for all your input and maybe we can hit the road for good soon.

73's and happy RVing,

[Andy N1ORK]

Our prayers are with you and your family Dizzy! Hope you get to "full-time" soon.
73
Andy - n1ork

[One Country Boy]

Yes Dizzy... Good luck and we will also have you in our thoughts and prayers.

Jim

[Bill Baxter]

A couple of thoughts on your questions:
Join the Escapees RV Club and use their mail service. Rated one of the best. That leaves with a Texas address in Livingston, Polk County.Most full timers are homeported in South Dakota, Texas or Florida. Mostly for tax purposes and ease of doing business for auto registration and voting.
We use a Florida mail service. Excellent service. The nice people extend to all the county offices for auto and voter registration.

Your problem, as with all full timers, is weight. Most motorhomes don't have much weight capacity. Check the GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) of any units you are interested in then weigh the vehicle. GVRW minus weight = carry weight. Then check GCRW (Gross Combined Weight Rating) this is a measure of GVRW plus towing capacity.

We are semi full timers, still have a house, gone as much as 6 months. Since the DW is a quilter we have a stock of material, sewing machine, quilting hoop etc. All takes up space and weight. That's why we are on our second bus conversion. First one was 35 ft this one is 40ft. Coach weighs around 31K lbs or less when road ready. Full water and fuel. Since GVRW is 40K lbs we don't worry about picking up a few trinkets while traveling.

73 Bill

[Dizzy-Dick]

Thanks Bill, for the info on weights. You are correct and that is something that I have to keep in mind. We have been looking for larger units with more cubic feet, but that may mean those coaches may less weight per cubic foot.

I was thinking of taking my power backup supply unit that I use in my home office. Trouble is, it is exremely heavy. It is all two men can do to lift it, but it will run my office for a day if the power goes off. Thought that it may be a blessing in a motorhome, but was worried about the additional weight. If I take it, I will have to leave my wife at home and run with empty tanks (grin).

We are trying to think thorugh all the options. May want to own some place in Texas, but down size some. This place is too big for me to take care of anymore. My old tractor doesn't run anymore (neither do I) and Ike brought down a lot of huge oak trees on the back of my property and now I can't walk around my lake. If we sell out, I know I will miss this place, though.

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving.

73's

[AE5BI]

You'll probably want a built in generator in your coach so you won't need your power supply. 12VDC usually runs throughout the coach. I run the ham gear hard wired off my house batteries all the time. They are managed automatically when we are plugged in. When we are powerless we run the generator to do laundry anyway so the batteries get charged every few days.

[AE5BI]

We weighed our coach after we moved all our stuff in and we had several thousand pounds to spare. I think our stuff only added about 3K lbs but I don't remember now. we talked the local landfill into helping us weigh each corner, and I wrote it down, somwhere...

Anyway, we left enough room to be under the GCVW with the Jeep hooked up.

[Dizzy-Dick]

You'll probably want a built in generator in your coach so you won't need your power supply. 12VDC usually runs throughout the coach. I run the ham gear hard wired off my house batteries all the time. They are managed automatically when we are plugged in. When we are powerless we run the generator to do laundry anyway so the batteries get charged every few days.

Steven,

Yes, my motor-home has a generator which I have used a lot. I, also, connected #6 wiring from my house batteries to the driver's seat area for running radieos. (If I do it again, I will use smaller wire)

We seem to have a lot in commen, except for ages. I graduated highschool 3 years before you were born. I am also interested in ham radio, rving, tow a Jeep, into Astronomy, have a 16" dob and a couple small equatorial scopes, pick the guatar some. and would like to go full time but have not yet.

Got on question. You have California as your location and Oregon as your address for your ham liscens. Is your mail forwarding service located in Oregon? If you change your service, that means you must change your address with the Feds, right? And the location as California is where you are now?

I must assume then, that the FCC accepts mail forwarding service addresses as home base. Just wondering. That is one of the questions I was thinking about if I do go full time.

Thanks for you imput and love your web-sites.

73's

[AE5BI]

We use Earthclass Mail (ECM) for mail forwarding and you can pick from a number of states for your mailing address. They even have one here in SF. It is one of the more expensive but offer great services, we sort our mail and can scan or shred online so we don't get any junk mail. At last count we had to change our address at over 70 places when we moved, as long as we have mail forwarding we won't have to do that again.

The Fed requires a mailing address and not physical. It might be confusing for contest folks that talk to me but I try to make it clear where I am. It isn't any different than talking to someone from my Jeep in another state. But this brings up a frustration with fulltiming that you might think about. Since the patriot act, many institutions require a physical address as well. When someone wants my address I ask which one they want. Most places let you give both physical and mailing. We can't receive mail here as we do not have a box so we have a local UPS box. So, (sorry my answer is so long) for packages I give the local box and make it clear that mail should go to OR. The problems happen when they screw up. Our propane supplier was sending bills and late notices to our physical address despite having told them not to; so they were threatening us via mail before they thought to call me... that person no longer works there. Anyway, banks all require a physical address but could care or less if you keep it current. :-)

My email is on my webpage so feel free to ask as many questions as you can think of. We do have a lot in common. And, you are only as old as you feel, that makes me 150. Beat that!

[Dizzy-Dick]

Thanks again for the info. Even at my home here I have a similar problem. I do not have a mail box, because I located my home back so far from the road I can't see it and I get my checks mailed to me. So for security, I got a Post Office Box.

There is always confusion when ordering things and not knowing how they will be shipped. (UPS does not deliver to PO boxes) So, that part will not be a new problem.

I will use your email address next time I have a question.

Thanks again and 73's,

[KC1BUD]

Thanks again for the info. Even at my home here I have a similar problem. I do not have a mail box, because I located my home back so far from the road I can't see it and I get my checks mailed to me. So for security, I got a Post Office Box.

There is always confusion when ordering things and not knowing how they will be shipped. (UPS does not deliver to PO boxes) So, that part will not be a new problem.

I will use your email address next time I have a question.

Thanks again and 73's,

I used to have that problem due to teens with nothing better to do than to practice their batting late at night.

So for years, I had a plastic pipe cap mounted on the bottom of the mail box. and a plastic pipe in the ground. Every night I would bring the box in when I got home and put it out every morning. Wife thought it was hysterical, but it worked, and I didn't have to buy anymore mailboxes. I only had to do it long enough for the kids to forget about it.