In the spring of 2015 my wife (hence forth known as DW) and I started talking about what we would do when we retire.  Me in Jan 2018 and her in Feb 2018.

  We settled on travel.  We loved travel, the adventure of seeing new things and meeting new people.  We had made several long and short trips together, around Washington State and 3 weeks together in Italy.  One of our favorite trips was a wonderful hiking trip through the parks in Southern Utah in 2011.  We started to plan and dream how could we extend this combination of travel and outdoor adventure into our retirement years.

  In my younger days I had a small sailboat that I always thought I could sail around Puget Sound.  DW had always enjoyed car trips with her children up the East Coast.  Together now we enjoyed hiking, biking and kayaking.  How best to put this all together?  

  We had around 3 years to think it over but primarily we were certain it was time to move out of Seattle.  A beautiful city and fantastic place to earn a living.  Good while we were working likely not so great when you don't have a pretty good income.  Our retirement savings was adequate to support a little fun.  We also owned a home in Ballard (Seattle) that could be tapped for the equity, if sold.  If we worked a budget we could support a few years of travel.

  The fulltime RV lifestyle was definitely not top of mind when we first realized travel was an option.  We had both traveled over the years separately and together.  DW had visited Italy, Mexico, Trinidad and cruised a little.  I had trekked Ireland, sailed in Panama and traveled a bit in the Pacific Northwest.  Together, since 2011, we made 3 day trips around Western Washington and lower BC.  Our extended trips were to Southern Utah, St. John USVI and 2 long trips to Italy.  We just really enjoyed being together on the road.  The history and the proof was there.  

  Some ideas that came up were the El Camino de Santiago (a 2 month walk in Northern Spain) a camera safari in the Serengeti and hopping around Europe with Air B&B as our base.  Carefully researched Air B&B apartments have provided us with several weeks of warm and cozy overnights across Italy.  But we both knew there was still so much to see and do right here at home.  After all we already had the bikes and the kayaks.  

  Hey!!! she said.  How about traveling around the US and Canada in a RV.  We could take the bikes and kayaks and stay in the beautiful national and state parks.  Right  there it began to take shape and sounded pretty good.  

  There was a lot to consider.  As the idea took shape we realized a lifestyle change creates some pretty big challenges, sell the house, sell your belongings, leave your friends, store what you can't part with, thank goodness we don't have any pets.  

  Then there is all the fundamental and functional problems that will come up.  Find an rv and buy it, learn to operate it, customize and maintain it, now add in finances, trip planning, and health care.  These challenges are real and formidable but solving them will galvanize your resolve to make this change.  Best to determine you can manage them before you plunk down $100K on a rv.  Together we came to understand the challenge and decided we were ready.  Bring it on.

   As I sit in front of our fireplace in our home in Ballard, it's almost Christmas 2017.  Some of the decisions are made, some of the challenges are overcome but many more lie ahead.  We bought a 2016 Forest River 2400 MBWS motorhome.  (see: "Waldorf's First Days").  We have made several 3-5 day trips in "Waldorf" learning the systems and how rig performs on the road.  We now own a 2018 Subaru Forester with a manual transmission that will be our toad.  A financial advisor will help with wealth management and DW has setup up our health care using her federal employee health benefits. I retire January 2018.  DW will be done February 2018.  Our house will be on the market April of 2018. 

  Join us in our adventures.  Much of the rest of this story will be in our blog pages and in the photographs on this site.  

​

JUMP TO BLOG PAGES

​