Going full time soon

Jammer3025 · 07-15-2014, 07:47 PM

As I said we will be full timers as of 25 Aug 2014. It's very exciting and scary at the same time. So much to do, and learn. We just signed the papers to sell our house, and we must be out by the 25th of Aug. It's just the DW and the 2 dogs. We plan on going for 2 years looking for the perfect place to finally settle down.

The mail, and working with the VA is going to be a bit of a challenge. I think the Good Sam mail service for us might be the way to go. There are many services out there, and from what I read there pretty good.

The VA on the other hand might be a challenge for me. I get all my medical, prescriptions and what not through them. Not sure how that's going to work.

I'm pretty handy around the toolbox, so that shouldn't be a problem. Getting the trailer and truck serviced will be a bit of a drag I suppose. Diesel trucks are great, but they do require more maintenance. Getting the TT's wheel bearings,brakes, and stuff will be a hassle. I don't plan on bringing a large tool box, but just what I need for general maintenance.

Television. I hate to admit, but we do like to watch our TV. We have Direct tv at home now, but I would like to have it on our Windjammer.
Does anybody have any recommendations on the Satellite TV? I've been reading about all of them, and I think I may have ruled out the portable ones, due to the fact that they don't get the best reception or all 3 birds in the air at the same time. Were big sports fans, and don't want to miss out.

Anyway we can't wait. Were going to leave Nort-Cal and head up the coast. From there we are planning to stay west of the Rockies until January 2015. We have to be on the pier in San Diego for my sons return home from a long deployment. After that who knows.

If you have any suggestions from your own personnel experiences I will be happy to listen.

HarleyBill · 07-17-2014, 01:34 PM

We just went full time this week! We had 30 days to get out of our house when it sold! Sounds like you're in the same boat-but we also had a 13 day obligation to take another trip we couldn't get out of!
We chose a local Going Postal mail service center to handle our mail. We made it our mailing address on our extended trips this past year and I loved the personalized service-I know the owners!
We'd love to learn about the TV solution! The place we stayed as we moved out of our house, for a week had no TV hook up. But that was a first after 24 campgrounds! We had Direct TV. It's now on hold for 6 months allowing us time to figure it out. We have a contract-we had no idea we were going to go full time when we switched to it a year + ago. We will be eligible for an equipment upgrade when we're ready. I didn't know this until the day before we moved out of the house...then they could research it and gave us this option.
Can't help you with the VA...I'm sure someone else will be able to!
Let us know if you have anymore questions.
We're blogging about our travels. I'm a bit behind...I need to write up about the transition!

http://dalees107.wordpress.com

Jammer3025 · 07-17-2014, 02:59 PM

Thanks for the input. Looks like we are in the same boat. I'm no longr under contract with Direct TV. I just ordered a Pathway X2 Portable dish, and 2 receivers for our TT. Can't wait to get it set up. It's all coming together rapidly. Home inspections today and tomorrow. After that it's just a matter of storing all of our stuff,and selling things off that we won't need.

Jammer3025 · 07-19-2014, 11:04 PM

I broke the news to all my trap shooting buddies at the range today about us going full time, and I can tell you I now have 200 places to go check out. Ha Ha. House inspections are done, just waiting out our time to sign the papers.

HarleyBill · 07-20-2014, 01:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jammer3025

I broke the news to all my trap shooting buddies at the range today about us going full time, and I can tell you I now have 200 places to go check out. Ha Ha. House inspections are done, just waiting out our time to sign the papers.

Great! We're in great demand, too! Family and friends see my posts on Facebook....

http://dalees107.wordpress.com

Joe_GA · 07-20-2014, 04:47 AM

Congrats! We are just a few weeks ahead of you. We close on our house tomorrow. We moved into our 5er on Wednesday and moved it to our local KOA on Thursday. I have to work until the end of this month (9 more work days!) and then I'll be retired.
We use Dish with a Hopper system. I bought a Winegard tripod from Amazon and bought a dish from my local independent satellite installer. I've known him for about 15 years and he taught me how to set up the dish. I bought an app for my smart phone called DishpointerPro. It is well worth the money. There are a lot of trees here at the KOA and with https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....dparpro&hl=en DishpointerPro, you can pick a spot that has a clear shot to the satellites. You just have to remember to hold the phone at the height the dish will be sitting. I also got a meter for adjusting the dish to the right satellite and for maximizing the signal. I got a First Strike FIRST STRIKE Satellite Meter & Finder FS1 L
You could probably make due with less meter, but I wanted something good. Getting the tripod level is one of the most important parts of the set up. I still have a lot to learn, but I had the dish set up and working in about 30 minutes.

Jammer3025 · 07-20-2014, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarleyBill

Great! We're in great demand, too! Family and friends see my posts on Facebook....

Blogging about our adventure travels | We are full time RVers!

Thanks, but thats the one thing I don't do yet. Facebook that is. My DW does, but so far I'm the holdout.

Jammer3025 · 07-20-2014, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe_GA

Congrats! We are just a few weeks ahead of you. We close on our house tomorrow. We moved into our 5er on Wednesday and moved it to our local KOA on Thursday. I have to work until the end of this month (9 more work days!) and then I'll be retired.
We use Dish with a Hopper system. I bought a Winegard tripod from Amazon and bought a dish from my local independent satellite installer. I've known him for about 15 years and he taught me how to set up the dish. I bought an app for my smart phone called DishpointerPro. It is well worth the money. There are a lot of trees here at the KOA and with https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....dparpro&hl=en DishpointerPro, you can pick a spot that has a clear shot to the satellites. You just have to remember to hold the phone at the height the dish will be sitting. I also got a meter for adjusting the dish to the right satellite and for maximizing the signal. I got a First Strike FIRST STRIKE Satellite Meter & Finder FS1 L
You could probably make due with less meter, but I wanted something good. Getting the tripod level is one of the most important parts of the set up. I still have a lot to learn, but I had the dish set up and working in about 30 minutes.

Well good luck, and let us know how you doing from time to time. I think it would be quite interesting. We will be doing the same exact thing as you are when we close. In fact were thinking if we get all packed up and have the stuff in storage, why wait around. We might head out and stay somewhere around 4-5 hours away, and then drive the TV down to close on the house. IDK, it's all so exciting.

Jammer3025 · 07-20-2014, 06:35 PM

Were getting closer to becoming fulltimers. Just sold a few household goods. Trying to thin out the heard of stuff. Were getting pretty darn excited.

Itsthetwoofus · 07-20-2014, 09:10 PM

We planed, we gave it a lot of thought and did it. The house sold in three days, closing in less then a month. We took a 4 day brake and went to MN for surprise b'day party for a friend and going to the house that is not ours anymore to get what's left out and be completely out by wed. (23rd of July) we are truly trailer trash. lol and Loven it. FROG rally next and no hurry to run home. If any of you are attending the Rally look us up and you'll see how well DirecTV works with the automatic dish mounted on the roof. It's well worth the money spent.

whj77372 · 07-22-2014, 10:42 AM

May I suggest that you go to the Escapee's website and think about joining. They do a very good job with full-timer's. I would not be a full-timer without joining their RV club. Good Luck

Jammer3025 · 07-22-2014, 10:56 PM

^^^ thank you I will check it out. All of our house inspections are done, and we might be able to leave sooner than we planned. The only thing left for me to do is to pick a mail service.

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