Preparing To Live Full Time On The Road

by Mary
(Gettysburg, PA)

Our dream of living Full Time, on the road in a motorhome has come to pass as the years of preparation have clicked down to the final weeks. Over the years we've always owned our homes. As our kids grew up and started living lives of their own we felt the time was approaching to begin our first downsize in preparation for the plunge into the lifestyle we had been dreaming about since we began camping in a pop-up camper many years ago. We decided to sell our big house on the hill where we raised our kids and moved several miles back the road where we built a smaller home just large enough for us and our remaining three children. Circumstances beyond our control, my husband's stroke and the elimination of his job, forced us to sell this home a year in advance of our projected plan. It was all good though as we then sold our travel trailer we had for the years our kids were camping with us and bought our motorhome. We located and rented a farmhouse for the next two years and we began the two year adventure into selling anything that didn't fit into our new lifestyle. The rule of thumb was, if I can't take it in a motorhome I didn't want it at all. If I couldn't sell it at a consignment shop or the auction, I put it in a garage sale. Everything else either got sold on craigslist, given away or was put out for the trash man to discover his treasure in another mans trash.

Two years quickly passed, the winters were bitter and after each one we were more certain we didn't want to be in Pennsylvania for many more. When our third daughter married and only two adult children remained residing with us we made the decision to move them into an even smaller home that they could share. We spent the first year getting them settled and on their feet in their own home and set the date of our departure from a stick home to our home on wheels. We left on May 18th in the year 2009, spent the first six months in Gettysburg, PA in our home park, Travel Resorts of America's Gettysburg Battlefield Resort. We traveled home every two weeks until November when we spent our first Thanksgiving away from home.

Over the years we accumulated several memberships to camping organizations that offer us discounts on campgrounds across the country. Coast to Coast, AOR, Passport America and most recently we were offered a Thousand Trails membership at a price we couldn't refuse. These memberships enabled us this past summer to travel across the country and back, spending less than $17.00 a night for our campgrounds, visiting friends and family along the way.

This year we welcome another grandchild early in January, then we plan to travel the east coast visiting all the Thousand Trails Reserves from Maine to Florida. We are most excited these days to have the opportunity to stay FREE at our Thousand Trail Reserves as we explore another portion of our beautiful Unites States.