Our Little Home on Wheels and Our Monster Truck; Moving In; Retirement; Family Visits; South Dakota Bound!

A lot has happened since my last post, as I have been very busy getting settled into our new home, officially retiring, and getting ready to begin our journey across the country.

All went well with the delivery of the RV and truck. We were scheduled to take delivery with the RV in Knoxville (RV’s 4 Less) and our truck had arrived in Nashville by train. But, on the way to pick up our RV, our salesman (Richard Taylor of Tilley-Lane Dodge in Lenoir City, TN) called and said “thank you God and pass the butter, your truck is here”. (I love the South!) They were doing the pre-delivery and we could pick the truck up later in the day. We did our walk-through of our Mobile Suites, which is really nice. There was a small glitch in the Corian countertop, so we filed a warranty claim for replacement. Other than that, everything was perfect. As for our truck, I never thought of a new truck as a work of art, but the new Ram Laramie Longhorn is beautiful. Big, but beautiful!

We stayed two nights in the lot so that we could check out the systems and make sure our questions were answered. After our instruction on hitching and unhitching, and towing / backing a fifth-wheel, we headed back to Chattanooga. Phil drove the big rig, and I followed in our old truck. When we arrived at our campground, I had totally forgotten everything I had been taught about unhitching! Luckily, Phil was on top of it, and the couple parked in the campsite next to us had a Mobile Suites just like ours, so they filled in where I was totally blank!

We began going through our storage unit, and moving in the things that we knew we would want in our Fiver. Phil brought load after load of boxes, and we began filling drawers, closets, cabinets and storage bins. We were amazed that the Fiver holds so much! We found more “stuff” to take to Goodwill and to family. All of our personal belongings are in our RV, truck and a 10x10 storage unit. That feels very freeing.

Next was retirement! Whoo hoo! Although I had already finished my project, Phil continued working until end of May. We went to the office to say our goodbyes, and were treated to a wonderful lunch, gifts and good wishes from co-workers. It was very touching. Phil was a co-owner, and founding partner of the company. The cake was really cute with the RV, and had originally said “Happy Retirement Bill and Deb”, but his partner had it corrected to “Phil and Deb”. We thought it would have been funny to leave it, as if though after eighteen years, no one knew his name! It feels very strange to know that we have volunteered to have our income stopped, and, frankly, a little scary. But, the freedom of having our time as our own is awesome. The lack of stress has to add years to our lives. I feel very fortunate that we were able to retire.  

We visited with our families in the Atlanta area, and picked up our granddaughter to spend a few days with us in Chattanooga. We took her to The Discovery Museum and spent lots of time with her at the pool and playground here at the campground. She also helped Granddaddy wash his new truck! Addison is a very happy two-year old, and is a joy to everyone blessed with her presence. We look forward to lots of fun times with her in the future, as we entertain her in our little house on wheels!

We used our mail forwarding services, Dakota International Services, to register our RV and Truck in South Dakota. They registered the vehicles, and then mailed the tags to us. Love it! (I chose them because they will open and scan our mail, if we ask them to, eliminating the need to forward the mail to us.) We also have health insurance, RV and auto insurance secured as residents of South Dakota. All we lack is getting our drivers licenses and registering to vote – and we will be official South Dakotans.

Next on the agenda is to head to South Dakota! We plan to leave Chattanooga June 28th – in less than one week! Our plans at this point are to return to RV’s 4 Less in Knoxville for our warranty work, and to check our 2nd AC unit in our bedroom, which is not working. Then we will spend a week in Crossville, TN at Spring Lake RV Resort. Next will be a week at Hillman Ferry Campground at Land Between the Lakes. Then, we plan to stop in Missouri and visit with fellow fulltimers Bob and Janet as we push forward to South Dakota.

We are very excited to finally get on the road after months of preparation. It is amazing how everything has just sort of fallen into place: the sale of the condo, turnover of the old RV, truck and car at just the right time, retirement, and obtaining private health insurance. Life is good!

Kitty Update; RV/Truck Update; Nearing the end of my Fifties; Learning to Knit

My kitty would have been 16 years old yesterday, and he was down to less than five pounds. The decision was very tough, as it was not an emergency situation, and he still had an appetite. But, he was constantly thirsty, due to the kidney failure. I realized that I was only prolonging the inevitable with continuing to give him subcutaneous fluids. And the last thing I wanted was for him to suffer needlessly. His last ride was in the truck, looking out the window with his little fur blowing in the wind. He loved riding in the truck, and it always reminded me of "Toonces the Driving Cat" from SNL. We buried him with the ashes of his littermate, Mr. Buck. I loved, loved, loved those two cats and they went through so many life changes with me. I miss them both very much.

Our RV is scheduled for inspection by the dealer this week! Whoo-hoo! And, the truck is on the way, and is scheduled for delivery in one week. We almost didn't get the color we wanted because of the tsunami. The pigments for the paint came from Japan. Who would have thought? So, we are hoping, hoping, hoping that this time next week we will be moving into the RV and readying the truck with the hitch. This little 23 foot motorhome is tight, but we have managed fine. I have to say - I am so excited!! We still plan to hit the road July 5th. Whoo hoo!!

I had a birthday yesterday, and now I am on the last year of my Fifties. Wow, time flies! Phil gave me a hat that one would expect a Ram owner to wear. It was sort of a joke, but I really like the hat! It was the coldest birthday that I can remember - low 60's in mid-May is not the norm for Tennessee. We had a wonderful dinner at my favorite Thai restaurant, then stopped to pick up a Krystal Kreme donut and a birthday candle so that I could Skype my granddaughter Addison and have her "blow" out my candle. She is so cute! It was a good day. 

Phil only has two more weeks before retirement! I am taking knitting classes, as I have always liked needlework. I have crocheted, embroidered and done needlepoint, but never knitted - until now. I really like it. My first project is a neckwarmer. I made it from baby alpaca, and it is super soft. And, I am adding two big buttons. I'll post a picture as soon as it is finished.

Life is good!
Deborah

Crowded Nest; Truck, RV and Kitty Update; RV-Dreams Rally; and Tornadoes

Wow, busy times. We are still waiting on our NEW TRUCK and NEW RV. Our truck has a supplier issue, in that the seats will not be available until mid-May. Yuk! Our RV is finished, and probably already in Tennessee, but will need to be inspected by the dealer before delivery to us. Believe me, the nest is a little crowded. We are still in our 23' motorhome, with the dog and the cat. Needless to say, we are ready to move into the much larger 350 sq ft space!!


My kitty, Paleo, is still hanging in there with his kidney failure. We have learned to give him fluids under the skin to rehydrate him, and give him softeners for his poopy problems. Seems kidney failure contributes to dehydration and constipation. Poor kitty. He is one old cat, and sometimes loses his balance, or wakes himself up nodding during sleep. He is very skinny, which also goes along with the disease. I dread the day I am faced with the decision to let him go, however, I don't want him to suffer.


We attended the RV-Dreams Spring Rally in Sieverville, TN, which was awesome and far exceeded our expectations! Howard and Linda Payne really know how to bring people together with a common goal of fulltiming. We had seminars on Choosing an RV, Choosing State of Domicile, Emotional Impact of Making Decision to Fulltime, Costs of Fulltiming, Internet on the Road, Boondocking, Choosing a Campground, Workkamping, Packing the RV, and a session on making the trek to Alaska. It was great to meet other fulltimers and wanna-be fulltimers and see that they are not crazy, lazy, nor broke, but are instead people that want to see this beautiful country and experience all that there is to offer. We met so many interesting RV'ers and were invited into their homes during "Open Rigs", shared wonderful meals during "Pot Luck" and "Chili-Cookoff", and shared laughs during the "Ice-breakers" and the "70's Theme Party".  We made lots of new friends, that we plan to stay in touch with and hopefully meet on the road in the future.


We were very fortunate to have survived the deadly tornado outbreak on April 27th which killed at least 350 people, mainly in my home-state of Alabama. The hardest hit in our area was Ringgold, GA which is 10 miles from our campground. We skirted tornadoes for 15 hours, from 8:00am until 11:00pm. The bathhouse in our campground is small, and many trees lie on the western side, so I did not feel the structure would survive a bad tornado. So, we left our RV early Wednesday morning to go to a friend's house in Chattanooga, which has a basement. We didn't make it before the first tornado hit the area. We quickly pulled over and ran into a CVS Pharmacy about the time the power went off in the store. Thankfully, the pharmacist said we could bring our dog inside, as I know she would have been freaked in the truck. When the weather calmed, we went back to the campground to catch the weather. More tornado activity was on the way, so we headed South to Fort Oglethorpe, GA and went into a Costco so that we could watch the weather reports. I talked to a friend of mine who lives outside of Chattanooga, and she said that the first round of tornadoes took out 4 huge trees in her yard and flattened everything in her yard except for a St. Francis statue that we had given her during our downsizing. She was pretty freaked. We then decided to go further South, to Dalton to ride out round three, which promised to be the worst yet. We went to a restaurant bar and was there when Ringgold was hit, and we heard it had been totally wiped out. Our waitress tried to get in touch with her husband in Ringgold, but all of the Verizon phones were down. We had AT&T, and she tried on our phone, but she could not reach him and needless to say, she was very worried about him and her little girl. Another waitress called her sister who was at work at a Ruby Tuesday in Ringgold. Her sister answered the phone begging for help as the roof had caved in and they were trapped. They were then disconnected. Ruby Tuesday was flattened. Seeing these ladies concerned for the welfare of their families was heartbreaking. The restaurant closed early and we went across the street to a hotel lobby to wait until all was clear to go back to the RV, not knowing what we would find at the campground. Finally, the weather cleared and we headed north to return to our campground. As we passed the I-75 exit to Ringgold, traffic going South was totally blocked, and backed up for miles and miles and miles. Two huge tractor-trailers had been caught in the tornado and their twisted remnants and contents were spilled onto the interstate. Metal signs were wrapped around trees, and naked tree trunks could be seen from the interstate. The Ringgold exit was closed to all but emergency vehicles, and they were not letting anyone in. I thought of those poor waitresses that would not be able to find out if their families were safe. We finally got back to our campground around 11:00pm. Our little RV was safe, and all was quiet. A couple of RV's were damaged by fallen trees and branches, but our campground was spared the devastation. That was one day I, alone with many others will never forget. I hope the waitresses found their loved ones safe.

Three more days and details, details, and more details......

Three more nights and we are officially fulltimers. I am having to quickly decide our state of domicile, who will handle our mail-forwarding, how we will access our money while on the road, get quotes on auto insurance, and consider health insurance when we retire. It has been crazy!

State of domicile: I certainly see why it is hard to say one shoe fits all....everyone has to consider their own situation. As I posted previously, Tennessee makes it very hard for us to remain a "resident" if we only have a non-residential address such as a mail-forwarding service. However, Texas, Florida and South Dakota are happy for you to call their state "home". We decided that South Dakota will be our new "home". And, our first trip when we leave Tennessee, will be to head out to South Dakota and become legal. We already live in a state that has no income taxes, but Tennessee taxes interest and dividends, and South Dakota does not. And sales tax on our NEW TRUCK and NEW RV will only be 3%. And, the automobile insurance rates are among the lowest in the country. Wow, I have always been a Southerner - now I will be a South Dakotan!

Mail forwarding: I thought I would be able to have the post office hold my mail and that I could just pick it up periodically, while we are still in Tennessee. Oh, no....that would be too easy. Since someone else will inherit our address with their purchase of the condo, their mail would be held, too. So, we can't do that. I think I will open a post office box here, and have my mail forwarded to that box until we leave town. Then, I can do a change of address to the South Dakota mail forwarding service. More details....

Getting money out of and into our bank:  Once we give up a residential address, we will not be able to open a bank account due to the Patriot Act. We have bank accounts, but they are not "nationwide" banks that I will find on the road to go and make a deposit or withdrawal. So, tomorrow, I will open a bank account with Charles Schwab, which will reimburse ATM fees charged by other banks. And, I can transfer money online, between banks. More details....

Auto Insurance: As soon as the NEW TRUCK and NEW RV is delivered, we have to be ready to insure them, with our new South Dakota address. That will be a few weeks, but I thought it best to do the legwork while making the state of domicile decision. More details....

Health Insurance: This won't be needed until after we retire, but I wanted to know my options as a resident of South Dakota. Knowing that we will be traveling, we wanted to make sure that our health insurance is also recognized nationwide. We know we will go for a High-deductible HSA insurance policy, but wanted to make sure that we are not "out of network" if we are not in the state of South Dakota. I learned that the Blue Cross Blue Shield products do not offer good coverage for travelers, because it is made up of several companies....BCBS of Tennessee, BCBS of Alabama, Wellmark, etc. I spoke with United Healthcare, and I can go to any Provider that has a contract with United Healthcare no matter where they are. So, I could keep my current physician here in Tennessee, or establish a new physician in South Dakota, or Arizona, wherever. They would be considered in network if they are contracted with United Healthcare.

Ok, I have had to cram my head with details in a very short period of time. Sure wish that RV Dreams Rally had been last month instead of next month! To the OLD FULLTIMERS out there - please, do I have it totally screwed up, or am I on the right track? Have I forgotten anything?

Oh, we have started planning our first trip in our NEW RV and our NEW TRUCK. We plan to stick to the max of 300 mile / 5 hour limit per day, so our first stop looks like it will be Land of the Lakes in Kentucky. We may spend a couple of weeks there, on our way to our new "home" in South Dakota. The next big decision will be where to spend the Winter.....

Happy Trails,
Deborah

Sold more stuff!

We have a buyer for our old truck, and he is letting us drive it until the new one comes in! Ordered our new truck in Knoxville, TN yesterday. I really do think I'll need a cowboy hat, boots and chiffon skirts to drive that baby! We also finalized our decisions for the new fifth-wheel. Planned to order, but the owners of RV's For Less had to make an unplanned trip to the emergency room, so we will order tomorrow by phone. Lots of friends came over today and bought LOTS of "stuff". It has been hectic, wild and crazy. We close in two weeks! Yep, got a little weepy again....sure will miss my friends. Exhausted.....

Good Day Selling "Stuff"

This morning, I went through my Outlook address book and sent an email to everyone that I thought would be interested in the "stuff" that we are selling. Mr. Phil took pictures and set up a little website for the auction house, so we decided to let our friends preview. We got a great response. People started calling and coming by to "shop our sale". We sold office desks and chairs, secretary desk, tv's, lamps, bookcase, antique table, all sorts of stuff. We even sold our car! We plan to sell what is left at auction and store the things we really want to keep.

It feels a little weird, I'll have to say. But, tomorrow we are going to order our new fifth wheel and truck! And, that is going to be our little nest on wheels. Our official full-timing date will be in about two weeks. Once we move our bed out of the condo, we will be living in our little Winnebago until our new fiver comes in.

Happy Trails,
Deborah