Chapter Four: Making the jump from here to there

Alright then, we’ve got an idea, the basics for our plan, we’ve done some shopping for a fifth wheel, and a truck, so now we’re ready to start the journey to get to that full-timing nirvana.

So where to begin? Well, that depends on how you approach the process.

Some people will travel part of the year and then go home for the remainder.

Some people will keep some stuff in storage that they simply can’t part with and come back to it after getting off the road.

Some people will travel part of the year and then retreat to a lot that they lease or purchase in a dedicated RV park.

Some people will get rid of pretty much everything, just simply go, and deal with where they will ultimately end up later.

I am a member of the last group. I’m the type that doesn’t put much emotion into an object. Some things do serve as a reminder of certain places, times, or things that happened. But if you boil it right down, they are just things, objects. The memory of going somewhere or doing something is in my head. I don’t need a widget to remember a certain memory. It’s already stored away in the ole noggin.

I also am really tired of living in Mel-Boring and want to live someplace different. Whatever the definition of different is, we’ll see. Florida is wonderful and all that, but what about mountains, or desert, or Midwest, or ??? I can’t believe super flat and always swampy is the end-all of places to live.

For the last year or two, it’s been a steady effort to get rid of 90-something percent of everything in the house. The ’goes with me’ pile is very small and is comprised of things that I will use while on the road. I’m also purposely not keeping anything of any major value since a fifth wheel isn’t exactly Fort Knox. So I’m going into this with the idea that anything of any major value could grow legs and walk away. I mean it’s not like I own an antique jewel encrusted left-handed bacon stretcher that was made in the early 1500’s.

The other thing is that since I’m not leaving anything here when I leave, I won’t need a storage unit. That’s on purpose as I don’t want a monthly rent charge to store stuff. I could very easily spend more storing a batch of stuff than it’s worth. There’s a definite point where it’s cheaper to get rid of it all and then re-buy some things later on if needed or wanted.

I recently slowed down a little in the downsize effort as I’m almost to the point where I actively use every item left in the house. Getting rid of more at this point would probably mean sitting on the floor while watching TV or eating. My running joke is that if a burglar were to break in, they would be unbelievably disappointed.

I have built up an extremely detailed plan of action in the form of a Word document that spells out exactly what needs to happen and when. I don’t know if anyone else does this sort of thing in the jump-off process, but I find that it really helps me stay on track and plan better. My plan ends about 2 or 3 weeks after I leave and it’s kind of unnerving to see the blank area after the last entry. That marks the beginning of the time where I begin to make it up as I go. Definitely a mindset change.

I’ve also put together an Excel spreadsheet of what I believe to be a projected monthly budget and have even gone so far as to bounce those numbers against another spreadsheet of what my projected retirement income will be. You know me, leave nothing to chance.

So based on the above, one could surmise that I have a specific date for jumping off. Well, I do. That date goes hand in hand with things like selling the house and retiring from work. I don’t want to publish that date right now for several reasons, but let’s just say that it’s less than 3 years. I’ll be far more specific once it gets to the point where it doesn’t change anything to let it out. I’ll probably let it out sometime early next year (however, if you see me and ask I will probably tell you, there are just too many unknown eyes reading this).

So this is also the point where I get the house all gussied up for sale. Make everything pretty and shiny so I can get maximum purchase price without sinking a ton of money into the place. Yes, I do watch the real estate market like a hawk. I also follow the housing value trends very closely. I’ve even researched and found the best time of the year to put a house on the market to get the best price. So far everything has gone in a positive direction, but that could change and I need to know if anything even so much as sneezes.

The other big item is my old truck. It really is on its last legs and failing fast. The tires are getting really quite shiny and I don’t take it out on the highway anymore if I don’t have to. It’s got just shy of 250,000 miles on it and it’s making some interesting noises every now and then. Needless to say I don’t want to put one more dime into it. I can almost picture in my mind of driving the truck onto the car lot to trade it in, getting out, slamming the door and the truck just falls over.

Joking aside, I AM going to miss this truck. It has performed extremely well and has only broken down once in the 15+ years of owning it. It has been to every corner of Florida more than a few times and most of Georgia and Alabama. It pulled the travel trailer, my boat, and the BBQ trailer and I’ve slept in it numerous times. It’s hauled furniture, brush, bricks, lumber, tile, doors, flooring, dirt, shrubs, mulch, rocks, and the list just goes on and on. It even hauled an entire spiral stair case and a ballet dance floor. This truck owes me nothing. I almost wish that this truck could pull the fifth wheel. I would even treat it to an oil change.

Ok, so I’ve got a plan. I’ve thought about what type of RV might be best. I discussed what sorts of things I want in the fifth wheel and the size of the truck. I’ve now gotten rid of almost everything and I’m getting the house ready to sell. What could possibly be left?

So what is left? Well, how does anybody official (IRS, Jury Duty, Voting, Truck/Trailer registration, etc.) get in touch with me and what will that address be? It may sound pretty neat to be able say that my home is on wheels and I don’t have an address, but it doesn’t work that way.

Up next: How to live in a mailbox and what’s a domicile?

Chapter Three: Does it come with a Concierge??

I’ve been to a ridiculous number of RV shows and I’ve found that deciding on an RV is a cross between fit & function and is very personalized.

Fit means is it a good fit for me? Is it comfortable or not? Is the layout workable or is it clunky? Is it warm or kitschy? Is it utilitarian or flashy? Nowadays I can step into a rig and within seconds determine if I’m ‘feeling it’ or not. Some I would go into are very cold and stark while others would try for that suave, sweeping sexy look. Both having advantages and drawbacks. So for the fit portion it essentially boils down to, could I call this home and be comfortable?

Function or functionality which then gets broken down into sub-functions. Things like detail, workmanship, materials, storage space, tankage, weight, length, etc, etc. The list seems to go on forever.

Typically its simple things that start to take a rig downhill in my book pretty quickly. For instance, I’ve noticed that a lot of rigs don’t have a towel bar in the bathroom anymore. Now I know that that’s a very tiny detail, but I think that it’s the little ‘burr under the saddle’ that makes things a pain. Add up several of those and it really starts to become noticeable. I know I could easily fix those things, but I shouldn’t have to.

I read somewhere that an RV traveling down the road is analogous to a continuous mid-level earthquake. Bumps, rocking, swaying, jostling all work to loosen up joints in cabinets, walls, roof, flooring, etc. So if a cabinet is already loose in a brand new rig with zero miles, think of what it will look like after a few thousand miles of traveling! So that’s why I pay special attention to how cabinet joinery is accomplished. Is it stapled or does it have pocket screws and glue? Seeing staples in a cabinet door is an instant total red flag.

I’ve developed a list of items that I consider make/break in a rig. Seeing any one of those fall into the ‘break’ category means the rig gets exited immediately and not waste any further time on it. Of course a rig having all of the boxes checked off will often cost a ridiculous amount, or be so big that it needs a tractor to pull it. That’s why I’ve gone to numerous RV shows, haunted dealership lots, and surfed the internet for hours. Finding the perfect rig has turned into a quest and will hopefully pay off.

So what is the list of some things I look for? Well, since you asked:

  Less than 40 feet long (preferably in the 35 to 38 range)

  Can be pulled by a truck as small as an F-250 w/single rear wheels (weight limits)

  Generous storage area with separate space for generator/batteries

  Load range G tires

  No less than three slides (or if only two then the one in the living space had better be huge)

  Cabinetry that is glued/screwed, not stapled

  Doesn’t have a ridiculously tiny awning

  Rear ladder/rear hitch

  Interior and exterior LED lighting

  Solar pre-wire

  Generator pre-wire

  Motorized/automatic awning

  Slide toppers

  Pre-wire and pre-frame for second bedroom A/C (if not already installed)

  Roof area and layout that allows maximum solar panel layout (Space for 8-10 (12?) solar panels)

  No carpeting (or as little as humanly possible)

  Stove/oven NOT located in a slide (Every stove I’ve seen in a slide for some reason is very low)

  Space and pre-connects for a washer/dryer

  Rear kitchen floor plan (Very much preferred, but negotiable)

  Generous kitchen counter space (you’d be surprised at how small some I’ve seen are)

  Dedicated food pantry

  Convection/microwave oven

  Double stainless steel kitchen sink

  Covers for kitchen sink and stove

  Frameless dual pane windows (R factor and noise)

  Window day shades and night shades

  Queen bed, not king (king takes up too much space) with storage underneath

  Pull out sleeper sofa (for when Jess comes to visit)

  Generous bathroom space and a layout that isn’t a joke (you’d be surprised)

  A real stand-up shower that has believable headroom (yes, I actually stand in them to see)

  Residential fridge (although I can make good arguments for an RV fridge)

  Insulated for winter climes

  Self-leveling system

  Rear-view camera system

  Five step entrance

  Locking slam latches on external storage doors

  At least a group 24 deep cycle battery (prefer a group 27 deep cycle)

  No less than a 1000 watt true sine wave inverter (preferably a 2000 watt)

  Manufacturer that allows small changes in construction

  Manufacturer that has an in-depth factory tour (This may sound trivial, but it isn’t)

Sounds like a ridiculous list doesn’t it? However, most upper end units have about 80-90% of that list as standard features. Notice I say upper end units. I’ve found that there are basically four levels of RVs and range from super-duper cheap to oh-wow expensive.

The lowest level is what I call the ‘El-Cheapo Weekend Warrior RV’ that will only get used on a few weekends and maybe a week of vacation per year. They will end up being what I call storage lot queens. That’s where they are stored for 99% of the time and used only about 1% of the time. Typically they are very low quality and have a very low (if any) resale value. These would not stand up to full-timing at all.

The second level is what I call the ‘Luxury Weekend Warrior’. This is where the toy haulers and somewhat nicer cheap RVs are. These are still for the weekenders, but they have a few of the options that the nicer rigs have. These often will be storage lot queens also. These often will actually have some resale value, but still won’t stand up to everyday (literally) use.

The third level I call the ‘Full Timer Class’ and these RVs are mostly designed for full-timing. They are set up and built with the full-timer in mind. They are noticeably better built and with that come a better price. These approach the feeling of having your living room on wheels. Most of the appliances and fixtures will be residential grade and not the cheap plastic RV crap. This is the level where I am looking.

The fourth level is the super high end RV. They are either semi-custom or full-custom built and bring a very hefty price tag. These will often need the very biggest of passenger truck (think F-450) on up to a full blown semi-tractor to pull them. I even found a company that takes full size semi-tractor/trailer rigs and will build them out for personalized RVs. They are HUGE and demand an equally HUGE price. They’re fun to look at, but are way outside of my price range.

That about covers the fifth wheel, so what am I doing for a vehicle to pull my humble abode? Well, I initially started looking at Toyota Corollas, but quickly ruled them out as they didn’t come in my color. Wouldn’t that be a crazy sight, a fifth wheel squashing a tiny Toyota?

Anyway, back in the land of reality, I thought originally that I would buy a used truck that only had just a few thousand miles on it. This way I wouldn’t get hit with the depreciation of a new truck. However, there are a few problems with that idea.

1.       I very likely wouldn’t be able to get the options I want on it

2.       I would have to spend additional money to get an aftermarket 5^th wheel hitch installed ($$)

3.       I would have no idea as to how the truck was used (or abused) in its prior life

4.       No idea as to how the maintenance was kept up (or not)

5.       The truck would NOT have any warranty

That last item turned out to be the deal breaker. A warranty while on the road is extremely valuable and will be worth quite a lot. So I researched into new trucks and yes, they are expensive. However it did fix all five of the problems above. Actually, it ended up that the depreciation hit wasn’t all that horrible after all once all the factors were added in. Having that 5 year/100,000 mile warranty is worth a LOT of money in my mind.

Another big plus is that I can get a truck that is a bit bigger than what I actually need right now. Then if I decide to get a bigger and/or heavier 5'er (jargon, nice right?) later on, I already have a truck that can handle it. It also means that I’m not maxing out the truck all the time and wearing it out.

The other thing I found out is that it doesn’t cost one extra penny to order EXACTLY the truck I want directly from the factory. The only drawback is that I have to be willing to wait about three months to get it. Well, that’s no problem for me. I’ll just order it right around the end of November which should put delivery right around the end of February, right about the time I’m ordering the trailer. Huh, imagine that, the timing is almost like it was planned that way.

Sorry, this entry got too long, but it’s vitally important to get this part right.

Next up: Making the jump from traditional sticks and bricks house to full-time RV living

Chapter Two, Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe….

In the first chapter I came up with this hair-brain idea and tried to convey a little bit about why I want to go do this craziness. Well, in this installment I’ll go a little into what type of chalet-on-wheels I’m thinking of doing this in.

Before I get too far I need to spout a bit of a disclaimer. There are many different types, makes, and models of RVs and each person’s situation is different. So what works for one, may not work for another. I’m not even sure that my conclusions will be the right ones for me after getting on the road. In other words, these are my opinions and they work for me at this moment.

If you’ve been following along, you know that I’m going with a large truck and fifth wheel type rig. But even after thinking it all through MANY times, I’m still not sure it’s the right solution. I know for sure that it’s not the perfect solution. The problem is that I don’t think there is a perfect solution.

The biggest reservation I have with the truck/fifth wheel setup is what could happen when I’m out in the middle of nowhere and the truck breaks down? Now, the first thing anyone would say is, just make sure that you have top of the line roadside service (AAA, Coachnet, Good Sam, etc.) and you would be absolutely correct. I’ve already done a good bit of research into that very thing.

But, while the truck and trailer are towed into the shop, I’m down to traveling on a pair of sneakers or bicycle. Yes, if there’s a rental car place in the vicinity I could go that route, but a lot of small towns are many miles from the nearest rental car place. So that keeps bringing me back to the backup transportation issue and whether a small to mid-size Class A or very  large Class C with a toad (towed vehicle) would be a better transportation safety net solution.

So let’s look at Class C rigs. I’m always shocked at how small they actually are and how little interior AND exterior storage space they have. Yes, they have enough living space to go camping for a few days and maybe even a few weeks, but remember this will be my home for a long time.

They also have some other annoying little quirks about them. Like for instance in almost all of them the LP tank is hard mounted and cannot be removed for refill. So every time the LP tank runs out, I would have to take the whole rig someplace for a refill. Another is that I’ve never, ever seen a four wheel drive class C. So remote camping would be chancy at the very best.

There is a sub-class called Super C that is somewhat larger, but they push the weight loads on the chassis to the point where a toad may push it over the weight ratings. Besides, by the time I get into a super C, I’m only a very tiny step away from a class A. I’ve actually seen some super C’s that cost more than a small class A.

So even though I COULD make a class C work, it would be a large pain and I think I would wear it out pretty quickly with the weights and towing a car behind. Especially if/when I spend time in the mountains. Ultimately I just don’t think a class C is a really viable option.

So now let’s look at class A’s. Class A’s are nice, and have lots of external storage which is great and they can get super luxurious inside. However, gasoline class A rigs get unbelievably horrible gas mileage and tend to lack power in the low end (think hill climbing). Diesel pusher types fix the low end problem, but push the price tag up even higher. Then there’s maintenance on a diesel which is expensive and not the do-it-your-self type stuff. Not to mention that diesel fuel is more expensive than gas and can be harder to find in some places. Plus, they get expensive really quick.

To me, the biggest drawback to a class A is the expense. These suckers can get ridiculously expensive. By the time I get to one that has a nice floorplan and is big enough, I can’t afford it anymore. I would have to postpone my jump-off at least another two, three, or more years just to be able to afford a decent mid-line class A. That plus I just don’t think I would like driving one. They are very boxy and can’t possibly maneuver very well. I wouldn’t even think of taking one off road at all. There’s no such thing as a 4x4 class A so forget remote camping.

The other big problem with both the A & C type is that as soon as I put a toad behind it, I can no longer back up. To use reverse, I have to unhitch the toad, do whatever maneuvering that’s needed and then re-hitch. Yes, I know that I would plan my entry & exit from parking lots and such, but every now and then I would have to go through the hassle of all of that and probably while I’m blocking other people’s cars. Yeah, that sounds like a whole lot of fun.

That brings me full circle and right back to a fifth wheel and back to the original problem of a single vehicle.  I wish I had a really good answer for this but I don’t. I thought for a while that I might get a small motorcycle to use as emergency transportation and for off-road stuff. It’s still a possible option, but transporting it would be a problem.

So after all that, am I convinced that my choice is the right way to go? I wish. I wrestle with the issue of RV type at least once a month and every time I go to an RV show. I don’t think I’ll finally set the decision in concrete until I actually sign on the bottom line and take delivery. Even then I could change my mind after getting on the road.

Next up I’ll dive into what I’m looking for in a truck and fifth wheel.

Chapter One, You want to do WHAT??

Before this gets underway, I actually wrote these chapters many weeks ago, so some of the info may be slightly out of date, but I don't feel like re-writing it. So here goes...

Several entries ago I said that I would someday dive into the thoughts and ideas into this big right turn in my life. Well, no time like the present. 

So, why in the world would someone actually WANT to get rid of 97.45% of the stuff they own, pack what’s left into a shoebox on wheels, retire from work, sell the house, and go roam around the country? First, let’s do a flashback. Here come those wavy, smeary lines! Ahhhhhh…..

A long time ago I had this crazy idea that I was going to buy a big boat, sell off everything (99.45% to be exact), and go take a big lap around the Caribbean. It was to be south down the Bahama chain, down the windward and leeward islands all the way to South America. Then make a right turn over to Central America and work my way back north again along the central American coast all the way up to Texas and then east back to Florida. I figured it would take several years or more. Sounded great! After that, who knew?

Then I did a really stupid thing…. I started reading blogs.

I read blogs/logs of a whole bunch of people that were in various places and stages of running around the Caribbean and Central America and you know what? They all sounded pretty much the same and they went something like this:

Sail to an island, check in, find groceries, see the island, fix something on the boat, wait for weather, go to the next island, check in, find groceries, see the next island, fix something on the boat, wait for weather, repeat, repeat, repeat.

All they ever seemed to talk about was the checking in/out process, finding groceries, doing laundry, fixing the boat, and on, and on, and on. I also started noticing that none of them lasted for much more than just a year or two.

I get that during that time it would be different and start out as a lot of fun. But I noticed that the fun part seemed to dwindle away really fast. Not to mention that the vast majority never really traveled inland, so the experience of an area was within a mile or two of shore. Then it seemed that the vast majority ended up right back to where they started a couple of years later doing exactly the same thing as before! Some even went back to their old jobs! Now if that’s what floats your boat (pun intended), good for you. But that just wasn’t going to hack it for me.

Flash back to the present! (Wavy, wavy, smeary, smeary)

One option is/was to just stay put (Wow, I got nauseous just typing that). I mean it’s not like I haven’t already lived here for the last 50-something years of my life. I could stay in Mel-boring for the rest of my life and let my butt become one with the couch. I could continue to work until I’m 80-something and have lots of funds and nothing to do with it other than continually fix the house and spend money on stupid shit. Yuk-Pooey!!

Yes, I could travel and do the tourist thing, but I hate the tourists that are here. I very certainly don’t want to become one of them! I can see it now, me sitting in one of those tour buses being carted from one tourist stop to the next while listening to a canned spiel from a tourist guide. Oh yeah, that sounds like a whole bunch of fun. Not.

Don’t even get me started about cruise ships. Human soup in a can carted around and dumped off into tourist hellholes. Sounds almost like a theme here doesn’t it?

Then I started thinking about alternatives and I remembered that I liked camping (or ‘glamping’ as the case may be) and what I call the slow experience. We did the Washington DC trip a bunch of years ago and I really liked being in one spot for a few days to be able to spend some time exploring the area. The rig became a portable home to jump off from.

So, what if I were to slow that process down a whole bunch more and extend it waayyyy out? I mean really dig into places with no time restrictions. What if I were to take the time to meet some people, get the local flavor, or possibly even do some part-time work if it looks interesting or fun? Having a great time? Stay!! Doing something interesting? Hang out for a while! On the flip side, don’t like the view out outside the living room window? Change it!! Don’t like your neighbor? Leave!!

Who cares if I spend a month in the tiny town of Hye, Texas because I got a part time job at a bourbon distillery (Yes, it’s an actual place/job that looks like fun). What if I were to work a couple of seasons at Amazon? What if I were to drive up to Alaska one summer? Or go down to a Mexican beach for a winter? Or maybe take a summer job at Yellowstone Park? Or Grand Teton? Or Glacier? Or do some volunteer work?, or, or, or??? The list goes on forever. I could even find a spot somewhere with a glass of wine, watch tour buses go by and laugh (I actually did that once in France!).

Some places might take a whole season while others might only take a couple of days. I also would have some ‘down days’ whenever I wanted. I could spend a day or five reading, catching up on some chores, maybe throw something in the smoker, work on a doll house, etc. I could mix up the days any which way I wanted. If it takes me 10, 15, or 20 years to make it to all the places I want to go to, so what. I’m in no hurry whatsoever. I might even spend some time way out in the boonies where my nearest neighbor is five or ten miles away! Wouldn’t that be awesome?!

I could drive US-1 from end to end just for the fun of it. I could check out as much of Route 66 as I want. The possibilities just don’t stop. But, I can say that I will avoid interstate highways like the plague. I’m not the least bit interested in making good time. I’m far more interested in stopping for every interesting thing I can find! See the world’s largest spitball?? I’m in! A museum of mailboxes? Pull over! A river that needs kayaking, a pond that looks awesome for fly-fishing, a mountain that needs hiking, a valley that wants its picture taken, etc., etc.

Then someday, when I get to the point where I’ve had enough, I can look back and decide on a place that I really liked and go call that home. Maybe buy a small piece of land somewhere and become a gentleman farmer (I’ve always wanted a tractor). Who knows? The possibilities are endless and it’s a long way off. I’ll make that decision when it needs to be made.

Ah yes, one last little item to address, those dreaded blogs. They should shoot people who write blogs, uh wait……. Yes, I do read blogs from people that are currently out there full-timing. In fact, I read about 5-7 of them at any one time. I have to say that they are totally different from the ones from the sailing community. These people truly enjoy living this type of lifestyle and wouldn’t trade it for anything. Obviously nobody stays out there forever, but it seems that 99% of the time people come off the road due to health, age, or something along those lines. Not usually because of being tired of it.

So does that mean that every day on the road is all rainbows and unicorns? Absolutely not, people write about being stuck when weather is bad or something breaks down, or something planned didn’t turn out exactly the way they dreamed it. But that’s true with anything in life. Seems I remember something about living the good with the bad.

Ok, so now I have a very basic idea that’s taking shape into a plan. But, how do I start? What sort of rig would be right for me? What would the budget look like? How does my life operate while I’m doing this? I can’t believe that I can just up and walk away from everything and disappear. These and a whole bunch more questions I’ll talk about in coming chapters.

Up next, so what kind of shoebox would you do this in?

Hold on, you're still alive??

Ok, yes, I do still exist. Of course you’d never know it by the number of times I’ve updated in the last couple of months. So I offer into evidence an effort to dispel the rumors of my falling off the side of the earth, an update!

House Renovation

Believe it or not I’m going back to the original plan. I’m finding that I just don’t want to wait another 3+ years. It’s just that simple.

I’m at the point now where I’m only going to do minimal work in the kitchen just to get it over with. I’m really very tired of spending every spare minute working on house crap. So there it is. I’m going to sell the house in the not too distant future and jump off and I have no idea on earth where I will end up.

Other than that the house is about done. I FINALLY finished the hall bathroom! It only took me something like a year to finally finish it. But at least it’s done now. I’ll put a few pics of it shortly so you can see the final product.

Fifth Wheel Search

There haven’t been any RV shows in the last few months as it has been too hot. I think the next one of any size is in November in Tampa. I am still watching websites and have even gone a couple of times to a dealership but I tend to not like doing that as I really don’t like pushy salespeople.

I have found a brand new model that checks off almost every box on my list. I was over at Lazy Days looking at units and just stumbled across this one. I hadn’t seen it on their website before so it was a total surprise. I knew it the instant I walked in that this one was going to rate extremely highly. It just felt right from square one. I’ll put some pictures up in the next post. Here’s the floorplan for it:

There is another new floorplan that I like very much but haven’t been able to actually find one yet to walk through. It’s very similar to the original 293RK that I liked so much way back when.  I like this variation so much more than the 293rk mainly because they moved that stupid tiny little excuse for a desk over to the back wall and made it much bigger and moved the pantry over into the kitchen. So far I’ve only gotten to see floorplans and pictures so seeing one in person is extremely high on my list of things at the next few RV shows. Here’s a link to the floorplan if you’re interested: http://www.keystonerv.com/alpine/models/3300gr-new/model-mobile

Jumping Off

I have set a hard date that is moved way up. I thought it would make a huge difference financially to hang on for two or three more years. Because I want the truck and fifth wheel within this next year, I would then be making payments on both along with all the current normal expenses. So the actual saved money worked out to be somewhere just under minimum wage. Yeah, that’s worth it, not. The other problem is that the longer I wait, the more the renovations become dated and that equates to lower sale price.

Second, I want to go now when doing things like hiking, biking, kayaking, etc are still viable options. The longer it takes to jump off and go, the more difficult all of those and more become. Three years may not sound like a whole lot, but I believe it is.

The funny part is that this plan is the very first plan I had back over two years ago (has this goofy RV’ing idea been going on that long now?). This may be a prime example of me overthinking everything.

Ah yes, that reminds me. I had said that I was going to buy a used truck instead of a new one based on savings, depreciation, blah, blah, blah. Well that plan got scrapped. I found that after it was all said and done that I would only save a thousand or two and then I would end up with a truck with no warranty. What’s the old saying, Penny wise, pound foolish? Yeah, so I’m now getting ready to order (yes order) my new truck. I found out that it doesn’t cost one penny extra to order exactly what I want from the factory. I should take delivery right around Christmas time.

One other little tidbit. Quite some time ago I promised that I would type up my whole thought & preparation process about going RV’ing. I’ve gotten the first four posts done and I’ll be putting them up shortly.

Me

Yeah, here’s a new category that I’ve never commented on before. Me! Soooo, what’s new with me?

Let’s see, I’ve managed to pack on far too much weight in the last couple of years. So I’ve joined a gym and overhauled my eating habits. I’ve never gone to a gym before. It’s kind of interesting at first, but now it’s just something I do three or four times a week.

I’ve also found out that I really love to cook! I’m finding that the tougher the dish, the better I like it! I’m working right now on whole weekly menu of dinners that start from scratch ingredients. No processed food is my new mantra! This is a bumper sticker on the side of the fridge:

The gym and new eating habits seem to be working as I’ve lost right around 15 pounds so far and my 34” waist jeans are now getting pretty loose. My goal is to get back to my high school weight and stay there. It also couldn’t hurt if I were to put a little shape back into this lump (and no, in this case round is not an acceptable shape).

So what else? Well, I’ve met this lady but I’ll introduce her in a separate post.

Minnesota again??

So I’m back in Minneapolis for another exciting round of ‘Watch the paint dry’. Well, it certainly feels like watching paint dry. There’s boring and then there’s this. This makes boring look like fun.

I’m up here for work while we do some testing on a new product. I could try to go into detail of exactly what and how we’re testing, but it would take pages. So picture this, you’re sitting behind one end zone of a football stadium and you’re trying to hold a conversation with someone sitting behind the other end zone. Oh yeah, the stadium is full of 35,000 people all screaming at the top of their lungs. Can you hear me now?

While all of this testing is going on there’s a small mountain of data going past that is monitored and has to be perfect. Fortunately I don’t have to look at all that data as it goes by, the computer does that. But, I do actually have to sit here in case something goes wrong. Well, it almost never does. So what is there to do while this goes on day after day, week after week? Let’s see, we throw things at each other, surf the web, YouTube, read email for the hundredth time, update a blog, read blogs, try not to nap, play practical jokes on each other. You get the idea. Ugh…

But the upside is that I’m living on the company nickel totally so my budget is looking pretty darn good right now. The longer I stay up here the better it gets. That plus I get to go try out a new restaurant every night if I want and I have found some good ones. If anyone is ever coming up to the Minneapolis/St Paul/Bloomington area, let me know, I can recommend some really good restaurants.

The real kick in the butt is that I’m hearing I might have to ship this whole road show to someplace in Indiana for some other testing. At this rate I’ll be lucky to get back to Florida in time for the fourth of July. Funny part is, for the all the time I have spent up here in the last two or three months, it doesn’t hold a candle to the marathon I did a few years ago.

And of course just as soon as I get back we immediately start flight testing. In July and August I get the distinct pleasure of sitting in the ass end of a test plane flying around at 1500 feet in all of the summer thunderstorms. Hot and lumpy, I can hardly wait. Somebody in the company really hates me.

So as not to make this post a complete downer, I’ll interject some really good news. With the current 'pay off the house before I go' plan, I’ve been able to so far make three additional payments towards principal only and have calculated out exactly how much I can comfortably do each month. So I plugged all of that into spreadsheet central and have a payoff date identified. If my calculations are correct I should have the house fully paid off sometime next week.

Wait,.... what?  Hmm, perhaps I should recheck my math. Tell you what, I’ll get back to you on a corrected date.

Actually, it should be within the next three years and that works very well with the rest of the schedule. So there it is. If I keep forging ahead and everything falls into place and the creek doesn’t rise, I should be totally debt free and ready to take off in a little over three years. Then the schedule will be most of the year on the road and the rest at home. I could get used to that.

So what else is going on? Well, let’s see, I’m considering trying a video blog (or Vlog) for the fun of it. I think it would be far more entertaining than this blog and will work a whole bunch better once out on the road. It will be far easier and meaningful to show you something rather than trying to describe it. So right now I’m studying up on how to do a decent Vlog and once I get one finished I’ll post it.

So far I’ve learned that every Vlog must have a story line, even if it’s just a rudimentary one but it must be there. Just posting a random bunch of video clips is meaningless and nearly impossible to watch. Not sure what my first story line will be and it will probably be very simple but we’ll see how it goes.

I have already started capturing some videos clips and gathering up some music for background & fill. I’m learning that for every 1 minute of finished video, about 10-20 minutes worth of clips never gets seen.

So the next time you see me, if I have a cell phone or camera in my hand, don’t freak out. Just capturing video.

Back home again in Florida, gotta love humidity…

Aahhh, I’m home again. Big pile of laundry, shaggy lawn, no food in the house, the pool looks like crap, about a metric shit-ton of mail to go through, and I don’t feel like doing any of it. At that point I would have sold the house to anyone ‘as-is’ for about $1.89. Ugh, I wonder if I could hire a service to do all of this for me. Ok, well, grousing about it isn’t going to fix anything, so it’s time to get my happy ass in gear.

After several tele-con meetings late last Friday with the program management I was able to convince the right people that my being in Minneapolis at this point was pretty useless. So I was able to make a last minute phone call to the travel agency and move my plane tickets up a whole week! Of course it made for a mad thrash to get stuff done at work and then run back to the hotel and spend the evening getting packed for a Saturday morning flight.

At least I hopefully will never see Minneapolis ever again in my lifetime. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice place when it’s not underneath three feet of snow and the people are about the friendliest I’ve ever met. I just hate living out of a suitcase and eating in restaurants every day for weeks at a time. It sounds like the good life but it’s not. It sucks.

At the moment I’m looking forward to a five day weekend starting on Friday. I am going to be a complete and total bum. I’m going to get the pool all fixed up for beer floating. Then I’m going to fire up the smokers at least a couple of times. I haven’t done a mess of ribs in quite a while, so it’s at the top of my list at the moment to throw a rack or two in the WSM. I also have a huge piece of pork belly to get processed into bacon starting this week to go into the smoke house for a day. I might even throw some garlic, onions, and cheese in there to soak up some smoke. I can also see a pork butt going into the WSM for some pulled pork. I might even braise up a big pot roast with all the veggies on the big grill one afternoon.

Years ago mom used to do a dish that we called roast beef hash and it was awesome. She would use this super old hand operated food grinder to grind up leftover meat, potatoes, carrots, onion, etc and then fry it up. Man, I could put a huge dent into a bowl of that stuff. Well, I did some searching and found the exact same grinder on eBay and bought it! So now I love to cook up a big pot roast in the smoker or grill and then use the leftovers for smoked roast beef hash. I’ve even used the grinder to make up my own ground beef and pork. It really works pretty well for an antique. Eventually I want to try making my own sausage, but I’ll need to buy a meat stuffer to do that.

So what else is going on? Well, I’ve started looking for a small travel trailer. I found one up in Titusville that I may go look at this weekend. It’s the right size and appears to be clean, but pictures aren’t as good as seeing it in person. I also found one up in North Carolina that looks real nice and in my price range, but it’s a huge long shot. I’m in no hurry so if neither of them works out, it’s no big thing. I’ll just keep looking.

Other than that it's pretty much business as usual at the moment. No great house projects underway right now, but the back yard fence and pool enclosure re-screen are coming up fast. After that it will be the big countdown to kitchen explosion. I've got some neat ideas that I've been mulling over as to how to change it up. With this new schedule and the fact that I'm keeping the house, I can do whatever the hell I want and don't have to answer to anyone about it. So there! (Picture tongue sticking out)

Ah, who knows, this whole road show could change tomorrow and all my plans could go right out the window. But you know, that's the beauty of it. Make it up as you go along, you only get one chance at it so make it a damn good one! Hell, I might even go into work tomorrow barefoot just to see the shocked looks.

I am bored, I am bored, I am bored, etc. etc

If you were to guess that I'm bored, you would be exactly correct!

So far we have had only ONE, yes one, very little hiccup that was mildly interesting but couldn't be considered a failure. That's it? That's the whole ball of wax? All this travel, setting up, and hours upon hours of testing for ONE tiny hiccup?

Send me home. Send me home right now.

That's how work stuff has been going. Hours and hours of pure boredom. I've played hundreds of games of solitaire on my cell phone. I may have even set a new record.

Saturday I did sneak off to Mall of America and made the requisite laps around the place. My purchases? A book, a new teaball, and a new tea to try. Somebody stop me! I'm spending like a drunken sailor!

The book is titled "A Dog's Purpose" and is a very good read. I couldn't put it down and finished it by Sunday-noon. Now I'm going to have to get the sequel "A Dog's Journey". Hopefully I'll make it last a little longer.

Sunday I drove about 80 miles south to Austin, Minnesota which is the home of Hormel that are the makers of world famous Spam! Sing it with me now in your best Monty Python voice,  Spam, spam, spam!

I had visited the place when I was here before about six years ago and it was a real hoot. Unfortunately they moved it down the street from where it was and severely downsized it. What a bummer! Last time it took me two or three hours to get through it all and this time it was less than 20 minutes. Oh well, guess that will be the last time I'll be making that drive.

The upside is that I might be able to move my checkout date up by a few days and get out of here by Monday or Tuesday. For some reason this trip isn't as much fun as the last time I was here. Oh well, soldier on!

I've also spent a good bit of time perusing small used travel trailers and have found a couple prospects. If they don't get sold before I can get back to Florida, I'll go take a look. I'm looking in the 18-21 foot range which is a whole bunch smaller than the trailer we had before. Surprisingly they have all the same amenities just in a smaller package and that's ok by me. Smaller means lighter and much easier to maneuver.

The great green north??

For once I’m in Minnesota and it’s not frozen and covered in snow!! It actually does turn green in the spring! Who knew?!

Yeah, hello from Minneapolis! Well, actually a suburb called Edina and I’m working closer to Bloomington, but they’re all right in the same general area. It’s been chilly and wet since we got here but the sun is supposed to start coming out tomorrow.

The work part is surprisingly going very smoothly (of course I’ve now just jinxed it), and it’s actually quite boring, but in this game boring is a very good thing. Hopefully if it remains this way for a few days, I may be able to move up my departure date and head back. The guy who came up with me is learning fast and should be able to keep it going. Besides, if there’s trouble later on, I can always come back.

I have a ton of work waiting back in Florida. We have hundreds of hours of flight testing to get done and I would imagine that several parts of it will have to be run multiple times. My biggest concern is doing all of that in July and August when it’s so brutal hot in that plane. I would love to get as much of it done now while it’s still bearable. So getting out of here is a high priority.

I did make one super nice milestone this month. I’m now making extra principal payments on the house mortgage! It feels nice to be able to fast-track paying off the house and get that much closer to doing the RV thing. It will still take a while for the extra payments to start to make a difference but I have to start somewhere.

I also got a house renovation project completed right before I left. The faux lap siding around the front two bedroom windows had failed some years ago and was really getting bad. I was hoping to put it off until after the kitchen renovation, but that just wasn’t to be.

So last Friday I set about tearing into it to do a rebuild. Wow, it was far worse than I had thought. The faux lap siding was made out of what is known as OSB or Oriented Strand Board. OSB is made by taking wood chip pieces, gluing it all together under pressure and then planing/trimming to size. Sounds wonderful right? Well, not really. Over time if it gets wet, the wood swells and rots, the glue tends to fail, and insects just love this stuff.

Guess what I found? Rotted, swelled, and ant infested failed OSB. It was certainly a ton of fun pulling all of that disgusting mess out, not. It was so bad that I put it directly into the back of the truck and to the dump myself rather than stacking it up for the trash. I ended up stripping all the way back to the concrete block. It would have been super easy to replace the windows at that point as I essentially had half the window frame completely exposed. The problem was that I didn’t know I would be that close and I hadn’t looked into windows and couldn’t spend the time right then.

The rebuild was actually quite fast and went very well. I replaced the OSB laps with a concrete material that looks exactly like real wood. It’s impervious to water and won’t rot. Since its concrete, insects aren’t interested in it. It’s the same material that the north and south gable ends were replaced with many years ago and has held up very well. Plus, it’s cheap.

I installed a plywood backer, then a layer of tar paper, a layer of Tyvek, another layer of tar paper, then the lap siding, and it was all buttoned up. I was even able to get the exact same trim paint from Richards that was purchased years ago so it matched up exactly. Scratch one more project off the list!

So here I sit in Minneapolis where it’s raining, chilly, and I’m bored out of my skull. I have very little to do while the test is running so I figured I would do an update. I’ll very likely do several more because of the boredom. Maybe I’ll take some pictures so everyone can see what the great green north looks like.

The path less taken or Sorry, I changed my mind

I must be part female or something, I keep changing my mind.

Just when I had the entire plan for finishing the renovation, buying the truck & RV, retiring, selling the house, and jumping off all figured out and a hard date for everything all finished, I threw it all out.

Several reasons really, but the biggest was that I would have been running everything right down to the last dollar. There was very little room for anything going sideways and we all know how stuff that I do seems to always go at least a little bit sideways. So now the entire thought about, dreamed about, researched, and studied plan has now gone into the round file.

There’s now an entirely new plan that’s a WHOLE bunch simpler and I came up with the whole thing in about 20 minutes. It’s that stupid simple and I should have gone this direction a long time ago. It became clear when I started what I call hyper-planning. I have a spreadsheet that I plug in every little piece of information into and calculate out exactly when and how much each step should take. It got to the point of being ridiculous. The start of the turning point was when I was adding in the calculation of the house mortgage payoff when it came time to sell it. Wow, that little? So obviously the next question became one of exactly how long would it take to pay off the house completely?

Hmm... Now there’s an interesting thought. If I were to sink as much as I comfortably could into extra principle payments, how long would it take to finally own the house outright? Well, did I mention that I have a spreadsheet? So I started a new page and plugged all the information in and Whoa! That cannot possibly be correct! Actually, my initial calculation was off as I forgot that paying towards principle cuts down on interest, so I would actually pay it off even faster. Double Whoa!

That all sounds great and all, but there are downsides to going that direction. One is that the renovation won’t happen nearly as fast as I had originally planned. Another is that I won’t be able to go see the country for at least an additional two to three years. BUT, I could go RV’ing with a paid off house in my back pocket which would afford me a home base to spend winters and a place to land when I come off the road. Of course I could always sell it off later if I wanted to.

So here’s the new plan in its entirety: Pay off the house ASAP and finish the renovations as funds permit. After those two are complete then save up for buying the RV, then retire, and then start ‘most-of-the-time’ RV’ing. 

That’s it, that’s the whole plan. It’s basically the same as the old plan but most everything is now in series rather than in parallel. The beauty is that it becomes a funding driven plan rather than a calendar driven one. There's really no dates affixed to anything, it's all based on the funding becoming available. I can't move on to the next step until the last one is funded and complete.

The part that I especially like is that I can now finish the renovations (kitchen especially) any damn way I please and not have to worry about what is most marketable. Heck, maybe I’ll make the garage into a man-cave. The truck doesn’t fit in there anyway.

I am kind of debating about possibly buying a small used travel trailer that I could use to go camping around the state while everything else plays out. Believe it or not, there’s still a whole bunch of places in Florida & Southern Georgia that I haven’t seen. So maybe use it to travel around on long weekends and vacations and then trade it in when I go for the fifth wheel. Being a small trailer I could get into places that a big rig can’t (like Bahia Honda).

I’d have to put a few bucks into the truck to freshen it up (front end, transmission, etc.), but that’s ok, I think after 250,000 miles it might be ready for a few new parts to get it ready for the next 250k. With the new plan it’ll be a few years before I get rid of this truck.

So will I change my mind again before it's all said and done? Quite probably, but that's the feminine side of me.

New Contender?

Hmm… Seems I’m not doing very well with updates lately. Yeah well, so while it’s obviously my fault, I do have a pretty good excuse. I’m saving every possible penny getting ready for the kitchen explosion. So not too terribly much is going on to report about.

House Renovation

I guess the biggest project right now is re-painting the exterior trim on the house. The last several trips to HD I picked up a fistful of those color sample cards trying to decide what color to do the trim. I looked at everything from super dark to colors that were border-line cartoonish. Hopefully by this point in the blog I don’t need to remind you that I have zero artistic ability, so I couldn’t make a decision to save my life.

So then I started thinking about the idea of just painting the trim the same dark blue/gray color. The advantages would be that it would be easy to not worry about missed spots, bleed through, and the biggest being that I wouldn’t have to mess with the HOA getting a new color approved. Just what I would have needed, some old blue-haired lady on the board having a hissy fit that the color I picked out didn‘t complement the color of her Chihuahua’s fur or some such BS like that.

The only problem with this idea was that the trim paint had been purchased at a local paint store like ten or fifteen years ago and I wasn’t holding much hope that they could reproduce it again. But, I figured what the heck, can’t hurt to ask. So off I toddled last Saturday and the guy reassured me that they still had the formula and it would match perfectly. Of course the cynic in me immediately thought that I’ll believe it when I see it.

Turns out I was very happily wrong, it matched perfectly. So with no further procrastination I started right in! By Saturday afternoon I had almost all the faux tile along the front done. Sunday I got up early and got right to it and got almost the whole front of the house completed. I had to knock off early or I would have gotten the front finished. This weekend I’ll finish the front and start on the south side. I’d like to get the whole house done before it gets too brutally hot in the next month or two.

I am toying with the idea of canceling some of the exterior projects for the sake of cost. I think I’ll get to the point after the kitchen where my return on investment will quickly start dropping. So I’m thinking to just do some new sod and some mulch and call it done. Have to think about this some more.

RV Search

Just when I thought I was going to shut down the RV search for the summer, I ran across a blurb on one of the RV manufacturer websites that they are coming out with a sort of unscheduled new floorplan for their luxury line of fifth wheel trailers. They didn’t specify why they were doing this but sure enough the new floorplan showed up about two weeks later. It was very out of season for a new model. The reason I was so interested is that the new model is a rear kitchen plan which I like a lot. Well, this one looks very interesting and there are lots of things I like about it.

Things I like about it better than the 293RK:

• -          Far better kitchen layout and more counter space
• -          Kitchen storage is more centralized
• -          Fridge and dry sink are against the back wall
• -          Bathroom is a bit larger and better laid out
• -          Comes standard with two A/C units
• -          Better cold weather rating
• -          About 85% of the floors are not carpeted (hate carpeting)
• -          The stove/oven is in a slide which I normally hate, but it looks to be elevated a bit
• -          Pantry is accessible when slides are in

Things I don’t like about it:

• -          There’s a funky sort of lounger thing connected to the couch that I absolutely hate and would want replaced with a desk. I’ve already contacted the manufacturer to see if this is possible
• -          The washer/dryer space is in the same spot as some lovely sliding drawers in the master closet. I’d have to delete the drawers to get the W/D and I’m not sure if it would be worth it
• -          It’s longer than the 293RK (but that equates to more interior spaces, so it’s a love/hate thing)
• -          Significantly more expensive (but it does have far more/better features)
• -          It’s heavier than the 293RK
• -          A slide on the curbside, makes the awning significantly smaller
• -          For some crazy reason it has a slightly smaller fresh water tank

Because it’s so new, I haven’t been able to get any official pictures of the interior. I’ve found a couple of dealership sites that have pictures, but they don’t allow copying the pictures (or at least I’m not computer-savvy enough to figure it out). But, I do have the floorplan and here it is.

I did notice that in pictures of units at dealerships that the fridge and dry sink swapped positions so that the fridge is in the back corner and the dry sink and overhead cabinet are in the middle between the pantry and fridge. It looks much better and it centers the rear window very nicely.

Also, you can see the funky sofa/lounger thing that is really ugly. So what I want to do is to delete the lounger part and have the sofa/sleeper finished off normally. Then the space where the lounger thingy was will get a small computer desk facing outboard so the view will be out the window. There might even be enough space inboard of the desk to put one of the chairs which will give a better viewing angle to the entertainment center.

The kitchen is really interesting as the sink/island part is permanently attached to the floor. So when the slide comes in, the counter portion that’s in the slide just comes in just over the island counter. It’s really kind of a neat idea.

So the next step is to wait until I can actually get to see one in person. I’m watching about 5 or 6 dealerships in the southeast that should eventually get one and I’ll go take a look when one of them does. I’m interested enough that I would gladly drive anywhere in Florida, Georgia, Alabama to see one. I know it’s like a new toy and I sort of sound like I’m ready to abandon the 293RK, but I’m not. It IS the biggest contender against the 293RK that I’ve seen yet and could end up being my pick. Although with the significant jump in price, I may have to re-examine my options. I refuse to jump off with any debt at all and that’s non-negotiable.

The Dying Laptop

I did decide to fix the old laptop. Man, what a pain in the posterior that was! I’d heard that in most laptops it’s just a matter of one or two little screws and out she pops! Well, not with this POS. When I had computer pieces laying all over the workbench and had more to disassemble, I really started to have reservations about the success of this little project. I had looked up on YouTube for this particular model laptop and even the guy in the video said it was a pain to do this one and he was telling the truth.

But I persevered and got it all done and reloaded Windows into it. So it’s now working again! However, it’s no longer my main computer and I use it to write software for some other projects that I’m working on.

So that’s it for the moment.

A little this and a little that

Guess I should do an update if for no other reason than to let everyone know that I haven’t abandoned the blog.

I’m in full super saving mode right now, so not a whole lot to talk about. With the upcoming total renovation of the kitchen coming up fast, I need to save every possible penny to keep this whole project out of pocket and not run up any debt. While the bank account looks wonderful right now, my social life is a great big zero.

I have been working on a few very small (and low cost) projects but nothing earth shattering.

One project was to finally get rid of that big butt ugly fluorescent light fixture that hung in the garage for years. It was a four tube ceiling fixture that was resurrected from some commercial demo many years ago. Picture one of those commercial drop-ceiling fluorescent fixtures just hanging from a couple of small chains from the ceiling in the garage. I’ll say it again, butt ass ugly. Well, it’s now gone.

It was replaced by six recessed LED flood fixtures equally spaced out. The difference in lighting and looks was really quite shocking and not to mention far, far more energy efficient. I calculated that all six LED lights in total are right around the same energy usage as ONE of the four fluorescent tubes! That plus the LEDs will last for like 20,000 hours! Granted, I won’t live here long enough to recoup my cost in energy savings, but I figure it definitely will add quite a bit to the ‘wow’ factor to help the sale price. Please excuse the train wreck, it's soon to be emptied out.

The other project I’m working on is the planter area by the front door. Over the years it’s had various versions of plants, flowers, rocks, etc. I debated heavily about just tearing out that little half-wall that runs around the front of it as I’ve seen one or two other similar houses do it and I like the look. I finally decided not to tear it out as once it’s gone, it’s gone for good. Not to mention a whole lot of work! So it will stay for now.

The most recent iteration of planter area was a medium size pigmy date palm, a bunch of plants that had nasty thorns, some really tired looking mulch, and a nice assortment of weeds. It was a perfect breeding ground for every bug imaginable and right by the front door.

So since I’ve got plenty of time (and little money) the planter area came into the crosshairs. It started with a total gut out except for the palm. For some reason I really like that palm. Anyway, after getting it all stripped out, I installed paver stones to create a sort of mini-patio. As you can see, it's not fully covered in pavers as I want to keep roughly a quarter of it as a planter, where the palm currently resides.

Turns out the builders did at least do one thing correct, they installed the wall exactly four 16” pavers away from the front wall of the house. Nice and clean looking.

Sorry I didn’t get a ‘before’ picture (I always forget to get that one), but here is the progress so far. I still have a little touchup work and should have it totally completed in the next week or two. My back doesn’t appreciate picking up those stones at all anymore. After about eight of those heavy suckers, my back lets me know that’s enough for the day.

The 'grout' is nothing more than sandbox sand. It's super fine and fills right in. I've still got a couple spots that aren't filled all the way in and I've got some excess to sweep up.

As I mentioned above, because I’m in what I call super-saver mode right now, I don’t get out very much except for going to the beach (year round pass at Jetty Park $10/year) to read, fly my kites, body surf if the water’s nice, and watch the cruise ships going out.

I still do a few meetups every now and then but I hold the spending to one or two beers and possibly an appetizer. Mainly I do them just to be able to have a nice conversation with someone roughly my age and not have to think about the whole dating ‘thing’. We’re all just friends and most everybody isn’t looking to date which suits me just fine.

On the RV front, the Jacksonville RV was this last weekend and I decided not to go. I saw almost all of the new units for 2016 at the Tampa show and nothing really stood out as a serious contender. So I really don’t see a need to continue going to shows and wasting my time. Besides, it's a tank of gas, food, and a $10 entrance fee. Need to save every penny!

The truck is still hanging in there but not by much. The transmission is going and the paint is gone. So many things don’t work anymore that I’ve stopped bothering trying to fix them. As long as it goes that’s enough. I'm going to drive it until it drops dead. The new (used) truck doesn't get purchased for several months yet, so this one has to hang in there.

The latest catastrophe is my laptop died. I guess four years is too much to ask of a super el-cheapo laptop. It's a very low line Dell that I bought just to get me by. Well, it did that, but the hard drive has bit the dust. Good thing I have a rule that no personal information gets stored on the internal drive. I didn't lose a thing, all my stuff is on external USB drives. I need to decide now if I want to try to fix it or pitch it.

I did go ahead and order a new, very small desktop computer. I found out that work has a deal with Dell computer that allows employees to get a rather tasty discount and an even bigger one if I bought the same model that work buys. So why not? It’s not very powerful and for what I use it for it’s fine. I would much rather save the $$ right now anyway.

So that’s where everything is at right at the moment.

2016 is here!

Happy New Year to everyone who reads this mess!

It's cold and raining outside so I figured I may as well throw something into the blog. All my outdoors plans are effectively shot down anyway. Just to warn you, I very often will write my blog entries in Word and then transfer them over here after a few proofreads or re-writes. So if this entry has spelling or grammatical errors, I apologize. I'm doing this one from the hip.

I've had vacation since the Thursday before Christmas and I've been knocking items off my punch list steadily. Nothing earth shattering, just a lot of little tidbit items. I'm in super saving mode right now getting ready for the kitchen so I'm purposely not starting any big projects right now.

I spent a good bit of time emptying out all the closets and repainting them. I could have sworn that I had pretty much emptied them out some months ago but was totally shocked at how much 'stuff' was still in them. Well, they are empty now and will remain that way from now on.

The last chance table in the garage has a whole new fresh batch of stuff on it that's headed out.

I also spent a little time cleaning off my workbench. Again, it was amazing how much junk had accumulated. It's completely cleaned off at the moment but I don't think it will stay that way for very long.

I'm also coming to the end (Finally!) of ripping all those VHS video tapes into digital. That has to be the slowest process in the whole world. I have to play each one of those movies in the old VCR while a digital sampler records the audio and video. It's like watching grass grow! Some of those old tapes have deteriorated to the point where the quality is horrible and aren't worth the time. Next will be to rip all of my DVDs onto my hard drive.

I bought a 2 Terra-byte USB drive some time ago that I'm storing all my music and videos onto. It's big enough that I don't have to compress any of the files so I don't lose any quality. So now instead of having huge amounts of space taken up by VHS, DVD, CD, Blu-Ray, etc, it's all now on a drive roughly the size of a deck of playing cards and I back it up regularly.

So that's enough for now. I think I'll go tear out part of the kitchen.