This dream manifested itself decades ago, I just didn’t recognize it as my retirement dream until about more recently – 10-15 years.  I lived another lifelong dream which came to a sad end when an economic recession took it from me.  As I looked through old journals, I saw periodic references to travelling and seeing the USA, camping, visiting national parks.  At one point, I considered buying a small camping trailer since pitching and sleeping in tents was getting old.

Once the vision of this life clarified, and I knew it was how my retirement would begin.  I saw 3 basic steps to make it come true: work until 70 to maximize social security checks, save as much money as possible and buy a small, manageable motorhome in the year before I retire.  Here I am, beginning my adventure after following the plan.

After retiring on October 1, I went into sorting, donating and packing mode – aka “downsizing”.  The objective was to store all my belongings in minimal storage footage.  It took most of the month and in the end, I still had to rent a larger storage unit for my belongings.  I turned in the keys to my home of 11 years (a large apartment) and moved into my RV.  But before that I did meticulous planning with timelines and saved as much as I could to achieve my goal.  I have the notebook to prove it – down to who to send change of address notices too.

For the prior 2 ½ years, I attended RV shows – dodging salespeople and taking photos of rigs that appealed to me, making notes on the units and what I liked.  Then I put together a must/wants list (that business training paid off) and reviewed ads for over a year, learning prices, features and options.  Finally, I travelled farther north where there was more inventory of the size and type of rig I was looking for – and found my rig, made my purchase and experienced my first long drive in it in Seattle rush hour traffic!  Later I realized that this 24 ft Thor Coleman motorhome model was photographed many times when I was at the RV Shows. And it met 99% of my must/wants off on my checklist.

But preparation didn’t end there – I customized my rig with self-levelling jacks, blind spot cameras and a good sound system for driving.  I read the manuals and created my own set-up and close-down guides. I went to a friend’s house to practice backing up.  Then I did my first camp, not far from home on a flat pad and learned that the gray water tank fills quickly, which led to my first lesson on dump stations.

I took a long, multi-state trip and learned a little about trip planning, RV parks and practiced my hook-up skills.  By hook-ups, I mean water, power and sewage – no dating apps were required or used.  I got comfortable driving, filling it with gas and generally loved the experience of travelling in my own home, with Audy-wee keeping me company.