How we made our adventure - Part 3

 

En-route to Florida, First Trek

Part 3 - Our shakedown trek

After the purchase we had  barely arrived at our condo and I was watching the weather reports. A nasty week-long winter storm was descending  upon us.  I decided "We don't have to be here for that!" and sprang into action. I had a work break and vacation time to use. G also had time available. I declared "We are heading to Florida".

I think G thought I was out of my mind, but I ran to the local Ace Hardware, purchased some basic, necessary stuff to outfit the RV while G packed canned and dry goods and basics for the 5 cu. ft. refrigerator. We quickly packed clothes, I retrieved the Roadtrek and we left that very afternoon, December 6, 2013. We headed to Florida. We got to southern Indiana before the rapidly approaching storm overtook us.  We spent the night at a rest stop, I started the Onan generator and the propane furnace.  It was ugly outside, but we were fine.  The next morning after clearing the windows I snapped this photo as we prepared to continue on our way.

Dawn after spending the night in a Rest Area

It wasn't all that long and we arrived in Florida.

One of the smallest rigs, plenty of room at our site

We settled in and visited relatives in Sarasota

That was our first adventure and our "shakedown" trek. Several weeks after leaving the north we were back at the condo. Success!  We returned to our day jobs and began thinking about the when and how of the next step. We had a plan and the Roadtrek was our passport.  

The value of a "long term" perspective

After the children left for college, and in view of my frequent business travel, it became apparent that a traditional sticks and bricks home was not ideal.  We had been living in an apartment and saving money. We wanted something more permanent for the next 20 years while we worked toward retirement. A small condominium would be ideal. It would require minimal care, I could conduct my business travel and G would not have to deal with exterior maintenance. In other words, we could focus on work and retirement planning.

When the time came for "retirement" having a condo would allow extensive travel and we would not be concerned by a vacant abode.  

More than a decade after purchasing the condo we rented a RV as we prepared for the next chapter in our lives. It is the plan to eventually rent or sell the condo. That day will come soon.

When we began pursuing our RV goal in earnest, we did so with a 10 year perspective. In other words, all purchases would be for using or living or whatever for at least 10 years. This was to have the potential for a 30 year adventure.

One question we would ask ourselves when considering a location or the Roadtrek purchase was "Can we see ourselves here or doing this 10 years from now?" Another was "Can our budget afford this for 10 years, or more?"

The flip side is, if we made a purchase then we considered amortizing it and the opportunity cost.  In other words if a used  Travel Trailer was purchased for $10,000 we would view that as a $1,000 annual budget cost each year for a period of 10 years.

Each step was evaluated for pros and cons. We approached everything this way.  So, when we considered leases for our RV  "Lily Pads" that too was to be a long term venture.

Next - Part 4 Discovering the "Lily Pads"

Original material http://roadtrek210.blogspot.com/