We have decided to get a jump start on packing up the things in our house.  Yesterday and today we spent some time getting some electronics and kitchen stuff in boxes.  We hope to do a little bit everyday for the next week or two.  As we go through everything we are seperating out what will go into our new home and what will be put in storage.  So far, no major compromises have had to be made:)  If you will remember from an earlier post, we have already removed at least 30% of everything in our home.  That is making the process now much easier. We are hoping to have a yard sell in March to get rid of the items we don’t want to put in storage.

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I must say that I never thought that looking for our RV to travel in would be such a time consuming process.  I have not posted lately because I have been so business trying to find a new home for our family to live in for the next year or so.  Here is what has happened so far.

The beginning of this month we really started researching the type of RV we would need to live in.  Not all RV’s are created equal.  There are cheap ones that are good for a few weekends a year and there are good ones that are built for full-time living.  Since we planned to live in this unit for an extended time it had to be build with good quality.  So things like insulation, cabinet quality, heated tanks, durable structure, storage, tank size, and other key features are very important.

Fifth Wheel vs Motorhome

Our original thought was that we would purchase a 5th wheel camper and a large F350 truck.  This is the least expensive option of the two.  Many families live in 5th wheels while traveling since it is less expensive than a motorhome and often offers different floor plans that you can not get in a motorhome.  One really nice feature of a 5th wheel is the ability to get a kids room with bunks.  This way you can send the kids to their room when they get on your nerves.  Fifth wheels are good if you are going to stay in the same place for several weeks or months.  If you are going to be traveling more often then typically a motorhome is a better option.

A motorhome is simply more convenient.  The kids can move around the motorhome during travel and it is easier to setup/breakdown at campsites.  Want to have lunch, just pull over on the side of the road and cook a full meal.  Arrive at your campsite in the pouring rain, just flip on the generator and stay inside.  While motorhomes are more expensive it can make the travel a little nicer.

What to Buy

The decision on what to do has been very tough.  We have gone back and fourth for a while now.  The good thing is that with the poor economy RV dealers are suffering and must sell units.  Pricing on RV’s is as low as it has ever been and this is the best time to buy.  There are some really great deals out there for those that shop around.  Most important for us is getting a RV that will be comfortable and meet the needs of our family for an extended time.

The Decision

We hope to have a final decision within the next week.  When this is purchased then everything starts to jump into high gear.

The Next Step

After the RV is purchased we then need to get our house on the Rental market.  We have decided not to sell our home as the market is terrible and we feel we can get more for it in a couple years.  We also need to sell our Van and Truck since neither of these will work for us.  We actually hope to be out of our house by March/April to start getting rental income to offset the cost of the RV and pay the mortgage.

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We have been waiting until the new year to really start “stressing” over leaving in June.  There is so much to do in what seems to be a short time.  Here is a quick list of our main priorities:

Business Organization

The biggest challenge we have in the next 5 months is getting our business to run without us being physically present.  We feel that we can run things pretty well remotely but we have never done it for more than about 2 weeks at a time.  We are however, very fortunate to have good employees that I hope will pull together to make things go smoothly.  We will work on procedures and training to hopefully make things go “as planned”. I have thoughts of Murphy’s Law in my head:)

Sell or Rent?  That is the Question

We have been in our house for over 5 years now.  We like the house and it is the perfect size.  But, we don’t want to deal with it (or pay for it) while we are gone.  Therefore, we need to either sell it or rent it (through a property management company).  We have spent an enormous amount of time trying to get it ready.  We need to decide in the next week to get one of the two options in motion.

Sell Old Camper and Purchase New One

Our current 29′ camper just is not going to be big enough for our travels.  So we are on the hunt for a different one.  Our plans are to go with a 5th Wheel around 34′ to 38′ long.  We have decided to find a bunk model to give the kids their own room.  A second bathroom and washer/dryer hookups are also high on the list.  There are so many models out there that finding the right one is very time consuming.  We will most likely go with something around 1-3 years old. FYI, RV’s loose 50% of their value in the first 5 years so buying new is usually not a great idea.

Sell Old Truck and Purchase New One

Our current Nissan Titan will not pull a large 5th wheel camper.  So we are looking at much larger trucks like the Ford F350 which can tow around 15,000 lbs.  Once again we will be looking a truck a few years old.

What Goes and What Stays

We have probably removed at least 30%-40% of the stuff in our home (excluding furniture).  We will need to daily make decisions of what is really needed and what is not.  Only things that get used daily or weekly will be able to go with us.  Everything else must go!

Roadschooling Preparation

Homeschooling on the road is called “Roadschooling” if you did not already know.  So we will be working to get our curriculum together for next years schooling.  We home schooled Zachary for his Kindergarten year so we know some about the homeschooling process.

These are just a few of the things we have to tackle in the next 5 months.  If you have any ideas or comments that may help us please post them below.  Wish us luck!!

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