After 100 plus days of self imposed torture we are finally under contract to sell our home. Bittersweet is probably the only way to describe our feelings.

We have many moments of excitement thinking about getting back on the road. I’m sure once that happens we will enjoy every minute of it as we did before. Right now those moments are typically followed by the disappointment and stress.

This entire process has taken a toll, but it’s just something we need to work through. Once we get it all sorted out we certain we can get back to enjoying life on the road as we did before.

We are still very early in the process and have the customary hurdles to clear. Until that happens it’s difficult to feel comfortable this transaction will get done. For now, we are in a holding pattern while the process runs its course. The last thing we need is to start incurring expenses only to have this fall through so we will continue to be patient until we are in the clear.

Once we get the formalities behind us the real work will begin. We have a laundry list of items to tackle on both ends. If the timeframe holds there will be no time to waste. We don’t have any help close by so we will need every minute to meet the deadline.

At the top of the list is obviously moving everything out of our house. Unlike our first go round we are not selling everything we own. We just spent two years buying household goods and furniture so we are keeping almost everything and putting it in storage. It’s an additional expense, but that’s a chance we are going to take.

Then we need to think about the things that we require for full-time RV living. So while we are moving out of our house we will also need purchase the necessary equipment and get some services set up.

Thankfully our RV is pre wired and prepped for mounting Starlink on the roof. This makes our internet decision an easy one. We used T-Mobile home internet on the road previously and it worked well in most locations. However, this time we plan to do more remote camping so satellite is definitely the better option. Cell service can get sketchy in remote areas and we would like to have that extra level of security.

Our new RV is half the size of our old mobile mansion RV. As such, we will need to be very selective when loading it. Not only do we have limited storage space we also need to be conscious of how much weight we are adding because we will be towing our Jeep. The last thing we want is to exceed the total weight limit of our rig and cause a safety issue. So there is only so much we will be able to take with us and the rest will go into storage.

Finally, we are going to have a lot of prep work to do. We kept a lot of our RV supples and gadgets in anticipation of traveling again. We will need to go through and make sure everything is still usable and get it cleaned up. I will also need to install the Starlink system and set up our satellite TV before we get going. Both should be pretty simple and not take a lot of time.

Most importantly, I will need to do a full check up on the RV just to make sure everything is safe for the road. It’s a new RV and there shouldn’t be anything to worry about, but you never know.

When living full-time in an RV it’s always good to make a habit of doing a safety check every time you get ready to hit the road. Weather and animals can do a number on things like tires and the wiring on your vehicle or RV. One of our work-camping friends had a squirrel eat the entire wiring harness on his truck over winter. That cost them a lot of time and money.

The last thing we want is to have something break the second we get on the interstate. I would rather take the time to go over everything before we leave our campsite in case we are forced to stay. Luckily for us we have done this before so we know what we are doing.

The one positive is that we are in a much better position than we were the first time we went full-time in 2021. When we left California to become South Dakota residents it took a few months to get situated. We had to go to South Dakota to establish a domicile address, register vehicles and get drivers licenses. Driving to South Dakota in spring was an adventure in and of itself.

Thankfully, Texas is one of a handful of full-time friendly states. Since we are already Texas residents most of the leg work is already done. That saves us time, money and travel. The only thing we will need to set up is a domicile address which is an easy process.

We still need to figure out what the heck we are going to do once we hit the road. We talked about a few options over the last couple of months. But, without knowing when our house would sell there was no reason for us to plan anything. The later it gets into the year we got the more limited our options become. What we were considering in June is much different than what we will be able to do now that we are looking at October.

Now that we have a clear timeframe we can start figuring things out. We will probably head west to see friends and family. After that we need to figure out how and where we want to ride out the winter months.

Unlike our last adventure we are not looking to sit idle for the entire winter. With work camping off the table and more financial flexibility we will have the freedom to be more active. We would like to travel all winter long and visit friends who overwinter in different places.

We will probably try to stay a couple of weeks at a time in each location. We could extend that to a month if it’s a great place. We definitely don’t want to be in one place more than a month at a time. Unless that place is near our son.

So that’s where we are at. Progress is being made and our patience might finally be paying off. Fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly so we can put this ordeal behind us and get back to happy living again.

Out with the new, In with the old.

Just when you think you have it all figured out a new adventure begins. This time our new adventure is the same as our old adventure. It’s just going to be a more compact version.

Thanks as always for reading our blog.

Happy Trails,

Joe