Note: This is an update on a blog about hanging up the keys that first ran in the blog in November, 2010.
The time comes for all fulltimers when illness, advancing age, changing interests, family needs, or some other reason causes us to make the decision to hang up the keys.
Some fulltime RVers enter the lifestyle knowing that they will only be traveling for a certain amount of time before they settle down, while others hope to travel forever, and only leave the road when forced to do so.
Over the years quite a few fulltimers or wannabes have asked me what our exit strategy is for when the day comes when we have to get off the road. Hopefully, Terry and I are a long way from reaching that point, but like most of our RVing friends, we know the time will eventually come. We don’t have a firm exit plan and hope to continue to travel as long as our health allows, but we have talked about what we will do at that time in our lives, and where we might want to live.
Before we hit the road, we lived in the little mountain town of Show Low, Arizona, and my daughter and her family still live near there. But neither of us likes Arizona enough to want to live in the state again.
We love being around water, we want a moderate climate, and we don’t want to be in a big city. However, we want to be close enough to the services we will need as we get older.
At one time we thought that the Rockport/Aransas Pass area of Texas might be it for us. We like the laid back small town atmosphere, it’s on the Gulf of Mexico with lots of opportunities for fishing and kayaking, and the cost of living is affordable. Because it’s only about 30 miles from Corpus Christi, there is easy access to any kind of shopping or medical services one could want or need.
But that was before we discovered Florida’s Space Coast. If we had to make a decision today, I think it would be Titusville, where Cape Canaveral is located. We like it for its small town Old Florida feel and abundant water sports opportunities, and it is close to major shopping and medical facilities, if needed. The cost of living is low and at this time it is a real estate buyer’s market.
Having had big houses, small houses, mobile homes, and just about every kind of dwelling available, we have both agreed that we don’t want to deal with all of the maintenance that goes along with another one. We’re comfortable living in the small space a motorhome offers and would be very happy to find a lot someplace and live out our days in our home on wheels or in a park model.
We know some fulltimers who have already purchased a lot someplace, in preparation for “the day,” whenever it comes. We almost bought a lot (actually three adjoining lots) in Aransas Pass a few years ago, but we felt like that would be the first string that started to tie us down, and we were not ready for that. We still aren’t. We worked hard to cut those strings so we could live the fulltime lifestyle. We worry that if we had a lot, we’d feel like we had to go back there every year, because why have it if we’re not going to use it?
Of course, if all goes well, I’ll follow my original exit plan, which is to bounce my last check, burn my last drop of diesel, and have a fatal heart attack, all on the same afternoon.
So what about you? Have you thought about what you’ll do when the time comes to hang up the keys? What are your plans?
Thought For The Day – No man was ever wise by chance.
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