Have you ever felt like the universe has aligned all the planets just for you to have everything fall into place? That’s what these past few months have felt like for me.
We decided to buy an RV and go full time in September of last fall. From the moment that Brian asked if I’d be willing to try this lifestyle, it seemed to fit. Unlike living on a boat, RV living offered me the option to get out, go for walks, find grocery stores, and I’m a confident driver having over thirty years of experience driving on land versus the limited number of hours that I had helmed the boat. From the beginning, it felt authentic for me. There were many questions on when we would purchase, when we would sell our house, when I would change careers to work in a career where I would be 100% from a home office, etc. The only thing that we had figured out was that we would someday in the next five years, live full-time in an RV.
Research began. Brian needed a car and researched cars that we could tow behind an RV. He researched RV manufacturers, and we took a vacation to visit production facilities in Indiana and Mississippi to see how they compared for construction. We discussed timing, watched YouTube videos of others who have gone full-time, attended RV trade shows, and we dreamed.
Thanksgiving arrived, and pending changes to double my sales territory announced for the New Year had me depressed. Brian offered me an out – we could go full-time sooner than later and financially be ok. “Really???,” I asked. “Yes,” he assured me. We discussed our options, reviewed budgets, and watched more videos. Christmas came, and in the week before the New Year, we purchased our RV.
Knowing that there was an end in sight for my job allowed me mentally to get through my national sales meeting and the first few months of my new job. Brian and I continued to discuss timing. Every weekend, I had a project to prepare our house for sale. I cleaned out closets, organized linens, cleaned under sinks, etc.
At the end of February, we met with real estate agents to discuss the sale of our house. When should we list? How would showing the house impact Brian’s working from home? At what price should we list? We made lots of decisions with the guidance of our agent and prepared to list our house on Friday, March 22 – the day we left for a week-long vacation.
Bags were packed, and the house (carpets, windows, cupboards, closets, etc.) was clean. Vacation began. By Monday the 25th, we knew we had multiple offers on our house. By Tuesday night, we had the offers, and by Wednesday, we signed and accepted an offer. Our house had sold in 4 days for more than the asking price!!! We agreed to an April 30 closing and would have until May 14th to vacate the house rent-free.
We returned home from vacation at the end of the month. Our only minor inconvenience was having to leave the house on the day of the inspection. The inspection went very smoothly with future owners asking to purchase some of our furniture. “Happily,” we said and offered a price.
On April 1, I submitted my letter of resignation and finalized my last day with my employer for April 30th.
We arranged meetings with estate sales companies for the week after our return. We ultimately chose one that we were comfortable with and for which we had enough stuff to sell. We enlisted the company to host our moving sale on May 3 & 4. The sale meant we needed to be out of the house by Monday, April 29th.
On Saturday, April 6th, we attended the Commodore’s Ball for the yacht club where we kept our boat. It was bittersweet as we had listed the boat with a broker shortly before leaving for vacation and knew this would be one of the last times that we would see many of the people attending the Ball. Exciting news of our future made it easier than it would be if we had been selling the boat without this news. Plus, there was no telling how long it would take to sell the boat as there hadn’t been any interest at that point. Two days later, we received an email from friends and fellow members of the club expressing their interest in buying our boat and asking about the price. We negotiated a price quite quickly, and on Saturday the 13th, we met them at the boat to officially show them around and accept their offer pending marine survey.
Boxes were packed. Announcements made. Work was busy trying to make sure that all was lined up for whoever assumed my role. We drove the RV from our storage parking space to our house & back on both April 20th and 21st. We loaded some things into the storage bays and onto the RV itself. We packed more boxes. On Saturday, April 27th, we moved the RV from storage to Clearwater Campground in Ortonville. We made two trips to the house and back with boxes, bags and suitcases. We thought we were in good shape for a relatively easy day on Sunday. We loaded both cars up Sunday morning but there was more. Another trip back to the house for some things, the last load arrived at 5:45 p.m. with all the unpacking to go.
“I’ll make the bed if you’ll get the water system working so we can have toilets,” I said to Brian. The simple things in life needed priority. We managed to have a walkway, a bed to sleep in, toothbrushes to use, and water for toilet flushing. Amongst the stacks of boxes, we ate pizza and drank Champagne toasting our new home. That night, we slept the sleep of those who had worked a very long and hard day.
Tuesday, April 30th was a BIG day. It marked my last day at my job, the closing of our house, and the survey for the boat. All went off without issue. Including a very nice visit with the couple who purchased our house. Back at the RV, we toasted these momentous events with more Champagne.
The estate sale on May 3 & 4 resulted in more sales than we had expected despite all the items that remained unsold when I returned to the house on May 6. A charity would be picking all items left the following day. On May 4, we met our friends and now new owners of our boat to take the last of the items we wanted from the boat and to officially hand things over to them. On May 9th, we made our final stop at the house to pick up the last few things, confirmed that the items that were staying with the house were, in fact, there, and turned over the keys for the new owners.
Since May 10th, we are down to the RV and the Jeep Patriot. Since May 11th, we are unpacked and fairly well-organized. And yes, it has been a tremendous amount of effort in the past six months to get to this point. But we have had great fortune in selling our house and boat quickly, in selling to people who we like and who we hope will enjoy these things as much or more than we have, in finding the motorhome that we purchased only a few hours from our house, even in having my job change providing an excuse for making the changes that we have made. A prayer learned from a wise woman which we frequently exclaimed over these past few months, “Thank you Lord and keep it coming!” We hope to continue with frequency this prayer in the months and years ahead. It seems that the planets aligned, and all is coming together for us to be On the Road of Adventure!
