Monday, February 3, 2014

Preparing for the Dream

We began dreaming of life on the road in 2010. At that time it was just that....a dream. We started reading blogs and forums and slowly preparing. We knew that Barb had to work until March of 2014 but from reading the forums it is never too early to prepare! We started downsizing, having 1-2 garage sales each year trying to minimize to the point where everything we own will fit in a 5th wheel still not know if we would be able to pull this off.

Our next big step was putting our house on the market in the summer of 2012. Being a lake home, we knew we had a narrow window to sell. We had lots of showings but did not sell it that summer. That fall/winter went to RV lots, RV shows and reviewed hundreds of models on line narrowing down which rig we would get if we were able to make this dream come true. In the winter of 2012 we traded in our old truck on a 2013 GMC Denali Duramax Diesel Dually. Four months later we ordered our 2014 Cardinal 3450RL.

In February of 2013 Jim was notified that after 30 years with the same company, his job was being eliminated. We took this as a positive sign and continued to prepare for March of 2014. We took delivery of our rig in April of 2013. So here we are with a our home, a new truck, trailer, and Jim losing his job!  Prime house selling time was approaching, we had to sell our house. Luckily Jim's position was extended until the first week of August. Finally, in late June we had offer and closed in late July.

Now homeless and Jim unemployed, we rented a friends lake house for the winter impatiently waiting for March to come. As of today, we are less then 5 weeks until Barb's retirement. This is one of the longest and coldest winters that we can remember and March cannot get here soon enough!

2 comments:

  1. Did they can him without a pension?

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    1. No, overall they were very fair. I received severance and will get my pension when I turn 55.

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