How It All Began
The Journey
"To finish the moment, to find the Journey's end in every stop of the road, to give the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Jack and Peg's Great Adventure," Part I
First, allow us to introduce ourselves. I'm Jack, a retired Navy chief and just now a retired high school chemistry/physics teacher. Peg is retiring from a 30-year career in federal service as a safety specialist for NAVOSH, which is the Department of the Navy's answer to OSHA.
We are currently residing in mid-coastal Maine with our son and family and our dogs. We soon will depart on our "Great Adventure" full-timing across the country, mostly the Southwest during the winter months.
The thought of buying a motorhome and going full-time started more than four years ago. It is one of those thoughts that just came to us out of the blue; at least it felt that way. We had seen around 7,500 coaches at an FMCA rally at Brunswick Naval Air Station about 10 years ago but really did not think about buying one. We were amazed, however, at what we saw.
My father-in-law has had a motorhome for a while and had been wintering over in Florida and then Texas through the years. So when we began thinking of at least wintering in a motor home we started researching them online, visiting the few dealers in our area, and visiting motor home owners who were camped near us at the local campgrounds.
We loved the friendliness of all the motor home owners we met and they were always happy to show us their rigs and answer our questions. We went to a few chapter rallies with my father-in-law and had a great time and, of course, looked at more motor homes and asked lots of questions. We also took the advice to buy our last motor home first.
Our search for a motor home ended surprisingly enough when I found it on the Internet and it was within a fairly short distance from our home. A private party was selling this 2005 Winnebago Journey 34H, which was in primo condition and had been babied. It was love at first sight. We loved the floor plan and the size was just what we wanted. After having the rig inspected by a Winnebago dealer, we bought it and have been wickedly happy ever since.
The hardest part has been getting rid of years of just plain stuff! When you start looking at all the stuff you have accumulated over the years it is just mind boggling! We are going to sell the house eventually, but for now we are renting it to our son and his family. With that said, all of our furniture is going, as well as our art work and everything else you can imagine under the sun!
We have lots and lots of just plain junk to sort through and a lifetime full of pictures/slides to sort through. I intend to scan all the pictures/slides and store them on flash drives so we still can have them but they will take up very little space. Space is the valuable resource when you are going from a house with over 2,000 square feet to a 350-square-foot motor home with a weight limit to worry about as well.
All and all, we have just about completed our downsizing and are moving our few possessions into the motorhome.
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