How We Decided To Sell EVERYthing and Live Full Time In Our RV!

“Destiny is what you are supposed to do in life. Fate is what kicks you in the ass to make you do it!” Henry Miller

We bought our first travel trailer on a lark! We had only camped a few times during our marriage and they weren’t remarkable experiences by any stretch of the imagination. But, a cousin of Christie’s had a trailer for sale and she was interested in it while I was not. I didn’t think it was a bad idea I just thought the timing was wrong!

To humor her we decided to rent a rig and go camping for our 32nd wedding anniversary to try it out and see whether we liked it or not. Then “the call” came! It was her cousin and he was trading in said travel trailer for a new rig and offered to sell it to us for what they were giving him for trade in! A travel trailer? At a wholesale price? Now I am interested!

We drove to the shining metropolis of Yoakum, Texas the morning of February 14th, 2019 to check it out. By the time we got there, a 2 hour drive from our home in Sugar Land, Texas we had talked ourselves into buying it “if” it was in good condition. And it was! So, we hooked up the 2014 Keystone Outback, all 33′ of her, and headed home.

We weren’t 100 yards down the country road from Brian’s place and we were already asking ourselves “what in the heck have we done”?! I had towed boats before but not 33′ of travel trailer! I look back and realize we were probably over weight for our Ford F-150 and we didn’t have sway control (another story altogether)! We had no idea what we were doing and even less of an idea as to what we had gotten ourselves into!

We went camping that weekend at Huntsville State Park and and the entire time it was cold, rainy and just plain nasty! And … we had a blast! We camped 6 out of the next 8 weekends and we were totally hooked. Somewhere around the 3 month mark we were camping at Lake Livingston State Park and I will never forget it! We were right on the water, the sun was setting, we were chatting and enjoying the last bit of a bottle of ASTI and Christie said “do you think we could live in this”?

I vividly remember saying to her … “you’re serious aren’t you”? And she replied “yes”! And I said “hell yes”! And that is how it all began! Over the next several months we began a process we use often and teach others in the marriage work we do. It uses the acronym IDEA and goes like this …

• I – Inspiration! This is the beginning where you are inspired by something and we were inspired!
• D – Discussion! In this phase we just talked a lot about it. And we talked about everything you can imagine. It is important in this phase to keep lines of communication open where every thought is valid and worthy of discussion!
• E – Education! Now we are in full learning mode and checking out every possible resource! We read blogs, watched countless hours of YouTube channels (thanks KYD and Changing Lanes … you guys are amazing!) and we estimate we went up and down the stairs of 100+ rigs looking for exactly what we wanted.
• A – Action! At some point it is important to take action to make the dream, or plan, a reality! Make no mistake, there was a ton of things for us to take action on and at times it was overwhelming!

We had to sell the rig we had, sell the truck we had, but a new rig, but a new truck, Christie retiring after 35 years at Memorial Hermann Hospital system, put the house on the market, sell the house (we wound up keeping it and renting it for the cashflow), sell everything we owned except what would fit in our new 430 sq ft 5th wheel and a 10×10 storage unit! And there were 100’s of other medium and small sized decisions that had to be made, things that had to be done and checklists that had to be checked off. I am not really sure how we got it all done but we did!

On Tuesday, June 2nd 2020 we parked our new Grand Design Momentum 399TH at Brazos Bend State Park (about a 20 minute drive from our home) and began the process of “moving in” as we prepared to head out on our full time journey! We spent 2 weeks getting her loaded and prepped with our stuff while tying up loose ends and saying by to friends before we left. On Tuesday, June 16th we hooked her up and headed out!

So far we have …

• Spent time in South Texas with Christie and her family
• Spent time in the Dallas Ft Worth area where our kids and grandkids live
• Took a 90 day round trip to Maine where we spent a month right outside of Bar Harbor where Christie got to check watching the leaves change off of her bucket list
• Attended a Grand Design owners rally in Myrtle Beach
• Both of us had to go through bouts with Covid … Jim’s was brutal while Christie’s was mild
• We have seen amazing places and found that every place we have been has its own brand of AMAZING!
• Met a ton of great people and ate way too much great food
• And much, much more we will try to cover in future blog posts!

So, here we are not even a year into our full time journey and here are the top 5 things we have learned:

1. Getting rid of all of our “stuff” wasn’t easy but it has been one of the best things we have ever done! There is a freedom that comes with that process that you can’t explain!
2. This is an amazing country we live in, with amazing things to see and do and above all … amazing people everywhere you go!
3. We are closer to each other than ever before, have a better relationship than ever before and we are both more content/happy than we have ever been!
4. We did lose a lot of things that were a big part of our lives before we made this transition. The one thing we haven’t been able to fully replace is our sense of community … our church, our friends and our many connections to where we lived for 35 years. We are being very intentional about making new friends everywhere we go, getting involved in activities that provide us with new connections (remind me to write a blog about Pickleball!) and staying in close touch with family and friends!
5. Most Important … this lifestyle isn’t for everyone but it sure suits us well!

If we can help or encourage you in your journey in any way please let us know. It would be a privilege to assist!

If you have any thoughts or questions please leave them in the comments below or reach out to us at info@teamjacobus.com We look forward to hearing from you!

Jim & Christie Jacobus