Something you might want to consider

We agreed when we got married that we would work hard 
and at the same time enjoy life to the best of our abilities.

We have lived by this rule for 60 years and without regret.

I worked as an Industrial Electrician and Instrumentation

Technician and June as a Banking Teller & Customer 

Service Rep. most of our working life. 

We moved from Maine to Florida when we were both 26 

years old with two children. (Smartest thing we ever did).

The 1st big fun time project we under-took was to buy an 

old 22 1/2 ft plywood home-made open boat with two 10 

year old 35 hp out board motors and a rusty boat trailer. 

That was a project that we enjoyed doing as a family. We 

put two 55hp homelite out board motors (did you know 

that homelite made out board motors? They did and darn 

good motors too). We  named the boat;"THE BUDGET BUSTER", and kept it at a marina in St. Petersburg on 

the Gulf of Mexico for most of the 17 years that we had it.

(That was cheaper than towing it 60 miles back and forth).

This is an idea you may wish to consider in order to 

avoid putting out too much money while trying to find 

the right type of RV that makes you comfortable( even 

if  you have definitely decided on a MotorHome.)

If you have never RV'ed before and I assume that you

have not, I want to tell you that in each type of "camper"

such as:MotorHome, Travel Trailer, or 5th Wheel 

Trailer, there are a lot of differences that you need to 

consider. One such  consideration is in towing a Travel 

Trailer or a 5th Wheel.On coming Semi Trucks do cause 

Travel Trailers to "fish-tail".Travel Trailers will  require 

"Sway Bars" on the tongue of the trailer as well as" load

 levelers".Always remember that you" MUST" have  10% 

of the trailer's"wet weight" on the bed of the truck or the 

"receiver" on a car or van. Weigh your RV with the  Van 

or Car on a truck scale, then subtract the weight of the 

Van or Car.

I will tell you this little story on myself to empathize the 
the need for making up your own "check-off lists !"You
 really need a check-off list for 'things to check before 
driving out onto the road  and another list for what to do 
when setting on a new site.'   

We had a had a 22 1/2 ft plywood Boat with two 55hp 
outboard Motors that I towed all over central Florida 
without any problems, except with my own stupidity.I 
had arrived at the "Sunshine Skyway Bridge" over 
Tampa Bay,(and that is a tall sucker), so I stopped to 
check out the connections and strapping holding the 
boat on the trailer and the trailer to the car,Evert thing 
was ok, except I had forgot to latch theboat to the trailer.
There is a good chance that the boat might have come off 
going up the bridge.(My gut was in  knots for a while 
after finding the loose cable).I wrote out a "check-off list 
for towing" that night.

Check-off lists are for what to do or check before 

you put your unit on the road and another list for 

what needs to be done when setting up on your site

....List every little stinking thing that you need to 

do or to check on, no matter how trivial. When setting 

up or breaking camp,your mind will be so full of every 

thing that is going on that its very easy to overlook the 
little things.

Two years before we retired, we bought a 29 1/2 ft 
Prowler Regal Travel Trailer. We didn't know if we 
would enjoy camping or not and we wanted to get  a 
little experience so we could give RVing a good try. 
We camped a few week ends locally to find out how 
to operate everything and the value of having a good 
check- off list to go by. From experience I can tell you 
that you should always set up camp & break camp 
using a check-off list.

You would be surprised how many simple little things 
you over look when you are busy making or breaking 
camp, like connecting the break-away switch to the trailer.
(this switch will lock all the brakes if the trailer breaks 
away from the (truck or car) or taking he corner jacks 
down before moving or even disconnecting the power 
cable and putting it away.

I MEAN, "ALWAYS USE A CHECK-OFF LIST"

Our first RV was a 29 ft Travel Trailer, which we had for 

about three years around Florida. We took our long trip 

up through Maine, where we came from, and camped out 

there for a month. We then went to Niagara Falls,  then 

across over into Canada, up to Sault Ste. Marie, over the 

International Bridge into Michigan and back into Florida. 

We traveled for seven months that year. Although we were 

comfortable in that RV. we got got it into our heads that 

we just had to have more room so we bought a 36 ft - 5th 

Wheel RV.(we looked at MotorHomes but concluded that 

they were too expensive for us).In retrospect,the 29 ft 

trailer would have been ok but the 5th wheel was larger 

and much more comfortable & we did enjoy it .Of course

we had to get a Ford 350 extended cab diesel pick up with 

dual rear wheels to support the RV hitch weight. (10% of

12,500 lbs = 1,250 lbs hitch weight on the bed of the truck).

The last year before we retired we took a two week 
vacation trip with our best friends to Key West, Florida. 
They were due to retire the next year and they were 
leaning towards getting a Motor Home which they did 
the following year.We had a great time in Key West 
checking every thing out.

 Mel Fisher has a couple of museum's with many  salvaged
 items from sunken Spanish Ships.


You could spend many hours just looking at these treasures.