OUR FUTURE HOME ON WHEELS

Coconut Creek, FL
11 feet above sea level
High 72°F / Low 52°F

So which model did we decide on and why?

To begin with, after exploring many travel trailer floorplans in previous years at the show, we decided rather quickly that we wanted a dedicated walk around queen sized bed.

Dedicated meaning you don't have to convert your dinette into your bed each time you want to go to sleep and back into a dinette when you wake up and want to eat breakfast. Walk around meaning you can easily enter the bed from both sides and not have to crawl over each other in the middle of the night if you feel the need to use the bathroom. We have always been comfortable in a queen sized bed, so no need for a king sized one now.

With that requirement we could eliminate all Airstream models under 27 feet and the 28 and 30 foot models were just to big for our style of camping. While technically there are some 23 and 25 foot models with walk around beds, one side is up against the back wall of the trailer and is barely passable. Also the storage space in the 23 and 25 footers is not quite large enough for full time living. So for us, 27 feet is our sweet spot!

Now that we have decided on a size and floorplan, which trim level do we like most. Let me just say all of the Airstream models are gorgeous and well thought out trailers. But for us the International series trailers are just too fancy and don't feel like home. There was the Eddie Bauer Edition trailer with the rear hatch door that we liked, but the interior was just a little to industrial looking even for our tastes. So for us, we went home from the show in 2016 with the Flying Cloud seeming like the best fit for us. Not surprisingly, we were told by our future salesperson, Scott Lafferty of RVOne Orlando, that the 27FBQ Flying Cloud is the most popular trailer in the entire lineup.

When we arrived at the show in 2017 everything changed. We walked in and what did we see? A new model Airstream with the rear hatch door that we love and an interior that fit us to a tee. The tee is for Tommy Bahama. It was only available in the 27 foot floorplan that we love and is damn near perfect. Let me preface this with the fact that at no time have either Tricia or I owned one single piece of Tommy Bahama merchandise. But the whole decor of the trailer was spot on to our tastes, with one exception, the wallpaper in the bathroom (you will see what I mean later on in photos after we take delivery).


One problem, it is significantly more expensive than the Flying Cloud model we were happy with just minutes ago. There are a few items that are standard equipment on the Tommy Bahama and not even available on the Flying Cloud. Upgraded top of the line appliances and faucets, power stabilizer jacks and the option of a power front awning. Let's not forget that rear hatch door!

We left the 2017 RV Supershow with a new dilemma, how are we going to afford this new dream home?

More on that in the next post!

Until next time
TWO PEAS
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NO TURNING BACK NOW

Coconut Creek, FL
11 feet above sea level
High 79°F / Low 70°F


This past weekend we made our annual trip to the Tampa RV Supershow, just like we have for the last five Januarys. Only this time it would be different in a big way. This year we weren't just shopping, we were buying!

The first two years (2013/14) of the shows we were considering several different types of RV's. Travel trailers, fifth wheels, Class B's and even some smaller Class A motorhomes. The first to be removed from consideration were the fifth wheels. They were just too large and too heavy, requiring a larger dual axle truck to pull it safely and the available floorplans just didn't appeal to us.

The next to go were the Class A's & B's. By the time you get one large enough to comfortably live in, it's too big to be your daily driver and a towed vehicle becomes necessary. That means you have two motorized vehicles to maintain and insure which can become expensive.

By our third trip to Tampa (2015) we had decided a travel trailer and regular sized pickup truck would suit us well. It seems like we looked at them all. We saw several that could work for us, but there was always the concern of how long will they last. After all we would be living in it everyday and towing it down many unpaved forest roads for years to come. It was on Sunday afternoon when we finally realized we needed to consider those bright, shiny and expensive Airstreams.

You can't miss them if you attend the RV show. When you enter through the main gate you are funneled into the main building and just inside the main door are the Airstreams. Now some years they were on the right hand side of the aisle and most recently they have been on the left hand side of the aisle, but always they are the first and last thing you see if you attend the show. I suspect this doesn't just happen by chance.

We spent several hours that Sunday afternoon looking through all the different sizes and floorplans. We would literally sit in each of the dinettes and watch all the people come and go through the trailers. Whenever there was a brief lull in the traffic we would get up and explore each trailer. Weighing the pros and cons of each floorplan we arrived at a favorite by the end of the day. Several times salesmen would approach us but when we explained we were just window shopping they would smile, nod and leave us alone, just like we hoped. We drove home that day knowing there was going to be an Airstream in our future.

Next post we will talk about which model we selected and why!

Until next time
TWO PEAS
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DECISION TO BECOME FULLTIMERS

Coconut Creek, FL
11 feet above sea level
High 71°F / Low 50°F

Sometime after we started living together, but before there was an engagement and subsequent marriage, Tricia and I began talking about what the ideal retirement life would be like for us. I remember there was talk of a small modest cabin style home in the woods somewhere other than Florida. I even went so far as to download some software that would allow us to design our “custom built cabin in the woods”. Of course the biggest question was where to build this home once it was designed. That I believe led to the idea of traveling full time to find that perfect piece of real estate to build our home.

We began reading many RV blogs and started discussing the potential of us becoming members of the full-timers community. We are both avid campers and presently own a micro sized (360 lb.) folding tent trailer, several cabin style tents and a backpack size tent. We pull the tent trailer with our tiny Honda Fit, which by the way is the vehicle we take on all our camping trips. With this equipment we have no problem going on extended weekend outings throughout Florida.

We have read blogs about couples successfully full-timing in tiny 16' fiberglass trailers, but a majority of people seem to be in larger 40' fifth wheels or motor homes. After carefully weighing out all the pros and cons on selecting a trailer size, we plan on falling somewhere in between. A 25-28’ travel trailer and a Ford F150 truck (with topper) for a tow vehicle appears to be "our sweet spot". We feel this size trailer would allow us to “get comfortable” and suit us well for the kind of traveling we plan to do.

Until next time
TWO PEAS
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WHERE WE GONNA GO?

Coconut Creek, FL
11 feet above sea level
High 68°F / Low 48°F


We have been reading many interesting blogs and have started a list of some must see locations that we probably would have not come across in any book or online travel guide. It’s fairly easy to create a list of national and state parks that you would like to visit, but until you are actually there, you may not be able to determine where is the most convenient place to park your home while trying to visit all of these wonderful sites.

Without reading all the blogs, we may never have heard of wintering in Quartzite, AZ or heard of all the great boondocking areas in the southwest United States.

In order to help determine where we will go in our travels we did recently purchase two books. The National Geographic Guide to the National Parks and the Guide to the State Parks of the United States. The national parks guide lists all the parks with great maps, photos and in depth information. We believe the state parks guide to be even more valuable, because it lists the top three or four parks in each state. We’ve also got an eye on a third Nat Geo book, The Scenic Highways & Byways of the United States, after all, the journey is half the adventure.


national statesscenic


Until next time
TWO PEAS
We encourage everyone to use the comment section below and if you wish to receive an email notice when there is a new blog entry for your review, please use the Subscribe widget at the top of the right hand column on every page.

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ONCE UPON A TIME…

Coconut Creek, FL
11 feet above sea level
High 79°F / Low 55°F




My childhood memories tell me that’s the way my parents (may they rest in peace) would begin telling their short bedtime stories to my brother and I. So that’s the way I’m going to start this story. However this will be different. It will be a looooong story. Months before we get to the actual beginning and perhaps decades before we get to know how it all ends.

It will be about our preparations to become full time RVer's, while we are still young enough to enjoy it, both physically and mentally. Check out the timer at top right corner of every page! This will countdown to our official launch date and then begin counting up to keep track of the length of time we are on the road as full-timers. We will not be making entries into this blog very frequently at first, until we actually hit the road. Although anytime we do something pertaining to getting on the road, we will keep you informed here.

First, a little bit about us, your storytellers. Tricia and I met in 2004 after joining the same Outdoor Adventure Club here in South Florida. The club mainly held weekend outings featuring a variety of activities (camping, backpacking, kayaking, hiking, bicycling and snorkeling to name a few). It wasn’t long before we noticed each of us were attending almost all of the outings, especially the camping and backpacking ones. We soon became “good outdoor friends” and after a year or so, extended our relationship to include a weekly dinner together after work. There was also the occasional weekend outdoor activity outside of the club, mostly summertime boat rides down the Intracostal Waterway aboard my 17’ power boat.

It remained that way for years, until early December of 2010, when we both found ourselves with the freedom and desire to pursue what a “romantic relationship” between the two of us might bring. After six years of “getting to know each other”, to neither one of our surprise, the relationship blossomed quite rapidly. I moved in with Tricia right after New Years Day of 2011 and by May of same year we were engaged to be married.

A short six months later, in November 2011, we invited eleven of our closest friends to come down to the Florida Keys, to witness our small outdoor wedding at The Lorelei Restaurant & Cabana Bar in Islamorada, FL. The ceremony took place at sunset on a small sandy beach in the outdoor seating area of the restaurant. We wrote our entire four minute ceremony (including vows) and right after the “I Do’s” we literally “took the plunge” by jumping into the warm Gulf of Mexico waters, all the way up to the tops of our ankles. You should have seen the faces on all of our guests, including the ceremony official, ‘cause we didn’t tell anyone of our plan to do so.

Until next time
TWO PEAS
We encourage everyone to use the comment section below and if you wish to receive an email notice when there is a new blog entry for your review, please use the Subscribe widget at the top of the right hand column on every page.

PLEASE NOTE: Feed Burner will first send you an email to verify that you wish to subscribe to TWO PEAS AND THE POD to which you must respond before you will receive notices.

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