No, it’s not the introductory line of a joke. Rather it is just my musing about how I can start out looking for one thing and find something entirely different. I suspect that this will happen a lot once we hit the road.

In this case Jett decided that I needed to find an RV driving course so that I wouldn’t run the rig, with us in it, off a cliff.  I can’t say that some professional training would be a waste.  I have already mentioned, I believe, my penchant for cutting right turns too closely even when driving normal, human-scale vehicles.  It is all too likely that I will do something incredibly stupid/dangerous in my first week on the road pulling a 40-foot coach behind our truck.  An accident early on (or anytime, for that matter) could destroy our plans.  Since the coach will be delivered to our campsite in NH for the summer 2012 season, my first time behind the wheel, coach in tow, would be our exit from the campground.  Out that narrow driveway and onto those narrow rural NH roads.  I would expect that our first stop would be the nearest large parking lot where I could spend an hour practicing some basic maneuvers, such as turning and backing up, assuming I could get us there safely.  But an hour in a parking lot really doesn’t compare, in terms of skills attained, to a full day or two with a seasoned instructor.

So I started to look for RV driving training.  What I learned fairly quickly is that there isn’t much available and what is available is in distant locales such as California and Texas – states that are on the other side of the Mississippi, for God’s sake!  Might as well be on Mars.  Do they even speak English there?

But along with the bad news about the dearth of training opportunities, Google served up an unexpected treasure: betterRVing.com. This is a web site which offers a free quarterly magazine, articles on RV parks and interesting destinations, RV tools, maintenance tips, traffic laws by state, recipes for RV potluck dinners and – the reason it appeared in my search results list – tips on RV driving. I browsed some of the articles and was impressed with how well-written and informative they were. Good photos, too. A real treasure which I highly recommend.

I have already printed four articles:

• “Connecting the Dots with Barney” – an article on how to turn without hitting anything (does that sound like something that is spot-on for me?)
• “The Best Work Camping Resource” – an article, with links, about working while on the road.
• “How to Find a Job While RVing” – similar, but broader, also with lots of links.
• “iRV” – a list of useful smartphone apps of particular interest to RVers.

I also plan on viewing the four-part video course on RV driving.

So I didn’t find that elusive RV driving training, but did find something that is nearly as valuable.  Less expensive, too.

Trading in a traditional life for a fulltime RV life can’t be done on a whim.  It will take a lot of work and planning to get there.  Giving ourselves a year to get it done seemed generous but now, three months later, I feel pressed for time.  I will talk about that “ToDo” list in some detail soon, but today I wrote about Steeles on Wheels, a book written by a couple who gave up a traditional life to go live fulltime in an RV.  Reading that book really helped me understand what I need to do to prepare.

I just got word that the owner of our intended RV is preparing it for the winter. While winter is never my favorite season, I think this one will be special. It may seem longer than usual because I am so anxious to get to March when I plan to complete the purchase and become an RV owner in fact and not just in fantasy. But, then again, it may seem shorter because I anticipate it being my last one with snow. Yeah, I might get an inch or two wherever I am, but no more 100-inch gut-punch winters. I think I may not mind the snow so much this year. Maybe this winter will be a three-month in-your-face victory lap.

But I was also a little surprised at the sense of ownership I already felt.  Why was he winterizing my RV?  Shouldn’t that be my job (and I made a note on my long list of “Things to Learn”: how to winterize an RV, just in case). Was I feeling jealous?

Hmmm… better have a chat with my therapist.

We are not yet fulltimers.  We are fulltimer wannabees.  We don’t even own an RV.  But we do have an option to purchase one – a 2010 Open Range 399BHS.  It sleeps 10.  Not that we ever want to have 10 people in it, but we do want to be able to take the grandkids for short periods of time.  The bunkroom can also serve as a doghouse when Jett is mad at me and a man cave when I want to watch football.  And it comes with 1.5 baths.  We are getting older and, the likelihood that both of us will need a bathroom at the same time is high now and will continue to grow. And two entrances!  A very nice unit.

We took the option because we have no place to store it for the winter, we really didn’t want to take on the expense of insuring it and it will be cheaper to tap our retirement fund next year (assuming it is still there… PLEASE, Greece, get your debt crisis under control!!!).

Anyway, fulltiming is still a fantasy at this point.  In recognition of that, I wrote a page describing some of my early fantasizing: “Fantasizing – 48 States in 48 Months”. Enjoy!