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We are in the eighth month of our first full-time year and have decided to continue this lifestyle for the foreseeable future.  The sense of community we get from RV travel is ironically so much stronger than we have in our hometown, even though we love it there as well.  A big part of that is Happy Trails in Surprise, Arizona, where we plan to spend our winter months, probably Nov. to mid April, on our own lot.  The rest of the year will be traveling, visiting friends and relatives, and making sure we've seen at least some of every state in the U.S.  We've agreed to a 2-year lease of our home in Santa Barbara and will be selling or giving away furniture and moving our best stuff into storage.  Our home base will be South Dakota, which, as many other full-time RVers have found, is very friendly to the RV lifestyle.

Part of the decision is the economy, but we're awfully lucky to have this option to help in the balancing of our assets.  Renting the house means we have supplemental income.  But we might have done it anyway because it suits us so well.  Right now we're in Benson, Arizona, with a group of 12 other couples from Happy Trails.  We'll be enjoying the sites in southeastern Arizona for 5 days and the comaraderie of friends.  Hikes, caverns, museums and historical spots, antique shopping, happy hours at 4, card games, etc.  Then we'll return to Happy Trails and the busy schedule of pickleball, golf, bridge and other card playing, potlucks, etc.  The RV travelers who read this will understand what a delight it is to have those fun times and still have the comfort of your cozy home with you.  Others might think it's nuts, but we know....

Someday we won't be able to do this.  That's the thought that all of us share.  We acknowledge it without stress; it's just a fact.  But in the meantime we're living life fully.