Actually–you can often work something out with fishing guides who might want an extra boat. My H has a fishing boat (deep sea fishing) and he’s letting a couple (they’re guides) use it for two months this summer. In exchange, they schedule him in for X number of fishing trips per month and they take care of the daily upkeep, etc. My H doesn’t go out every day when we are in town so this is a great arrangement for now. It pays for the marina where he keeps the boat.
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Both northern boys are in the direct path of the eclipse. The problem is it’s April and often cloudy at that time. The historical chance of it being sunny was around 40% if I recall correctly.
We’ll be heading to the desert in or toward TX. We saw the last one at Clemson and it was awesome, so the last thing I want to have happen is a cloudy day - or just clouds at the wrong time of day.
If the weather report looks better 7 days out, we can change our minds, of course. An RV allows one to be flexible and beats trying for expensive hotel lodging.
Hmm, my guy is a sailor, so it will be a larger sailboat than he has now - he just has a small one now - but I wonder if he might be able to do the same thing. I’d love it if many things could help pay for themselves. It’d stretch our own $$ considerably.
Before the sailboat we both want to do the Great Loop (Intercoastal/Mississippi loop) and that will work the best with a Trawler (so he tells me). That’s likely to be a purchase from someone else who did the same thing, then resell it when we’re done.
If taxes work out better to have rentals prior to our staying there longer, we have plenty on our Bucket List that we can fill the time with. In our travels we’ve seen/met older folks more or less backpacking the world too, and thought, “that could be us” (similar to college kids). We have plenty of countries left to see, including whole regions. Neither of us could afford it at that age, but we’ve had good investments during our working lives.
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Definitely! Sadly, I am the only one in the family that loves RVing, otherwise I would have bought one long ago.
I am certain you already know this, but obviously winter in colder areas can be an issue. We took our rental RV around Northern California in November (not cold at all), and then did one day/night in the Tahoe area. When we woke up the next morning, there was no running water in the rig. I was terrified, because the responsibility was on me to “winterize” the RV; otherwise, I would be liable for any burst pipes etc.
Luckily, it was just the fresh water hose that froze. It wasn’t honestly that cold, but I guess it did slightly dip below freezing overnight. I dodged an expensive bullet that time.
The other thing that I have noticed is that staying in the RV parks seems more expensive now than it used to be before the pandemic (which was also the last time we rented an RV). I don’t know if that’s actually the case, but perhaps it’s something worth considering.
Are you planning on getting a new or used RV? I understand that prices increased during the pandemic, but, since the family has vetoed the idea of buying one, I haven’t been all the diligent in examing the price trends.
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I’ll just mention this as another item to consider. I know a retired couple who travel 100% of the time. The bought a small tractor trailer cab without a sleeper cabin which they use to pull a large 5th wheel. They also have a small car that they park on a platform behind the driver’s compartment where the sleeper cabin would be in front of the the 5th wheel.
With the small car (think Mini or Smart car size), they never have unhitch the 5th wheel and it much more economical to get around locally from where they’re parked than driving the truck cab. They move from one campground to another, staying for weeks or occasionally several months at a time. They have a couple of campgrounds they return to year-after-year and have a PO boxes in nearby towns to receive mail.
IIRC, both drivers needed to get a tractor trailer driver’s license in order to drive their set-up.
They’ve been doing this for 10 years now and show no indication they’re going to give up their nomadic lifestyle any time soon.
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Good to mention it for anyone reading and getting ideas, but yep, growing up along the Canadian border and living in a place that gets cold winters, this is important for us.
As for buying, we’re looking at both used and new figuring out what we like, then probably at the end of summer, buying what we want.
It will be small though, because those can camp almost anywhere and are easy to drive. RV parks aren’t our thing. Nature is. We honestly don’t need or want a lot of stuff. When we travel now we each get a carry on and our backpacks, even when we’re gone for over a month. IF it’s a place where we’re going scuba diving or snorkeling, we’ll also have one suitcase for our fins, masks, and suits of choice, then rent the rest (if needed) where we go. If we’re tenting, besides our tent we’ll bring some basic cooking supplies and sleeping bags/thermarest pads.
All of that will fit into a Class B easily, esp since we won’t need the tent or sleeping bags.
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Why not keep the farm and lease or rent it? They aren’t making any more land. Use the income to short term rent.
I have friends that tried rentals. They pretty much quit. Too much much hassle and time suck. Especially when getting older.
My BFF who inherited multiple camps can hardly keep up. The only reason he keeps them is tradition and they’re in beautiful locations.
I also have a friend that’s living the nomad lifestyle. Work from anywhere made it possible. He loves it. I’m envious.
I grew up on a farmette. Couldn’t wait to leave. Now I can’t wait to go back.
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The buildings are quite old and a lot of upkeep is needed. Renters are unlikely to keep it up. The land could be easily rented, but the house was built in 1925 and only has one bathroom - hardly ideal for most renters to have old and 1 bath. Updating the place would take a lot of money itself. We haven’t felt the need for us to live here. A next owner could do what they wanted.
Talking with youngest (our farmer) and even he isn’t interested in the house, but could be in some of the land. There is one more subdivide right we could use if we wanted to.
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I would suggest you do that subdivide NOW before your town changes the rules…and yes, that can happen.
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H is very in with all the townships around us due to his job. There’s no plan on eliminating rights. Most want to add more. Our area is expanding a lot people-wise, it’s deep red, and folks see $$. Many are mad in nearby Gettysburg that a restaurant owner is relocating and sold his place to the NMP expanding its land. “Tax dollars lost!” It’s very common for agriculture zoned areas to get rezoned into commercial, industrial, and residential. Not much gets saved, even if it was formerly in Agricultural Preservation.
Losing what we came here for makes it easier to let go of the farm TBH. The area expanding as it is means it was a terrific investment - good for us I guess. As each place gets developed (and many are in the works), everywhere else goes up in price.
It is a nice area to live in. That’s what drew us here.
ETA: Right next to us people bought a place for a little under a million. By deed it’s not supposed to be developed in our area - only across the road. Guess what’s being challenged…
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I suspect there isn’t super strict zoning in rural Pennsylvania, though I could be wrong.
@Creekland may have protected her land with a conservation easement, limiting development.
(From a fellow rural farmer, who is on our Town’s Planning Board)
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We’re zoned agricultural preservation. It limits the amounts of sub divides to less, but not none. We’ve already sold some off to our neighbors in the past. We have one left. But that’s today.
As long as we’re living here, we’re keeping all the rest barring one of our kids wanting a section. We like our space to roam. With or without a subdividable lot left, our place is desirable even if the next owners opt to tear down our home and build new (quite likely).
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