The Decision

So here we were with John unable to work and living only off from my disability check each month. We became totally unable to pay our mortgage on our house that we had taken the mortgage out on to get this all started. We were both depressed and getting extremely worried.

We had the $5000 from the sale/deal we made on the other house. The choices were limited. We could make 3 or 4 months payments on our home. We could pay down other bills we owed. Or we could make a decision that would change all of our lives but would keep us going in the future.

John and I had always dreamed of becoming Full Time RVers since we lived on the streets back in 1988. Over the last couple of years we had researched it and started planning for a time when we could achieve this dream. We had even made a plan. John would build and sell 5 houses and a little from each house would go in the bank to be our nestegg for this new lifestyle.

Now, however, things had changed. John couldn't build houses anymore. We were just months away from being homeless.

John had applied for social security disability but this can take a very long time and we weren't sure if we could hang on until that came through.

At first we simply held on to the money and kept talking about our options. For a while we even just shut down and couldn't do anything. Finally we decided that it was time. We would begin our search for a camper and move into it.

We talked to several of our friends. Our plan was to move the camper, once aquired, to one of our friend's houses and live behind them for the winter. Come spring we would re-evaluate and see what was next for us.

Our friend, Wayne, offered to let us stay there. He and his girlfriend needed the help and the situation would be beneficial to everyone.

We began our search. We looked in the local classifieds and in the Uncle Henry, which in Maine is a local magazine that people list all their items for sale in. We went to look at several different campers and RVs all over the state. We found one that we really wanted but the people wouldn't accept less than what they had listed and we did not have enough to buy it. So our search continued.

As the weeks passed we began to worry and I became very stressed. Finally one day we found 2 possibilities that we could afford and that looked promising. One was a 30' tagalong camper and the other was a 34' tagalong camper. The 34' was a very long distance from us but the person selling it would deliver it to us for an extra $400. John was not thrilled about this and insisted that I go look at the 30' before making the decision.

So we traveled an hour and a half away to look at the 30' camper. John, not wanting to deal with the one further away, immediately began to work on me. I wasn't thrilled with it but it was ok. John asked me if the guy would accept this really lowball offer, would I be ok with it. I of course didn't think this man would take this so I said sure. Well wouldn't you know it, the guy accepted it. So, this would be our camper, our home.

Our friend, Craig, got a truck and took us up to get the camper. We hauled it to our house and began the process of moving into it.