Leaving New Jersey

We sold the house! We put our home on the market in October of last year and within a couple of weeks, we were under contract. We had been preparing for this for the past year but now our plan for our next chapter was beginning to get real. The house settlement was scheduled for December 16, 2024 and our realtor, Steve Kempton, was awesome. https://stevesellssouthjersey.com/ He arranged for us to come in and sign everything a day early so we could be home to take care of all the last minute packing that we needed to do the morning of settlement. There were a few minor hiccups on settlement day, which delayed the buyers scheduled signing time, but it was actually a blessing as it gave us an extra couple of hours to finish up, say our goodbyes and get out of the house. The truck was already loaded with all the fitness equipment we planned to bring along and the camper pretty much had everything else we thought we might need. Robyn made sure the RV would feel like home and I made sure we had gym equipment, tools, bourbon, beer and wine.

Time To Go

Waves of emotion hit us as we locked the front door for the last time. We were officially homeless, leaving behind family, friends and a fitness community we had built and loved. Not to mention the nervousness about pulling this 38ft fifth wheel for the first time with our “new” 2016 Ford F450 diesel dually. All of this was becoming pretty freaking real. Our neighbors Chip and Susan came over to say goodbye and he asked me if I was able to get out and practice driving the truck with the RV hitched up. I smiled and replied NOPE, this is our first attempt at this. His reply was spot on…”You’re F’ing Nuts…Good Luck”.

I thought getting out of the driveway was going to be a piece of cake.

That Didn’t Take Long

Hooking the RV up to the truck for the first time ever went smoother than anticipated. We followed the detailed checklist that Robyn created and actually felt like seasoned professionals. With the RV packed and the truck all hooked up it was time to pull out of our driveway. This was a bittersweet moment for sure and it took all of about 30 seconds for us to encounter our first “bump in the road” so to speak. Robyn was standing out in the road to make sure we were going to clear the driveway apron and the overhead branches while I pulled our new home out onto the road. I got the rear tires of the RV out of the driveway and started to straighten her out to head up the street when suddenly the brakes on the RV locked up. WTF may have come out of my mouth pretty loudly. I tried putting it in reverse, nothing, I tried going forward again and nothing, they were truly locked. I was almost completely blocking the road with my truck and RV and I was definitely starting to get nervous! Anyone who has pulled an RV probably knows exactly what happened, however I didn't have a clue why I could pull it all the way down the driveway just fine but now it wouldn’t move. It was just after 2pm, school buses would be coming down the street soon and I may have been freaking out just a bit. I was ready to just drag it in order to clear the street and get out of the way but Robyn kept calm and talked me out of it so we wouldn’t damage anything. She called Dustin, the previous owner, and he said to check the breakaway cable to make sure it didn’t wiggle loose. Problem solved! It apparently disengaged from the rig as I pulled out of the driveway causing the brakes to lock up. The breakaway cable is a safety mechanism that locks your RV brakes in the event your trailer becomes separated from your tow vehicle and we found out right away that ours works flawlessly. Now we know, check and recheck that connection before pulling out every time. The good news is that our problem was easily fixed. The bad news is that now we were both really stressed out and nervous about what else we didn't know and what might go wrong. I slowly pulled the rig to the side of the road and we just sat for a few minutes to regroup before we tried again. What felt like an hour of panic, in reality was more like a five minute delay. This would turn out to be just the first of many lessons we would learn over the first few months of RV Life.

Our New Home…2016 Ford F450 Diesel Dually with a 2021 Alliance 340RL

We Made It!

Our first stop was just 20 minutes away from the house that we just said goodbye to. We stayed at the KOA in Clarksboro, New Jersey. https://koa.com/campgrounds/philadelphia-south/ We reserved a pull thru site which made getting parked for the night so much easier. I still haven't had to back into a campsite with this monster. The RV had antifreeze in the waterlines since it was winter in NJ and we didn’t want the pipes to freeze, so that meant we couldn’t hook up to the water supply at the campground. So really, all we had to do to get set up after we unhitched was level the RV, plug in our 50 amp power cord, extend our slides and then turn on the electric fireplace and relax. Oh, and luckily our site was directly across from the bath house since we had a full refrigerator with a some cold beer waiting for us to open…Cheers!

We reserved two nights at this campground so we could have some time to decompress after the stress of the last few days (or maybe months) before heading a few hours down the road. This meant that the next morning I was able to set up up some of our gym equipment and get in a quick (cold) workout. We also ran some last minute errands that still needed to get done before we could hit the road for real. One of those stops was at the Deptford Mall and we got the best surprise when we ran into Matthew’s girlfriend Maddy. (Cue more tears.)

Time To Head South

Since we spent two nights just down the road from Mullica Hill, that meant that we had 6 days to get to our actual destination of Lavonia, Georgia so we could celebrate Christmas with my family (Hey, Robyn here doing some of the editing). We decided ahead of time that we were going to take it slow and only drive about 3 hours each day, finding campgrounds along the way to spend the night. Lots of people who RV limit the amount of driving they do in a day for safety and since this was brand new to us, we thought that was a great idea. It would give us a chance to practice hitching and unhitching the RV, plus, if you’ve ever been a passenger in a F450 dually, I’m sure you can understand not wanting to ride much more than that.

We stayed the next night in College Park, Maryland at the Cherry Hill Park Campground. https://www.cherryhillpark.com/ This place looked amazing with lots to do, however it was pretty empty and most of the amenities were closed for the winter. We’d like to try to hit this campground at some point in-season to really get to appreciate everything it has to offer. Unfortunately for us, it pretty much rained off and on the entire 20+ hours that we were there and we were NOT right across from the bath house at this one. Middle of the night bathroom trips were for sure the worst part of this stay. The best part, however, was that we had our first official guest on the road. Matthew was able to shoot over from DC to see our set up, have dinner and spend the night. It was so great just to hang out and catch up with him for a few hours but having to say goodbye to him in the morning brought on another round of tears. Leaving was so hard!

First Dive Bar

Our next overnight stop was in Virginia and let’s just say that you can’t win with every campground choice and the highlight of this stop was definitely Trapezuim Brewing. http://www.trapeziumbrewing.com/ This place was in an aged, warehouse looking brick building with a laid back taproom serving craft beers and pizza and it was actually anything but a dive bar. The inside had exposed brick and high ceilings which gave it an industrial feel. It also had an outdoor patio that’s probably hopping when it’s warmer out. Everything about this place was cool; the great food and drinks, the atmosphere, decor and chill vibe and the friendly service. We enjoyed it all and definitely plan to make it back again in our travels. Check it out if you are ever in or near Petersburg, Virginia.

When you’re retired you can beat the crowds

We Made It To Georgia

After one more stop at a great little campground in Linwood, NC, Cross Winds Family Campground, https://crosswindsfamilycampground.com/ we finally made it to Rock Springs RV Park in Lavonia Georgia, https://rockspringsrvpark.com/ We selected this place because it was just a few minutes from Greg and Susan’s lake house which is where the entire Rinkowski family was celebrating Christmas this year. The park itself was pretty newly built with nice level sites and a bath house and laundry room right across from where we were parked. Since we were going to be here for a few weeks, we were able to set up our outdoor gym and get in some good workouts. I'm not gonna lie, I thought it would be warmer in Georgia. Don’t get me wrong, it was warmer than New Jersey, but it was still freaking cold. I definitely wasn't expecting temperatures in the teens. What the hell. We were bundled up trying to exercise in the cold.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/560851286931597

Christmas in the south

Spending the holidays with our family in the south was great and something we have never done. It was difficult being away from our kids and family in NJ but we loved seeing everyone from South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. The most exciting news came from our son Brendan & his girlfriend Melania who facetimed us to tell us they got engaged. You hear it all the time but we honestly could not be happier for them. They truly seem to bring out the best in each other. Love them both!

Brendan & Melania Engagement Ring…More to come on this!!!!!!

Until Next time…

All of this happened our first two weeks on the road. I think it is safe to say that we have a lot to look forward to, and a lot to learn about living full time in an RV and traveling the country. Here’s to new experiences.

Cheers,

Brian & Robyn

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