Doug and 
Carol Simpson formerly from Virginia Beach, VA. We have been RVing since October 2001, starting off with a 27' travel trailer with no slides. We used that RV for weekend trips and vacations. In 2003, we sold the travel trailer, bought a Cedar Creek fifthwheel, retired, and hit the road. During the next 5 years, we spent the winters somewhere warm, usually in Florida or Texas. During the summer, we were on the road again. In the spring and fall, we were at home taking care of the things that homeowers must deal with - yard work and minor home repairs. Since we were gone most of the year, we began to seriously consider going fulltime so we purchased a new Hitchhiker fifthwheel. We then sold our house July 10, 2009 and became fulltimers.
After a 23 year career, I retired from the US Navy in 1986 as an E-9 and then spent the next 16 years with a systems engineering firm working with the Navy and Coast Guard. Carol spent 20 years as a bookkeeper. Over the years, we saved enough to pay off the mortgage and autos and buy our RV. With my military pension, we were able to pay the remaining bills and finance our RV travels.
During the last 5 years of home ownership, we were paying an average of $700 a month to maintain our home and pay operating expenses. That didn't include a mortgage payment because we paid that off in 2002. Now that the home has been sold, that $700 will pay for a large part of our campground fees and fuel expenses.
When we began RVing back in 2001, little did we realize that it would expand beyond the occassional weekend or vaction trip. But both of us fell in love with the freedom of being on the road - we are vagabonds at heart. We have seen a lot of this beautiful country and met a lot of new friends.
