Hi there - we are already committed to our course of action but I am curious to see this community's thoughts on how we have decided to spend the last year of our 20's. Some quick stats: we recently quit our jobs (~$125K income combined), sold our house (broke even after four years of ownership - came out on first time homebuyer tax credit and renting out bedrooms), purchased a slide in camper (2004 Okanagan 80W, $9K) and a truck (2008 F250, 118Kmiles, 6 month warranty, $15K) to move it. Our goal is to spend a year on the road, and a month into it we have spent time exploring the White Mountains of NH, the Adirondacks in upstate NY, and after a brief visit to RI for a wedding we are heading up the coast of Maine to explore the Canadian maritime.
We converged on the Truck Camper method of traveling after a long and exhaustive process of elimination. One major constraint was that we have a dog to consider - yes, a luxury, but not an optional one as I am afraid we love the goofy hairy creature. Therefore we needed a vehicle with room for her, hence an extended cab pickup. We wanted the comfort of our own space combined with all-terrain capability and ability to park almost anywhere - hence eliminating the RV or trailer option. While we are both enthusiastic hikers and campers, we decided not to rely on tents because at the end of the day we are doing this for a year and we want some place to call home, however small it is. So, while we have invested a substantial $25K in the truck / camper combination, I believe that at the end of this trip we will be able to get most of our money back (3/4 and 1 ton pickups hold value well). The hardest thing to get over was the gas mileage - having traded in my beloved 2004 Accord (the only car I had ever owned) and its' 34 mpg, it is tough to now get only 13 mpg. However, we budgeted for this and everything else we could think of and have deemed the cost acceptable.
Does anyone have any thoughts, criticisms, advice to offer us? So far we have camped at trail heads and Walmarts but are looking for ways to find nice people to let us stay in their pastures or driveways with only occasional rental campsites to recharge and dump the black water tank. I am very curious to see what this community thinks of our plans. We have been big fans of MMM and you have all inspired us to tackle this 'Pretirement' project.