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Courtesy of Chris Mott
I'd spent years as an executive in Southern California, and I had a retirement plan in place for quite some time.
I planned to work until I was 65 or 70, sell my big house, downsize, and live off the proceeds of the sale, as well as draw our retirement income. I'd definitely do some gardening and catch up on a lot of television — maybe my wife and I would travel or move closer to my son.
Then, life happened. When my son came off active duty, he and his wife settled in Vancouver, Washington. Shortly thereafter, our granddaughter arrived.
Once I saw the smile on my wife's face when she held that baby, I knew everything going to change.
My vision for retirement did not include living in an RV or moving to Washington state. But life — and my wife — had other plans for me.
In 2022, at age 57, I did both.
Courtesy of Chris Mott
Once we had our RV, we built a pad on the side of my son's half-acre property, ran utilities out to it, and built a fence around the side yard to create our own space.
My son's house was a fixer-upper, so we helped out with all sorts of projects to help the kids make it their dream home. And, of course, we spent lots of time playing with the baby.
About every three or four weeks, we'd head out with our trailer for short one- or two-week trips around Washington and Oregon.
It was a lot of fun, but after 14 months of living with the kids, helping with construction projects, and watching the baby grow, my wife and I hit the road.
We cruised around central and Southern California, revisiting campgrounds we'd been to in the past and seeing family and friends.
We had the kids fly down in December for a Disneyland vacation. From there, we headed toward Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Nevada.
We watched the sun set over Lake Havasu, visited the UFO Museum in Roswell, showered in a natural warm spring in Nevada, and saw Bison poop in our campsite in Texas.
After six months on the road, we returned to Vancouver in time for our granddaughters' third birthday.
Courtesy of Chris Mott
So far, we've spent over $150,000 on our 30-foot Fifth-Wheel trailer by Grand Design, truck, hitch, accessories, and customizations.
Our expenses average about $3,000 a month, about half of what we paid when we owned a home.
This includes gas, groceries, dining out, campground fees, Starlink internet, cellphone and streaming subscriptions, maintenance, and household items.
When we're back on my son's property, our expenses for gas and camping are far lower, but we spend a lot of the money we'd save on the kids — buying gifts for our granddaughter and treating the family to dinner out.
Our investment portfolio covers all of these expenses, which is great because I'm too young to draw any retirement benefits.
My wife wants me to officially retire and take Social Security at 62, but I want to wait until 70. I've committed to traveling for at least five years since I don't necessarily need to work but I'd kind of like to.
For now, we have time and money to both travel and spend time with family. We'll figure out the other details later.
