We are Russ and Debbie Davis and our yellow Lab, Emmi, from Zanesville, Ohio. We are fifty-somethings and have been married for twenty years this fall and have a great combined family from previous marriages.
Debbie has two daughters, Stephanie, 39 an RN working towards her Masters and Nurse practioner, married and three great kids in Pataskala, Ohio, and Chrissy, 24 finishing up her Doctorate in Physical Therapy at the University of South Alabama.
I have two kids, Heather, 34 married, two great kids and is a Performance Analyst training lenders for Chase Financials in Jacksonville living in St.Augustine, Fla., and our son, Clint, 28 married two kids, one on the way in August, serving our country in the United States Coast Guard for ten years. He is being transferred to Hawaii in June, so I bet Mamaw will just have to book us a flight out there soon!
We have been avid travelers in all kinds of motorhomes for years on vacations and have been working towards the full-time lifestyle by researching and studying other folks who have taken to the road long before us. Joining Escapees Camping Club was probably one of the best things we did, years ago, to gain invaluable knowledge of what to expect once taking the plunge.
As for the rig we settled on, I have always drove semi-truck of and on with all of my work experience so I wanted a motorhome that was dependable, safe and comfortable. I am familiar with the mechanical aspect of how a big rig operates and do alot of my own maintenance, although I realize out on the road, I won't be able to do as much as I used to, I will know what to look for and who is trying to take advantage when a problem occurs, so that should be helpful.
When we found "Bigfoot", we started thinking of a name for her and Deb said,"if you look at her, from a distance, she kind of looks like a big foot cut off at the ankle", well we sometimes like watching the series "Finding Bigfoot" on TV and there are supposedly several sightings in our area of Southeast Ohio of the famous Sasquatch, even though we personally have never been introduced, so the name stuck in an instant! With the new 3m wrap out on the market today, I suggested that we get her wrapped to look like a big hairy foot, but as you can see, I was out voted 1-1 on that one with Deb being the deciding ty-breaker.
Our traveling companion, and fur child, Emmi Lou, is an eleven year old Yellow Labrador Retriever. She is a great dog, very gentle, and when Bigfoot fires up her 500 hp diesel, she is the one most excited to see where we are headed to next! She can't wait to get in her perch between us in the cockpit and feel the purr of the engine that calms her to sleep in the first ten miles! In her younger days, and mine, she was a really good Pheasant hunter and loved to swim. I even trained her to dock jump and she won first place one year at the local State Park competition! She still perks up when you ask her if she wants to go swimmin' in the river here at the house.
Our home, for the past eight years, is a nice little acre set on the Muskingum River just north of Zanesville. It is a newer ranch home with great views of the boats lazily cruising the river on a sunny day. We had rental properties the last few years to supplement our incomes, but decided to downsize to just this house and that way we could unburden ourselves to be free to travel. A few months ago, we decided we were ready to take the plunge, as our five year plan was maturing quite well, and we listed the house 'for sale by owner' with a price we thought, if it sold for that or close to it, we would load up Bigfoot and go! Well after several months of lookers, guess what, we have a contract and a qualified buyer and are to close by the end of May! We have been busy sorting out the junk we had accumulated and having the yard sales to burden someone else with our wonderful things that they think they just have to have! The nice thing about the buyer is, he is a younger chap who doesn't have many furnishings, so we are leaving alot of the necessary items for him to start a household, like furniture and dishes, washer / dryer, that sort of thing, so my back won't be too strained by the end of all this from moving all the furniture!
Our friends and family are all taking the news real well with lots of hugs, tears and well wishes. They all have heard our talk about this for a long time and no one is real surprised that it has finally came to fruition. The kids are really supportive and understand that this is what we want to do, for a while, and that we will be able to visit them quite often, as is hard to do with their busy schedules and scattered around this wonderful country the way they are. Being more mobile is the best way to visit more and hopefully get to see them even more than we do now! They know, in this day and age, with cell phones and i-chat and the like, we will be in constant contact, and they will know where we are and how we're doing.
In other posts, we will talk about our plans for travel and ways we be supplementing our income on the road.
See you Soon!
Russ & Debbie
