We are 2 full years into the RV life.
We moved into our trailer on April 6, 2020. Since then we have made a loop around the US and stopped in 36 states. We visited a few more, but those don't count since we didn't stay there.
Scholz Biergarten
This is the oldest beer garden in the United States, it opened in 1866. It is also next to one of the oldest bowling alleys in the US which opened in 1904. We went and had German beer, pretzel slices and cheese (see below), bratwurst and mustard, and jägerschnitzel with spätzel.
The house band plays on Wednesdays so we experience that. The band had an electric accordion. Their favorite song, apparently, is called 'I Am A Bavarian'. They played a polka version of the Blue Danube Waltz, a strange combination.
Tiny homes
This RV park is also a tiny home community. They are selling tiny homes starting at $160,00 with lot rental at $700 per month. It can be a fairly cheap way to live, if you can handle the lack of space. In one part of the community, you get a parking space in front of your house with a shed in the back. In most of the park there is are common parking lots and you can't have a shed.
One of the big things they advertise is that an organic farm is part of the place. I guess you get free vegetables with it. The farm has been around for over 100 years. They do have some nice tiny homes. One model comes with an outdoor fireplace (the 4th picture below)
They have a coffee truck as part of the place too, called Beautiful Coffee. One of their drinks is a shot of espresso over iced orange juice. That's Austin cuisine for you.
Settling down
Normally, when we get to a new place, we look for places to visit and sightsee. For some reason, here in Austin, we decided to visit houses in 55+ communities. After spending an extended amount of time in Arizona, we slowed down enough to think about what we need to do to settle down. The Phoenix area is a possibility. It was practically made for retired people. The major drawback there is the summer heat. Austin will be cooler with more humidity.
One place we looked at has a terrible name, Kissing Tree. Once you get past the name, it is a beautiful community that is only about half built out. It has a golf course, a cafe, a coffee shop, a full bar, plus lots of other stuff. It is on the high end of our price range though. We can get a cheaper house but we would not have a yard for Jan to plant. That's a big drawback for her. This place is halfway between Austin and San Antonio.
Another place we looked at was Sun City, north of Austin. This place is huge and we got lost driving around in it. It is so big that it has 3 18 hole golf courses running through the middle of it. I think it has 8,000 houses (enough for a small city). They have been building since 1995 and will still be building for another 5 years. If we buy here, we would be in an established neighborhood with all the amenities up and running.
We do have to talk to our financial planner before we do anything. We need to know how much we can safely withdraw for a down payment and that will determine how much of a house we can buy. Also, we were only looking at new construction and anything we like now will not be ready to move in for another year or so. Kissing Tree said 10-14 months from putting down the deposit to finished construction. That means we still have at least another year of traveling to go.
Another option we have for settling down is the RV resort in Yuma where we stayed. We could buy a lot there with room for the trailer and a small house. We really liked it there and will be spending 4 months there next winter. Again, the major problem is the summer (and wind). Living there would almost require we keep RV'ing to get away from the summer.
If we want to settle down in Florida, then we would probably have to get a mobil home. The areas we like are too expensive for us to buy a house.
If the house market really is in a bubble, like some people say it is, and it pops in the next year, then we would be able to buy anywhere we want. That would be bad for everyone else, but good for us.
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