Military Officer - March 2006 - (Page 58)

Retirement Living “My wife and I thought long and hard about this lifestyle,” says CWO3 Stewart J. Moyer, USA-Ret., about his decision to live full-time in an RV. The couple found their experience in the military — with 13 moves during 17 years of active duty — prepared them for the nomadic lifestyle. “As a retired Army [family], we were used to keeping our stuff to a minimum,” says Moyer. “Add to that the military parks throughout the country, [and that] makes this a great life.” Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone. Like Langlois, he likes to mention the view from an RV. After all, there’s nothing like “watching the sun come up on the lake in the Adirondacks.” Woodworth also notes the practicality of RV ownership. “A lot of people, instead of buying a cabin at the lake, buy an RV and take it to the lake.” RVs come in many forms but fall into two main categories: towable and motorized. Towables include from the upgraded cargo van to the luxury “bus” type. They start at about $50,000 new, and they can even go as high as nearly half a million dollars. Annual RV sales overall average nearly $14 billion. MILITARY PERKS A recent study by PFK Consulting found that a family vacation in an RV is “on average 26 percent to 74 percent less expensive than other types of vacations.” For military RVers, there are even more perks. “One of the beneﬁts we have as retired military is the ability to take our beneﬁt packages with us,” says CWO5 James Whitney, ANG-Ret. “With a little patience it isn’t hard to transfer TRICARE. With today’s automatic deposit of funds, ATMs, debit cards, and online bill paying and bank statements, ﬁnances are a piece of cake.” Another bonus for military RVers is the more than 225 military RV and camping locations. A good example of such a facility is Kirtland AFB’s FamCamp in Albuquerque, N.M. Operational clerk Janet Marchi says about 80 percent of the people who stay at her facility are retirees. Many of FamCamp’s guests are just traveling through or visiting the area and are delighted with the $15-a-night full-hookup fee (local fees can run as RVers don’t sacrifice on indoor conveniences and luxuries. CWO3 Dave Langlois, USN-Ret., and his wife began RVing with a small trailer in 1991 after he retired. The couple now live with one child in a 37-foot ﬁfth-wheel trailer with 300 square feet of living space. They’ve logged about 12,000 miles, having visited 30 states on their trek to see all the lower 48. “Having a new view out the back window every week and meeting new folks every week has been great,” says Langlois. “We’re also trying to ﬁgure out where we might want to drop the anchor some day!” David Woodworth is a Coast Guard veteran who loves the RV life and has studied its history. He traces RV use back to such luminaries as 58 MILITARY OFFICER MARCH 2006 camping trailers, truck campers, and travel trailers. Prices for new units run between $4,000 and $65,000. Motorized units can range in size Many RVers tow a car for more ﬂexibility. PHOTOS: COURTESY WINNEBAGO INDUSTRIES INC.; TOP LEFT, COURTESY WINNEBAGO INDUSTRIES INC.; TOP RIGHT, COURTESY BOUNDER/FLEETWOOD

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Military Officer - March 2006

Military Officer - March 2006 Contents From the Editor President’s Page Call For Board Nominations Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Financial Forum MOAA Member Services Ask the Doctor Chapter Activities Live It Up! Top Picks On the Road Again Destination: Arizona By the Numbers Cover Story: One Clean Shot From Combat to Congress Pages of History Information Exchange Advertising Index MOAA Calendar Sounding Taps Encore

Military Officer - March 2006

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