Kim & Jerry
We are Kim and Jerry Day. Together with our four-pawed friends, Jasmine and Pepper, we are realizing our dreams of early retirement by taking to the open road for full-time life in an RV.
Our Blog
Welcome to the Tin Can Chronicles. This blog chronicles our transition to the full-time RV lifestyle (A.K.A: our new life in a glorified tin can) with continued focus on our favorite activities: travel and adventure, hiking, photography, amateur astronomy, and cooking.
Our Furry Companions
We live and travel with our furry friends and family members, Jasmine and Pepper, chocolate and black Labrador Retrievers, respectively. Our Labs are truly water dogs; Given the chance, they would swim and play fetch in the water all day long. They are especially fond of long romps in the waves and along the sandy shores of the Oregon and Northern Californian coasts.
Happy pups on the beach.
Our Rig
Our new home on wheels is a 2014 Montana 3725 fifth-wheel, pulled by a 2015 Ford F-350 heavy duty truck – diesel, crew cab, long bed, 4X4, with dual rear wheels. Given the amenities of the Montana, this really feels like a luxury apartment with a view that changes whenever we choose.
Our Montana Fifth-wheel at Lone Pine, CA
Here are a few brochure pics of the Montana 3725RL model:
In addition the F-350, we are retaining a second vehicle, a 2001 Toyota Tundra pickup with camper shell. This will require us to caravan between stops, but will ensure that we always have a working vehicle, as well as a vehicle we can take into more rugged areas for sightseeing and photography without risking our primary tow vehicle.
Our Toyota Tundra, Near Hobgoblin’s Playground
Our Life-style Change
Ever increasing pressures of the workplace lead us to seriously consider options for early retirement. Since we both enjoy travel and camping, it was only natural to research the RV life style as an affordable means to our retirement goals. We read reams of material about the RV lifestyle, both online and off; attended RV shows to find our dream rig; reviewed our finances and drafted many budgets.
By mid-2013, our minds were made up and we began to set our plans into motion. We shifted our home repair and remodeling projects to focus on preparing our “bricks and sticks” house for sale. By July, 2014, we had purchased our fifth-wheel and by August, we had ordered our F-350 truck. Once our truck and rig were delivered, we familiarized ourselves with the on-board systems, outfitted truck and rig with additional equipment, and practiced until we were comfortable with towing such a large fifth wheel. We installed 600-watts of solar panels and took several shakedown trips to test the shore power, as well as solar power systems.
As with any new rig, we found several issues which, although minor, required repeated visits to the RV dealership for warranty repair work.
As of this writing, we are beginning our final transition from the work-a-day life to the mobile lifestyle.
Stay tuned and we hope to see you, someday – out there…
Pepper – Such a Water Dog!
Did you enjoy sleeping in this morning?? (Monday, May 4, 2015)
Couldn’t be happier for you guys!!
It will be amazing!
Happy Retirement and Happy Travels!
Sleeping in must be nice – wouldn’t know too much – dogs are up early & think we should be, too! 😉
Wow, I’m blown away about your lifestyle change! I have a 33 ft 2006 Fifth wheel pulled by my 2006 F-250 Diesel club cab short bed truck. Just wanted to share that if we anticipate needing another vehicle, I have had a 500 lb. tongue weight rated receiver hitch installed on the back of the camper and I got and installed a blue ox tow bar on my old 1999 Jeep Wrangler. The Jeep Wrangler was made to tow. It has a switch setting that unlocks the front steering column and then you just put the 4WD transfer case in neutral and tow it all over the place. I don’t even have extra brakes for the Jeep because it is so light weight. I use extra magnet lighting for the rear but you can always have the “toad” car wired for turn signals, etc… Tows easily behind the fifth wheel and legal in most states. I wouldn’t want to tow anything bigger but the Jeep will go anywhere on any trail…. Hope to see you and your rig sometime!
Great to hear from you, Vince! Thanks for the advice. I think we’ll stick with caravaning, for now – the thought of double towing is way to daunting for me. We’ve seen a few double tows, including one passing us near Needles doing about 90mph with fifth wheel & boat in tow – Yikes!!! 🙂
I’m not jealous….I’m filled with joy for the two of you.
Thanks, Jan!
Best wishes on your new wonderful adventure.
Thanks, Margaret!!!
A little late to the party, but congratulations you two! Wow what an adventure! Looking forward to hearing how the open road tin can goes.
Thanks, James! Good to hear from you – nice knowing you at work – please stay in touch (& subscribe to the blog)! 🙂
Glad you gave us a knock here in Riverside, CA. I enjoyed browsing your “TinCan” site and the “DarkSky” site. Hope we get time to connect for a pint and conversation.
Thanks, Jason! Good to hear from you and glad to hear you enjoyed the sites. Your own blog has been a long-time source of inspiration for us. We enjoyed finally getting to meet you. Kim & I hope Nikki is feeling better. We would love to get together over dinner or a pint before we head out on our respective ways. 🙂
Jerry, Kim
The good life. I didn’t see a picture of ESRI anywhere!
Kim it does not seem like it was well over 25 years ago that
we chatted in building A near the Calcomp digitizers. Jerry I seldom talked to you because you were always so busy at your desk.
Looks like you guys are having a great time.
Enjoy your retirement.
Dave Grizzle
Miss you guys! Artz showed me the blog today. I have a lot of catching up to do!
Stay safe out there.
-mike
Hi Mike, Great to hear from you! Kim says “Hi!”, too. Drop us an email – we’d love to hear how things have been going for you. (Will send you contact info…) Cheers, Jerry