After planning for early retirement and searching for the perfect fulltiming motorhome for three years, we finally bought a motorhome and became official fulltimers in September 1999. During our research years and our first few months on the road we corresponded by email with many people either fulltiming or planning to fulltime. The topic came up that Y2K (year 2000) was only months away and living in a motorhome was the best way to welcome the new century. With predictions of computers crashing, electrical systems shutting down, water supplies drying up and worldly disasters, RVs would be the best place to watch the earth shut down. Our motorhome had its on electric generator, water supply, sewer system and everything we needed to survive.

But there was a problem getting everyone together for a Y2K Rally because many people were working and others already had plans for the Christmas and New Years holidays. So we decided to meet the middle of February in Harlingen, Texas and we expected about a dozen rigs to show up, but we ended up with about 70 RVs rolling in from all parts of the country.

What brings back the memories from seven years ago? Rich and Diane Emond (Roaming America) did not have a motorhome at that time, but a motorhome and fulltiming was in their near future so they flew to the Y2K Rally and stayed in a hotel at night and enjoyed the party during the days (nights too). Rich made a video of that rally and he recently burned DVDs and gave me a copy which Linda and I enjoyed watching and it sure brought back a lot of memories.

We were just learning about the fulltiming lifestyle and at that rally we meet people face to face that we had been corresponding with for the first time. Many of those people have become life-long friends and we correspond almost daily and met on the road every opportunity we have.

That is why I titled this short story “The Right Place at the Right Time.” The friends we made at that rally set the tone for everything we have done since then. If we had not attended that rally (and volunteered to help run the rally) our fulltiming lifestyle would be completely different today and we might even be off the road and living in a stick-house again.

I will not name the people at that Rally because I might leave someone out and that would embarrass me, but all of us look a little older now. Some of those friends have passed away and many have gone off the road, but each year we meet many new friends who are just getting into this lifestyle.

Yes, fulltiming is a lifestyle and it is not about traveling all over the country and sightseeing. That is a big part of fulltiming, but the most important thing is friends and the people we meet and we learned that at the Y2K Rally.