Page 4 - September Real Estate Guide

Page 4
SENIOR LIVING
Polk County Publishing
By: Kelli Barnes
“We raised our four chil- dren in LaPorte,” said Barbara Hansen. “In 1985 we bought our rst RV, a 1976, 29-foot Sport Coach, and started weekend trav- eling. People nicknamed it ‘the boxcar’ because it
really looked like a box- car. Looking back, it was by far our favorite of the ve we have owned.” The couple ultimately made it to Livingston via Escap- ees, building a house on one of the lots after RVing for 12 years. “We wouldn’t change a thing,” said Ben-
nie Hansen.
“We have been
everywhere we wanted to go, seen everything we wanted to see.”
“Now our days are full of Facebooking with for- mer classmates, reading, coloring, spending time with neighbors, and our family.” The couple has another family member, “Bama”, their long haired Chihuahua who prefers being home over trav- eling, and is a constant companion.
Bennie and Barbara always loved the idea of traveling the roads of the United States. One day in 1993 at age 57, Ben- nie went to work, getting a call from Barbara at 9 a.m. saying their house sold and they had a month to get out. Two hours later he walked into the doors of their home announcing he retired after getting mad over a pair of work overalls. “They said they did not order me a new pair because I was going to be retiring sometime soon. I said ne, I want to retire right now! It made me mad.” Barbara added, “We have laughed about that for many years. They ended up throwing him a nice retirement party.”
Years of traveling, af- ter selling everything in a garage sale, took them to 25 states. “We met so many people and had a lot of support,” said Barbara. “One day we were camp- ing just outside of Albu- querque, New Mexico at a Coast to Coast park, and the former mayor of
LaPorte, Virginia Cline, and her husband Bob pulled in beside us. Dur- ing that chance meeting, they told us all about Es- capees and we were in- terested mostly because of the mail system they offer, but we were also able, as a member, to stay in their parks and utilize the facilities for very lit- tle money.”
Escapees RV Club started in 1978, open- ing their headquarters in Livingston in 1984. To- day, it offers discounts to hundreds of camping destinations in the Unit-
ed States, Mexico and Canada; a mail-forward- ing service; and offers domicile to RV’ers here in Livingston, Florida and South Dakota. “We bought our lot in 2000 and when we retired from RVing in 2005, two other couples moved in the same week on our street,” said Bennie.
“We all started with a shed over our RV, before building a home,” said Barbara. “We have had a lot of fun over the past 11 years, staying right here in Livingston. We are never bored.”
The Traveling B’s, as they are lovingly referred to by their RV community of friends, are now enjoying a second retirement in the 900 square foot custom built home they built at Escapees RV, just perfect to share with ‘Bama’, their beloved Chihuahua. – Kelli Barnes photo
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The Hansen’s traveled approximately 132,000 miles in their 12 years of full time RVing, taking with them their beloved “Classy”, a red long-hair Sheltie who loved traveling as much as they did. “Classy knew when we were getting close to our home in Livingston after a long road trip,” said Barbara. She would start sniffing...she could smell home. One time, we took a different road and Classy barked and fussed..knowing this was not our normal route.” –courtesy photo
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