In August, we marked our third anniversary of living and traveling in our motorhome. When we started, we expected this trip would last about 3 years. Obviously, it’ll be a bit longer than that, but probably not much. While we’ve got some big travel plans for 2020, by the end of that year, we expect we may be ready to settle down again.
On the one hand, the idea of wrapping this project up is hard to imagine. We’ve really taken to full-time RV travel and, overall, we’ve had a fantastic experience. Plus, no matter what locations we visit in 2020, we’ll still be leaving a lot on the table – entire states will remain unvisited and tons of national parks, cultural sites, and interesting cities and towns will remain unexplored. The truth is, we could do this for another ten years and not see everything there is to see. This country is a bottomless fountain of stunning sights and scenery.
On the other hand, though, we’ve been feeling pretty tired and burnt out, and the idea of settling down into a more normal life is looking more appealing with each passing day.
Meanwhile, on any given afternoon, I see someone on social media talking about how they’re going to sell it all and buy an RV and live happily ever after. Recently, those posts have made me cringe a bit and think, “Oh jeez. Do you know what you’re getting yourself into?”
While I certainly wouldn’t discourage anyone from traveling this way, I would encourage them to maybe not toss all their eggs into this one basket, because, when I look around at the folks who started traveling when we did, I realize we are already an outlier. Very few people who started full-time travel when we did are still on the road. Many folks returned to stationary life after a year or 18 months, some set up home bases in one location or another, some began work-camping for long periods of time, while (many) others simply disappeared from social media.
It is a tiny, minuscule percentage of full-time RVers who continue on in this lifestyle for more than a couple years without establishing at least some sort of home base or seasonal campground.
Obviously, there are lots of reasons why people stop full-timing – from those who only intended to be away for a year or two, to those who face financial, family, or medical challenges, to those who have a hard time finding work on the road. But alongside a lot of these issues are the things that are wearing us down – the daily aggravations that, eventually, take their toll. They are the things that, at one time, seemed like a minor price to pay in exchange for seeing magnificent scenery and meeting wonderful people, but, three years in, we find our patience wearing pretty thin and we find ourselves asking: “are we still enjoying this or is it time to make a change?”
The funny thing is, the stuff that has been weighing on us is never the stuff most people worry about. We have lost no sleep over having to maintain waste tanks, or live together in a small space 24/7, or find a social life on the road. None of that has been a problem. For us, it’s a matter of being worn down by the mundane inefficiencies of life on the road and missing the simplicity that comes with having a stable home.
Of course, it goes without saying that any lifestyle has drawbacks. There’s a reason we decided to do this in the first place, after all. But my sense is, lots of people want to talk about their journey into the full-time RV lifestyle while not nearly as many want to talk about their journey out of it. The problem when everyone else thinks you’re “living the dream” is you don’t want to be the ungrateful schmuck who complains about it. But, the fact is, it’s not always a dream.
More importantly, I try to always be honest on this blog, sharing both the ups and downs of this life we’re currently living. So, in the interests of providing helpful information to those just starting out or considering whether they should toss every single thing they own in a dumpster before driving off into the sunset in their Winnebago, I figured I would share some of the things that have been on our minds recently. These are the things that are wearing us down and which, if you travel the way we do, might wear you down, too.
And that is a crucial caveat – “travel the way we do” means – changing campgrounds every week or two, consistently. The longest we’ve ever sat at one campground was two months in Gulf Shores, Alabama. There are lots of people who sit in one campground for 5 or 6 months at a time, year after year. And that’s great – it’s just not what we do. And it’s not what a lot of people dreaming about full-time travel are imagining themselves doing. So, to be clear, that’s what this article is about: Consistent, long term, full-time travel in an RV.
Constant Research
When you live in a normal house in a normal community, you go to your grocery store and your veterinarian and your hairstylist and your auto mechanic and your favorite Italian restaurant. You just get in your car and you go. You don’t even have to think about it because you’ve done it all a million times before. For us, every single day of our lives is a research project. We don’t know where we are; we don’t know where anything is; we don’t know the roads, routes, or traffic patterns; we may or may not have access to the stores we usually shop at; we don’t know which service providers we can trust; and we don’t want to waste money or get burned.
It’s all very exciting the first 15,000 times you fire up Google or Yelp to figure out how to solve whatever problem you have, but after those first 15,000 times, you just want to jump in the car, drive to your grocery store, go to Aisle 7 where the breadcrumbs are located, buy the breadcrumbs, and go home. No Google needed. No GPS needed. No store indexes needed. No questions to bored grocery stores employees needed.
Strangers for Service Providers
On a related note, constantly going to strangers for service providers can be stressful and exhausting. As I mentioned recently, Thor has had a number of issues with his stomach that required us to visit numerous veterinarians. Fortunately, because of all that research we do, we’ve mostly had good experiences, but every time we go to a new vet, we need to start over with all their paperwork, and provide them all his past records, and go over all his past history, and basically prove we’re not some yahoos making stuff up and that we know what we’re talking about. It’s stressful for him to be in a new environment and it’s just a giant waste of everyone’s time to go through this whole rigmarole for a vet we’re realistically only going to see once. Plus, we’re always hoping for the best. We don’t really know if any of these vets are good. We just hope the online reviews are trustworthy and accurate.
The same goes for doctors and dentists for ourselves, auto mechanics, RV repair facilities, hairstylists, and other professional service providers. We are always rolling the dice with this stuff. We’re not going to the professionals we’ve known for years and we don’t know any locals who can give us recommendations. We are – literally – at the mercy of Google reviews and Yelp. Most of the time, it all works out. Other times, we get our tire replaced at some well reviewed auto repair shop in Oregon and it falls off in Minnesota.
Speaking of roadside debacles, of all the various challenges we’ve had to navigate while traveling, there has not been a single time when one of us has exclaimed “I’m just so glad we’re living in a motorhome while we deal with this!!” The truth is, when you live on the road, stressful events, whether they be personal, medical, family, or travel related, are made more stressful by virtue of the fact that you’re living on the road.
Never-Ending Travel Planning
It’s not just the research you have to do when you get to a new place and need to handle your normal day to day needs; it’s deciding where to go, and when to go, and for how long to go, and where to stay, and what to do when you get there. All of that research takes an incredibly long time, and much of it is a shot in the dark.
Because RVing has gotten so popular, and because a bunch of yahoo bloggers (whoops!) are all “blah, blah, blahing” about it online all day, there are more RVs on the road than ever before. What has not kept up is the supply of campgrounds. Ergo, supply and demand doing their thing means prices are going up and competition for choice sites is tougher than ever. Even worse, back in the olden days, there were plentiful options for boondocking on public lands. Now, many of those places are so overrun with RVers (many of whom don’t want to pay exorbitant campground prices) that public lands are actually closing down because irresponsible jackasses leave a mess behind.
All of that means – you guessed it – you better get to planning!!
If you want to be in Florida, Arizona, or Southern California in winter, you need to start booking state park campgrounds (and many private ones) almost a year before. You want to go to Key West in February? Hahaha. You’re adorable! Places like Yellowstone National Park are enormous, they’re buried in snow for large portions of the year, they’re overrun with tourists during their short season, and camping options within the park are limited. You have to decide how much you’re willing to pay to be close by and, on a related note, how much you want to drive while you’re there.
(Note: when we go places, we typically go for at least a week. If you’re willing to stay just a night or two, or if your RV is small, you’ll have more flexibility, but traveling like that can be exhausting for different reasons.)
The bottom line is the days of just showing up at Yosemite National Park, getting a choice spot at a campground inside the park for as long as you want, and paying a reasonable price for it all are done. And they’re not coming back.
It’s not that any of this is quantum physics or anything other than first world problems. It’s just that I’ve been doing all this research and planning and calling and coordinating for every destination we’ve been to for three and a half years. And sometimes, in the face of all that planning and aggravation, everything goes to crap anyway.
Weather
Speaking of things going to crap, let’s talk about the weather. If there’s one thing that can really suck the joy out of travel, it’s bad weather.
It’s one thing to deal with a cold winter when you can just close your doors and windows, turn up the heat, put on your fuzzy socks, and hunker down. For us, a cold winter means our house can be physically cold. We’re not supposed to be living in an RV in cold weather. That’s the whole point. “Snowbirds” chase 70 degrees not because it’s fun (though it is), but because it’s necessary. And when that warm sunshine is nowhere to be found, it can get downright uncomfortable.
There were times last winter when we were worried about running out of propane and not being able to get more (we can’t remove our tank from our RV, so if our motorhome can’t fit at a local supplier, we can’t refill our tank..and there aren’t many suppliers in downtown Sedona, Arizona that can handle a 38 foot motorhome.) In order to make our supplies last, we would set our heat on 55 degrees at night (mainly to ensure our basement plumbing didn’t freeze) and rely on electric heat and additional space heaters during the day.
Ya know what sucks? Waking up in a house that’s 55 degrees.
Or, at the opposite extreme, there have been times like this past summer when temperatures soared and our campground didn’t have sufficient electrical power to support everyone running their AC’s, so our surge protector (correctly) shut down our electricity:
And it’s not just the cold and the heat that wear you down. It’s rain and wind and snow and wildfire smoke.
We don’t live in a motorhome for the sake of living in a motorhome. We live in it as a means to an end – to see this country in an economical fashion. When it’s 37 degrees and raining for 5 days straight, and we’re just stuck inside a cold, damp, drafty, beige on beige bread box in the middle of nowhere, not doing the things we’ve just driven hundreds of miles to do, it really sucks.
Tack together a couple weeks in a row of that stuff, and the idea of a house with insulation and double paned windows and friends you can just invite over for a night of food and wine and conversation, sounds pretty good.
Reliable Internet
One of the things we consistently battle with is making our internet work. While we’re usually able to find cell service, the fact is cell is not the same as a hardwired service at your house. Sometimes, even with a signal, the tower is overloaded, or the router fails, or recently, AT&T updated their software and suddenly our router wouldn’t connect anymore. We never know what kind of internet access we’ll have and, for us, it’s a critical part of our daily lives. None of this planning and researching and problem solving gets done without an internet connection.
It’s even worse for people who are trying to work on the road or those who consistently boondock. Of the folks we’ve known who’ve come off the road, unreliable internet access has been one of their chief justifications for throwing in the towel. People who work remotely need connectivity and when it’s not reliable, it’s a game changer. So, sometimes, the idea of forking over a stupid amount of money to Comcast or some such awful company so we can have reliable, fast internet service sounds pretty good.
Uncertainty
A couple months ago, the elections supervisor for the county in Florida where our mail forwarding company is located suddenly decided to inquire about the legality of full-time RVers’ voting rights
Every couple of years, someone in one of the typical “RV friendly” states questions the voting rights of full-time RVers. Then, there’s a big battle, our side wins, and everyone settles back down. However, in this case, for better or for worse, it was just our particular county in Florida – not the whole state – that was at issue. Suddenly, Kevin and I were looking at the possibility of having to switch mail forwarding companies to one located in a different county and then changing our mailing address for everything else.
Fortunately, the folks at our mail forwarding company came up with a solution to get the elections supervisor off our backs (for the time being). The end result was we had to change our mailing address with the Registrar of Voters only. The rest of our stuff has stayed the same.
Now, what have we all learned from this experience? That politicians are really good at wasting time and resources, that’s what.
And it’s not just voting. Just a few months ago, the Florida DMV announced out of nowhere that it was reviewing its policies that allow people like us to get driver’s licenses. One day, they were happy to issue driver’s licenses to full-time RVers and boaters, and the next, they weren’t. They subsequently changed their mind and decided everything was OK, but this stuff is constant.
And when not worrying about voting rights and driver’s licenses, we’re always, always, worried about healthcare. Right this very minute, a case is quietly winding its way through the Federal Court system that could completely overturn the ACA. No one is paying much attention to it but they really should, because if the plaintiffs (including our home state of Florida) get their way, 20 million of us stand to lose our health insurance. What is Florida’s plan for all of its residents who will no longer be guaranteed access to health insurance regardless of their pre-existing conditions? Well, no one’s really thought that part through yet, but I’m sure they’ll get right on it as soon as they finish pushing their constituents off a cliff. Thanks, Florida!!
Explaining Our Life
We meet a lot of people on the road. A LOT. We probably talk to more strangers in one month of our lives now than we did in 6 months of our old lives. And that’s great – we’ve met tons of nice people. But you end up having the same conversation over and over and over and over again and it starts to feel like you’re just endlessly explaining your life.
When you live a normal, settled lifestyle, you end up with a community of friends you really get to know and with whom you can talk about all kinds of subjects. When you’re out on the road, you’re constantly meeting new people and many of those people want an explanation.
Random campground neighbor: “Oh, you’ve got Florida tags. You’re a long way from home. What part of Florida are you from?
Me: “Well, we don’t actually have a house in Florida. Our house was in Virginia, but now we live in this…”
Cue puzzled look….
Me: “We’re full-time RVers, so we live and travel in our motorhome, but our family is in Florida and Florida makes it easy for people like us to domicile there without owning or renting property. That’s why you see so many RVs with Florida tags. Lots of them are full-timers like us.
Random Person: “Oh wow! That’s so neat. So, you just roam around the country? You’re living the dream! So, how do you get your mail? How long have you been on the road? Where have you been? What was your favorite place? Do you work? What do you mean, you don’t work? You’re too young to be retired. Did you win the lottery or something??”
These days, the conversation goes more like this:
Random campground neighbor: “Oh, you’ve got Florida tags. You’re a long way from home. What part of Florida are you from?”
Me: “Green Cove Springs.”
Them: “Oh nice. My in-laws are in Orlando.”
Me: “Great! Have a nice day!!”
It totally makes sense that people are curious and have questions, and most don’t mean to pry, but after a while, you just want to sit down with people you know and talk about the things you can’t talk about with your campground neighbor – politics and current events and personal stories. The dual situation of NOT being able to talk to most people about those things at the same time as having to constantly explain the basics of your life to every campground neighbor who sees your license plate/Uber driver who drops you off at your campground/hairstylist who wants to know if you’re new to the area/doctor who wants to know why you have a Florida address/museum docent who asks where you’re visiting from… gets old.
Campgrounds
Now, one way many fulltime RVers deal with these various issues is by traveling less – they set up in campgrounds for weeks or months at a time. In fact, some of our friends only move two or three times a year. By settling into one campground for a long, seasonal stay, they get to know their doctor and their hairstylist and their mechanic and they become friends with their snowbird neighbors and get to talk about anything and everything.
And that’s cool!
But… there’s a big “but” for us.
We’re just not big fans of most campgrounds. Not all of them, of course. We’ve liked most of the state parks we’ve stayed at, but, unfortunately, most government run campgrounds restrict stays to 14 days (if they didn’t have stay limits, people would never leave). The places you can get reasonably priced, longer term rentals tend to be private campgrounds that just don’t appeal to us.
In pictures, here’s the view from a place you can definitely get a cheap monthly site:
And here’s the view from the place you can only stay for 14 days….
Ok, ok, that’s an extreme example, but still… the point is, the places you can stay for a long time rarely offer spacious, private sites and gorgeous natural scenery. They might offer a pool and hot tub and game room – which are really important to some folks – but we don’t care about that stuff. For us, we want natural beauty, privacy, and space, and you almost never get those at a commercial campground.
Of course, not all commercial campgrounds are terrible, but at the end of the day, if we’re going to be dealing with the downsides of RV living (in terms of insulation and plumbing and connectivity, etc), we don’t also want to be living 10 feet from our neighbor, looking at his sewer hose every time we walk out the door.
My gallery of “Nope!”:
My gallery of “Sure!” (If only they’d let us stay for longer…)
Conclusions
Of course, we have no idea if we’re actually going to settle down for real at the end of next year. It’s what we’re expecting, but we have a long, proud track record of changing our minds about things, so we’re writing nothing in stone. But, in the long run, we don’t expect we’ll be full-timers forever. And I don’t expect most other people will be, either. So my advice is this: If you’re planning on going full-time, by all means, go!
But you should figure out what you mean by “full-time RVing.”
If what you think you want to do is what we’ve been doing – putting on the miles, chasing 70 degrees, and seeing all kinds of places, you need to at least consider that all the stuff that’s been burning us out might burn you out, too. And then, you should think about what you might do to address it.
Would you be willing to set up in one campground for a couple months? What kind of environment would you be happy in? How long could you stay there? Some folks who love government parks will work-camp in order to stay long term, but those jobs can be tough (manual labor, cleaning bathrooms, etc.) while others may require long commitments in extremely remote places. Are you willing to do what’s required in order to live in a beautiful state or national park for several months? What about maintaining a home base or buying some land to park your RV on? Is that possible? Is it desirable?
Whatever you do, I would at least consider that you might only travel this way for a couple years. I cringe when I see people say they’re getting rid of their kids’ mementos and family photos and valuable furniture. I mean, it’s certainly possible you might want to live in your motorhome forever and ever, but it’s also possible – even likely – that you might want a house again at some point.
We got rid of the vast majority of our stuff, but we did hold on to certain things – personal photos and mementos, a couple pieces of basic furniture, some clothing. We have not regretted any of that for a moment (the people who are stuck storing our stuff for us might, but we’re good with it), and if we settle into a place as we expect we might, we’ll be happy to have a handful of things that remind us of our lives before we started this journey.
In the meantime, in order to address some of these challenges, we’ll be doing things a bit differently in 2020. More on that soon.
Bummer of a post, man! LOL, just kidding…mostly. I can’t even start to think about you not being “out here” anymore, and I know it’s a ways off, but it still makes me sad. Especially if I think about our divergent routes and realize they might not cross again. Ever. I can’t think about this.
I don’t have to tell you (again) but I will (anyway) that I agree with just about all of your frustrations. In fact, I am typing this from a noisy Starbucks because I could not get the internet to work the way I needed it to at camp. It is a miracle that some piece of computer equipment hasn’t found itself thrown through one of the RV windows in the last year and a half. There is no way I could stand this if we had to work from the road. Kinda random question, do you guys ever swim? I’m trying to think if you’ve ever mentioned swimming, other than Thor’s water aerobics, and now I must know!!
We’re not moving to Mars! Jeez… We’ll still be around, and likely traveling by RV. We just want to settle into a home base of some sort so we don’t have to chuck computer parts around our house. 🙂 We’ll still hang out! Promise!! As for swimming, why yes, we do…. However, I am partial to swimming pools and the ocean and am not a fan of lakes. I want to see the bottom of what I’m swimming in. Should I even ask what neuron fired in your brain that made you ask this??
Very informative! There really are a lot of pros and cons to consider. Obviously we aren’t considering ???????? but we love living vicariously through you and your travels, however long they continue.
I can’t believe I have been at this for 3.5 years and I still haven’t convinced you to buy a motorhome and travel around the country. Dammit… I suck. 🙂
We can’t AMEN this hard enough. Guess whose 2020 goal is to buy property to build a (probably part-time) home?
Wow! We need to catch up at some point. I can’t wait to hear more about your plans. But, it does not surprise me. You guys really put on the miles the same way we do and have faced plenty of your own challenges. Just keep in mind, if you’re running utilities to your new property anyway, why not build a guest spot?? 🙂
Very well thought out and stated, Laura! A stick and brick address also has its frustrations, we’ve been in SoCal for over 50 years in our single-family home. We will forever be travelers from here, planning different routes to visit family and friends is part of the adventure.
Safe travels to wherever your next and future destination may be.
Thank you, Jeff. I’m hoping we’ll always be travelers, as well. Your situation kind of sounds like the best of all worlds. And, actually, one of our possible landing locations is San Diego, so we may be heading your way soon… If we do, we’ll take you out for a beer!
Hey look, I’m reading your blog! ???? Well, you know how I feel about all of this given our current situation. You explained it all very well. I’m so glad we did it, but 5 years was enough. For now, anyway. ????
Holy crap! It’s Jen Nealy! Reading my blog!!!!!!
If you guys ever head out again, maybe we can all meet in San Diego or something. 🙂
Wow it’s been three years already? I feel like you just started full time and it will be sad to see you give it up, but what you said about people who continue to fulltime establishing some type of home base is probably true. It does get exhausting to travel through out the year on a continual basis and that was one of the reasons we tend to stay put in the summer and for a period in the winter. I don’t know a lot of people who continually travel like you and Kevin do.
So I get why you might want to give it up but when I look at the stunning pictures you take, of the awesome places you have visited, I feel a little sad that you are giving that up.
But on the other hand, I get it, and I think you have done a great job of describing the other side of fulltime RVing and the downsides of “consistent, long term, full-time travel”.
I think you guys have a perfect set up. The county park you stay at during the summer is gorgeous, then you escape the cold in the winter and check out new places along the way. If we could find a park like yours to hang out in for several months each year, we’d love it. But for now, we’re ready for a complete break. I have every expectation that we’ll keep traveling though, just on a part time, more limited basis. There are still a ton of places we want to see and we still enjoy RV travel. So, it won’t be the end of travel for us. Just full-time travel!
It is good to have options. We have made many changes in the way we live over the past 18 years.
That’s one of the things we keep reminding ourselves: There is no “one path” for us to go down. We can change it up as we want, or as it becomes necessary and do other things. It’s good to see other people who’ve done just that.
When we hit the road 6 years ago we had absolutely no idea how long we would do it. As it ends up 6 years was our number and have since bought property and are building a house. That by no means means we are not gong to travel. We still plan on traveling about 6 months a year. But to your point, we are looking forward so many of the conveniences of having a home base.
6 years is a good long time to do something like this. My hat’s off to anyone who travels this way for that kind of time. It’s a challenge for sure. I love your current solution and think that’s what we’ll eventually do: Have a home base, but also head out for long periods. If it all comes together, I think we’ll be very happy.
Great post, I really enjoy your blog!
Certainly food for thought as my wife and I embark on the Canadian version, which is to see as much of the Southern U.S. in the winter months, and then hunker down in our home province during the spring, summer and fall. We will maintain our “bricks and mortar” house back home for many reasons.
You and your many other RV bloggers are doing a great service to all of us who want to, or are going to start their own RV adventure, whatever that looks like.
Your tips, resources, stories of trials and tribulations take some of the anxiety out of what is in front of us. Having said that, thanks so much!
Thank YOU very much for reading and thank you for your kind comment. It is nice to know that these articles are helpful to people thinking about traveling this way. We certainly learned a lot from other bloggers when we were researching this lifestyle, so I am happy if I can help anyone else. Your travel plans sound pretty great: escape the Canadian winter and explore, but relax and enjoy the perfect weather during the warmer months. I hope you all have a fantastic time. Enjoy!
But Laura, you’re doing it wrong! Duh! I mean, I’ve done the research (read: scrolled through insta daily) and we’re gonna be small and have lots of solar and well, you’re just spoiled and ungrateful!
I love this, I really do. Everything I try to tell people in one neatly wrapped up post. We’re weird hybrids now…sox months in Acadia, 2-3 months at our own privately owned boondocking oasis (read: this winter we will finally finish the full hookups and it’s 12 min from a brewery) and the rest of the time we either bounce or take a state park/nat park volunteer gig. Traveling constantly is exhausting and I just want to consistently find my damn salad dressing. If y’all find yourselves in North FL this winter, give us a ring and come squat on our land! Pepper would love to meet Thor!
Hey! I KNEW you would appreciate this article. I see you trying to preach reality to all those head-in-the-clouds dreamers who have consumed too much of the Insta-koolaid for their own good. You all definitely seem to have found the sweet spot with this whole gig. I’ll let you know if we’re coming through your area!
As you’re aware of our current situation, we’ve decided to purchase a small home in a community and downsize to a smaller RV for shorter trips. Here’s to 2020. Lots of luck as you figure out what’s best for all of you!
I think that’s going to be our eventual plan as well. I cannot see us not having an RV to travel with, but it will likely be much smaller. As much as we love our current set up, if we’re not in it full time, I don’t see a need for anything this large. But RV travel is still a great way to go. Hopefully we can all find a nice middle ground. Good luck to you guys with your search.
When you downsize you might consider a trailer to solve the propane issue. Can’t tell you how many times we’ve made quick propane runs in the truck.
There is no right or wrong way to RV, and no magic number for when you’re ready to hang up the keys. We all have to do it the way it works for ourselves. We have settled into a rhythm of volunteering at the same place for the summers and traveling in the summers. We now have favorite places that we go back to, where folks know us and we know our way around the area without using the GPS. For me, it’s not an issue of the preplanning way ahead, it’s always something I’ve enjoyed. Best of luck in finding a great place to land, hope our paths cross before you come off the road.
You are 100% right. There really is no right way to do this and so many people are making it work in their own ways. It’s nice to know there are options. I am sure we’ll cross paths before we settle down – or even after we settle down. I expect we’ll have some sort of RV going forward, and we’d love to meet up with you all at some point!
We’d love to meet up, too! BTW, we’re in San Diego for the holidays. Come on!
Sadly, we are currently as far from Sam Diego as possible. We’re in Florida visiting Kevin’s family! We hope to be in San Diego this time next year!
Such a great article! I, like you, cringe when I read that people have sold EVERYTHING to go on their full time journey. It is such a personal decision to do this type of lifestyle. But realistically, do these same people have a back up plan? As far as keeping the STUFF in storage while doing their adventure, that is another in depth story. And I am talking about that stuff that is labeled “gosh I cannot live without” stuff, I cannot preach to this minimalist lifestyle, as I still have too much stuff in storage (and I am talking about 40×15 feet of storage (Okay, there is a boat in that unit also). And not too mention the other more “necessary” crap that sits next to the 60 feet of RV garage that the RV currently sits in. But I am working through that issue,constantly. I really am trying, really! Our situation is a little different, in that we sold all our real estate in CA and have decided to build/buy in AZ. We keep trying to give our stuff to our kids, but the kicker was the response when I asked my oldest if he wanted any photographs. Response – I just took a picture of the picture of the ones I liked. Time to really thin out the hard copies of photos. I love the RV lifestyle, but it is nice to come home to a toilet that you do not flush with your foot. I cannot wait to hear about your 2020 plans and hope you still blog about something, as your writing is so engaging!
“A toilet you do not flush with your foot….” Tell me more about this dreamy contraption…. LOL! It really is kind of ridiculous when you think about it! I completely appreciate the challenge of minimizing. Fortunately, our old house was pretty small, so we could only collect so much ‘stuff’ prior to leaving, but even still, there was a lot to handle. The personal mementos and photos are the things that are so important to me. Even when I have digitized copies of my photos, I still want the hard copies. I guess it’s my version of being old fashioned, but I like it. Anyway, it’s certainly worth giving your stuff a look once in a while and getting rid of the unnecessary stuff. It really does make life easier. And thank you for your compliment. I do hope to keep writing, no matter what we do. I very much enjoy doing it and I’m happy to know there are people who like reading my stuff. Happy holidays to you guys!
You covered the realities and downsides of fulltime RV life perfectly. I hope that anyone who considers ditching everything they own and riding off into the sunset to live happily ever after in their ‘beige on beige’ breadbox (LOL) will read this first. NOT because they shouldn’t do it, but because it’s good to go into this lifestyle with eyes wide open.
I actually didn’t realize that most people throw in the towel after only a year or so. We’ve been on the road fulltime for six-and-a-half years now, and we’re still loving it, and there are still a lot of places we want to see before we settle down again. But we’ve learned that we really need to spend a week in most places to feel relaxed, and that we need to travel less than 200 miles at a stretch, and that we really, really need a place once or twice a year where we stay put for a month. We haven’t always had a smooth ride, as you know, but we still wouldn’t trade this adventure for anything. We never intended to do this forever, so we kept our home in southern Oregon and rented it out, and we kept a small storage unit with belongings that we didn’t want to part with.
We occasionally talk about whether or not we’re ready to settle down again, and the answer is still a resounding “NO,” despite the fact that we love our hometown and our friends there. I’m assuming we’ll know when the time is right and that it will be an easier decision for us than it was to start fulltiming. It was my idea initially to take to the road fulltime, but I almost drove Eric crazy for three years going back and forth with the pros and cons until he finally said, “It’s now or never!” ????
You guys absolutely know what I am talking about with all of this stuff. In fact, you travel more than anyone we know. You’re total pros and I regularly wonder whether you’re gonna have a total nervous breakdown one day on the side of the road. LOL. I don’t know how you guys do it. I need a nap just thinking about it. But like I said above, everyone has their own pace and what works for them and there are no right or wrong answers.
I bet even when you do go home to settle down in Oregon, you will still keep the RV and travel now and then. I doubt anyone could see and do as much as you have for the last 6.5 years and then just STOP. I’m sure the travel bug will always be a part of your life, as it will be ours.
Ok, I will see you and we can continue this conversation in about 12 minutes… 🙂
Wow! Lots to digest. As you are aware, we’ve been “out there” about as long as you guys have. And as you have described, our time on the road has evolved. Sold the house. Put stuff in storage. Been paying for storage for 3 years +. In fact, just yesterday, we drove 460 miles round trip to our storage to bring a motorcycle and “stuff” back with us to Arizona. First year…all travel. We loved it. Lots of boondocking. Not so much RV parks. We hate RV parks. Second year…summrr work-camping mixed with travel combined with winter boondocking in Arizona. Third year…work camped in Wyoming during summer, and bought and wintered at our RV-oriented “home base” in Arizona. For 2020? The plan is to travel. Maybe spend the entire summer touring Colorado, as opposed to driving 1500 miles in one stretch to get “somewhere”. That’s where we’re at. One things for sure. It’s not for everyone. Maybe, because we park for 6 months a year, we won’t be considered “full-timers” any longer. But whatever, being on the road for the other 6 months is not a bad lifestyle.
You’re exactly right. 2 or 4 or 6 months stretches of travel interspersed with breaks at “home,” whatever that may be, sound wonderful. You deal with so many of these issues by just having a home base to relax at. You guys really have done a little bit of everything, which is awesome. It’s neat to compare and contrast how you felt at different times, and to know that you can always just change it up, as necessary. I hope you all have a fantastic 2020 full of new places and new adventures!!
Good stuff, Laura. The only item that gives me pause is the voting/health care/permanent mailing address stuff. The others are jumpable hurdles. Our plan of full-timing moves farther away the longer Ruth enjoys her work, but then again, our savings account grows so there’s a potential balance. We’re camping for a full month in Flagler, Florida next February in a beautiful though crowded park, previously visited and long a dream. It will be by far our longest time in one place.
Honestly, there is nothing wrong with not full-timing. You have the motorhome, you can travel as you wish, and you have a home to come home to. It really is kind of the best of all worlds. But if you do, yes, be prepared for some uncertainty and aggravation with this stuff. The healthcare issue is a real concern for us. At this point, we’re still good, but I am not very optimistic about the long term odds for the ACA and health insurance is not optional for us. It’s definitely a source of stress at this point and it would be fabulous if the powers that be would actually try to fix the problem rather than make it worse. But that’s a topic for another day…. Hope you guys have a wonderful holiday season!
Really great article – very well written. And we could relate on 99% of it. Thank you for keeping it real and honest and I look forward to seeing what will be your future. Our current backup plan is a spot at the Benson SKP co-op, but we’re constantly thinking about where we might want to end up. It’s a challenge! Hopefully our paths will finally cross before you settle somewhere.
Peace & Love, Joy
Hi Laura,
Your post is so absolutely spot on and true to the core…a run of grim campgrounds could for sure be the reason so many people bail out after 12-18 months. It certainly isn’t all roses and blue skies! We are enjoying this chapter of our lives but are perfectly okay saying it is just a chapter and who knows what the next one will look like!
This is our fourth winter in latest chapter of life. While some may not consider us “full timers”, we don’t live in a house, we travel/live in an RV and a boat. Our first two winters, we moved around a lot, mostly in the SW and California but found that to be exhausting and are part of the group of folks who like to sit longer in one place and not move every few days. That is a lifestyle choice for sure…and when you undertake this lifestyle you don’t know what you don’t know!
We also didn’t realize that we would miss that sense of community that you have when you are in a S&B house. However, the great thing our current chapter is that we are the authors so we can change the direction of the plot anytime! And have!
We had a better idea after our second year how we liked to “full time”. Summer on the boat with part of that time hanging around Anacortes Washington, Fall traveling in the coach with short hops of less than 250 miles and a few days to a week in each place, Winter in one place in the coach – for now thats the Outdoor Resort Resort Palm Springs, Spring we travel again for a couple of months, again short hops with stays up to a week. This next summer we are going to mix it up and travel to Alaska for 2 months in the coach.
I am looking forward to hearing what your 2020 will look like and where your perfect new home town might be! Maybe Thor can figure that out!
Hugs and Happy Holidays!!!
Hey Brenda! Yes, you guys definitely have your own travel style and I find it incredibly intriguing. You’ve managed to create communities in both the boating world and the RV world by having “bases” of operation for certain seasons, but then you also get some good traveling in. Switching between the boat and the RV each year is a lot of work, I’m sure, but it’s awesome to have that combination of modes of travel. And you are definitely right about us being able to change the script. That’s what we’re doing and we know that nothing is being written in stone. For all we know, a year from now, we may decide we want to stay in the RV, or find a great camp hosting position at a state park, or join the circus… the possibilities are endless! Stay well!
Hi Joy! I hope we get to meet, too. We’d love to chat with you guys at some point. We have discussed many possible options for a landing spot and have a pretty good idea of what we want to do, but we also know that we may change our minds, and we may keep evolving as we go. I think part of this is just realizing there is no single right answer and we can change our minds. That mindset opens up a lot of possibilities.
Laura – Your post is VERY timely – my wife and I have been having recent conversations about many of the same issues that you discussed. We have been full timing for 5 1/2 years, and have started to focus on visiting/revisiting locations for a “stick sand bricks” community. When we retired (in our early 50’s), we knew that we wanted to relocate (we had lived in a very congested area in NJ for 30+ years), but did not know where. Living and traveling in an RV provided us with the opportunity to experience a lot of different environments (rural, urban, mountains, coast, desert, etc.). The travel has allowed us to figure out that we really enjoy areas that have a strong arts and crafts culture, restaurants/breweries, nice downtown, as well as fairly close access to nature (hiking, etc.) – but not highly congested. Santa Fe NM, and Bend OR are on our short list! We look forward to your future posts on your process to transition out of the full time RVing life.
Thanks, Ed. We, too, knew we did not want to return to our old home town when we finished traveling, but weren’t quite sure where we wanted to land. Traveling this way is a fantastic way to experience different places and see what calls to you. We very much enjoyed both Santa Fe and Bend, so I can understand why they may be permanent landing zones for you. It’s nice to just be able to take your time and experience places to see what feels right. I think our initial plans will just involve renting a place or staying in a campground for several months rather than buying immediately. While it may not be as good financially, it preserves our ability to exit if we realize the location is not a good fit. As we get closer, I’ll definitely write about these things. Best wishes to you!
Great post! We stay about a month at a time and are planning to buy a home base mid-2020. You pretty much nailed all the reasons, plus we hope to have grandkids in the next couple of years.
That’s awesome! I’ll be interested to hear where you’re settling in. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of part time travel. I really don’t want to give this up. We just need somewhere to call home (that doesn’t have wheels.) You guys will definitely want that with grandkids on the way!
Such a great post Laura. We just had our 2 year anniversary. We both still love to travel and don’t have an end game in sight. Some things I definitely don’t enjoy…every time I go up and down those damn steps! I moved out of a single story home in SoCal to continuously go up and down 5 REALLY steep steps? And dishes…I’m a dishwasher gal. Not that I want one in my RV, but I get so tired of washing dishes in that smallish sink. Oh yes, and the retelling of stories over and over and over….well you get it. My big question for you is if you stop the full time thing, will you continue to blog? I need my Chapter3Travel fix…even if you aren’t travelling any longer. I love your writing and just laugh out loud at the things you write about. Please don’t leave me high and dry!
Well, thank you very much! That is the nicest thing I’ve heard in a while and I very much appreciate it! I hope to continue writing one way or another. In fact, it’s one of the things I want to focus on when we settle down. I do very much enjoy it and would like to improve my skills with a class or twelve – all of which is hard to do when we’re out on the road. I am sure whatever we do will involve plenty of screw ups and fails and I’ll happily keep writing about all of them. 🙂
I feel you on the stairs issue. Since I broke my leg, my strength has never been 100%, so stairs are always a bit wonky, and the ones into the RV are just enormous. And I really don’t mind doing dishes all that much, but I hated the divided sink. Luckily, Kevin got tired of me complaining and just replaced it with one giant sink last week. It’s a game changer. Maybe that’s a possibility for you too? I’ll post details on an upcoming blog. It is incredible how helpful these small changes can be.
Congrats on two years! I know you guys are having fun and seeing lots of great stuff. I’ve enjoyed following your travels! Hope you all have a great holiday!
I can so relate to everything you said and had to laugh about your response regarding the license plate/where you’re from. I pretty much say the same thing and rarely mention the ‘full-time’ story. After the homebuying attempt in Lake Havasu City (when we met you) didn’t come together (thankfully), we decided to rent an RV lot year round in AZ giving us that much needed home base. It’s not ideal and I’m not sure how long we’ll do this, but for now it’s working. We’ll do a repeat this summer and return to WI and do some out and back trips from the family property.
Yep, ‘living the dream’. Every time I hear that comment, I want to gag ???? I can think of many a time that it was more like ‘living a nightmare’. I look forward to following your 2020 travels and eventually see what you guys decide to do after that.
Thanks Ingrid. I know you all understand exactly what we’re talking about. I’ve read several of your posts about long term travel and seen ourselves in them. There really is no one easy answer. We just have to adapt as we go, be honest about how we feel, and figure out what works. Your current situation of winters in Arizona and summers in Wisconsin sounds pretty fabulous. We absolutely loved spending last summer up that way and there truly is no better place to winter than Arizona. It’s not all perfect, but it’s pretty darn good. Happy Holidays!
Spot on Laura, I hope the wanna be RVrs readers take a cue from you and really think hard if the “living the RV dream” is what they are looking for. We too have experienced all the good and bad of RV life and you are being true to yourself. It just makes me sad for it sounds like our paths won’t ever cross again, and met Thor 🙁
As for us other than the major health issues, we managed to bear and grin the facts of RV life for 8 years simply because we had a goal right at the beginning. That alone kept us going and we went with the flow and deal with the challenges as it comes. Most recently our gripes are having too many competitions in getting a spot at a desirable campground. We thought the good economy is driving all the traffic which we did not experience in our first three years. As you know we are hinting a lot that we will soon get a stick and brick home because we thought Betsy is ready to retire and Steve wants a break from driving.
I’m piqued and looking forward to hear what your next steps in 2020!
You are totally going to meet Thor! Jeez. We’re not dying over here! We’ll still be around and traveling and ready to hang out whenever. Trust me! You have not seen the last of us!!
You all know as well as anyone that this stuff can wear you down. You’ve been on the road a very long time! I think having that specific goal was probably very helpful and kept you focused. We wanted to fill in our map too, and still do, but at some point, it’s just hard to convince ourselves to drive 800 miles out of the way to check out Iowa. I mean, I’m sure it’s fabulous and all, but really? No…
You guys have done it all and had a great time. I’m looking forward to your next chapter as well! And, more importantly, I’m looking forward to seeing you guys again!
This is very well done and certainly brings a true to life story of being a full timer. I’m at still 30/70 (30 being in favor of) on this life style for our retirement.
Thanks for reading and thanks for your comment. There are certainly arguments on either side. It really just depends on your circumstances and what things you value most. The nice thing is there are lots of people out there sharing their experiences. Feel free to email me with any questions if you need specific information. We’re happy to help.
The main thing I took away from this post is that they actually needed to put a “Don’t shoot trees” sign in a U.S. National Forest. :-/
When we were about to visit Joshua Tree National Park, I was researching some local roads into the park and came across one that looked great – right up until I started reading that locals routinely used to road for shooting practice and that the entire area was littered with shotgun shells. From what I could tell, this was all National Park property, but people just used it for a firing range. So yeah…. apparently that’s a thing that happens and you need to be careful. Who knew???
What?! No mention of the crappy laundry facilities with broken, rusty machines, no hot water, floors that look like a grizzly bear just stepped out and a broken bench to sit on while the crappy machines steal the last quarters you won’t have a chance to replenish for a week?
Nevertheless, the best 3-year NOPE vs YEP blog entry I’ve ever seen and it will be a pleasure to pass it along.
BTW, you’re not allowed to quit until we’ve met for beers at Pal’s in North Platt, Nebraska. Best brewery ever – now a Harvest Host member.
Ya know, Nebraska is one of only a handful of states we haven’t been through yet. Now we have a great reason to go! Given all the places you guys have checked out, I trust that this brewery is something special if it’s getting high praise from you!
We will definitely meet up one way or another. It sounds like you’ll always be tied to southern California the way we will always be tied to DC, so if we end up landing there, maybe we can do that San Diego brewery tour.
And it certainly sounds like you may know a thing or two about what what I’ve written here. The less than stellar facilities, the less than reliable utilities, the thieving laundry machines…. yep, been there, done that. 🙂
But what about all the stuff that wears you down about living stationery in a house? Not to mention the hassle of homeownership, yard maintenance, commuting back and forth to work, and frankly, feeling bored because everything is the same all the time. I don’t know, we must be part of the tiny minority, because we’re coming up on 8 years and still have no desire to stop full-timing. We’ve also met a lot of people who have been doing it longer than us.
Yeah, there are definitely people out there who’ve been full-timing forever and never get sick of it. I think it helps if you’re in a smaller, more nimble rig, and if you’re set up for off grid living, like you guys are. You can set up anywhere for a month or two and be fine. You can also go to a ton of national forest campgrounds or beautiful BLM land easily. For us, because of our size, a lot of those places are completely inaccessible, and even if they are accessible, when we’re there, we’d need to run our generator for 5 hours a day (we have a residential fridge with extra batteries) or spend thousands of dollars on a solar set up. We’re sitting at a state park now where only about 1/5 of the sites are big enough for us to stay in. It’s oftentimes harder for us to find state park sites than it is for people with smaller rigs. I think if we had more flexibility that way, we might be less burned out because we could stay in more places that we like and not have to plan so much. On the other hand, we like our rig and are very comfortable in it. It’s a trade off.
As for our future plans, there will be no yard work or long commutes or suburban living for us. We’re city people, through and through. Wherever we land will be a walk-able neighborhood where we rarely need to drive. We’re happy to sacrifice space and to share walls with our neighbors if it allows us to be close in. And city living means we’ll never get bored. There’s always something to do or something to learn or someone to meet in a big, cosmopolitan city. And there are things we can’t do now that we’ll be able to do then.
Finally, if we hate it, we’ll do something else. We’re not buying anything. Home ownership is overrated in our opinion. We’ll happily rent. At least for the short term, we”re not committing to anything more than trying out something different and seeing how we like it. If it sucks, we’ll move onto something else.
As many others have said, there is not one way to live and travel. The one thing we keep in mind, is that every year we are able to travel together is a gift. We get reminded of that often and never take it for granted. We expect there will be years to come that life on the road, or for us on the water, will not be an option. We will continue to travel by RV and sailboat as long as we can. Suburban conveniences are overrated.
I totally agree. We see every day that we can spend together as a gift. But those days don’t have to be spent in an RV. When the stuff that’s dragging you down is making the whole thing less fun, then it can be time to make a change. I agree that life is short and we won’t always be able to do the things we can do right now, but that doesn’t mean we have to force ourselves to keep doing something that is causing a lot of stress and fatigue. There’s no award for ‘sticking with it the longest” There are plenty of ways for us to spend quality time together and make the most out of life while living in a home without wheels.
And like I said to Amanda above, I look at this decision the same way I looked at our initial decision to move into the RV: If it sucks, we’ll do something else. We’re not joining the Marines. We’re renting an apartment near the beach!
Oh, and I completely agree with you on that point, if we settle down, it will be in a city. Suburban living has never been our thing.
I amt new to reading your blog, but I recognize you. We became full time by accident. After 10 years of part time RVing we went to Alaska the long way – Rochester NY to St Petersburg FL to San Diego up the coast to Dawson City returning south to US 20 and back across to Rochester NY on US 20. It took 11 months. We put the townhouse up for sale, hired a company to sell/donate/pitch everything left after we moved minimal “stuff” into a rental apartment. Left to Africa before the sale! Returned to the apartment which we outfitted with leftover stuff and the remnant of our art collection. then went off to enjoy the road. We returned to the apartment from time to time because we had life long friends still staying in the frigid north, we only visited in the summer months. Our kids are on both coasts so our route always included Virginia and Los Angeles. I can describe most every turn in US 90, I 10, US 20 and other cross country routes.
We had no intention to stop this routine until we happened on Jojoba Hills SKP Resort. Our site is 50×70, the view is Mount Palomar and I get to volunteer as much as I choose using the skills I learned through a life time of work. I have a community here that cares about me and I care about. My wife is happy doing her craft work and I get to play bridge. And when the weather turns glorious we can turn the key and head north or east (neither west or south are available as west is the ocean and south is Mexico. We are now in our late 70’s so we are content to have a home base in the west and an apartment in the east. This summer we plan to take the coach to Alaska again, but first we will go to Morocco, Ethiopia and Panama. Travel is the spice that keeps us younger feeling and looking than our years.
Wow, this is awesome and completely inspirational! It sounds like you have the best of all worlds… not just a home base, but two home bases, and the ability to travel internationally to incredibly interesting places. Good for you guys! What an intriguing and fulfilling life to lead! I hope we can eventually do something like that too. I expect travel will always be a big part of our lives. By no means do we expect that this next chapter will be the end of our explorations. We just want to settle down and take a breather and explore things we can’t do while constantly being on the move. I absolutely agree with you that travel keeps folks young and engaged and is a vital part of life. I hope you guys continue to live life to the fullest and enjoy it all!
“I expect travel will always be a big part of our lives. By no means do we expect that this next chapter will be the end of our explorations. ” I am convinced for travelers it is a passion that can only be satisfied by more travel. The means may change but the motion continues so long as the ability remains. We met a traveler on a trip who declared that her travel was limited only by a race between her health and her wealth. She was 80 at the time and we were in Tanzania. For us it is a balancing act between road trip and air travel. We seem to do about two air travel trips overseas a year and fill in with road trips only stopping to regroup in one of our home bases. Ask me what part of Texas (license plates) i’m from and I will respond “The Rochester NY part of Texas” or SoCal depending on my mood. I do not tire of the question since I have many different answers and enjoy watching people’s faces when we talk about living in a 36 foot motorhome. Obviously we can foresee a time when we will need to make a change, my wife fell and broke a hip last Spring while we were on the road and I thought that was it. But no she has recovered fully and enjoyed our trip to Egypt in September – another bullet dodged. Life is good!
You are amazing, Laura. This post is the epitome of what I love about your blog — your honesty, your humor, your ability to describe life experiences, large and small, and just nail them. And even an embedded slideshow this time! Whoa.
What’s interesting is that we discovered a lot of these drawbacks when we went on the road full-time in our SUV a few years back. We were staying in hotels a lot of the time (we started out in winter in the northern Rockies), so, you know, we had regular toilets and heat and maneuverability — but we burned out on a lot of the same things you talk about. Before this, when we traveled I would read aloud to Dave as we drove, or we’d listen to music, but when we were full-time, I felt like I spent most of our travel hours on my phone looking up where to stay next or what restaurants were okay or where to grocery shop. We had a wonderful time, so many beautiful things about this kind of travel, but it did burn us out sooner than we expected. Dogsledding in Montana, following the Oregon Trail through Nebraska … but also eating at too many Paneras, or sitting in a beat-up laundromat in Cheyenne, WY that had a section for oilfield workers with big signs saying OILER LAUNDRY ONLY: DO NOT USE OTHER MACHINES…. I spent the afternoon just hoping those oilers obeyed the signs.
Anyway, you are a treasure, and such a writer! Thank you, Laura.
Heather, you are way too nice to me. Thank you for always being so positive and encouraging. I really do appreciate it. I have been pleasantly surprised by the feedback I got on this post (here and on some Facebook groups I posted it on). Turns out, people really like when you’re just honest about the downsides of stuff. I should complain about our life more often!! 🙂
I can only imagine how tough it would be to travel full time while living out of hotels. On the one hand, you’d have good insulation and real plumbing and it would probably be pretty comfortable, but on the other, constantly having to move in and out and not having a real kitchen would be incredibly hard (and expensive!) I can see how you ended up at a ton of Paneras. That is one thing that is nice about RV travel is we have our home with us and we can comfortable cook and do laundry and all of that stuff while here. The kind of traveling you all were doing sounds positively exhausting. An RV would be a nice middle ground for that situation.
I think the conclusion I am coming to over time and with all this feedback is there really is no perfect solution and everyone has different priorities, but it’s important to think through the realities of any form of travel and not drink the Koolaid on Instagram or websites dedicated to selling you a lifestyle.
Thank you again for your kind comments. I hope you guys have a fabulous holiday and Happy New Year!!
. . . which is why that trip was a decision-point for a trailer!
-H
Great post Laura. We are lucky, from the start, we have had an exit strategy. I now co-own my dad’s house in FL. Because of that, all the issue of driver’s licenses and such has never been a problem for us. I think because we workamp for months at a time, we don’t get as burned out when we do travel. I’ve become much less of a “every detail has to be planned” and more of a “let’s see where this road leads” kind of person. Loved your slideshows. Looking forward to reading about your 2020 plans. If you do end up buying a home base, make sure to add an extra set of full hook-ups. Lots of us haven’t met you in person and would be happy to come to your “house” for a meet and greet. Just don’t ask about our FL tags! lol
Thanks, Laura. I think having an exit strategy of some kind is crucial for this and it amazes me when people don’t consider that and go “all in.” You guys have had a nice travel/work schedule and have balanced both really well. Perhaps we, too, could plan less, but that just makes me nervous, especially because we like to stay in places for longer periods of time. I think you can often get a couple days here or there, but snagging a state park site for a week at a time can be tough. I am definitely jealous of your Florida situation. It would be nice to not have to constantly worry about getting kicked off the voter rolls (Insert eyeroll here…)
As for a home base, our goal at this point is to rent an apartment in a city, so running full utilities out to the curb might be a bit tough, but we’ll certainly be up for hanging out with you guys if you’re passing through! 🙂
Excellent article and story. We are that couple that have been thinking and pretty much dreaming of going full time RVing. We currently still live in sticks and bricks in San Diego ca, we are both native Californians, are both resently retired. I would be very content to stay in California my whole life, but the costs are making it tough finacially and my other half is tired of the costs, the traffic, and she doent like hot weather. So its what got us on the full time Rv life style was because we havnet been able to agree on a place to move to because of costs, westher, and life style. If we had our choice we would live in Carmel Monterey area but the costs for get about it lol. So we visit there fairly often. Maybe thats a good thing anyways because we appreciate it so much when we go there, maybe not as much if we were living there. Anyway we just havent found the right place to live year round hense full time RVing was looking very attractive. Myself i dont want to be moving around all the time, besides it seems more cost effective if you stay at least a month at each location, reduced rates for longer stays. That was why annitically we didnt think we could afford full timing was the costs, Until i noticed you get better pricing when you stay a month at a time. So my thoughts have been finding locations that look nice, have affordable monthly rates, and we would simply follow the weather. I dont do cold, and cindy doesnt do hot. Also the stress of moving constantly i think would be tiring especially for me because i would be the only one driving and setting up this big @$$ rig lol. So we have been taking our time, doing our homework and trying to see if its a life style we could afford and enjoy. After about two years now ( if not more lol ) i now feel comfortable with the whole idea of RVing, and i think my partner does to by following couples and reading storys like this one who give you a good perspective and good information on the whole life style and challenges. You bring up some excellent concerns and i could see it getting tiring to deal with thise concerns especially moving around frequently. Hense why I think its important we create a balance of where we stay, how often we move, keep our costs down, and follow the weather. Cindy is more about moving around i just dont think we can afford to. The big concern for us going full time RVing right now is the costs. We found the rig we want but its not cheap. We cant see us in a smaller and cheaper price rig so that pushes our budget up substantially, plus all the other costs of living full time. Campsite costs, insurance is crazy expensive, etc. im figuring its going to cost us the same if not more than living somewhere in a house. So the concern with costs is whst is still hikding us back. We would simply put our stuff in storage, try it for a year or two and see if its a life style we would enjoy and want to continue doing, then sell what we cant and dont need. So im going to send your article to my better half, it may discourage her more but i think its good to see and hear both sides of the experience before you make the leap into this life style. Or at least for me it gives more insight into how to adjust the lifestyle so we get the best experience. Thank you, well written and hope you find your balance. Kevin & Cindy
P.S. you might want to follow or watch videos of the botts, David and Brenda, Outside Our Bubble. David gives first rate advice.on setting up advanced internet connectivity for being on the road. He actually goes around to different RV parks and sets up thier wifi networks and since they blog on the road and even live while they travel his network seems to work really well. He has one somewhat recent video showing his network setup, its a bit complex for most people and over there heads, but it might give you some ideas to make your mobile networking more reliable.
Hi Kevin,
It’s funny because one of the places we are thinking about trying to settle down is San Diego… primarily because we love the weather so much! But, you are right about the costs. It’s not cheap and, therefore, we don’t know if we can reasonably make it work. So, we’re gonna dip our toes in the water – not make any huge commitments, try it out for a bit, and see what we think. I think the same might be good for you guys. You’re not sure where you want to live, you’re not sure if you’d want to RV full-time over the long term, but you’re kinda done with what you’re doing, and looking for a change. So, my advice would be – dip your toes in the water!! Doing exactly what you’re doing is perfect… read everything you can, ask questions, try it out, don’t toss everything into a dumpster on your way out, don’t go all-in on a crazy expensive new RV (a huge depreciating asset), but buy something quality, and see how you feel about it. If it doesn’t work out, you can always do something else (unless you went all-in on a huge depreciating asset!)
As for specifics, you are quite right that staying in places for a month is much less stressful and much less expensive than moving all the time. For us, our goal was to explore the U.S. – seeing national parks and checking out cities and towns we’d heard about, but never visited, with a secondary goal of figuring out where we wanted to live next. If your main goal is figuring out where you want to live, it makes much more sense to just travel slow, take your time in various locations, and see how you feel about them. There is no substitute for experience with these things, and I can’t tell you how many times we’ve visited a place we thought we’d love, only to hate it and vice versa. It pays to spend the time and really get a feel before settling on a new location to live.
I wish you guys lots of luck as you continue figuring this stuff out. Feel free to reach out if you need anything.
Preach it, sister. This little stuff does just start to pick away at your enthusiasm bit by bit, and the excitement levels you had for new places just can’t ever really match what you felt in that first year of travel. It’s nice to see someone actually write about the downsides, and not just the positive “living the dream” moments.
Thanks. I figured there are enough articles with titles like: “10 Reasons You Should Live in an RV Right Now!!!” out there already. Sometimes a nice heaping plateful of reality is helpful.
I love this post. Our two years on the road wore us out, but it was hard to put my finger on why. You describe it so well. The amazing upsides of travel outweigh the cons for awhile, but for most people that doesn’t last forever. We can’t seem to say goodbye to the full-time travel lifestyle though, which is making it so hard to decide what to do next! I can’t wait to see how you change things up for the future.
It’s funny because we’re now thinking about what life will look like after we’re no longer doing this, and it’s truly hard to imagine. On the one hand, we’re so ready to settle down. On the other, we can totally see ourselves having itchy feet. We’ll just have to see how it goes and try to find some sort of balance. Hopefully, by the time we’re really ready, you’ll have the whole planned mapped out for us!
Great article. We are considering going full-time in an RV but not for the travel per se. as we approach retirement years it does not seem feasible to live in a 55+ community with all of the amenities. Social Security and a small 401(k) will not support a sticks and bricks lifestyle. I’m not sure if we have any other choice I’m open to any suggestions but so far no one has come up with any other plans then sell everything and buy the RV while we are working have it paid for and find a lot to rent for 500 a month. Or if a park is not the right fit I can see us traveling maybe Boondocking all over the state of Florida for a lot less than our mortgage payment now. It’s depressing when you think about it but I’m trying to look at the positive side of this lifestyle as well
Hi Rhonda,
Yes, that is a tough situation. I’m not sure I would rush to sell everything and move into an RV because RVs can be costly and have significant downsides as well, but if that’s what you’re leaning toward, there are tons of online resources that might help. Hopefully, with enough research, you can find something that will work for you.
I will say, there’s not a lot of BLM land in Florida. There is some boondocking available on these Water Management properties that can be found throughout the state, but the major tracts of BLM land are all out west. Here’s another blogger’s post about boondocking options in Florida: https://www.mortonsonthemove.com/travelblog/boondocking-in-florida
The other thing that comes to mind is trying to find work-camping options that would allow you to stay at campgrounds in exchange for some sort of work commitment. I’m not sure if that interests you, but it would allow you to travel a bit. https://workamper.com/
Finally, here’s a post from WheelingIt about how to keep costs really low. The post is several years old, but hopefully it will still be of some use to you. https://wheelingit.us/2014/09/15/5-ways-to-camp-for-under-500year/
Whatever you decide, I wish you the best of luck.
Checking in late to this party, but I wanted to add my two cents. I really appreciate this post because 99% of what you read about full time RVing is all sunshine and roses and “Living the Dream”. You’ve always kept it real here; I’m thinking specifically about your post showing the actual view out your RV door vs. what you imagined you would see via Watson’s Wander. In any case, small RVing is the way to go if you want to travel nimbly. We just bought a Leisure Travel Van and absolutely love it. It’s 25 feet of pure magic and agile enough to zip in and out of cities, state parks, etc. We are both able to drive it, which makes it super easy to get up and go. We kept our sticks and bricks house and do all our trip planning/reservations at home with our super high speed internet then hit the road! This type of RVing really works for us.
Hi Victoria! I think so much of our disappointment, when it comes to those dreamy views out the front door, is a result of our enormous size. If you’re in a smaller rig, you have so much more freedom to get into those incredible national parks and forests and see those views. The downside, of course, is it’s a lot less comfortable to live in full time. Hence, you have the perfect set up: A nice comfy home (with high speed internet!!) AND the ability to go anywhere and see anything when you want to head out. That truly is the best way to do it and something we will be seriously considering once we finish this fulltime project up. We still love RV travel, but with a stable home base, I think we can make the travel part so much more enjoyable. I’m glad to hear you like the Leisure Travel Van. I’ve heard nothing but great things about that company and, obviously, they are quite good at building a reliable and efficient travel van.
I had to laugh as we are full timers, same experiences as you when you meet up with folks and have to explain your life. We also use the same mailing service as you. We came from Ponte Vedra Florida and retired from there. Sold everything other than 3 boxes that are at my Step sons house. I am tired of always planning our next adventure. Being a full time Travel agent is tough on the body. I am constantly searching for places. Have most of our winter reservations and left the summer open ins some months. We don’t move as often as your family but we are seeing things we would never would have done had we not had the RV. Meet a lot of people along our journeys and stayed in contact with a few. Everyone seems be going in a different direction. We only have a few years left before we will have to come off the road. Don’t know where home will be., but i am seriously looking into AZ for a home for the winter and travel in the good months. Thank you for sharing your story.
Hi! Thanks for your comment. It really is such a mixed bag. I get so tired of the planning (or ‘being a full time travel agent” as you so correctly put it, but when I look back at this blog, I can’t help but be wowed by all the places we’ve been and things we’ve seen. None of that would be possible without the RV. But your eventual solution will likely be ours as well. Part time travel with a home base to relax in would solve so many of these particular issues. We have really loved our time in Arizona and would absolutely consider it as a place to settle down in. Sunshine fixes a lot of problems. Best of luck to you guys!
Great post! The interesting thing is that we found ourselves nodding our heads and agreeing with so much of it even though we have never lived even for a week in an RV! But, we have lived a nomadic life for over ten years and more recently morphed ourselves into a pattern of sequential living , so that we can slow down, not get exhausted and always on the search. We particularly enjoyed your observations about the planning and the daily administrative challenges and the never knowing where things are. This so resonates with us. Of course, I would hasten to add, you at least have the benefits that everyone speaks English, in our case, we have much of the issues you do minus the campground and specific mechanical and RV issues, but as well, we add linguistic challenges, learning currency, and not recognising foods and searching in street markets for familiar fruits and so on.
So, so so relate to the commentary about having the same conversation over and over. Laughed out loud, because the two of us often get a it irritated with that whole sequence of questions. At first, one enjoys the banter, the comparisons. After a while, it just gets old. For us it goes like this:
“Where you from?” Answer given when we are feeling generous: “Let’s see. One of us is from South Africa, one from France. We met in the U.S. We have lived in Nicaragua, in Sri Lanka, and now in Viet Nam. On a day when we are feeling less amenable, Ben whispers to me under his breath “YOU answer please. I just cannot.” And I while say, “We from Nicaragua. Enjoy your day.” Or if we really grumpy about it, we say, “We from Uzbekistan. Cheers”. It works every single time.
Very informative and no doubt once and if you do settle down, you will probably miss quite a bit of the highlights you describe, so the flip side of your advice to fulltime RVers of “don’t sell the furniture, momentos, etc” is, “Don’t sell the RV.” Maybe you can use it as an Air BnB in your driveway. This post also makes us think of the trevails of our friend Lisa Dorenforest of One Ocean at a Time blog, who has been doing much the same but in her case on a sailboat circumventing the globe. Lots of planning lots of mechanical issues. Every life style has its pros and cons and we appreciate your transparency about this particular lifestyle.
‘We from Uzbekistan.” LOLOLOLOLOL!!! That is amazing and I am totally using it going forward! Problem solved!! Hahahaha!
At one point we had considered trying to do some sort of international travel, but we quickly realized it would just be too much – the languages, the currency, the customs, everything. It would take all the challenges we currently face and make them even more difficult. I am amazed by you guys and the other international travelers I follow. I’m sure it helps to travel slow and really set up in a given place for a while, but either way, it’s a lot to take on.
You are absolutely correct that every lifestyle has its challenges and the minute you stop doing it, you’ll miss it. I imagine we will quickly be climbing the walls once we settle down, but hopefully the benefits will outweigh the initial boredom. You’re right too, though, that there are plenty of upsides to this lifestyle and I don’t expect we’ll ever be without some sort of RV. Being able to take our home with us wherever we go, certainly has its benefits.
I retired 8 years ago, eventually bought a campervan that can be parked like a regular car, and traveled about 6 months p/year to those scenic federal/state campgrounds (hated those private campgrounds) with connecting sleepovers at Walmarts and hospital parking lots (my van is a stealth van, hospitals also have great wifi and cafeterias) mostly during spring and autumn months when I could avoid summer tourists. Sometimes I’d do a home/pet sit somewhere really cool for at least one month minimum. Then I’d spend winters at my Texas cottage which could easily be shut-down while I was gone in my campervan (24 hr security in the community where my cottage was located). The best of both worlds! Sold my cottage this past year however, am now looking to build another cottage (nearby public transportation to/fro an international airport so I can easily do overseas travel) and repeat the same travel/home agenda that I’ve doing for the past 8 years for the rest of my retirement years, hopefully another 20 years!
Hi Terri,
That sounds like a fabulous lifestyle. You really do have the best of all worlds when you can relax at home, then head out and go ANYWHERE you want. I expect we’ll be trying to emulate that in some way in our future. We will always want to travel, but we’ll want that place to call home and we’ll want to have more freedom to stay off the grid and in national parks, etc. You definitely have a great set up for that! I wish you the best with finding the perfect spot to build your next cottage, and here’s to 20 more years on the road! Cheers!
Awesome post. As a blogger I have respect for the thought that went into it. Ingrid over at Live, Laugh RV was were I received the link.
We are 6 months into full-timing and glad we made some the decision we did based off listening to others. Positive there are many lessons to still learn. Thank you for the insight.
Hey Mark,
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for your comment. I’m glad you liked the article. When we were planning our move into the RV, I read every blog I could get my hands and I still do. It’s a never ending learning process and all the online information has made the process so much easier. I will also say that the blogging community, in general, is really great. I started reading Ingrid’s posts many years ago and reached out to her with questions and we met up along the way. It’s great to have these connections all over the place. Anyway, best wishes to you and happy trails!!
Mark – Thanks for the referral to Laura’s post. I found it from your Rockport post.
Laura – Great read. Refreshing dose of realville. We’re not full time, but we can work from the road and we’ve been inching into part time full time. This week just left for a 9 month trek from CA to FL, then ME, then home. First time reading you, (thanks again Mark).
You’ve inspired me to get back to writing more, but I want to find a useful theme. I’m leaning toward the topic of newbie RV owners joining the RV lifestyle whether it be full time, or just weekends. Too many fall in love with the dream; full time, or simply weekend warrior stuff, but too often, the dream doesn’t happen and the RV sits idle and rots.
So many of our friends are making plans and not all of them are suited for this. Some are not even suited to own an RV but are planning to buy the dream!!! I think I’m going to point everyone to this article for that dose of reality, then write as much reality as possible.
There has to be a happy place between full time and even non-RV owners who should never own, but simply rent once a year. Finding the balance has to be the goal because those like you who come off the road will not want to stay there; you’ll have to find balance, and those who have never been on the road may long for the dream, but how best to realize that dream and keep it from becoming a nightmare?
Would love to get your opinion on the best way to test the water. Jump? Toe first? Rent the home base and nibble at full-time? Would also love to know how you feel about offsetting costs by renting out your RV. There is a well-founded belief among experienced RV’ers that one should never rent out their rig. I agree if it means handing over your keys and letting renters rack up miles and damage.
I preach that owners should consider it, but just don’t let renters drive or tow. We rent our house while on the road, and we rent out our RV when we’re at home; delivered rentals only; a great way to offset costs and pay for trips. Any thoughts?
Best of luck, and if you have an opinion, would love to hear it. Safe travels…Russ
Hey Russ,
Thanks for reading and thanks for your comment. First, I think it’s always valuable to share your thoughts as you go along. I find that the articles where I share the realities of life on the road, the costs, the downsides, the funny stories – they all resonate with people far more than just the travelogues. I write the travel stuff more because it helps us remember where we went and what we did. But the things other people find most helpful are the articles where I talk about the realities – good and bad. So I would highly encourage you to write as you go and just be honest about your thought processes and experiences.
As for the best way to go about doing this at all – my advice would be to dip the toe in the water before going all in. I think it’s smart to start slowly. Fulltime travel is not a vacation, it’s not easy, and it’s all getting harder by the day because there are SO MANY people doing this now. If you can rent your home out while you travel, that would be ideal. If you can store some of your stuff with friends/family so you’re not selling/tossing EVERYTHING, that is best. Like I said in the article, most people don’t do this forever and yet, so many people go all in with no concern as to what they’re going to do next. In my opinion, folks need an exit plan.
As for renting out our RV, I would be super hesitant to do that. We have had enough instances of almost breaking things that I would be very nervous about handing the keys to a 38 foot bus to a stranger. If it was someone I knew, who had experience, sure. but, just handing over the keys and hoping nothing terrible happened would be tough for me. If it was parked somewhere and used as some sort of Air BnB or something, I think that would be fine.
Anyway, your trip sounds pretty fantastic – you’re covering everything! I wish you all the best and very safe travels as you go!!
[…] Chapter 3 Travels Blog regarding RV Life. […]
Hello there, Laura. Greetings to you from here in Reading, PA. I’ve been paging thru your Blog about the RV experience and enjoy what you have told me about. There have been a few times in the past that I’ve thought of doing what you do, but decide against it every time. I see those really nice RV’s for sale and think it would be nice to sell our home, buy one of those RV’s, and hit the road. No taxes, no paying all the expense of keeping up a home. However, traveling in a RV does have it’s own troubles. It’s nice to see places that some people never will, but it’s what you have to put up with is another story. I would think you have to have the money to do all this. Being confined to a certain space when bad weather comes. Shopping for food and what is needed can be a challenge depending on where you are. Being on the road can get boring, I would think. You hope that nothing breaks down that has to be fixed. Probably lot’s of other things that have to be dealt with. Your right. It’s not for everyone. I wish you safe travels where-ever you go.
Hey Les,
Thanks for checking in! I think you have it exactly right. This whole thing is a trade off. There is no one right answer for this stuff. There are positives to full time RV travel and there are negatives, just like there are for living at home. Right now, I think we’d like to drop to part time travel. We miss having a home base for all the reasons above, but we still enjoy RV travel because it allows us to travel with our dog and have our home with us at all times. But there are downsides to part time travel too – namely that you’re paying for a home somewhere that you’re not always living in, and you have to worry about it when you’re not there. Like I said, no easy answers, but there are lots of benefits too. We have truly enjoyed this experience. Anyway, I hope you’re off to a good start in 2020 and wish you all the best!
[…] RVing friend, Laura at Chapter 3 Travels, recently wrote an article about travel burnout and the realities of living in an RV full-time. […]
Hi Laura and Kevin,
This post really resonated with me, being a full-time nomad since 2003. Traveling and living a lifestyle on the road or the water (especially in combination with the need to make money) is utterly exhausting! I’ve been a traveler at heart since I became an adult and have always followed my passion – regardless of jobs, boyfriends, you name it. The only time I was really done and exhausted with no energy or desire to travel left, was when my husband and I concluded an eight year sailing trip (2007-2015) in the Caribbean and the South Pacific. Our “settling down” consisted of doing house and pet sitting in the US for a while – so much easier to live and work and still exciting, adventurous, and different.
Our most recent travels have been in a 19ft camper van, for three years, in North America. The last year with a 60-pound rescue dog, adopted at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah, in tow. Talk about a small space! One thing I have learned is that breaks are important. Not that we have implemented that wisdom yet! But, it’s the only way to survive this nomadic lifestyle – on the road or on the water. You need to be able to get away from it all for a week or longer to recharge your batteries once in a while.
We don’t seem to be planning as much as you guys are, but in a van, it’s quite easy to stop somewhere for the night. As a matter of fact, we always boondock and rarely pay for camping. We also rarely plan. Life is pretty easy that way. 🙂 We use Google to find an Aldi, Trader Joe’s, or Walmart and iOverlander to find a place to free camp for the night, or a few nights in a row. We never stay in campgrounds as we hate booking ahead, planning around it, being on top of others, and paying. Like you, we prefer natural beauty, privacy, and space and we rarely stay longer somewhere than a few days or maybe a week.
Totally agree with your section about the weather. I never thought we’d have to worry about this anymore after selling our sailboat. Haha. I think the thing we complain about most, on the road, is the weather. We’ve been hitting some record lows and highs, the wettest spring in California, the coldest winter in Southern Arizona and now, spring skipped in Florida! Five rainy days in a row in a 19ft camper (Pacific Northwest) or being swamped by humidity, heat, and thousands of mosquitoes (Northern Florida)? It sucks!
Loved you conversation with the neighbor example. Same here. MA plates, but not living there as we are full-timers. We usually gauge the people with the questions and decide how long of a conversation we want to turn this into, before answering the question accordingly. 🙂
Sorry for my late reply. Peta sent me here a while back – figuring we have a lot in common with you guys, and we sure do – but I didn’t get to leave a comment until now, with more time on my hands. And how life has changed over these last two months!! I’ll follow your blog and check to see how you’re dealing with this pandemic. If you’re interested, feel free to check out our blog as well: http://www.roamingabout.com. I hope our paths will cross one day and we will be able to talk politics, travel, and things that matter.
Stay safe and healthy and keep following your dreams whatever they may be.
WOW! You’ve been traveling full time since 2003??? That is incredible!! I’m not sure I know of anyone who’s been on the road that long. So yeah, I can definitely see why this post is relatable for you.
And sailing takes the challenge to a whole other level. I guess you lose some land based issues, but you pick up so many more challenges, and the risks when things go badly are so high. While I envy people who do it, I know I never could. And hell, van life brings a whole new twist to all of it. On the one hand, I am often jealous of people who have small set ups and can go anywhere anytime, on the other hand, I imagine the challengers are significant (especially with a 60 pound pup!!).
At the end of the day, I think every version of full time travel is just a balance. There is no right or wrong way to do it. It’s just what works for you at that particular moment and what things you’re willing to sacrifice to go where you want to go.
Anyway, it does sound like we have a ton of stuff in common and it sure would be nice to sit down and chat. I have no doubt our paths will cross eventually. I’ll head on over and follow your blog too and maybe when all this craziness settles down, we can hang out!
“Balance”, the magic word in all of this. Actually, balance is important in life in general. But, when it comes to RV travel, boat travel, or even backpacking… everything is a compromise. Another one of those words that fits into any aspect of life (and relationship). 🙂 I’m looking forward to browsing your site a bit more one of these days. Thanks for following my blog as well and take care!
This was a very interesting post, and I appreciate the “perspective” of living full time in an RV, into which I will make the transition the end of next March when I retire from federal civil service. I did enjoy the new “conversation” you had with your neighbor about having FL license plates. I will have Alaska license plates as I currently reside in Anchorage and intend to maintain residence here. But I’m sure my answer of “I live in Anchorage” will elicit ALL sorts of additional comments akin to your first conversation. Note to self: be prepared. I have two goals for my full-time RV life: (1) volunteer at National Park Service facilities (including Denali, which I hope will occur in 2022); and (2) identify a suitable Continuing Care Community. I don’t intend to fulltime FOREVER in my RV as I know, at some point, my eyesight and driving skills will become compromised and make RVing an impossibility. I certainly do appreciate stumbling upon your blog on the Tiffin Owners facebook group, and I will be signing up to enjoy your other blog posts. Thank you for this blog!
Thanks Renee, I’m glad it was helpful to you. You will DEFINITELY be the talk of the town when you roll in with your Alaska license plates! LOL. Now that I think about it, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that before! As for your plans, we have friends who volunteered for NPS and had a really good experience. I’m happy to forward you their info/blog if you’re looking to talk to some folks with firsthand experience. I would like to do a job like that at some point as well. So far, we’ve kept moving so often, it never made sense, but as things slow down (and this pandemic ends), I think it would be a nice thing to take part in. As for your second goal, with all the people coming over to interview you about your license plates, you will undoubtedly make many friends and can learn about all your options for long term landing sites. LOL… Thanks for reading and thanks for your comment. I appreciate it!