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"""The Meinhofers and a dozen others who spoke with The Washington Post about this modern nomadic lifestyle said living in 200 to 400 square feet has improved their marriages and made them happier, even if they’re earning less. There’s no official term for this lifestyle, but most refer to themselves as “full-time RVers,” “digital nomads” or “workampers.”"""
I found this website that would be great for a retired couple full-timing in their RV. I sent it to my bro and his wife who are planning to sell their house and bank the proceeds next year and hit the road FT in their 32 ft RV. They have modest pensions, but won't be SS eligible for a few years.
I found this website that would be great for a retired couple full-timing in their RV. I sent it to my bro and his wife who are planning to sell their house and bank the proceeds next year and hit the road FT in their 32 ft RV. They have modest pensions, but won't be SS eligible for a few years.
Have they spent a protracted length of time RVing before?
I was looking at a world cruise for us in 2020 while being very aware that there's a huge difference between being on a ship for 11 days and really living on a ship for 132 days. Same goes for RVing.
I would never try to discourage anyone from following their dream. But I am concerned about the crowds on the interstates. With this bustling economy, there are more big rigs than ever on the road. I went from Northern California to Colorado this summer, through 8 states in two weeks. There would be even more trucks on the roads but manufacturers can't keep up with the orders flowing in.
What health insurance solution did they come up with?
As soon as we sold the house, I retired and my wife and I took off for full time living in a truck camper. Aside from doing photography and visiting absolutely beautiful areas, our long term goal was to look for a lower COL area for retirement.
Traveling in an RV saved us a lot of money over trying to maintain a house on Long Island. The lure of the grandkids became too much for my wife and after a couple of years we returned to LI and split a house with our older daughter and her family. Now we just travel a few months a year. I am currently in Death Valley and will soon be returning home after 4 months. The wife had a health issue and missed this trip, but we are likely to spend February in the southern States.
If you are thinking of doing full time RV living, I will warn you the times they are a changing. When we started as full timers 8 years ago, there were an estimated 250,000 Americans living as full timers. The number has grown to over 1 million. I cannot begin to imagine how many millions of part timers have RVs. That means it has become difficult and more and more expensive to find places to stay.
There is another even bigger issue impacting our National Parks. The number of foreign visitors has grown to be immense. Many of them rent RVs. In order to get into the National Parks most of them make reservations as far in advance as allowed. This year I decided to make a reservation for Arches NP. I did so as soon as allowed which was 6 months in advance. I waited a bit to long that first day but I was able to get the last 4 days of the last available campsite and that was for the end of October when the camping season is ending. Forget Zion. The last 2 times I visited late in the Fall, I literally could not find a place to pull off the road to park and see the sights. Yellowstone is no better. Within a few years you will need a reservation to even enter the major parks.
Did they talk to the couples who tried the fulltimer bit and quit due to not liking confinement of two people to a small space? For every “we love it and our marriage is stronger” claimant, I bet there is at least one “we tried it and it nearly killed our marriage” or “we stopped because it was not fun.”
I know a couple of people who ended up spending a lot more than they thought they would. The guy who started my company says he mostly does it because he likes having so much of his stuff with him and sometimes he goes to remote places without having to rough it. But he said over the long haul, with the purchase (he does have a nice RV), gas, insurance, maintenance and campsite fees at popular destinations, his nightly costs would pay for a really nice hotel room instead.
I know a couple of people who ended up spending a lot more than they thought they would. The guy who started my company says he mostly does it because he likes having so much of his stuff with him and sometimes he goes to remote places without having to rough it. But he said over the long haul, with the purchase (he does have a nice RV), gas, insurance, maintenance and campsite fees at popular destinations, his nightly costs would pay for a really nice hotel room instead.
Yes, that's true where there are "really nice hotel rooms." Many places in the West there are none such.
I often stay at Hilton properties. How often? I made Diamond level in one year. But I still want the bigger RV to go to places that don't have nice accommodations. And to make up for a hotel's occasional shortfalls, like offering a free hot breakfast but forgetting to order paper plates. Or serving something disgusting, like reconstituted scrambled eggs.
Yes, that's true where there are "really nice hotel rooms." Many places in the West there are none such.
I often stay at Hilton properties. How often? I made Diamond level in one year. But I still want the bigger RV to go to places that don't have nice accommodations. And to make up for a hotel's occasional shortfalls, like offering a free hot breakfast but forgetting to order paper plates. Or serving something disgusting, like reconstituted scrambled eggs.
Yeah, that's why I mentioned one of his justifications is remote locations. He's a hunter. But he is fairly wealthy and it's not really that important to him that it isn't very economical. It can be if you spend a lot of time in it to amortize the costs and aren't also paying for another place to live (even if you have paid off your home, you have to keep the power and and get maintenance and whatnot). I think it's an additional expnse for most people.
I just don't see the attraction to being in an RV all the time. It seems like there would be problems every day. Just driving a huge beast of an RV through big city traffic would be more stress than I want in retirement. If I want to see the USA, there are planes and hotel rooms that would suit me just fine.
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But I still want the bigger RV to go to places that don't have nice accommodations. And to make up for a hotel's occasional shortfalls, like offering a free hot breakfast but forgetting to order paper plates. 
Or serving something disgusting, like reconstituted scrambled eggs. 
I don't see the attraction
