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My wife and I are just about ready to join the 250,000 Americans who live in an RV fulltime. I retired a 10 days ago, the house sold a week ago and we have another week to finish packing up and putting our remaining stuff in self storage. My clothes are all in the camper. My wife is still getting her stuff ready. Then we take off with the 2 cats. Our first night or two will be in a Walmart or other parking lot while we visit the younger daughter. Then we will head south. We hope to go all the way to the Keys. Then we slowly work our way back up north for my daughters graduation at the end of May. Afterwards we head West for parts unspecified.
Traveling around the USA visiting our children and grandchildren and other family, plus going to location DH and I always wanted to visit was our retirement dream. DH thought we should buy a "homebase house/property". Well we now have our home/property in Ferndale, WA and an RV (5th wheel and truck to pull it), but are in limbo because of the expense of maintaining our home/property and the cost of taking our 5th wheel out any great distance is too expensive!!! So...for now we get out only to visit Washington State and County parks. So....that's where our retirement dream ends (I guess) unless we sell the house(I would but DH has other thoughts). And every year we get older and less capable of doing the things we use to be able to do!!! Stuck in Ferndale,WA I guess.
We travel in the winter (snowbird) for roughly 3 to 6 months every year. We have a home. I could not commit to full timing because I need a nest and a garden. We have no children but two dogs that go with us on our trips.
My advice is to start with either a rental or start small to see if the lifestyle is for you. Full timing is a commitment like anything else and one or both of you may not be happy with the life. Best to not invest heavily and find out that you made a costly mistake.
I have been on the road fulltime for over 1 1/2 years. For the initial leg of the travels, my wife and two cats were with me. Several months ago the wife and one cat went back to NY to help with a new grandkid. The wife is with me now but we are both returning to NY. I haven't seen the grandkids since starting my travels.
We travel relatively light. Our "condo" is a truck camper. RV parks and electrical hookups are a rarity. Usually I am in national parks and national forests. With senior access costs average about $7/night. The high costs are mainly when I stay in city areas and need to spend $30 or more/night. I rarely need electric as I have two solar panels and heavy duty batteries. I average about $15/month for propane. I am officially a resident of South Dakota so pay no state income tax. The big cost is diesel fuel. My rig averages about 12 mpg. I do tend to travel a lot and probably average 1500 miles/month for fuel costs of about $500/month. That is a lot less than I used to pay for property taxes when I owned a house. Of course, I could cut back on the fuel cost by driving less and I will probably do that later on after I have had an opportunity to visit more national parks.
Travel also means I have nearly constant good weather. I spent last winter in Death Valley and southern California with warm weather. When it gets hot, I visit areas in higher elevations or further north. Today I fixed a leaky window. I thought I had fixed it last time it rained which I remembered as about 3 months ago.
My form of RV travel is actually very unusual for a fulltimer. Most fulltime RVers live in massive class A motorhomes (converted buses) or large fifth wheel trailers. Expenses can get high and travel is inconvenient compared with my truck camper.
Costs for a suitable rig can vary greatly. Used truck campers and small trailers can be very cheap. They depreciate quickly and often have little use so buying used makes sense. Bigger rigs can get very expensive especially if purchased new. I see plenty of new rigs well over $100k but there is no reason to spend anywhere near that amount even for a big rig. My little truck camper was under $15k not counting the truck.
If you do decide to try RV living, you need to think carefully about your plans. Every possession you have will cost to move it and you will need to have a lot of space unless you are careful about cutting back on possessions.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Originally Posted by jrkliny
I have been on the road fulltime for over 1 1/2 years. ...My form of RV travel is actually very unusual for a fulltimer. ...
Thx much for sharing the details of a 'non-conventional' FT retiree I'm all for THAT.
I could use some "Seasoned" advice ... and have valued the many chances to talk with econo fulltimers at National Parks. (usually volunteers / workampers)
Considering similar (econo fulltime) but currently setting up a few 'econo' places to hang out for a season when I'm in the area. (WA, CO, TX, TN) each is self supporting. (rural joint rented out with shop / apartment / shower / kitchen and RV hookups for me). I will keep my domicile in WA (Tax free) for now, but SD is next on the list. I'm looking at rural prop there too, near Piedmont or Spearfish.
I have a W350 1st gen Cummins that gets about 20 mpg empty, but probably would use my Rialta (20 mpg class C)
Could you reasonable tow a small toad with your rig? (I would like to bring one of my 20+ VW Diesels)
Bumper Mounted Motorcycle? (I have an antique Honda TL 250 that gets 100mpg+)
Do you ever drop your camper and scoot around in the truck? (I might work PT / on contract if I find a place I like)
Have you even considered renting a house / apt or a seperate living space in a particular area you wanted to stay awhile? I have several friend who have apts above their garages... (including in Sturgis, SD)
What have you WISHED you could do / would you do different?
What's next?
Would a place in these locations be something econo RV's could settle in for a month or 2 and enjoy? For say $300/month (or Barter... more likely)
All rural / ~ 5 miles to town / groceries, Hook ups + shop w/ apartment and showers and kitchen and community space. QUIET / gardens, barns ....
Estes Park, Co (my previous home, looking to add property here or in nearby Loveland) Columbia Gorge WA / OR (present home, where I'm currently adding RV spaces) Hill Country TX (Looking at Wimberly to Kerrville, ~ 1 hr to San Antonio and Ft Sam Houston1 hr to Austin ) Tri Cities (NE TN) Near Johnson City / preferably Jonesborough.
These are all near CHEAP airports (except TN) so you could leave your rig there if you wanted to fly home for awhile. I'll keep at least 1-2 50 MPG Diesel VWs (I have from Pickups to Passats) in each location so folks can use for econo local travel and airport delivery. ('Storage' prices to leave RV would be ~ $80/ month... help pay taxes...) HOPE to have covered sites at each location.
Just looking for some feedback.. and IMPROVEMENTS to my ideas.
My father, now deceased, and his wife traveled extensively with a large fifth wheel towed by a Dodge diesel pick-up, although they were not full-timers. I had occasion to visit them several times in various trailer parks, so I had a sense of their lifestyle. I was present a couple of times during their hooking up upon arrival and unhooking for departure, which included unhitching the pick-up truck upon arrival so they could drive locally with it. That process is pretty involved, and personally I would find it a royal pain, although if you are going to stay a while at a given place it is not, of course, a daily operation.
Obviously many people like RVing because so many are doing it. However, I want to point out that extensive travel is still possible - and quite a bit cheaper - the old way. In 2006 I took a six-week, 10,000 mile road trip in my car, the car I already had. I stayed in motels, mostly in the $30 to $50 range, frequently using Motel 6, but I did pay a high of $90 per night for two nights at a Best Western in a location where that was the only close-by choice in the area where I was visiting people (a suburb of St. Louis). I was fortunate to have an invitation to stay with someone in the Washington, D.C. area, where lodging would have been expensive. When you consider the better gas mileage of a car (and how energy-inefficient it is to lug your dwelling all over the country), the lack of price of admission for purchasing the vehicle (since you already have it), the overnight stays which were often (but not always) on a par with RV parks, and the greater enjoyment of driving a decent-handling car on the curvy mountain roads (I actually like to drive), there are many advantages, financial and otherwise, to traveling the old way. You can even bring a tent for national and state parks!
I went as far north as Edmonton (Alberta) in Canada (the Canadian Rockies were spectacular), as far east as Buffalo, New York and Washington, D.C., as far south as Baton Rouge, Louisiana, then headed home, visiting cousins and old friends and museums and other sights along the way. It was absolutely fantastic. And I just did a shorter version in July and August - three weeks and 5,000 miles, during which time I was privileged to meet up in person with one of our Retirement Forum posters - wouldn't want to say with whom without his or her permission. (To that person: You certainly have my permission to disclose that visit.)
I am not saying people should not RV - RVing is the subject of this thread after all. I am just pointing out that there are other options. We have gotten so far away from these other options (which were once common when I was a kid in the 1950's) that I think a lot of folks have forgotten they are still feasible!
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I'm all for THAT.
