Volume 2. Issue 7
Welcome to the Full-time RVer Newsletter, published every other Wednesday by RVtravel.com. Here you’ll find helpful RV-related and full-time RV living tips from the pros, travel advice, and anything else of interest to full-timers or those who aspire to be. Thanks for joining us. We appreciate you. Please tell your friends about us.

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Quote of the day
“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.” —Douglas Adams

Establishing a full-timing “home state” for taxes

By Neil Seidler, CPA, CMA

Dear Neil,
We are currently in the process of selling our sticks-and-bricks home to become full-time RVers. What should we know about establishing a “home” state for taxes, vehicle registration, insurance, etc.?

Neil’s reply:
There are several factors to consider including state income taxes, vehicle registration costs, health insurance and other insurance issues. Continue reading and see what Neil recommends.

Did you miss last weekend’s RV Travel Newsletters?

If so, here is some of what you missed…
• Roadside Assistance gave us the wrong tire – on purpose! 
• You should consider buying a truck camper. Here’s why
• Defeat the slope! RV leveling tips from the experts
• Campground and RV Park News, July 3, 2021

PLUS: Our latest RV Travel Podcast, hosted by Scott Linden

Be cool this summer.
Now use your RV air conditioner when you could never use it before. No kidding!

Features

Some of these articles are from past issues of RVtravel.com and have been updated for this newsletter. 

I’ve been bitten by the RV bug. Did it happen to you once too?

By Keith Ward
I’ve been bitten by the RV bug. And, like so many of you, it happened for one reason: I’m starting to lose my mind. It happens as we age. When I became eligible for the “Senior Discount” at iHop on my last birthday, I realized that I could only continue to refer to myself as “middle-aged” if I was going to live to be 110. Read more.

Boondocking gone badly wrong!

The title of this video is “Super Duty, Super Stuck” as in “Super Duty truck stuck in sand in the Arizona desert.” The moral of this story is to not only know the normal condition of a road you’re about to travel on to a perfect boondocking site, but to know its CURRENT condition. In this video, a tow truck (a Jeep!) responds to a fifth wheel and its Ford Super Duty truck that is hopelessly bogged down in sand … Read more and watch the interesting rescue.

It’s easy to make an album from your group’s photos

Using Google Photos, you can make an album and then invite people to contribute photos and comments to the album. Once they have done so, you will see their name appear in the corner of the photo thumbnail. It’s a great way to collect photos from everyone at an event or on a trip. Then you can even print a photo book of the results. Learn how easy it is here.

At last! A directory of where to camp on public lands!
The Bureau of Land Management Camping book describes 1,142 camping areas managed by the BLM in 11 Western states. Details for each camping area include the number of campsites, amenities, facilities, fees, reservation information, GPS coordinates, and more. You’ll want this book if you camp or are interested in camping on BLM land. Learn more or order.

Reader poll

Does your RV have a spare tire?

Please tell us here.

Quick tip

TV: Turn down – not the sound – the picture

When boondocking, I turn down the brightness of my TVs. Most LED and LCD TVs have a power-saving setting which essentially darkens the picture. You can get the same power-saving results by turning down the brightness on any TV, then turn the contrast up slightly to improve the picture. This will work for tube-type TVs as well. —From Joe Brignolo

What does “full-time RVer” mean?

Dear Chuck,
Is there a definition of a “full-time” RVer? The reason I ask is that I have noticed the term being used many ways. Examples of statements made by different people: They say, “We full time” and then we find out they live in a New England state, store their RV in Florida and “full time” for two weeks nearly every year. Some are more definitive when they state clearly that they “full time” every summer.

And then there are those, like my wife and I, that didn’t claim to be “full timers” until we moved out of our “sticks-and-bricks” house to make our RV (30-foot trailer) our home – wherever it is parked. … Read the rest of Sam Crabtree’s letter and Chuck’s response here.

Accurate RV tank gauges? This could be the real answer!

Ask anyone who has an RV, “Are your holding tank gauges accurate?” The nearly universal reply, “Are you kidding?” Accurate RV tank gauges are the stuff that dreams are made of. …  But someone may have come up with an answer. Enter John Van Horst …  Learn more.

You never know who you’ll meet at the campground…

By Nanci Dixon
I love how many interesting people we meet camping! We just met our new campsite neighbors, The Border Hookups. Dave and Jacqueline Hudson are professional singers, health coaches, and full-time RVers. Dave is from Minnesota and Jacqueline from Canada, hence the name The Border Hookups. Read the interesting story of how they became full-time RVers.

Camping activity and puzzle book perfect for summer fun
Even though this activity and puzzle book is meant for children, we bet you’ll have fun with it too. All the puzzles are camping-themed. It’s perfect to bring along in the RV to have fun around the campfire or at the picnic table. Inside you’ll find word searches, mazes, scavenger hunts, animal tracks, hidden pictures, word scrambles, hiking logs and much more! Learn more or order.

Your assignment

What advice would give an aspiring full-time RVer?

From the editors: We asked our readers this question recently. Here is one response: 

“If you have any doubts at all about full-timing… If you have a house, keep it. If you live in an apartment, don’t renew the lease; put your stuff in storage or sell it. Either way, just try full-timing for 6-12 months. If you still love it, then sell the house and all the furnishings or give them to a charity (your kids don’t want all that old stuff). Keep only what you actually need and will use. Excess ‘stuff’ will just weigh you down. As for me, I sold my last house in 1992 and got rid of everything that wouldn’t fit into my new 31-foot Bounder. I’ve never regretted that decision. Three RVs later, I’m still as happy as though I had good sense. :>)” —Glenda Alexander

Featured recipe

Peach Salsa
by Pat DiMercurio from Saginaw, MI
Fruit salsa is wonderful on chicken, fish, or all alone on a tortilla chip. This is a wonderful way to use ripe and juicy peaches. It’s sweet with a slight bite from the green onions. Fresh bell peppers and a lot of cilantro make this salsa wonderful. A bit of tang from lemon juice balances out the sweetness of the peaches. Simply delicious!

Well, this sounds absolutely… peachy! Get the recipe.

If you want to have a wonderful day, send $10, $50 or $100 to a local food bank. There are millions of our fellow citizens, including little kids, who are going hungry because their parents lost their jobs. You will feel so good if you contribute — helping people less fortunate than you go to bed without the pain of an empty stomach. Here’s where to donate.

RVtravel.com Staff

Publisher: Chuck Woodbury. Editor: Emily Woodbury. Managing editor: Mike Gast. Associate editor: Diane McGovern. Senior editors: Russ and Tiña De Maris. Senior writers: Nanci Dixon, Tony Barthel. Contributors: Mike Sokol, Gail Marsh, Roger Marble, Dave Helgeson, Janet Groene, Julianne Crane, Chris Guld, Machelle James, James Raia, Kate Doherty, J.R. Montigel, Clint Norrell, Randall Brink and Chris Epting. Podcast host and producer: Scott Linden. Special projects director: Jessica Sarvis. Moderators: Gary Gilmore, Linda Brady. Financial affairs director: Gail Meyring. IT wrangler: Kim Christiansen.

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Everything in this newsletter is true to the best of our knowledge. But we occasionally get something wrong. We’re just human! So don’t go spending $10,000 on something we said was good simply because we said so, or fixing something according to what we suggested (check with your own technician first). Maybe we made a mistake. Tips and/or comments in this newsletter are those of the authors and may not reflect the views of RVtravel.com or this newsletter.

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