Do you now live in, or have you ever lived in, an RV for a year or more? We’re talking about continuous living – not a few months here and there.
A lot of people are living full-time in RVs these days and it’s causing a lot of congestion in RV parks. Modern-day RVs are so darn comfy that it’s as easy to live in one as any sticks-and-bricks home.
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10 years of fulltiming & counting. We can’t imagine any other life style now. We’ve been to every state at least once, including Alaska twice. We do quite a bit of dry camping, which seems to provide the most memorable experiences.
How many times have you been to Hawaii? LOL
Join the discussion…One time to Honolulu in Fall of 04
Join the discussion…I spent 10 days and nights in Honolulu, Hi. Awesome place to explore. Cost to much to live there, a great place to explore.
Once ( 3 times if U count the US Navy)
Will be back on the road soon.
Back in ’87, my ex told me she wanted a divorce. Being a young enlisted guy, I couldn’t even afford an unfurnished apartment so I talked with my on-base credit union and purchased a new 26′ Nomad Weekender for $200 a month (much less than half the cost for an apartment). Being fully furnished made it even better. It was a perfect efficiency apartment on 4 wheels.
Been FT, and a traveler, since 2000. Purchased my current fiver in 2005 and Workamper every year until now – due to fracturing my shoulder at work last summer. Taking the year off to heal, but still living in my house on wheels. It’s my happy place. Been solo again since 2011, when my travel companion passed away. I’m in my early 70’s and have wonderful mobile RV mechanics who check that everything is working properly, once or twice a year. Same with my 2004 Dodge Ram diesel 250. Spent my third winter in brutal Michigan temperatures – no issues, I know how to modify things to use my space efficiently and safely. Looking forward to traveling again soon – am comfortable traveling on my own and hooking and unhooking all systems. Cannot imagine living in an S and B again – I can only be in one room at a time!
In September we will have been full timing for two years. We still have about a year to go before our daughter is school age. Then we will still probably be in our RV, but mostly in one place while our daughter goes to school.
Ever heard of Home Schooling ? With what is happening in our public schools these days your child would get a much better, and more fulfilling, education on the road !!
Should have posted here. Left Anchorage Nov 3,1971 for Haines. Ferry to Prince Rupert, 1000 more mi. Thru Prince George to Seattle. Added A/C Lucus lights, tank gauges and Thermosan, a waste destruct sys. Continued around the US for almost 2 yrs pulling a 72 Dstsun. (I was one of the very 1st to tow car.) If pic goes thru, Calif article says a lot.
FT for 10 years. Have been to all 49 continental States and 9 Canadian Provinces…….still waiting for the bridge to Hawaii but have been there also. What a great, big, beautiful country!
FT for 13 years as boondockers.
Starting our third year full time in our 2005 Newmar Northern Star.
We have lived full-time in our 2005 Newmar Dutchstar since December 2013.
Since 1992, after I had sold my last house, I have lived continuously in an RV (two motor homes and a fifth-wheel), even while I was still working full time. Since then, I just can’t bring myself to be tied down in sticks and bricks again. When I first started this lifestyle, it wasn’t nearly so common as it is now and there was never a problem finding a place to live or to park short-term while traveling. Those were the good old days. :>)
After 9-11, I re-thought things in my life. We sold our farm in Maryland and hit the road in 2005 for a new life adventure. We never looked back. We bought a 2005 Holiday Rambler 5th Wheel and slowly traveled our beautiful country. In the fall of 2016 we purchased an Arctic Fox Truck Camper. We love a truck campers versatility and we love going off road by ourselves. For 9 months of the year we are in “Our Foxes Den” traveling. The 3 months during the winter we switch out RV’s and stay in the 5th Wheel on a ranch in Tombstone, Arizona. I can’t imagine living in a sticks and bricks again.
After living in Hawaii for 19 years I came back in 2007. I lived “normally” until 2012. Now beginning my 8th year in my Nuwa 5th, no huge hurdles…..yet….beyond my awning blowing away and destroying itself, and small plumbing leaks, replaced a toilet and installed a window (5000btu) AC unit…I’m not sure what I would do with all of the room in a sticks and mortar structure anymore
Full-Time RVer’s for 14+ years hitting most of the lower 48 states plus three trips to Alaska to spend the summer with my sons and grandchildren. Due to go back to Alaska again. Get there early in May and leave late September just before the first snow falls. Now we are Part-Timers with winter months in Florida at our winter house and the rest of the time on the road in our coach.
Alaska trip email me I like to talk to you about Alaska ,it will be our first trip. We need good advice. We are also in Fl. Ernie
My wife and I are going rving to Alaska next week.
urkeytoheaven@gmail.com
i was going through a divorce, hotels were expensive. pulled my RV into nice campground by my home and I was like OMG 8 washers and dryers meant not listening to complaining about my laundry, so five loads done at once and a few beers. couldn’t figure why I listened to the complaining so long. ONe step I brush teeth, three steps I’m on the can, two steps a shower, then AC for cheap, TV no utilities. it didn’t make sense to rent a place. then I went cross country for 9 months and worked and lived. it was a pleasure cruise!
Only for a year while we built our stick and brick. Now it’s about 4 months/year in the RV.
Not yet but might be before 20 Oct if my house isn’t finished. That is as long as flying to one son’s house for a week at Thanksgiving, a week at the other sons house for Christmas and three weeks at my sisters in GA before and between Perry 2019 and RVillage 2.0 (could have driveway mooched since I was parked there anyway but liked the change).
We full timed for 6 years (2000-’06), went back to a stick and brick and now, just sold it and back in another coach for more full time adventure!
My husband and I rented out our Orange County, CA home for two years from 2007-2009. We visited 37 states and 5 Canadian Provinces from the Pacific to the Atlantic. A year after we returned, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s/ Levy Body Dementia/ Multiple System Atrophy. He died last July. Memories of our wonderful adventure kept us both as joyful and grateful as we could be under the circumstances. If you dream it, do it! We regret what we don’t do far more than we regret what we do…
I sincerely offer my condolences for your loss.
14 years in a 32ft HR on Galveston Island in TCG o Galveston. Owned the lot.
We consider ourselves full-timers; we have no “base camp,” no sticks-and-bricks house, either. We DO have two lease sites at private membership RV parks. The comments around the question seem to suggest that anyone who lives in an RV all year is taking up space in an RV park. We prefer to call those folks “permanent RV park residents,” or “long-term residents” rather than travelers…. “Full-timing” is, as you say, a rather vague description.
After 21 years on a sailboat that was sold before Katrina in ’05, we moved into 24′ fiver. After evacuating, we kept going for 8 years, 4 winters in mainland Mexico, and all over the US. Bought double wide in 2012, but still get away for summers as AZ gets hot.
My wife and I owned a small horse farm in the Atlanta area for 25 years. My wife had a few accidents on the horses within a short period of time. We felt that God was telling us that after 45 years of riding horses it was time to downsize. I convinced my wife to trying full-time traveling before we got a new house. We sold everything and put a lot in storage. I built a website http://www.urkeytoheaven.org and put it on the back of a new Hartland 5th wheel along with the words “Heaven Or Hell it’s your choice “. That was three and a half years ago and we are still traveling. After the first year we upgraded to a Thor Motor Coach.
Like UR website. We also were full-time for 8 yrs. 5er & MH. Lost my wife recently but hope to travel again.
Been living in ours for 15 years. We started out Workamping but due to husband’s health have been parked the last 6 years. Can’t afford an apartment. Our MH is paid for so our only set housing bill is lot rent – which is going up every year due to ‘supply and demand’.
Our dream (after I retired) was to travel the U.S. for a couple of years. We started traveling from Oregon Sept 2018 and still on the road 15 months later. We plan on being back in Oregon approx May 2020. We have seen so much and traveled a lot. Right now we are spending the winter in Tucson AZ. We plan on living in our RV while seeing everyone in Oregon. Not sure right now what is going to happen after that. We are flexible. For sure we want to travel some more.
Lived over two years in our 24′ Nash 4M. Just bought into a Co-op park and purchased a 36 foot fifth wheel for our home base. The park has space to store the Nash. We will always Winter in the park and we will live there full time when our wandering days are over.
Been living in our 2016 Bighorn for 3 years. We stay in Wisconsin all year. The winters can be brutal next to Lake Michigan, but we put skirting around the bottom and we enjoy running water all year long. You have to adapt to the conditions. Wintertime can make for some beautiful scenery. We have 2 cats that live with us.
My wife and I have lived in our 38′ Itasca Suncrusier for just a couple of months over two years while sightseeing here in the good ol’ USA.
Full time for many years, never in one spot for one year.
yes we are full time
we have now lived in our class A for 4 yrs now and plan on doing it for another 10 yrs this having to stay in place right now is just a bump in the road AL
Lived in a 30′ Wilderness travel trailer in the mid 80’s for about 13 months while working remotely.
18 years and counting.
I responded No to the poll although we spend a total of 9 mos or so in our RV, it is not contiguous…
We lived in our Alfa Motor home for 12 years. Finally it was too much to keep up as we had health issues that prevented us from traveling anymore. But I say to people thinking about it, Don’t Wait! life has a way of preventing your dreams if you procrastinate.
I sold my “stick & brick in May, 2018. Before that, I was an extended time RVer for eight years. The ONLY things I miss from my house are the whirlpool tub and deluxe shower. Retired life in a nice RV is GREAT!
As a traveling IBEW Electrician for years I have rented apartments and houses for long term jobs. When the necessity to travel to places where the job term may not be long term, I purchased a used 5th wheel from a friend and the travels began. A year in AZ, Phoenix and Tucson, then a couple in CA, several locations. Upgraded 5er to a larger newer one as my stays became longer. Full circle back to a rental house for my last few years in the CA Bay area.
Bought my first travel trailer in 1972 after my dad kicked me out of the house. At $1.60/hr minimum wage I couldn’t afford an apartment so bought a 20′ TT and parked it in a mobile home park. Lived in it while going to college and then another 5 years in the 1990’s while my wife and I built our loghouse in Tennessee. Finally got a larger, 24′, TT with amenities and floor plan more suited to married life! Camped a lot while working full time. Kept the original 1971 TrailBlazer until my brother & I stripped it and made a fine utility trailer with siderails. Last year I stripped that bare, primed and painted it, then built a 10′ tall box on it to use as a storage unit. Just finished adding 2 solar panels so I can have lights & a fan inside. It’s up on jacks now and probably will never hit the road again. Last trip was 1000 miles from Richmond VA to Naples FL. Carry on.
No – 6 months when we relocated and not retired yet. Don’t see true full time in our future, We will always have S&B as a home base near grands!
We have lived in ours for two years, but we have never stayed longer than a month in one spot. We love to travel!
We have lived in our RV for 5 years, traveling half the year and wintering in AZ. We have had wonderful adventures and have seen quite a bit of our world (we have RVed in Europe as well). We are older now and down sizing our RV next year. We own a lot in an RV community so we will put a single wide mobile home on it but still hope to travel a few months each year – just closer to home.
We have been full-timing for over 8 years and counting. We have over 120,000 miles on our 2010 Itasca Ellipse and love every hour we spend traveling and living in our coach. If Covid would go away we could put a lot more miles before we decide to slow down.
I lived full time in 5th wheel toyhaulers (2) and Class A’s (2) for a total of 14 years following early retirement in 2006. It was wonderful, exciting, and an experience I would not change! I loved seeing and camping in all four corners of the country (Florida/Maine/Southern California/Alaska) and everything in between. Meeting so many people from all over this country, and occasionally from overseas even, was wonderful. During that time I occasionally had a partner with whom to travel, but in the past few years I was alone and no longer felt comfortable traveling distances as a senior single female. I still enjoy the newsletter and also some of the singles groups that have developed online. I miss the lifestyle.
We have been full time for almost 6 years now.We are a two RV family. One stays on a spot in the Rio Grande Valley. The other we pull around all summer. The summer trailer is 21′ this allows us to go just about anywhere we like.
Yes, starting our 6th year this summer. Of course we’ve been stationary for six months now, but hope to travel again in the summer. Really miss the road.
Lived in my 30’ motorhome for 10 years. Loved it. Being alone I never felt crowded and met plenty of people on the road to combat loneliness. Had many interesting experiences and never missed brick and mortar house.
We are 1 year now in ours. Not able to travel last year due to Covid and not looking likely this year due to finances.
We have lived full time for 11 years and love it.
We just passed the 17 year mark of living in this trailer.
Are you on the road or stationary? It would be interesting to hear your story.
We have lived in a 5th wheel since the summer of 2016 and plan to continue on.
Am currently living in my 30′ motorhome with 2 slides. I’ve been in it for over a year, I only have power as a hook up. I have to fill with water every ten days, have the tanks pumped every 10 days at considerable expense. I have 2 large German Shepherds and a cat with no yard or place for them to exercise. I live on the side of a hill and have fallen several times, one time breaking ribs and dislocating my shoulder. I have a lot of stored items packed inside so have no room to sit anywhere except one seat at the table. I had just sold my farm when covid hit, I was able to buy this RV and my new home, but the county building permit process closed down and I haven’t been able to get permits to complete my home so I can move in. Now that everything is opening again, I am “in line” after the backlog of permits that were in place a year ago when everything shut down! The original plan was to stay in the RV for a month or two until work was complete.
Dumping your tanks can be expensive. My wife and I just started our 7th year of full time living. 6 months of the year we are at a mobil home park where they have RV parking with full hookups (20-30-50). The other 6 months we travel the country extensively. We spend 1-3 months at a location that offers power (shore power) and water but no dumping facilities. At first we would call a company out to empty our tanks but it got too expensive. First year $50 per dump; by the 3rd year it was up to $100. I threw in the towel and said no more! I found a county landfill that has dumping facilities for $10 per dump. Now you’re talking. So my suggestion is to take a look and see if there is a county landfill near you. It’ll put money back in your pocket. P.S. I have to travel 34 miles round trip to dump but I figure that the total cost per dump is approximately $35 including gas. Only downside is breaking down the rig and setting it back up upon return. It’s worth it!