Are you a true “full-time” RVer? Have you forsaken a traditional home — one without wheels that never moves (except in earthquakes and tornadoes)? Estimates vary about how many people live in RVs full time, but The Washington Post reported a year ago that it was about a million.
But nobody knows for sure and who’s out there counting, huh? We do know, however, that thousands of RVtravel.com readers live year-round in an RV. How about you?
After you’ve responded to the survey, please leave a brief comment about your situation, perhaps why you chose to take up full-time RVing rather than simply travel with an RV part of the time.
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I decided to go full-time RVing when I retired 5 years ago and I’m still loving it. Currently boondocking in the dessert outside of Yuma, Az for the winter. A free vacation for the holidays.
Living full time in our 17’ Casita since Nov 2 2016. Sold our home and have a 10’x10’ storage unit. No plans to live anywhere but our Casita for foreseeable future.
In 2004 after retiring we left MCB Albany in the rear view mirror and went to our first camp host job in Falling Waters of I10 Chipley FLa. We purchased a New Ford Diesel and a 38 Ft. Flifth wheel. After going a working as a camp host for two summers we traded our 5th wheel for a 38 ft wenibego with 3 slides and all custom interior upgrades. We have stayed on the east coast. Ga parks are great to work for. VETERANS state park of I 75 in.
Helen GA is another great park with wonderful trout fishing and worked there many summers and fall. We went to Maine to work a fishing village and fell in love with the beautiful areas and villages and especially the 5 dollar lobsters.
After eleven years on the road working as camp host we headed back to SC coast where I grew up and purchased a home base and put down roots. The roads and truck traffic going to Maine got too dangerous so thats when we decided to settle down. We are turning 75 now and living in our winnebago.
I miss the the adventure .
Full time since November 8th 2016.
Been full timers since March 2018. No sticks and bricks, no storage facility. If it doesn’t fit in our 5th wheel or truck, we don’t own it. Love the life. Have done a lot of volunteer work camping at state parks.
Sold the sticks and bricks home in may 2019, to see all the national parks. Had 10 then, seen 40 now. Got to see the grand canyon though the visitors center was closed, by the time we were outside King’s canyon last march, the parks were locked. 2020 sucks!
Holding up in the great PNW.
I retired in November 2004. We lived in Sun City in Georgetown, TX. We decided we didn’t want to be there in the summer… too hot. Then we decided we didn’t want to be there in the spring… allergies. Why have a home for just a few months? We had a motor home for 9 years and now a 5th wheel for 7 years. We’re not on the move as much now, but we still log 8000 – 10000 miles/yr visiting friends and family… or at least we did before COVID.
After the local electric power corporation received a $6 million government handout to overbuild my veteran-owned Internet Service Provider company last year we lost the company, and our retirement and house with it.
So we had to get rid of everything and move us and our five cats into our neglected 17′ Casita. We’re making our way west to find some BLM land and some work to rebuild some savings. At age 61. Your tax dollars at work! 🙂
Even with that tale, we are taking great pains to stay healthy and excited to travel!
I’ve been an Extended Time RVer since I started RVing in 2010. In 2014, I “graduated” from a 2010, 17′ Casita Spirit Deluxe Travel Trailer I bought as a way to “test the waters”. RV life DID agree with me & I put 50,000+ miles on the little “egg” driving all over the” lower 48″ searching for the RV I’d “graduate” to. I looked at EVERYTHING other than pop ups. I decided on a Freightliner HDT based Super-C (a 2015 Dynamax DX3-37RB). It was my first motorhome so, even with all the searching I did, there was still a LOT I didn’t know about buying an RV. The floor plan on the DX3-37RB was the BEST floor plan I’d seen (it’s since been “improved”). My rig is ~ 98% usable with the two slides IN (a rarity in RVs). I have also changed the pretty but uncomfortable furniture and made other changes / improvements / upgrades. Because the Super-C is built on a class 7 HDT, the expected service life is 1,000,000+ miles. I sold my house in May, 2018 & became a Full Timer RVer.
We decided not to waste any more of our lives in California. We travel full time in our DRV JX450 enjoying this wonderful country while looking for a place to settle down. No hurry, we are thoroughly enjoying the adventure!
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Living in a trailer park in an RV is not full time RV’ing. It is living in a trailer. No different than all the other mobile home dwellers. If the vehicle is set up to never move they are no more RV’ers than a homeless person who lives full time in an abandoned 18 wheeler is a trucker.
I was happily living in a sticks and bricks with my man. We had a 28 ft. Jayco trailer that we used to camp in and had great times! Sadly, he was killed instantly one morning while riding his motorcycle to work when a school bus pulled out directly in front of him. I’m not sure exactly how the idea came about, but good friends of mine and I hatched a plan for me to get a larger 5th wheel and park it on their property to live in. The original plan was for me to stay until winter and then I was going to go to Arizona. In the meantime, I changed jobs for a job with benefits so I stayed put. It will be 3 years this March! 🙂 I pay my share of electric, but this has given me an opportunity to work to pay off my truck and 5er.
I do hope to get to travel eventually when I retire. For now, I am so grateful for my friend’s generosity!
We spent about 3 months of the past 12 traveling out of the country by plane so we did not live fulltime in our coach.
We were in the motorhome about four months this year, less than normal because most of our normal events in the fall were cancelled.
We have been full timing in our Tiffin Phaeton since October of 2019. During this time we have traveled coast to coast while adding 12,000 miles to the odometer. At first it’s a daunting thought to be living in an RV, but we love it and plan to continue until we no longer can.
Living full time in my 328 Jayco Eagle with opposing super slides for 4 years. Very comfortable.
Chose this life style as a large property owner needed someone to be on location. Otherwise it would be a dump.
Enjoy the privacy and located on the water. Gotta pick up and run from hurricanes which is a pain but worth it for the view, privacy, and no cost except electricity. Having a rough time getting my girl friend to move along side with her weekend Prowler so have been making grounds look pretty.
We planned this full time life by downsizing over 5 or so years prior. We saw the fall colors in the east, then worked our way out west. This last year we’ve covered the Oregon coast top to bottom and back up. We’re camp hosting with the Oregon State Park system. They’ve been perfect for our Corona Virus bubble!
My wife and I and 2 cats have been living in our 42 foot 5th wheel for 4 years now. We stay in Wisconsin year round. We make sure we insulate well for the winters because it gets cold. 2 years ago it was 45 degrees below zero and we stayed warm. The winter weather can be beautiful at times and nasty at other times. We are hoping to travel the country in 4 years when we can both be retired.
We had talked for years about traveling in a trailer full-time. About three years ago, we decided, let’s do it! We gave stuff away. We sold stuff on the internet. We sent some stuff to auction. We had an estate sale. And we filled a 30-yard dumpster. In the midst of all this, we did a kitchen remodel and installed vinyl plank flooring throughout the house. We had bought a 2018 Vanleigh Vilano and lived in the driveway while all this was going on. Put the house on the market and the next day we had an offer for the full asking price. We hit the road and have had workamping jobs in upstate New York; Mission, Texas; Montana; Mission, Texas (different park); Oregon; and now Alabama. We have seen a lot of country and there’s a lot more to be seen. We’ll be in Minnesota next summer. We; the wife, our 18 year-old Pekingese, and myself have thoroughly enjoyed our travels and adventures and have no thought of stopping.
Not just the last 12 months but the last 19 years. We tried living in FL but the hurricanes kept driving us out, so we’ve been following the weather seasonally out west and loving it.