No matter if you traveled or not, 2020 was a year to remember. The year that everything changed…
We know many of you still managed to travel safely last year (good for you!), and we know others of you were stuck at home for most of the year. If you did get to take your RV out, did you use it for more than a combined two months? If so, was that on one trip or a few shorter trips?
Please tell us by voting in the poll below. Be patient if it takes a few moments to load. And, just because our wanderlust is so bad, tell us where you traveled to in the comments. We’ll live vicariously through you!
I am still employed full-time, and the DW doesn’t want to go for more than a long weekend about every other month. That does NOT mean we didn’t love every minute of it, it just means we savor the minutes we went.
Yes, one week at a time.
Wasn’t planning on such a long ‘stay’ in our trailer, but we’re just ending a seven-month ‘adventure’ in Houston, TX. We are leaving TODAY!
We are full timers and we normally move about every 2 weeks but because of covid we stayed in McNeal, Az for 8 months. Before we landed there we’d been to Lake Havasau, Las Vegas, Boulder City, Pioche, Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Palm Springs, and Casa Grande. We’ve spent Xmas in Pa with kids. Covid has us anxious and nervous about getting back on the road. For the first time we are camp hosting this summer in Minnesota.
We volunteer with Volunteer Christian Builders, traveling across the USA building churches and camps . Most years working at least two weeks per month. Last year we left our home in Texas 2nd week of May working in Wyoming then to Cheney WA for 3 months. Finished Sept 4 then headed home. Covid made life a little difficult but after quarantine and keeping hands washed we continue working.
We were out 52 nights, but never left the state of Florida. Visited some really nice campgrounds.
I used mine every day for 12 consecutive months. We are full timers though.
We spend five to six months each summer in Yellowstone National Park working. We use our RV for living quarters.
2 months as camphosts (1 mile from home, does that count?) and the last few months heading south.
Wish had more time to stay in RV. With dog rescue (about 50 guests at a time), we have not stayed as long as we might without the dogs. This year we are leaving for first trip 2 months, and hopefully the lady who is a paid volunteer will not have many issues. At our age we know that RVing may be limited in the future and hopefully our son will then use the RV more often.
We took it to a couple of dog agility events (dry camping at the arena) & a few days in a USFS campground just 20 miles from home for our anniversary in late September, also dry camping. No big trips.
Newbie…took our new class C from Florida to Maine and back thru NH,CT,NY,Penn,WV,NC,SC,GA…had a blast 6,000 miles…now warranty work…hope to head west this year after we get shots….
Left CA in January and headed towards TX where family lives. Despite COVID we still met up with our granddaughter, who flew into FL from TX, in early July and we treated her to 11 days in the FL Keys (followed all regulations during that time) now back in TX to get preventative maintenance done. Plan on staying here at least until spring.
Our plans for three months in Alaska were foiled because of the Canadian border being closed. We decided to do a trip any way. Did three months and covered Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, South Dakota and to Indiana to get some work done on our Phoenix Cruiser at the factory. Trip included Yellowstone and Tetons. Damn the virus! We aint stupid and took precautions, were careful and always aware of the potential danger. We are living our lives (carefully). Damn the virus.
january thru early may during our snowbird trip. we dont travel during the summer anyway but we did miss going out this fall. we canceled our snowbird trip this year as well
We departed the Seattle area Feb 28th on a planned 7-month trip South, then East, up the East Coast to the Canadian Maritimes then home thru the Midwest. You can guess how well that went. When things started closing down in Mid March we had reached Mississippi. We shut ‘er down at that point and came home up the Mississippi and Missouri rivers then West on I-90. Arrived home on April 11th. Since then we’ve done several “long weekend” trips to local favorite spots, though even that has been hampered by sporadic Covid closures. We managed a total of 72 nights for the year. A rather pitiful total compared to what we had planned!
PS: we would have launched on our usual snowbird trip at the end of November, but have put all that off until we’re immunized. So it’s a boring Winter in the PACNW, I’m afraid. Sure looking forward to being able to get back on the road!
We retired on August 31. Been planning a celebratory trip for a couple years. Left home on Sept 24, still out there. The Plague caused us to stay put in Phoenix and Tucson longer than the original plan, but we’re still uninfected as far as we can tell, having a good time and will get home around April 1.
We’re full timers. We stayed at Mountain Springs Ranch RV at Carrizozo, New Mexico. Still here. We’re in the country and 50 miles from Walmart & we love it here. We enjoy the mountains, wild life, and the QUIET. Can see the stars most every nite & we put up our telescope to get a better view. I’m over 75 and husband is over 80. We wear our masks where ever we go. We try to stay safe.
I was out from New Year to mid March with plans for a lot more, but…
I did get out again for 3 weeks in October away from everybody else.
We left home in southwest Virginia on Dec. 29,2019 and spent New Years Eve in Kingsland, GA. Spent the month of Jan. in Lake Wales, FL. Moved south and spent the month of Feb. in Lake Okeechobee, FL. Took our time heading home and arrived home March 8th, just before things closed down.
We had planned a summer trip that we cancelled due to Covid-19. We did make a short one week trip in mid Oct. to the Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, TN. area. We cancelled our annual trip south for this winter. Hopefully we will be on the move again soon.
Managed at least one trip per month from April through November, mostly to the Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA areas. How fortunate I was …
We’re fulltimers. We left Florida in April, traveling to our home base in Pine River MN, leaving there to travel northwest through the upper midwest to Oregon in September, then headed south through Northern California, Nevada, and Arizona to Joshua Tree, CA. We stayed in our friends yard in Reno, and a commercial RV park in Joshua Tree. From there, we headed east to do a little workkamping at an RV park in St. David, AZ for a few weeks. Leaving there, we continued east to our winter destination in Garrison/Nacogdoches, TX at Tonkawa Springs RV Park and Campground. We even got a bit of snow here to remind us that it’s winter.
Forgot to add, we camped in Red Lodge MT on our trip west. 2 weeks after we left, the whole area was snowed in.
We live in southeast Tennessee and had a couple of trips cancelled and one delayed early in the year. Our first RV trip in 2020 was in early June to have work done at the manufacturer in Indiana. Subsequently, we made trips in July (Colorado), August (South Carolina), September (Tennessee/North Carolina border), and October (Virginia). However, the total number of nights that we spent in our RV was less than 60.
So far in 2021, we have spent 4 nights in our RV and have trips scheduled to add another 15 nights by the first of April. So, I’m not sure that we’ll make 60 nights during 2021 either.
Fortunately, we have a few friends that own a lot of property near-by, even a few waterfront places, that they let us use. We boondocked for most part but do have access to electric for A/C when it’s hot. Got away every other week for 3 or 4 days at a time. Sure was an enjoyable way to stay safe while breaking up cabin fever.
We are full-timers, so, yes. We have spent the year in Southern California. We are spending the winter near the ocean around Morro Bay. A great place to be. We will head to the Sacramento River delta in April then on to Indiana and then the east coast. We love our life!
Glad to see we have some people taking advantage of their rigs! As they say “Use it or lose it.”
We are Full Time, so yes! spent winter in Jojoba Hills SKP Resort (southern California) then crossed the country to Charlottesville VA and spent 5 months in our son and d-i-l yard with full hookups we put in years ago. After a 6 week stop in Rochester NY we returned across the country via the kids place in VA and Red Bay AL. Planning included a reservation in Red Bay. The rest of the journey was day by day with stops booked as we went. Never had a problem finding a place to stay along I 10, US 90 and I 8.
We managed 5 trips for a total of 20 days, all weekdays, during 2020. Stayed at a National Forest Service campground in June, the Gunnison CO KOA in July, Mustang Ridge NFS campground at Flaming Gorge in August, James M. Robb Colorado River State Park in September, and Trinidad Lake State Park in October. We made our reservations a month or two in advance without problems and found a space at Mustang Ridge without a reservation (but it was a close call on that one.)
We had Colorado State Park and NFS campground reservations canceled by COVID precautions in April and May or would have made those two trips as well. It was great to find a safe way to get out and do something away from home by going on these trips. Most people we encountered were following the COVID guidelines when inside buildings and we were able to keep a safe distance when outdoors, so we mostly felt pretty comfortable about our travels.
We aren’t retired, so exceeding two months of travel doesn’t happen. We usually average about 6 weeks, and last year were out 46 days, about our normal. We switched the May trip to October, and took trips closer to home in May.
I answered “No” to the above survey question because I live in mine full time. I assume you meant by “use” you meant actually camping.
We took our motorhome on five outings in 2020 for a total of about five weeks. We prefer to travel, visit museums and other points of interest, eat in local restaurants, etc., and 2020 was not the year to do those things. For a taste of reality, I added up all our RV costs such as monthly payments, routine maintenance, insurance, extended warranty, emergency roadside assistance, fuel and campground fees, and divided the total by the number of days we camped. It would have been cheaper to stay at the Hilton.
In June I departed CO and slowly made my way to the South Rim. From there I visited my niece in Henderson, then to Lake Tahoe where I boondocked for 10 days in the driveway of a friend’s cabin, which was unoccupied. Then off to Lassen NP, then to Crater Lake NP. Then I drove to northern California where I slowly traveled north on the PCH to Astoria. Camped my way east along the Columbia river to Hells Canyon, then started heading towards CO. All told it was about 10 weeks of travel, just me & my dog. The only reservations I made in advance was at the RV campground at the South Rim. This year I want to do it all again in reverse.
Even with the Covid-19 we did manage to get to our seasonal site for at least 3-4 days a week to use it, and was because my wife was able to work from home because of the Covid-19. We did miss going on our yearly camping trip to the Vacation State of Maine. Due to the Governor more or less shutting down the State at the time that we usually plan our trip. 😥
In July, we headed north and visited Big South Fork National Recreation Area in TN. Beautiful place. From there, we headed to Great Falls of the Potomac outside of DC, and then to Longwood Gardens in PA. In September and October, we took 6 weeks to go west to Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Capitol Reef, Great Basin, Arches and Canyonlands NPs (not in that order), as well as a few other places. We made reservations only for our stays at Arches, Gunnison and Great Basin, and had no trouble getting a spot in a campground elsewhere.
Starting in May, we took our RV to Illinois. It became our “2nd home” so we could travel to visit our family. We “let them come to us” if they were comfortable during the tightest of COVID restrictions. We also travelled within our state to State Park campgrounds, which were pretty much full of campers.
We planned our first extended trip to start March 1, 2020, not great timing🤪 but we still had a great 8 weeks in Mo, Arkansas, Tx, New Mexico and Oklahoma 😁😁. Didn’t go to Arizona as we had planned due to Grand Canyon (along with everything else) being closed😝. But certainly saw lots of beautiful places where we did go. If u have never been to Palo Duro state park in TX, make sure u put it on your HAVE TO GO THERE list!!
Traveled in pickup camper for almost 4 weeks where the temperatures were mostly at least 60. Had to go to a 5th wheel in April and got to use it for 5 months for mostly 3 day weekends and a 2 week traveling trip for total of over 2 months combined.
Used it pretty much normally, except the shows we normally go to were cancelled
In total yep but not at one time
3 months on the road and several rallies although they were smaller in a fairly safer group of seniors who were always cautious. Met some great new friends!
I’m a full-timer so I used my RV 12 months in 2020.
So I’m full time so yes I used my Rv two months or more. I actually have two Rvs. One stays put in South Texas. I spend the winter months in it. The other I travel in during the summer months. I didn’t travel near as much this year but still managed a couple of months in Georgia working for COE and then a couple of months for NPS. With a little time in between. Here we are in Feb. and I’m so ready to hit the road and do some real traveling this summer.
After having travel cancelled earlier in the year, I decided to work as a winter resident host at a state park in Denver. I’ve been here since mid-September, and able to see my daughter & family on days off. With a new baby on the way, I’ll get to spend a few weeks with them before heading back home to Texas in April.
Working in the campground office, I’ve enjoyed meeting so many friendly campers from all across the country. Reservations are already booking up here, and people are getting frustrated at how difficult it is to plan travel. I think flexibility is going to serve us well —
We are full time, so yes, we used it every day. We did spend more time in our home state, however we traveled to several other states at least half of the year… a couple of months less than normal.