The Full Time RV Philosophy -- Is it worth it?

I don't do hotels, mostly because they won't let me build a fire in the hotel lobby. :

Koodog said:

I don't do hotels, mostly because they won't let me build a fire in the hotel lobby. :

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A campfire is a requirement, But you could have tried the parking lot.

Joel

I'm not sure we have much to add to the many good responses already here but ... well I've never been accused of being short on opinions. We are not fulltimers but spend 2 - 3 moths a year in our coach. DW can work on the road.  I'm a carpenter and I often line up work too.

We are very independent and mindful people. We are private people but we love making new friends.  As someone else said, you don't often make friends in a hotel.

We started out in the RV world because of our dogs and grandchildren.  We do not kennel our dogs (I've  become that over-the-top, gooey, dog lover I used to hold such disdain for)  and they do shed so hotels don't much like us. I really dislike sleeping on someone else's bed and making half a dozen trips from the car to the upstairs motel room every night.

We want to stay close to our family when we visit but we want to go home each night. When we started RVing, the kids lived on opposite coasts ... with us in Montana.

In our motorhome I can pack anything I want and I won't have some inconsiderate 'new hire' telling me something is not allowed or to take my threatening boots off.

I LOVE road trips and driving, especially with my best friend that I convinced to marry me! .. the views, new places, new people ... independence. We stop when we want, where we want and wallow in the freedom and relaxed togetherness.

I don't think we would ever FT but only because we love our home (and my woodshop), neighbors and community so much. Having said that, we are basically homebodies who love to travel. So we have two homes, one for 75% of the time and one for travelling. It's not inexpensive but then neither is a vacation home and we get to have a vacation home anywhere on the continent.

Lastly, I am a tinkerer by nature. I have loved getting to know each RV we've had - this our 3rd in the progression from TT, to 5er to DP.  I like diagnosing a problem with the rig and then correcting it ... but I've also learned and accepted  my limitations.

Pretty much what has already been said applies to us as well.  We boondock a lot to commune with nature more and find solitude, as a side benefit it also keeps our expenses considerably lower.  In addition we have two large dogs we love to travel with, doing so in hotels was a real challenge and in many cases more costly.

A campfire is a requirement

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True story. 2 years ago at a campground in Minnesota, it was 94 degrees with high humidity. Friday night, the campground was full. About 3 campsites had roaring campfires, with no one sitting around them. They were all back in under their awnings or under the trees in the shade. But they had fires going because Camping!! 

Great Horned Owl said:

A campfire is a requirement ...

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A couple of years ago I was in a commercial park in Los Angeles.  Middle of the city, RVs parked about 12 ft. apart with mature overhead shade trees.

It was a nice, mellow park, the owner got along great with everyone and he had no problem with people lighting up their BBQs on their site's patio if they so desired.

One hot summer evening, a bunch of yahoos (about 6) arrived and decided to build a campfire instead of using a BBQ.  First they built a fire ring on their lawn by scavenging the rocks bordering their site.  Then they piled on the wood and set it off using most of a can of charcoal lighter.  The flames were 8-10 ft. tall and licking the trees when the fire department arrived.

Then they got in an argument with the fire captain ... they were camping, dammit, and had the right to build a campfire.

Needless to say, the park owner was a little peeved at having to come back to the park at 10 PM to sort things out.  The next morning when he was able to more fully inspect the scene he was even more upset at the 6 ft. diameter burn spot in the site's grass and the singed and missing leaves on a couple of the shade trees.

He gave them 30 minutes to pack up and get out before he called the police.  And no, there would be no refund on the week they had already paid for.

DennisinMaine said:

I am continuing to research before I buy my first RV. Like another recent poster, my wife and I recently retired and we are planning to see the country.
I got to thinking about something recently that I am sure is discussed in many places here but I couldn't find a specific location for a discussion of this topic.
I know denizens of this forum will answer yes to the question of  "Is it worth 'it'?" My question is why and I am sure there will be a number of different answers.
I was thinking about it when I reserved a motel room in Tennessee for $59. I had just looked at an RV resort in Colorado that was nothing special for $79. Now I know prices vary all over the place and sometimes you can't find a motel for a low price. And I know being able to cook at home means you don't have to eat out every meal, and you can boondock when you wish. But fuel economy is so different, insurance is more, and you have to buy natural gas for the heat and gasoline for the generator. And you have just invested thousands in a capital asset which is depreciating every day.  As others have said in different contexts, saving money is not a good reason to switch to an RV lifestyle. It would probably be less expensive, perhaps significantly less expensive, to drive and ordinary car motel to motel.
Since it is not the money, why do you choose to live in an RV? Why do you find it better to travel in your home than in your car?
I am looking forward to some interesting answers. Thank you.

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...."It would probably be less expensive, perhaps significantly less expensive, to drive and ordinary car motel to motel".....  Assuming retired and traveling, not full time, but for 3-6 months of the year, does anyone really think you can travel this amount of time, several years and actually cost less than spending a modest amount of less than $100,000 for a used MH or 5th wheel and truck?  Now if you are considering spending $500,000 for a really fancy rig then that is different.  Additionally, does anyone really want to spend several months going from place to place staying in a multitude of motels/hotels, eating most every meal in a restaurant?

I like our little RV and I like going camping. Packing up and taking the grandkids somewhere where they can swim in a lake and we can kayak and cookout, have a little fire to roast marshmallows. I also like a nice hotel with free drinks and heavy hours d? oeuvres, free breakfast with a nice swimming pool. So we do both. Our traveling is pretty eclectic. Sometimes Europe via a cruise, sometimes State Parks with the TT, sometimes a hotel or maybe a B&B. Not any one better than the other. Just different. We don?t have all our eggs in one basket. We didn?t spend so much on the RV that we feel we have to use it exclusively. Next year we are taking a cross country trip with the grandkids and we do not plan on taking the RV.

    I upvote everything that has been said so far. 
The last hotel/motel we used in North Carolina where we had to spend 5 days for a wedding, was a sewer.  The room was old, the A/C didn't work, the carpet was badly stained and the whole room smelled like a sewer pipe.  House keeping only changed the linen once during the five days we were there, I have no idea if this was the norm.  The room had had pets in it, and was smoked in. 

Complained to management, they had no other rooms available and refused to make amends.  Sent complaints to the parent organization (this was a national brand name chain), all we got from that was an apology that we weren't happy with their service and they would "endeavor to do better in the future".  No offer of a discount, or a comp.....nothing. 

Bought the RV a month later.  Don't have to pack or unpack.  Can move anytime we are not happy with where we are.  Nobody has ever slept in our bed except us.  Get to eat what we want, when we want, even at 0200 in the morning.  Never a wait for a table, never over or under cooked meals, never cold when it's supposed to be hot, or the other way around.  Always know where the shower is and the water is just the way we like it, all the time.  No noisy neighbors, because of "quiet hours".  No grumpy employees who are bothered just doing their minimum wage jobs, and couldn't be bothered to help you when you need it.  I have yet to find any other RVers who aren't the nicest people on the earth.

And, lastly......I have yet to find a motel that, even if it has a patio, will let you grill on it OR build a campfire. 

What I don't understand, is why anyone would still use one if they didn't have to. 

DennisinMaine said:

I am continuing to research before I buy my first RV. Like another recent poster, my wife and I recently retired and we are planning to see the country.
I got to thinking about something recently that I am sure is discussed in many places here but I couldn't find a specific location for a discussion of this topic.
I know denizens of this forum will answer yes to the question of  "Is it worth 'it'?" My question is why and I am sure there will be a number of different answers.
I was thinking about it when I reserved a motel room in Tennessee for $59. I had just looked at an RV resort in Colorado that was nothing special for $79. Now I know prices vary all over the place and sometimes you can't find a motel for a low price. And I know being able to cook at home means you don't have to eat out every meal, and you can boondock when you wish. But fuel economy is so different, insurance is more, and you have to buy natural gas for the heat and gasoline for the generator. And you have just invested thousands in a capital asset which is depreciating every day.  As others have said in different contexts, saving money is not a good reason to switch to an RV lifestyle. It would probably be less expensive, perhaps significantly less expensive, to drive and ordinary car motel to motel.
Since it is not the money, why do you choose to live in an RV? Why do you find it better to travel in your home than in your car?
I am looking forward to some interesting answers. Thank you.

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I hear hesitation in your post about taking the plunge.

My idea was to start old and used so I could  test the waters without a great investment. If fulltiming doesn't suit you, then you don't have much invested and it's easier to get out from under an old used rig than a newer one. I chose to go debt free and start off economically.

My lifestyle is such, that I didn't need or want pricey resort parks, though I did occasionally end up in some.

My little old motorhome was already 15 years old when I bought it. I have no desire to keep up with the Jone's... I kept my little rig tidy and clean. I was never turned away from a camp except once (and then they turned me away by phone without even seeing me or my rig!) I decided I didn't want to stay in such a snooty place anyhow, if they were that hysterical over the phone that my rig wasn't heavily financed and newer. On a funny note... many rigs are financed for 15-20 years, I paid cash and bought a 15 year old rig. You could say I love that "paid for" smell.

I spent the next  8 years 24/7 trying to decide if I liked the lifestyle or not. Tee hee hee! I didn't maintain a home elsewhere, no storage payments either. I downsized so that my entire life fit in the old motorhome with room to spare. This is rare. Many folks need to maintain a pile of stuff somewhere and I was lucky I did not.

Since I started old, my depreciation went a lot slower. By buying old and used, I was able over the years to customize things that were important to me. I was careful about the quality of my customizations because I knew eventually I would sell or trade. I kept everything in working order so I could enjoy it for all it was worth. I did tons of reading and studying so I could do some of the maintenance and upgrades myself.

On a side note... 8 years later (January 2018) when I decided to take a break from traveling, I bought an old fifth wheel to park long term and cool my heels in for awhile. I worked hard to clean all traces of 8 years of fulltiming... then sold my 23 old motorhome on Craigslist in 48 hours for more than I paid for it 8 years ago. Utterly amazing! The new owner drove it away with everything in working order. There was a tear in my eye...

Ironically I rarely boondocked and didn't spend the night at parking lots except in emergencies. I preferred camps out in nature, not noisy parking lots. My old rig wasn't set up very well for boondocking (small house battery and I didn't care to give up precious room for more battery). I did have a wonderful generator and I did boondock some (mostly on friends' land) in remote beautiful areas when the weather was fair and I didn't really need a generator for heat or cooling. However the generator was awesome for power outages, or comforts on the road.

About motels and hotels...
I need a special mattress for comfort and those hard as a rock motel beds are dreadful (for me).

With a motorhome, there was no need to pack and unpack luggage. It all went with me.  Since I love the outdoors and it kept me from feeling cramped, I traveled with outdoor patio accoutrements I could set up at camp (chairs, table, awning,hammock etc). Affordable hotels generally give one a view of the parking lot and rarely a patio or balcony that is furnished for comfort with a great views or walking distance to a lovely vista. I love water so I typically camped on or near rivers, streams, lakes, ponds and oceans.

For gas economy... I didn't drive every day. Matter of fact, I mostly spent 1-2 weeks at each stop so I could soak up the area. Places I loved, I spent longer if possible or made reservations to return in the future. Many times I was in beautiful remote places owned by state or federal or local government which typically had a 2 week max. It's the same amount of fuel to "get there" whether one is spending one night or fourteen.

Traveling with pet(s). I love having my doggy with me everywhere. He also gets me out walking and hiking and exploring nature. I saw my world, one step at a time with my little buddy by my side. Motels surcharge something awful for traveling with a pet and there typically isn't beautiful walking areas (for dog and I) around motels.

For me, I wasn't doing the typical tourist things. Matter of fact, I took up bicycle riding at age 55 and since my doggy was under 7 pounds, he rides in a basket on the bicycle and loves his adventures. I had a bike lock, so I could stop, lock the bike and take him on hikes or walks. I am NOT an athletic type, but walking and biking certainly has its health benefits. In some areas, I could go biking without the dog and do my shopping, loading up my bike baskets with RV parts, supplies and food.

Amazon chased me down in many campgrounds, bringing me RV supplies and sometimes food too. At the beach in a beautiful gorgeous area, on day two, my RV toilet broke and needed replacement. The office got miles of giggles when I went inside to claim the recently delivered package which was shipped in the original box with RV TOILET written in big letters.

At first (8 years ago)  I thought I would see 49 states... but I was in love with the south and the eastern seaboard, so I never made it to the 49 states (yet). I need to count it up, but I think I only saw about 17 states in 8 years of lazily puttering around in gorgeous areas.

Yes, I did 99% of my eating in the RV. It's far cheaper and I don't care for franchised restaurants with uncertain ingredients.

Everyone has different ideas of what they want to see when they travel... in my case, I just wanted beautiful nature.

I didn't do many miles on travel days. I wanted to have a relaxing trip where I had time to make frequent stops if the desire took and also I wanted to arrive at my next camp during daylight with leftover energy to set up camp and explore. I often did back roads and byways that were slower traffic with lots of eye candy along the way. Sure I did some interstate driving, but my preference was scenic highways to my next camp.

Most of my traveling was all alone with just the doggy, but I did have a few single traveling friends that would hop aboard for a spell and it was loads of fun to have some company for a change.

For me, I loved RVing and fulltiming. Settling down recently for a spell is a bit rough on me, but I found a beautiful RV lot in a rural area where I can spread out and enjoy some other pursuits such as container gardening. My body is old and beat up, I just needed to give it a rest. It's unclear whether I will go back to fulltiming on the road, but for now, I prefer living in this recently acquired fifth wheel rather than a house or apartment or condo. I guess RVing is still in my blood. If I go back to fulltiming, it won't be with this fifth wheel,  as I chose a 5th wheel that is more suited to "destination" camping rather than frequent traveling. Sure it is built for traveling, but i am enjoying just using it as a home in Florida for now while I rest up a spell.

Ironically, I (and my dog and bicycle) were  invited by a friend to go camping with them in the Florida Keys for a few weeks, so I hopped aboard their little rig for the trip. It was hilarious trying to "pack" for the trip in someone else's rig. I finally settled on a small backpack and small toiletry bag. If it didn't fit in one or the other, it wasn't going. Seems the dog had more stuff than me... but my friend made room for my bicycle so that was awesome.

During the 8 years, I kept a log book and took tons of pics for the memories including a picture of every spot my camper spent one or more nights plus loads of pics of what the dog and I saw out walking or biking. I also took a lot of pics of the inside of the motorhome over the years, just fun stuff to remember a slice of a life I thoroughly enjoyed as I made upgrades or maintenance repairs.

So my technique may not fit the norm, but YES full timing was FUN for me. I loved it!

DearMissMermaid said:

Fulltiming philosophy. ..

The pets and perks.

I love traveling with my dog. You would be shocked how many folks get into RVing simply because their pets go with them and there is no ridiculous hotel surcharge for having one or two with you.

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thanks for your post. I havn't started yet. we just made the final decision though. And your expressed feelings here are many of the same feellings I have. but I'm just speculating mostly. This feels like a confirmation of my gut feeling.

My challenge will be amount of pets and 7 year old child.
I still feel the pros outweigh the cons.

Several points:

The sense of community found in most, if not all rv parks/resorts is much better than found in most neighborhoods I've lived in. We have more and closer freinds than previously.

Mobility is convenient, particularly in the case of approaching hurricanes or similar events. We fled Irma last year and on return found the two large pine trees previously within two feet of the mh were now gone.

Travelling with the seasons allows many experiences we would otherwise miss. Running the intermediate trails in Moab UT with rv freinds in our Jeep is a prime example.

Most of the areas others have noted above are also part of the attraction.

On a final note I expect to spend between five and six thousand a month now that we've finally sold the home place. We found we were there one to two weeks a month there.

Ernie

My husband and I travel for work.  He works in the oil industry, but I have never liked being separated while he's working.  We used to stay in hotels, for months at a time...lame!

We got a Bighorn 5th wheel, and have never been more happy.  Traveling all over, with a 1yr old is no big deal.  I have a washer and dryer, my own kitchen and bed.  We plan to homeschool our son.  When there is a day off we can go see some sights.  It's really awesome.

DearMissMermaid mentioned: buying old, I totally agree! but ....

..... I suggest one step further and rent  .... pack up and head out for 2-4 weeks on vacation.... pick a one spot and go from there (if you want)

Experience it a bit before deciding.... You can rent Travel Trailers and Motor Homes....

I don't Full Time, but I am out at least one weekend a month with my hobby ... having the TT means I pack a small overnight bag and go... everything else stays in the camper...<3