What is your longest trip in your tt / do you full time?

DH and I are new to Camping.  We have a travel trailer and as soon as dh gets better (recoop. from surgery) we have a couple of trips planned.  The first is for about 5 days (our maiden trip in our new "to us" travel trailer and the second about 2 weeks.  I want to go longer as I would like to take the whole summer and just "go".  That got me thinking about how long other people travel in their Travel trailers.  Are there any full-timers?  Anyone go for months or live in your TT for months?  Any hints or recommendations you can think of for those of us who are novices?  I can't wait to hear the replies.
Thanks
Helen

Our longest trip was 15,000 miles round trip from NC to Alaska in a 19 foot travel trailer. It was five summer months and was the greatest experience of our lives.
It was the year after I retired, and we took our two sea kayaks, our two mountain bikes and our back packing gear.
I kept a daily trip report of all our adventures, (bears, whales, glaciers, etc) and if you would like to read it I'll gladly e-mail you a copy.

We now have a forty foot travel trailer on a permanent site that we bought in Key Largo and we snow bird there for the six winter months.

Jack L

We found we could comfortably travel for about 5-6 weeks in our TT. We were limited by storage space, not living space, and storage needs vary with different styles. For example, our closets weren?t big, and I would get so tired of rotating the 8 shirts I had. Seems silly, but it bothered me. After a few weeks I also found I missed some of my hobbies, like sewing. I started bringing my sewing machine and projects, but they take up room too. So it really comes down to what you do on the road which defines what you need to take. Fifth wheels generally have more storage space, but you need a bigger truck to pull them too.

Our longest trip when we were recreational RV'ers was 3-weeks and 4,000 plus miles.  We are now a month and a half into our full-time journey and have traveled 1,400 miles.  The suggestion I would make is regardless of whether recreational travelers or full-time, stop and smell the roses.  When I was still working at first I got into the trap of adding more to the itinerary than was really possible to enjoy.  After completing a vacation totally exhausted I learned to cut back considerably to really enjoy what I could in the time available. 

This couple has fulltimed in a 23' TT since 2007:  http://www.mytripjournal.com/Our_Odyssey  They have several blogs, basically 1 for each year.  They are pretty much off the road now due to illness, but they still live in the trailer, the last I heard.

Most people find a TT to small for all their stuff to fulltime. 

To answer your first question, our longest trip so far was 7 1/2 weeks from N Florida to the Thousand Islands of New York, over to Maine, and then back home.  How long you can be out on the road is entirely subjective to your situation. Generally there are a few variables that everybody has to figure out for themselves. First of all is how comfortable are you in your trailer?  If the bed is to hard, short or lumpy, you won?t want to spend much time traveling. How easy is it to put together a good meal in your kitchen?  Are you ok with the room and fixtures in the bathroom?  Does the floor plan work for you?  If you don?t have any problems with these issues, you?re good to go. The next consideration is money. The farther you travel, the more you?ll spend on fuel and wear and tear on your tow vehicle. Also, the more frequently you travel from place to place, the more you?ll spend on campsites as you will not be as able to take advantage of cheaper weekly or monthly rates. Next comes the question of what are you leaving behind when you are on the road?  In our case, we have 5 young grandchildren (and another on the way) that all live close and we spend a lot of time with. We also live on 10 acres that require upkeep such mowing, occasional tree work, maintenance on the house, shop, fences, etc. We can?t work on major projects on the road, but I take a guitar and DW takes her knitting and crochet.  Finally, how well do you like each other?  Sometimes when couples retire and suddenly are together 24/7 things can get a little ?close?. We have friends who retired, bought a coach and hit the road. Within a couple of months, the coach was on the market and they were barely on speaking terms.
So....Sorry for the long reply, but you asked for pointers! I?m  sure you?ll get things figured out quickly with a few shorter trips and will really enjoy traveling with your trailer.  Good luck and safe travels.

We have a 17? TT. We made a trip from Delaware to Texas for a wedding with our grandson. That was about a ten day RT. We also took our granddaughter to Disney World. Another ten day RT. We boondock while on the road at Walmart?s, truckstops and rest stops.

We now have a very comfortable TT, but our longest time out was 3 months in a small truck camper. Showering out side when showers were not available, cooking and eating outside. We used wag bags in a porta jon when public facilities were not available. It was a lot of work, heating water for showers, hand washing clothes, hauling water ect. We ran into some campers a third time at a Walmart in Waynesville NC, their home. It was the 4th of July and we were trying to find a camp ground. They invited my wife and I over to camp on their property and have dinner. We had been in the sticks so long we were kind of startled when we turned on the faucet and had hot water. It was time to start thinking about going home. All in all it was one of our best trips.

Happy camping, Tom

We traveled 11,000 miles for over 2 months to Alaska and back. Wife myself and our 40# Mini Labradoodle.

We weren't in a tt but a 10.5' truck camper with no slide outs. A Northern Lite camper. Spent every night in it and one very miserable night in mid 90 temps in Denali NP sicker than a dog running a fever that broke about 4AM and with no power.

Boondocked many nights in the middle of no where, loved it and would go again in a heart beat and spend even more time in AK and along the way.

Hubby is retired, but sadly I still work.  We also only have an 18' tt, bed is short and we are not.  We went for 7 days last summer and neither of us felt like it was too long so close together.  Planning a 3 week trip to Moab for next summer (maybe).  I haven't convince hubby yet.  We don't rack up the miles - even 3 weeks to Moab will only be about 1600 round trip.  I would rather travel that way.  Interesting thread.

Our longest trip was 8500 miles. We circumnavigate AZ from IN. It took 58 days. We have a 25 ft TT.

I have found about 4 to 5 weeks on the road and I am ready to come home.

I would rather do four or five, 1 to 3 week trips than fewer longer trips. I enjoy my home life activities as much as my travel adventures.

Be safe

  Having only being retired a year, we just completed ( well almost - see our story of our “challenging trip) our longest trip to date....5 weeks. A little over 6000 miles covered. Add another 2,000 to that when we go back to Mesa, Az., to get our 5 er!  Our longest previous trips, were 3 weeks...every year (20+ years and counting), fall boondocking while hunting.
  Made a starting and “disheartening” discovery.....the DW kinda likes the RV park/campground lifestyle! Not sure I can make that transition!

My wife and I are fortunate enough to be able to work remotely. We both travel extensively for work so as long as we are within an hour of an airport we are good to go.

Me live in Mesa, AZ but the during the summer (June, July, and August) we've been going somewhere cooler. Last year was Mt. Hood, Oregon and next week we're leaving for Ashville, North Carolina. So we spend about 3 months a year in our TT. We have a 43' Dutchmen Voltage that we load our Harley's in a go. When we're at our summer spot I'll put about 10k miles on my bike exploring the region.

Wife and I have done 6k miles over 4 months in our 30' TT with slides, and numerous shorter 6 week to 3 mo snow bird vacations. Very comfortable. Wife even bakes in the oven, and we take most meals in. With that said, we chose our floor plan very carefully for our needs, and have learned what we need to take, and what we don't need to take.


Travel trailers generally have less storage than a 5th. However, the bed of our long box truck is all usable, and we have a lockable aluminum box there, additional propane bottles, and several 'jerry cans' of water as we Boondock most of the time.


Frank.

We have spent 6 months out of 12 since 2015, this is our third year.  We love it.  We have travelled over 30K miles with the truck, but the trailer has probably done about 10K total.  It has its challenges but mostly its great fun. 

My advice is that you probably don't need as much as you think to enjoy yourself.  Just think about how you function at home and what you think you will need.  Camping over the long term isn't really that much different from short term apart from making sure you have things to occupy you if weather bad, but then you can always just move!  And remember there are stores almost everywhere....

Safe travels.