Did I just get talked out of fulltiming? [Feedback wanted]

Just got back from lunch with a friend. During the conversation I told her about my plan to start full timing. She told me something I didn't think about, and it made a lot of sense. She said it would only take a month or two to explore this entire country, then what?

She said if you look at America today, it's 10 square miles. We live our lives within those 10 square miles becuase it has everything we need. In that 10 square miles you'll find:

25 Fast food resturaunts
10 Banks
3 shopping malls
10 grocery stores
3 home repair stores
10 churches
20 bars
20 gas stations

You get the idea. Now you take that same 10 square miles with a cookie cutter, multiply it 1,000 times, welcome to the USA.

You can change some of the scenery. Spend two weeks in the mountains, two weeks on the beach, two weeks on a river, two weeks in the desert, then what. You've basically seen it all. Then she said that you'll find some cultural differences, few different kinds of food, few different types of weather, but you really can sum up the US in this short analogy. I told her it was the cultural differences and the people of those cultures I was heading out to explore.

Then she hit me with this. http://www.eurail.com/  I haven't look at the details, but she said if I was going to be exploring cultures I should consider this. Basically for a few grand you can buy an unlimited ticket to 21 countries and really explore diverse cultures and see some history while you're at it. They even have sleeper cars. Spend the night sleeping while traveling,  wake up in a whole new culture and country the next day.


Why I posted this here? For those of you who full time, is she right or am I missing something here? I have to admit I fundamentally agree with what she wrote about the USA. That's the part where I was hoping maybe some of you could help me fill in the blanks. Do you get bored running around the US?

I understand the choice for fulltiming is as personal as trying to figure out what RV to buy. Just starting to have second thoughts about exploring America, because her description does fit, and make some sense. I'm just wondering if there's more to it than that.

Well, do the Pueblos of southwest look like the sky scrapers of New York to you? Do the Glaciers of the northwest look like the Everglades to you.  If they do, then I guess every 10 square miles are the same.  But if you are like me, the variation in scenery, cultures, and food across the country make each trip unique.

Best of luck in what you decide to do.

Personally, I don't buy your friends analogy or philosophy, or how ever you choose to categorize it.  It would seem that she holds sway on you though.

I will offer this bit of advice.  If you do go full time, DO NOT take that friend with you.  If you do, I can guarantee you that every ten square miles will look and feel just like the last.  JMHO

We have a friend like that and, guess what.  He doesn't enjoy ANYTHING.  He thinks you can buy a video and do it that way!  He cannot even begin to comprehend hearing the silence when you're in the middle of nowhere, actually being able to see the Milky Way, etc. etc. etc.  I can't comprehend living with my head stuck in the sand like they do.  But, as they say, to each their own.  If you like to explore and see new and different things and experience things for yourself - not to mention meeting all kinds of wonderful people who have widely varied experiences - then forget your friend's well-meaning but short-sighted advice.  Get your RV and get out here with the rest of us instead of being a recluse who has a negative view on life.

RVing is GREAT!!!

ArdraF

You are never going to know if you will like something until YOU try it.  Personally, no offense to your friend, but she seems to have a very limited, tunnel, view of the country. I've been all over the US and Canada and believe me.  It is not the same as the 10 square miles that you live in; or the 10 square miles I live in.  As Lowell says; nothing is the same in any part of this country. 

One of the suggestions I give to people who want to fulltime is not to sell your house until you have fulltimed in a motorhome for at least a year or two.  We hear of too many people who sold the house, got an RV and took off for fulltiming only to find that one of the partners ended up NOT liking it at all.  It's a different lifestyle that is suited to some and not to others.  There is an article in the library that I wrote telling of the story I went through when I thought I wanted to fulltime.

Marsha~

She sounds like someone that has never left the county where she was born.  Any of us can show you hundreds or thousands of square miles with NO

25 Fast food resturaunts
10 Banks
3 shopping malls
10 grocery stores
3 home repair stores
10 churches
20 bars
20 gas stations

Click to expand...

Don't let her negativity affect your judgment.  There may be reasons for not fulltiming, but hers isn't one of them.

Eurorail ticket and staying in hostels/hotels is a fantastic trip.  Highly enjoyable and I would do it again in a heartbeat.  That said, RV'ing vs. riding the rails is a TOTALLY different experience.  In Europe you are sharing space and accomodations with everyone and you have no privacy.  Trains are mostly safe, but there are areas where you have to be careful.

That said, the U.S. is as diverse and different from ocean to ocean as anything I have seen in Europe.  I have been to all 50 states (not all in an RV) and spent time in various parts of the country for business and I can assure you that your friend doesn't have clue one about the U.S.  Just as a few months in Europe wouldn't give you more than a small taste of the old continent, a few months (or years) would only give you a small sampling of what this country has to offer.

I am not a full timer...still working, and frankly, I think I will always want/need a home base to return to, but no way would I ever consider it boring or would I be so jaded as to think every 10 mile block of this country is the same as the next!  Wow, what a sad way to look at the world.

Wow, your friend sounds like a real downer.  Have they ever lain on their back in the middle of the desert at midnight and just looked at the stars?  Bet not.  There are millions of miles or roads in this country alone.  While I have traveled in most stated on business, I never got tired of simply looking at the differences in this wonderful country.  If it is your dream loose that "friend" and go for it.

We spent 2 months in just Wyoming last year, didn;t even see all we wanted to during that time.

Don't even get me started on the other 49 states.

Get out there, the more I see the more I want to see.

;D

Wow!  I can go outside to my 10 square spot and not see the same thing all the time.  It changes daily with morning being different (usually) than in the evening.  Go out in the morning and see a small bloom just starting to open and go back in the evening and see it fully open and standing there proud of itself!  Right now there is 5 inches of snow on the ground but it's different than this morning when I went to work.  It has melted a little but the variety of footprints has increased.  I'd say poo-poo to your friend and follow your heart.

Sounds like your "friend" is dull with no imagination, probably never left her back yard, what a shame.>>>Dan

The question is.., will YOU enjoy full-timing. FT is my dream.., it is my best friends nightmare.

I enjoy traveling.., heck, different amusement parks and festivals could keep me happy. There is no way that a lifetime of FT can see everything.

But my friend., for him it would be stressful. Driving is stressful, moving is stressful. He's very happy where he is, close to his family, with his house and his pond. I have tremendous respect for him and he for I.., but my love of traveling in an RV is something we do not share.

Where I see freedom he sees insecurity. Neither is right nor wrong.., but if you want to be happy you've got to know what YOU like.

I've been full timing for 8 years in America and I haven't seen the tip of the iceberg yet.

Buy the Eurail pass and go on a grand tour of Europe by all means, that ought to take a couple of months of the rest of your life.    What that has to do with full-timing, I do not know.  Full timing is a lifetime tour of North America. 

Cultures?  I remember a trip to Canyon de Chelly.  I went into a Safeway in the near by town of Chinle and find that I was the only one using English -- every one else was speaking Navajo.  New Orleans, San Francisco, and Boston are medium sized American cities -- same old thing in each?    LA and New York? 
 

Sorry, but your friend is nuts. We don't full-time, just go out 6-8 months a year. We've hardly ever been east of the Rocky Mountain states and we still haven't seen a tiny piece of the country. Go to nps.gov and take a look at all the different National Park sites then figure that each state has its own state parks and cities have nice parks and counties have nice parks. AND THEY'RE ALL DIFFERENT ! WOW !

So I repeat, your friend is nuts. Unless your only interests are in fast food restaurants, gas stations, bars, etc. And even then, you can find a lot of different restaurants and bars as you travel around the country.

Ignore the "friend" and go give your dream a try.

Wendy
Casa Grande Arizona today, somewhere else next week

Is full timing for everyone NO but if you don't try it you will never know. We started RVing in 1978 and have been full timing for 3.5 years and are just getting started. We had some friends like yours they are still siting home in the cold and we are in Florida for the winter. Remember you don't have to be on the move all the time plus CG are cheaper when you make longer stays. Ask your friend if she ever fished in Homer Alaska, watched the bears in Hyder Alaska, witnessed a Pacific winter storm on the Oregon coast, seen a full moon over a high mountain lake in Colorado, helped with a youth alligator hunt and the list goes on and on.

Denny

Boy Europe would be a trip, the Eurorail thing, a bicylce a backpack and off you go.  You could probablyt spend the rest of your life visiting little villages.  10 sq miles is about right.  everything here is the same. 

(OK, one less site filled while we all travel.)

Great replies!

Great psosts.
My suggestion.....you only miss the things you don't try.
Jump....maybe you'll find you can fly!

25 Fast food restaurants
10 Banks
3 shopping malls
10 grocery stores
3 home repair stores
10 churches
20 bars
20 gas stations

As a former Easterner, I can relate to what your friend is telling you.  However, we have left those 10 square miles far behind and are much the happier for it.  Are these the places you would truly miss if you went full-timing?  They can be found anywhere, some even better than the stated list.  You need to get out of the east where each 10 sq. miles represents the same thing over and over again and come west, young man, come west, where the wind blows free, and the wild cactus bloom, and there is beauty around every curve of the road.  Where you can see 50 miles in every direction, and explore the hidden treasures that abound here. and get away from the asphalt jungles.....

If these are the things your friend needs to keep her happy, say God Bless and have a good life, then come out here and create a totally new one for yourself.  You need to make new friends. ;D ;D ;D

Daisy