It’s like a permanent vacation. (Not).

Living on the Road (Quicklinks)

Your New Neighborhoods

Cost and Budgeting

Travel Clubs and Memberships

Work Camping

Holidays

Pets

Hobbies

Recreation

Doctors/Dentists/Medication

Weather

In a sense, it is like a permanent vacation. You have control over where and how you spend your time, and you probably won’t be living the life of “wake up, go to work, come home, go to sleep, repeat.” On the other hand, we all know how expensive vacations can be. We realized very quickly that we needed deep resources if we were going to live like we were on a permanent vacation.

Constant traveling in full-time living can be quite expensive. Wear and tear on vehicles will mean early replacement. Lodging costs will be higher than monthly or long-term rates so it can be good to find a place to settle for a season, and when on the road the nightly lodging cost can be moderated by membership clubs and boondocking.

There are many, many varieties of “campgrounds” where you decide to stay, so perhaps some definitions are important:

Resorts. Resort locations are usually “high-end” locations and are characterized by their landscaping, security, amenities, and quality sites. Resorts can be age-discriminatory, such as “over-55” resorts where children are not allowed. They can require some form of membership.

Resorts typically have 50-amp service and full hookups, frequently have concrete pads and paved roads, and cater to the conveniences that modern RVers, especially full-timers, enjoy and sometimes expect.

For a seasonal, long-term site at resorts, it is not uncommon for the occupant of the site to pay for their electricity use.

Many resorts will have park-model RVs that are permanently installed and are seasonal or full-time homes for their residents.

Campgrounds. The next level of the neighborhood is campgrounds, of which there is a wide variety of offerings. Campgrounds can usually be defined by more of the “camping” experience, including fire rings and outside grills, dirt or gravel sites, usually more of a wilderness environment and a somewhat more primitive sites.

Campgrounds are found in National and State Parks, Corps of Engineer Parks (COE), or can be privately owned. They can range from primitive to high quality sites - some are simply a place to park and boondock, and others approach the same quality as a luxury resort. In state, national, and COE parks, part of the research includes finding out how large an RV the campground can accommodate.

Most campgrounds will have water and electricity. Some do not have sewer hookups but most have dump stations available.

When a campground offers “full hookups”, you can expect to have electric, water and sewer - but verify the electrical service provided. Older campgrounds frequently only offer 30-amp service. We’ve encountered one campground that only had 20-amp service for RV sites (that’s right, a household extension cord), and didn’t stay.

Most of the time, campgrounds are designed for itinerant travelers but some will have “all-timers” - people who don’t travel but live in their RV and use the campground as their permanent place of residence.

RV Parks. RV parks are typically privately owned, and like campgrounds the quality of the park can vary widely. RV parks usually require the most research since there is such a wide variety of quality.

Almost all RV parks have electric and water hookups, and most have sewer. Private RV parks usually have to have high quality hookups for city or county code as well as attracting customers to stay at their location.

It is not unusual to have many all-timers in RV parks, and that can detract from the quality of the experience.

Parking Lots. The least desirable part of the neighborhood is parking lots, typically Walmart (those that allow RV parking), casinos and truck stops like Pilot/Flying J or Love’s. These rarely if ever provide any hookups and do not permit unhooking.

Usually it is free to stay overnight in parking lots.

There is an etiquette for staying in parking lots - usually no awnings, no outdoor chairs or “camping” setup, and no unhooking. Slide extensions are usually ok providing they don’t encroach on neighboring vehicles.

No Neighbors - Boondocking. This is the most primitive of all your new neighborhoods, with few or no neighbors within miles. You are totally self-sufficient with no hookups or amenities. In the western states, there are many, many places where boondocking is permitted on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land. We never boondock as full-timers, so are not the experts in how to manage and research this option.

We established a budget based on what we could reasonably expect to live on per month. We don’t need fancy, well-equipped resorts but we’re also not willing to overnight in Walmart parking lots just to save money. In general, our budget is this example of a Sample Budget, and for traveling we try to stay in these guidelines:

• $1,200/mo in fuel

• $22/night in lodging = $660/mo

We’re not super strict adhering to the numbers, and just like any other household budget we compromise and adjusted as necessary. This method has worked well for us.

The cost of traveling can be significantly reduced by joining various travel clubs.

For a one-time fee, you can purchase a zone membership at Thousand Trails, and then it doesn’t cost anything for you to stay. There are restrictions on how long you can stay or how long you have to be out of the system, but this can be a good value.

Passport America provides a discount of 50% on almost all their member campgrounds, with restrictions.

Good Sam and KOA membership provides a 10% discount on their affiliated campgrounds.

Escapees and Harvest Hosts also provide discounts or free parking.

Many Walmart stores allow free overnight parking for RVers. Each store has a different policiy, so check this site for locations and good tips if overnighting at a Walmart.

If you want to work (and I stress, only if you WANT to work), the work is out there and it is pretty easy to find. Work Camping can be a paid job unrelated to your lodging expense, working or volunteering in exchange for a site/utilities, and working at a non-related business that may provide RV sites for employees. A few great resources are Volunteer.gov, Workamper.com, and Coolworks.com.

Without a doubt, the most difficult part of our traveling has been making reservations during holidays. Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day, especially in popular tourist locations, book up very fast - many times a year or more in advance, and we may not know where we’ll be that far out.

We make out a rough schedule of where we want to travel and look at the dates. If there are holiday weekends involved, we talk through what we would like to do for that holiday and begin as soon as possible to complete reservations over those weekends. There have only been a few times when overnighting at a Walmart looked like it was going to be our only option - but so far, we’ve been able to get reservations.

We made the conscious decision to NOT travel with pets, although many, many do. We are not qualified to address this subject, and your resources are better found through a Google search.

For us, hobbies on the road have required some adjustment. My main hobby has been my 1924 Ford Model T, Belle. I’m also interested in genealogy and aviation. But I love tinkering with Belle.

I’ve been able to follow through with genealogy research and keep reading for my interest in aviation, but the Model T has been the challenge and I came very close to selling it when we became full-time. We put her in storage and finally, three years later, got her moved to Florida and safe in storage where I can enjoy the hobby during the winter.

Tracy loves sewing and cooking. She has a pretty fancy Brother machine that beautifully embroiders. We planned on carrying that machine and accessories with us for her to enjoy along the way and that has not been successful. While we are traveling, she thinks it is just too much work to get everything out and set up, only to turn around and pack it up. Now she pulls out her machine when we are long-term at a location, and usually has specific projects in mind. In the meantime, she learned how to crochet and can easily enjoy that while we are traveling.

Just about any sport available at a home in a city is also available on the road. Golf, tennis, pickleball, bicycling, boche ball, swimming and horseshoes are just some of the things to be enjoyed along the way, besides the obvious hiking, kayaking or canoeing, or running. We carry our bicycles on a rack attached to the back of the Redwood, two kayaks on roof-top racks on the truck, and our pickleball paddles.

Many people keep the doctors and dentists they have and schedule an annual visit through their hometown for appointments.

On the road, your insurance coverage and health care provider choices are very much as if you’re on vacation. We look up a provider recommended by our health coverage in any given city, call and make an appointment.

Medications have been very easy to get refilled. When it’s time, we just call the doctor’s office and ask them to refill at a pharmacy that is convenient for us along the way. It’s best not to wait until you run out of medication because delays can happen.

The single most important factor that is completely out of our control is the weather. You’ll learn to enjoy watching the forecast and the national weather channels as you embark on your journeys. Late or early snow storms in the north and severe weather or hurricanes in the south can and will affect your plans.

The easiest way to work around the weather is to stay flexible. Make your plans using common sense and be willing to change if the weather dictates. For us, rain is not a cause to change plans; an oncoming hurricane, however, is. We don’t mind snow; but intentionally planning a trip into blizzard conditions is not very responsible. It’s safer to just wait it out.

I’ve always called RVs and mobile homes “Tornado Magnets”. During tornado season, we always find out what the campground recommends as a tornado shelter. We’ve already decided that our home on wheels can be replaced, so we’re not willing to be heroes and ride out a tornado.

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