Cheap sunbird locations? Escape Florida summer
If you had to go somewhere to spend a few months that's got a comfortable summer climate and is low-cost (under $400/mo if electricity is included), where would you go? Preference for low population density and closer to the east coast; Prefer no further west than Iowa but willing to consider any location. Would rather not have to move a lot. Don't need touristy things nearby, a Walmart/grocery store/auto parts store/mechanic/hospital/etc. within half an hour will be fine. Looking for moderate summer humidity and temperature.
Maybe somewhere up in the mountains? A low-priced mountainside RV park with monthly or quarterly rates would be wonderful, assuming the humidity and temps and bugs aren't bad.
We're the opposite of snowbirds, living full-time in Florida. All the articles I see about full-timing seem to be aimed at snowbirds, but we're sunbirds :)
We can boondock if the location is exceptional. We have a compost toilet and 6000W of solar (no, it's not on the roof, LOL) but a small battery bank. Can run the air con on solar only during the mid-day. We do have a generator but running it is pricey, especially with the price of gas. So would prefer a destination that hardly needs any air con in the summer, and fans at night. Would rather not have to move a lot, as packing all 26 of the 45-pound panels into the trailer every time would get to be a chore. So a long-term RV park may make more sense than boondocking and moving every two weeks, although boondocking isn't off the table. It just has to be very good. And given the mechanic and parts shortages going on, I want to minimize the driving.
In case you're wondering why so much solar and not so much battery: To offset the price of Florida air conditioning :) And to have some emergency power during a blackout. The majority of power load in FL is mid-day with the air con so I didn't bias toward a lot of batteries, just needed to offset costs and give emergency power. It's "hybrid" in that it switches between grid and solar panels/batteries as needed, so unlike grid-tie we have emergency power available mid-day; Better to have some power in a blackout than none. We may buy more batteries if we boondock a lot, but for now I'm going to stick with what we have.
Maybe somewhere up in the mountains? A low-priced mountainside RV park with monthly or quarterly rates would be wonderful, assuming the humidity and temps and bugs aren't bad.
We're the opposite of snowbirds, living full-time in Florida. All the articles I see about full-timing seem to be aimed at snowbirds, but we're sunbirds :)
We can boondock if the location is exceptional. We have a compost toilet and 6000W of solar (no, it's not on the roof, LOL) but a small battery bank. Can run the air con on solar only during the mid-day. We do have a generator but running it is pricey, especially with the price of gas. So would prefer a destination that hardly needs any air con in the summer, and fans at night. Would rather not have to move a lot, as packing all 26 of the 45-pound panels into the trailer every time would get to be a chore. So a long-term RV park may make more sense than boondocking and moving every two weeks, although boondocking isn't off the table. It just has to be very good. And given the mechanic and parts shortages going on, I want to minimize the driving.
In case you're wondering why so much solar and not so much battery: To offset the price of Florida air conditioning :) And to have some emergency power during a blackout. The majority of power load in FL is mid-day with the air con so I didn't bias toward a lot of batteries, just needed to offset costs and give emergency power. It's "hybrid" in that it switches between grid and solar panels/batteries as needed, so unlike grid-tie we have emergency power available mid-day; Better to have some power in a blackout than none. We may buy more batteries if we boondock a lot, but for now I'm going to stick with what we have.
