Full Time Living Recap (Almost 1 Year)

DallasSteve wrote:


I decided to get a motor home and pull a Jeep Wrangler.

I wanted the smallest RV that would be comfortable for me and my wife.

I was tired of living in the small area of an RV.

The stress of planning a cross country trip and then driving this big vehicle and now paying much more for gas and probably some minor repairs/maintenance were taking the fun out of this.

After you've seen one state or COE park, you've basically seen them all, in my opinion, with a few variations.

In summary, for me, an RV is not good choice for year round living in the same place because of the season changes.

The above statements by you are signaled out. I'm sorry it didn't work for you.

You were after a different reason to full-time than most others. You were looking for a place for your wife to work and stay stationary year-round. That rules out many of the best places.

You picked the smallest RV and then you state you're tired of living in a small RV.

There shouldn't be stress in planning. That was a fun thing for us to do. However, we didn't plan far ahead... just from place to place. We meandered the secondary roads and stopped when the spot looked interesting. Then we explored the area fully. Then we moved on .... perhaps only 100 mi. or up to 300 mi. We stayed off interstates as much as possible. That's where the stress is. We stayed away from big cities. Some of our 16 yr. of full-timing was a whole season spent in one state.

Stress in driving the RV? We found it relaxing. We both drove so the other could do some viewing. On our trips to Alaska we took turns every day.

Did you ever get to use your Jeep on some of the awesome western Jeeping trails? That was a big part of our entertainment.

Some seasons we volunteered in national and state parks which was an awesome experience. A few times we were campground hosts but most of the time we worked in interpretation such as giving lighthouse tours. This gave us a feeling of truly helping out in the parks we liked to visit and it gave us a purpose. How many are so fortunate as to be able to actually live in a national park? The rangers became friends and we were often included in their activities and shared meals.

Finally, your statement "after you've seen one state park or COE park you've basically seen them all" definitely isn't the case with most of us RVers. Each park and area are unique. That's why the parks are there - so others can share the experience of that park and it's surroundings.

Again, sorry it wasn't for you.