What made you decide to go full-time RV living? We have heard of many who have gone full-time...it sounds fascinating! It feels like a pipe dream to us.Would love to hear about your journey to this style of living! Thanks in advance!

We bought our first Class A motorhome about 2 years before we were both due to retire from the military because we knew we wanted to see more of the country. It was a 34 footer with one slide. We had family in primarily in Indiana and Maryland. Dave didn't want to live in Indiana and Baltimore was so expensive so when we retired, we built a home on a golf course in Florida. We spent the next five years, golfing, eating, golfing, social drinking and traveling in our motorhome primarily in the summers to get away from the heat of Florida. We found that we were waiting to travel in the summer until after the grandkids got out of school and visited us in Florida. That put it into mid June before we would start heading out.We decided to look at moving further north, say Pennsylvania or Ohio (between the two families) and then traveling in our motorhome during the Winter. After not finding anything just right, we decided we would just sell the house and buy a bigger motorhome and live in it for 3-5 years. That was nearly six years ago. We still haven't been everywhere and seen everything on our list but it is getting a little smaller every year. We will probably end up building a small 600-700 square foot RV Port home down in Florida in the next couple years. We still intend to travel 4-5 months of the year. We want to be able to have our motorhome parked right next to our next house with full hook-ups so it can provide additional living space and also so it can be ready to go at a moment's notice. We plan to basically still live in the motorhome but use the port home to spend the day in and to pursue hobbies not well suited to the smaller space of a motorhome.

We had a large home on a private lake in Indiana that we had just spent five years remodeling, from the studs up. We loved it and planned to live there until we died. Life had other plans for us! We had a very nice Class C that we stored offsite and traveled every single weekend, year round. The bylaws stated we had 48 hours before and after each trip to have the RV onsite. Well, a rich old lady did not like it, the board was afraid of her, so they changed the bylaws to say we could not even drive past the guard house, not for five minutes. So, we had talked about loving the RV and what fun it would be to travel the U.S. We decided we would sell the house, live in an apartment for a few years to fast track our retirement, and then hit the road. I retired at 46 and we hit the road fulltime. We LOVE it!! We have no desire to own a house again, ever, so our exit plan is either our owned lot in a luxury RV resort in the south or an apartment some place. Whatever works best for us at the time. Karma......the board president at the development was fired, could not find another job, his house was on the market for over a year and they lost their shirts.

Here's a link to our page on Why we Full TimeBarb

For years, our vacations consisted of flying somewhere, renting a car, and driving a loop around the countryside - we covered about 40 states that way. We got tired of hotels and road food and so bought a boat. We could weekend camp on the boat so we did for nine months of the year for two years, even taking week long trips in the boat (towable) to places like Key West and the Outer Banks. But, a drawback of a boat is that you can't go for a hike when you feel like it (you can only walk so far on a 22' c-dory) so we decided to try a tt. We got a small 22' no slide jayco and, after the boat, it was luxurious. It had a toilet and a shower! So for two years we spent nearly every weekend (and many longer vacations) in our tt. We would leave friday afternoon and come home Sunday night; our s&b was where we stayed so we could work so we could travel on the weekends. Last September we traveled cross country to Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. About 8 days into our month long trip, a tree fell on our s&b. We had some family and friends assess the damage and meet with the insurance people. It damaged the garage, the electric service, my daily driver; we continued on our trip anyway. Every night, when we returned to the tt after an amazing day of hiking and site seeing, we thought, "eventually, we have to go home - our other home." So on the drive back east, we decided we would rather live in the tt than live in our house. We wouldn't have to drive for three days to get 'home' because we would already be there. We got home, fixed our house, went back to work. And hated every minute of it. By December, we were looking at new tts, one that we could live in full time. In January we bought one. I retired from my job July 1; DH retires on December 14. In January, we hit the road. We have been saving for years, living way below our means so we could retire early (we are 47). We just didn't know exactly what we would do when we retire. Now we do, at least for the first two years.We haven't started fulltiming yet - we have four more months before we go. When we realized we only lived here because of our jobs, we decided we would leave when we retire. I have spent the last two months painting and purging - getting our house ready for sale. Right now the market is great for sellers so we hope to sell pretty quickly. And then, we are out of here.

Let me start this by saying that I had a massive heart attack when I was 34. I am now 52. My wife and I Always wanted a coach and to go full time. It was our pipe dream too. In April of 2009 we were walking through the marina in Saint Mary's GA when we came across a gentleman working on his sail boat. After chatting with him we learned that it was always a dream for him and his brother to own sailboats and cruise the world together. Well as fate would have it, in February of 2009 he buried his brother who died unexpectedly at the age of 47. He said it really made him think," when is really going to be the right time to make a move to live his dream. Nobody is guaranteed tomorrow" So he took ownership of the idea and made it happen. When we met him in St. Mary's he had just purchased his boat and was bringing it up from the Bahamas. So after hearing that story, it made us think. What are we waiting for? So we took ownership of the idea and made it happen. In January of 2010 we found our coach on a website for RV's that are owner financed(no banks). We have been fulltiming since with no regrets. Remember, IF YOU SNOOZE, YOU LOOSE!

What made you decide to go full-time RV living?

40 Replies

valhalla360
Navigator
Sep 29, 2013
Three seperate but related stories:

1. Traveling Lifestyle: We both love travel and had talked about when we retire we would travel full time. At this point, it was just something nebulous when we got into our 60's we could sail off on a 60' boat. As we started planning and budgeting for retirment, we figured we could push up the date to our late 40's if we dropped back to a 45' boat. I'm an engineer and use far too many spreadsheets. One day, I don't know why, I took our budget spreadsheet and looked at it from the opposite direction. If we sold the house, car and all the junk that went with it, what would it cost to live the traveling lifestyle. It turns out if we could get debt free, it was only around $25-30k for a nice lifestyle. When Tammy got home, I told her we needed to talk. We then spent about a year and a half clearing the junk out of our life and getting debt free while buying a 35' sailboat.

2. During this process, Tammy's Dad was diagnosed with ALS, he had just retired and had recently bought a new truck and 5th wheel with the idea of taking longer trips. They took a few short trips but soon he was to the point where he couldn't safely drive. Finally we had to sell his new truck because we would find him just sitting in the truck in the driveway. He was only 60. This drove home the point that if you can do it, do it NOW. We set sail at 37.

3. After 3 years cruising on the boat, we found ourselves in Michigan in the fall and weren't likely to make it south ahead of the weather. While we know of a few that winter over on thier boats in Michigan, it held no appeal for us, so we arranged winter storage for the boat and picked up a truck and 5th wheel on the cheap and headed south.

We now flip back and forth depending on the weather and our interests with plans for a trip to Europe (not sure boat or RV) and driving the pan-american highway.
teamfamily5
Explorer
Sep 15, 2013
I have always had the desire and dream of traveling and living in a 5th wheel and seeing the country. In 2005 I resigned my job as a postmaster in a small town. Went to nursing school and became an RN my wife is also an RN 2of our three children are married my son a marine has 2 babies so that makes me a peepaw and my wife a nonie so in april my wife and youngest 18 year old daughter moved to ca to live with my son and DIL. I stayed in our home and contunied to work and take care of business and get our house sold which I did. Then me and 2 horses and a golden retriever headed west to ca. My wife had already secured us both nursing jobs so in june I started my new job ib california contunied to stay with my son for about a month got to looking at rent and prices of realestate so we decided to live the dream bought a nice fulltime suiteable rv and here we are no regrets so far some day we will travel when my youngest moves to college. But for now its nice to just be livining in the 5th wheel parked. We have the high school rodeo season starting at the end of the month my daughters goal is to make it to. The finals in wy so we will see. Some day we will buy some land and have a ranch but for now i'm living the dream and couldn't be happier. I would like to visit all thoses zipcodes that sent letters to for 20 years someday I really belive I will :)
MookieKat
Explorer
Sep 15, 2013
motorcycle jack wrote:
My wife and I were avid bicyclist and sail boaters when we got married 25+ years ago. Then 20 years ago I was diagnosed with an adult onset form of Muscular Dystrophy. The prognosis was that at some time in the future I would be wheelchair bound. We talked about it and said that the disease would govern what we could do but not govern us. So in 1998 we took 7 weeks to ride our bike across the US. Then as the disease took away my arm strength and I could no longer operate the winches, we discussed what was our second option to retiring on a sailboat? We decided to go full time RV. We found it made sense for us since we have family in 9 states. This year we purchased a park model to spend winters in Florida and will use the 5th wheel to still move around in the summer. This year we will fill in the rest of the 48 we are missing! Love it.

Awwww! I am so sorry to hear!!! So glad that you are making the most of your life regardless of your health condition! I am seeing more and more as we age, and our health begins to wane, that the time we have before us is more precious than ever! I would like to live out the rest of my life with gusto, making the most of the days ahead, rather than languishing away in a recliner in front of a TV.
motorcycle_jack
Explorer II
Sep 15, 2013
My wife and I were avid bicyclist and sail boaters when we got married 25+ years ago. Then 20 years ago I was diagnosed with an adult onset form of Muscular Dystrophy. The prognosis was that at some time in the future I would be wheelchair bound. We talked about it and said that the disease would govern what we could do but not govern us. So in 1998 we took 7 weeks to ride our bike across the US. Then as the disease took away my arm strength and I could no longer operate the winches, we discussed what was our second option to retiring on a sailboat? We decided to go full time RV. We found it made sense for us since we have family in 9 states. This year we purchased a park model to spend winters in Florida and will use the 5th wheel to still move around in the summer. This year we will fill in the rest of the 48 we are missing! Love it.
MookieKat
Explorer
Sep 15, 2013
invstr55 wrote:
we are working on riding our Harley on every twisty road we can find, probably will not finish but sure is fun.

Very brave souls!!
invstr55
Explorer
Sep 14, 2013
we are working on riding our Harley on every twisty road we can find, probably will not finish but sure is fun.
MookieKat
Explorer
Sep 14, 2013
Hearing you all is increasing my wanderlust! : )
stickdog
Explorer
Sep 13, 2013
Love to travel, meet people, explore new areas and there's no feeling like driving a road just to see where it goes.
soos
Explorer II
Sep 06, 2013
MookieKat wrote:
soos wrote:
We made lemonade out of lemons. in 2009, After 30 years, my DH was "retired" by his company, and since we lived in Michigan, there were no jobs around. after a month of feeling depressed, we decided to sell the house, buy an RV, and travel for a year or so. 4 years later we have no intention of slowing down unless we are forced to for health reasons. Love this lifestyle!

Did you buy a motor home?

No, our first RV was a Keystone Everest, a 5th wheel. Our current one is a Mobile Suites 5th wheel, a higher quality product, built for full time living. Once we knew we liked the lifestyle, we were willing to invest in a semi-custom built 5th wheel.
Part of the reason we originally went with a 5th wheel is because its cheaper to buy, usually, and we could always keep the truck if we didn't like the lifestyle. We've now upgraded both truck and trailer.
Geocritter
Explorer
Sep 06, 2013
My late wife and I loved to travel and had planned to buy a large 5th wheel, then cancer changed our lives, and took my wife’s life in 2011. After spending 6 months trying decide whether or not to join her, I finally pulled out of my depression and decided to pursue our original travel plans, only on a smaller scale. The problem was our troubles had left me financially devastated as well. A year later I received a small monetary windfall which I used to purchase my present home, a 33’ class A MH. Since June I’ve been living in it and fixing it up (the MH is a monument to deferred maintenance, hence its affordable purchase price). Come November I’m heading to Arizona for a few months and then plan to take a 5,000 mile loop through the west. I plan to live in the MH until my health fails (I do work at keeping fit). I’m hoping for a 20 year run, however when I can’t go any farther I’ll pursue the exit plan I formulated after my dear wife passed away. After watching my mother slowly die of heart problems and clogged arteries and my loving wife slowly die of cancer, I’ve concluded that one’s death is too important an event to leave to chance.