Starting in January 2025
Hey folks! My name is Chad. My husband, Jon, and I will be beginning our full time RVing adventure toward the end of January. We are currently in San Francisco and will be chasing the sun. We are sti...
Forum Discussion
My husband and I fulltimed for 15 years, till he died on the road. I now part time in a smaller motorhome and I am based in Florida.
You asked about Thousand Trails and KOA. We never did the TT, but know a lot of people who did and still do. There is a buy-in fee, and I believe yearly maintenance fees, but you can camp cheaply after that. If money is tight, I would wait on that till you know you can afford to keep it up. BLM land in the west particularly is cheap or free in most cases, but it is normally primitive, so you still have to think about how to get water, recharge batteries, and dumping your tanks. KOA's are expensive. Some of the campgrounds are old, but if they are still associated with the franchise, you can expect good services from them. A lot of the KOA's are now privately owned and they can be cheaper or expensive. We joined PPA, Passport America which offers 50% off campgrounds in their system. Some are good, some are bad, but we used it enough, we bought a lifetime membership and it paid for itself.
Take a lot of smaller trips and get your plan in order before you leave. As was mentioned, your rig, if it has sat for a long period, will likely give you headaches, so make sure you have planned ($$$) for those. When I sold my 40' diesel pusher it had over 100,000 miles on it, but the fellow who bought it had a diesel mechanic friend who told him to take the one with the most miles because it was well cared for. That is true, especially for a diesel, because keeping anything on the road requires due diligence. Letting it set. . . not so much. If the plan is to let it set. . . buy a trailer instead.
There are a lot of people who work from the road, but it does require an internet connection. Do not rely on campground wifi as it is offered mainly for convenience and not for heavy use by lots of campers. Living full-time in a motorhome is not cheap. Many people have that idea and are sorely disappointed. It offers a lot of adventure and I loved our time on the road. But money was not a problem for us. There are a lot of camping organizations that can offer suggestions: Escapees, FMCA, RVOvernights, to name a few. Check them out for more information.
Dale
Thank you Dale! I appreciate your insight. The rig is great. It was well loved and the maintenance records and updates are what sold us on it. I feel confident in the purchase. We are likely only going to be RVing short term. We are looking for our next forever home, hopefully a quiet town, and felt like RVing would be best way to do that. Funds are tight since my husband, who is ill, can't work and desperately needs peace and quiet to help him heal. I'm doing everything in my power, with no support from family or friends, to help him get that. I'm searching for a remote job to take with me while we travel. I'll check out the sites you recommended and I'll ensure that we have a hotspot for wifi connection.
Thanks again! 🙂
KOA: While the prices do vary, for a given area, it's typically among the most expensive options.
TT: If you can truly commit to using them, it can be a good deal but you need to use it a lot to get the benefit....but learn the rules before signing up.
PPA: If you are on the move, we find it handy. Up front cost is fairly low so 3-4 nights of use and it pays for itself. You do need to research the rules as every park has different limitations (only during off season, only weekdays, limit 1 night, etc...). If you aren't moving around much, it isn't very useful as most don't offer anything for longer stays (at least not that they wouldn't offer to anyone).
If money is tight, I would assume you aren't going to be covering lots of miles because fuel gets expensive. In that case, research monthly rates. $30-50/n translates to $900-1500/month, you will usually get a monthly rate for 30-50% less.
