How did you decide which area to go to first?

Ivylog wrote:
Many first time FTers admit to putting 10,000+ miles in the first couple years rushing around the US. They then settle down to half those miles spending more time at each stop....

Yup! :B

The first year out full time I drove all over the place like a drunken sailor! IMHO it's just a right of passage going full time!

Then realizing the cost of CG's doing it that way was outrageous and the driving all over all the time gets real real old fast.

I then Started staying at least a month in each place and then like most you fall back into the Snowbird mindset and you end up following the sun. South in winter, north in summer. Spending several months in each area.

I read a mystery novel years before set in Mesa Verde and wanted to go there to see the incredible cliff dwellings. Planning took off from there for our first major trip.

Spent a two month trip in that general vicinity visiting additional National Parks, and it was the trip of a lifetime.

Many first time FTers admit to putting 10,000+ miles in the first couple years rushing around the US. They then settle down to half those miles spending more time at each stop.

As a Canadian the six months max out of country is going to limit your choices as warm weather should take up four of those months staying in one area, but different each year. So, deciding where you will spend each winter and then what you will see going to/from that area in the remaining two months will be pretty simple.

There are basically three Snowbird areas: Southern CA/AZ, southern TX, and central/southern FL. I would plan on taking a month to get to each area and then a month back over the next three years. Yes, you can move around in each area, probably four times to take advantage of monthly rates. At the end of these three years you will probably settle on one area to spend each winter making it harder to explore other areas of the US.

Old Biscuit, do you mind me asking how many miles you travelled each of the years you were FTing and typically how long would you stay in one location to explore. 6 Coast To Coasts in almost as many years seems a tremendous amount so looking forward to hearing :) Appreciate some areas require a lot longer than others to comfortably see and do and get a true flavour ie; Portland versus maybe Las Vegas hypothetically. I would assume that maybe you travelled more in Year 1 than 2 and so on?

Noplace2 - likewise how many miles would you typically cover per year, how long on average do you stay in one location,and out of curiosity what drives your whims on where to point and go at any one time? Being planners by nature, we will need baby step adjustments to initially plan looser to maybe one day going with no plan, the latter I just can't ever see being the case for us - that would be like taking a road trip with no GPS or road map. I'm most envious of your ability to do so for so many years. Ironically if we hadn't of set out plans years ago, we wouldn't be in the position today to hit the road as we intended. For sure we always allow some wiggle room for unexpected incidents, like mechanical breakdowns, but to have no "kind of" plan I can't begin to imagine.

We've touched for at least a couple of nights in our working/family rearing lives over 40+ states including Alaska and Hawaii but in those days we were target destination geared for shortened vacation trips. You don't get a true flavour and quite rightly we missed out a lot of wonderful places I'm sure enroute or weren't able to savour many being restricted on time back then as you say trying to reach the next goal.

We had thought for our first full snow birding season allowing approximately a month to month and half in each of the following states Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada. Does that seem realistic? We are just not the type (YET!) to go and sit in a destination RV park for weather alone for 3 or 4 months doing set planned activities. If we enjoy locations or specific activities in Texas, Louisiana and New Mexico areas and want longer we'll just basically drive through versus exploring AZ and NV our first full winter season. Of course we have to be in Canada for half the year as well, so thinking a different tangent as well, it'll be interesting how we handle finding enough days to explore the more northerly states for the summers over the years! PNW, Maine, NY, Michigan UP, Smokey Mountains etc

Truly do value your input based on experiences and thanks for your time.

FTW.

You actually seem to have answered your own question.

We've been at this fulltime traveling thing now starting our 15th year. We didn't begin with an agenda and lo these many years later, we still don't have one. We have gone where whim has taken us and have rarely been disappointed. We have traveled from Alaska to Central America and through 40+ states in the process, all slowly and rarely with a need to "get somewhere". 200 miles is a huge day for us. So much can be missed rushing to the next "goal".

We started our journey from mid west FL. Though I'd lived in FL for 20 years prior there were many parts of the state that I'd not seen from an RV perspective. Our very first leg took us all of 80 miles and we spent 4 days there. It took is nearly a month just to leave Florida!

To remark upon your signature line, aiming low can have many rewards.

Happy travels and welcome to this wonderful lifestyle.

We had been in the deserts of Arizona for 20 years, and longed for GREEN and cold.

We headed to a familiar, close ( but not too close ) place while the house was in escrow, and so we could finish up Dr appointments.

Our first destination was South Lake Tahoe, because it had been our our bucket list for a dozen years. We stayed and explored for a week, then headed North to Sparks, NV, to check out the West side of the Lake, and because we were headed for Oregon.

We got stuck there due to the weather, so that immediately slowed us down. We were actually headed to Coos Bay, mostly because it sounded so beautiful. Short story is we met a few couples in Sparks that both recommended Winchester Bay. Went for a week, and ended up staying for a month.

Since then, we have just explored the Oregon Coast for the last few months, and will be headed North East around mid July.

We are mostly trying to follow the cool weather, and stay in uncrowded, smaller, quaint little towns. If we like it somewhere, we stay. If we don't, we move on.

My only recommendation is to slow down. It's hard to grasp for a while, and to realize you are not on vacation anymore. Doing so ( slowing down ) has really helped to to see and do things we normally wouldn't if we were restricted by time.

Best of luck

For US first destination was SD to get new drivers licenses and plates as that was our new domicile.

So we headed out of So. California to SD meandering thru UT, CO, NE....did our business and then headed east to tip of Maine.
Then down East Coast to FL. From FL diagonally to WA then down West Coast then back to East Coast using different route then North using a different route then West using a different route then No/So/No/So zig-zaging then ..........

7 yrs..........6 complete coast to coast round trips using secondary/backroads as much as possible.

Point and GO!