In the process of becoming a full-timer

[Kels4g]

Hello All! This is my first post :B We are in the process of becoming full time RV'ers. It will be me, the hubby, and our furry daughters (small dogs). We have just purchased a 2015 Salem Cruise Lite 261BHXL- which we love.

We don't have a departure date yet, as we are waiting for our house to sell. We just listed it Sunday. Our first house is already under contract and we are supposed to close by July 1.

Anyways, my question has to do with establishing a "legal address." We are already Floridians (born and raised) so our vehicles are already titled here, etc. So, we were thinking of just joining Escapees to get the address to have on our license and them to forward our mail. Is that correct or am I missing something?

Our daughters:

[Old-Biscuit]

2 questions....

What type of full timing do you have planned?
CGs, state/fed parks, boondocking.
Reason I ask.......when we traveled FT we encounter lots of restrictions on pets. Max number, size and type........size/weight got us a few times

What are you going to do for Medical Coverage?
FT and Medical can be an issue when not on Medicare. So make sure your Medical is a PPO (not HMO) and check for what it covers/where it covers when not in state.

[Kels4g]

No grandchildren- we're only 30! Our girls love camping! They have no idea that they are tiny little fuzz muffins. Thank you for the additional resources.

Florida does not require any inspections.

45% humidity? I'd probably have an itch to smack someone complaining about that :W Our days are often in the 90% humidity range (and it's awful).

We have not done any dry camping- we just bought the RV at the beginning of this month and are still working at this time.

We are selling all of our stuff. No storage units for us!

[Golden_HVAC]

The fur kids look ready to start their new adventure!

Yes joining the SKP club will work out well. I used their mail forwarding services for one year when I started full timing.

Does Florida require yearly or bi-yearly inspection? I was in California, and they require every 2 years when the registration is due to get a smog certificate, something that I had to return to CA to get. Texas requires a inspection that involves a lot more, like inspecting the frame for rust damage, brakes, and that sort of thing. (though I am not sure how intense it is, but do know you need to return there for the inspection and drivers license renewal).

If you will be visiting grandkids once a year or so, that can all be scheduled all at the same time.

Most are asking questions like "What should I do with all my stuff?"

I know some people who moved up to Oregon in 1999, and are still paying $65 a month for a storage unit in southern CA, about 900 miles away. So it is not 'convenient' to go visit the storage unit and they still have a lot of stuff there. Valuable tools, but the furniture is probably all dried out and useless by now. Think about yearly storage fees, and then consider what it will cost to not be 'detached' from your furniture for 10 years! Best to get rid of anything without sentimental value, and give that to the kids if they can take it.

Have you dry camped a lot? I used to love dry camping in the forest and near the lakes out west. BLM land - there is a lot of it out west, where camping is free, or nearly free. FreeCampgrounds.com is one place where I shared a few of my favorite places to spend a couple of weeks. While most are true free camping areas, some are listed like "Joe's tire shop" where someone would post "I stayed there for free when I needed a new tire" - not a place I would want to spend a week. But I posted places like North Rim of the Grand Canyon, where I would like to spend all summer! It is free to camp outside of the National Park, on National Forest land. It is 7,000' elevation, so it is cool all summer, and humidity will be something the locals talk about, but you will not feel for a couple of years. The locals become concerned when humidity levels start to get about 45% on a warm day.

In the winter, the North Rim has feet of snow, and all the roads are closed. Other places to spend the winter range from the SKP park in Congress, where you can get a little snow, or go up the local mountains anytime you really do want to see snow.

Many join Coast To Coast, and will travel all over the country, spending 2 weeks in one of their nice full hookup campgrounds for only a nominal fee, in addition to the buy in fee, and yearly dues. Some buy into a campground in North Dakota, and never really 'visit' their home park. But buy in there is very cheap, so are yearly fees. You have to be careful of how expensive of a coast to coast park that you buy into, they can get pretty expensive.

Escapees parks are much more reasonable to buy into them. It is a large site, and you can put it into the 'rental pool' while you are out sightseeing all over the country. The 'rent' goes towards park maintenance while you are gone, thus if say 30% are out traveling at any one time, they do collect a lot of rent to keep yearly dues minimal for everyone! I always will want to stay at a SKP park when one is near my destination, or in route to where I was going.

I was already a customer of Wells Fargo. They seem to have branches all over the US. Chase is another bank with branches everywhere. It is nice to be able to pull into any ATM and get out some cash, without paying fees to another bank. Or buy something at Wal Mart or another chain supermarket, and normally you can pull out $100 or so, to have spending cash as well.

Once while traveling through Utah, the local MiraMar gas station offered a 5% discount if you bought your gas with a Wal Mart Gift card, or Sams Club credit card. No problem. Go into Wal Mart, charge a $100 gift card to my credit card and get a 1% rebate on all purchases. Out in the parking lot, use the $100 gift card to fill the motorhome tank. Took an extra 5 minutes, but saved $6 on gas! And I needed some stuff at Wal Mart, so I really did not use any more time than shopping and getting gas takes anyhow..

Have fun on your travels!

Fred.