My full time adventure, road notes...

[Geocritter]

I’ve spent just over a year now living and traveling in my RV. Soon I’ll be heading back to Texas. The trip has been part adventure and part RV shakedown journey. My RV is 20 years old and when purchased in April 2013, it was a monument to deferred maintenance and neglect.


Photo taken early spring in Arizona

Here’s what I’ve learned about the full time lifestyle.

Living in the RV is fine, and now that I know what modification’s and upgrades to make, it should get even better.

The rig still needs service. One item I became aware of is a chronic fuel pump problem inherent to my vintage RV. Once I replace the in-tank fuel pump the only really annoying ongoing mechanical issue I’ve had should be history.

I’ve met nice folks at every RV park I’ve stopped at, I usually travel for 500 to 600 miles and then stop for a month or two. Stopping the way I do allows me to get to know people and the area better which I enjoy. I’ve tried to stop in areas convenient to National Parks. I then visit the NP in my Caravan, sometimes camping a night or two in my minivan.

The only thing I really don’t enjoy is driving the Behemoth between locations. Don’t get me wrong, my rig handles just fine, the suspension, steering and brakes work well. I have no complaints about the rig other than it’s so danged big! Jeez Marie, you have to be on full alert every second you’re behind the wheel. I used to wonder why people would talk about only driving 300 miles a day. Now I know. I’m definitely not looking forwards to my 2,500 mile trip back to Texas.

So that pretty much sums up my full time experiences and travels so far. By the end of October I expect to be back in Texas. Once I replenish my funds it’ll be bye bye to the miserable factory-defect Ford fuel pump (yes, it's a sore point) and along with some other repairs I’ll be all set for next years adventures. Right now I have my sights set on the northeast and Maine.

[rockhillmanor]

Boy it's good to hear all of you say you only do 200 to 300 per day. :B

After my first year full timing I was hard pressed to do my planned 400 500 miles a day. I thought I was loosing my git up and go!

Now instead of being bummed I didn't make my 400 miles, I just get up early. hit the road and no matter where ever I am, and what ever miles driven, I just pull off the road no later than 2:00 or 3:00 to find a CG for the night.

2 things good about my new way of RV'ing is this way I'm off the road before rush hours, and I'm in the CG with plenty of time to set levelers down in daylight and actually relax and enjoy that one night CG stay along my way.

[noplace2]

Fulltime now in our 14th year. We are firmly in the never over 200 camp and in fact probably have averaged closer to 150. We didn't adopt this lifestyle to rush anywhere.

[Roy_Lynne]

Thanks for your post. We are getting ready for our bucket trip next winter and your perspective has been very interesting.

[Geocritter]

Actually, the most I've driven in a day is 500 miles. Usually I drive 350-400 miles and then pull off in a rest area and sleep until morning, have breakfast and I'm off. The one day I drove 500 miles was because I'd promised my daughter I'd meet her for Thanksgiving but had earlier mechanical problems which had wrecked my schedule. Now I try not to plan any firm schedules (which works well with my random abstract brain). One thing, another reason I'll stay planted for a month at a time is that RV parks are a lot cheaper by the month. Right now my rig needs some repairs (such as a new grey-water tank and a generator repair) before I can seriously boondock in it. I'm going to address all the issues I've found on this shake down journey over this coming Texas winter.

[2gypsies1]

Geocritter wrote:
I usually travel for 500 to 600 miles and then stop for a month or two.

I used to wonder why people would talk about only driving 300 miles a day. Now I know. I’m definitely not looking forwards to my 2,500 mile trip back to Texas. [\quote]

Glad to hear your first year went well. Now....are you going to cut down on your 500-600 miles driving jags? Why do you do that? After 16 years of full-timing we still feel a good day is 200 miles. Sometimes we do less.

Continue on...but slower...and enjoy that second year! 🙂

[Mootpoint]

I am not a super early riser. Happy hour is always at 4:00. So how many miles I do in a day depends on when I get moving and 3:00 so I have time to set up.
Daily travel distance varies a lot but I'm never over tired or stressed.

[gafidler]

been on the road since Mar 2014 , went from TX to SD to WA and now heading back to TX .. don't drive over 200 miles a day then rest for a couple of days makes a big difference and makes the journey more enjoyable.

[gafidler]

been on the road since Mar 2014 , went from TX to SD to WA and now heading back to TX .. don't drive over 200 miles a day then rest for a couple of days makes a big difference and makes the journey more enjoyable.

[Geocritter]

DougE wrote:
I'm a pretty good long distance traveler (700 miles plus solo) but when I was running the Class A with the DW and several pets and just wanting to get from point A to point B, I would pre-plan a 400 mile day but then select alternate camping spots about an hour before and after the primary choice. Then if I was having an unusually ragged day I would stop at the early spot and if I was having an unusually good day I would continue to the later spot.

What a good idea!

[DougE]

I'm a pretty good long distance traveler (700 miles plus solo) but when I was running the Class A with the DW and several pets and just wanting to get from point A to point B, I would pre-plan a 400 mile day but then select alternate camping spots about an hour before and after the primary choice. Then if I was having an unusually ragged day I would stop at the early spot and if I was having an unusually good day I would continue to the later spot.