Forum Discussion

Pineywoods36's avatar
Pineywoods36
Explorer
Dec 17, 2016

New to full time

Hello all!
Looking for some input. My wife and I have been camping for years started with a tent, pop up, to small RV. Our kids are now grown and on their own as we rattle around our 3500 Sq ft house that is going on the market this spring. I work remote and travel the US 30% of the time (Although would love to retire not quite ready yet). My wife is a RN and looking at travel nursing. We have been planning for about a year to go full time RV. We have a second home we will be keeping as a base just incase. We have selected 3 different modles of 5th Wheel Toy Haulers that are on the short list as well as a tow vehicle. We are taking our CanAm Spyder, we love to ride. Our plan is to follow the warm weather around the country with about 90 day stays at each stop (term of travel nurse contracts). We are both very excited but nervious at the same time. Any thoughts from the forum?
  • Visit with other FTers at an Rv park. Pick their brains.
    You can also call me. Been full time for 10 years.
  • Truck? Be sure to not under size your truck. A large fifth wheel can place a lot of weight over the trucks rear axle. Choosing the wrong truck can make for a miserable towing experience. Full timing van be challanging in cold weather. So if possible, plan to follow the sun.
  • Good for you, go for it. Living in an RV isn't much different than a home, just smaller. If you need to have a workshop, if you need to clean 3k sq/ft or fill empty space with things to fill your day or have self worth then you might have problems adjusting to the lifestyle.

    Otherwise if you have hobbies and can fill your day without needing all that extra space you'll adjust just fine.

    Travel nursing is a great way to make money. Just keep in mind many of the places that need travelers and pay well are areas where people generally don't want to work for one reason or another. She'll also be an outsider and will likely get crappy assignments. Still a great way to make some money and see the USA. Just keep it in mind that if she was in her current hospital for x year, traveling will be a big change for her.
  • My wife is a travel nurse on her first assignment, we are new to the camper so I'm doing a lot of learning but so far we are living it. We are in Fayetteville, AR now but looking at AZ next. The only bad thing so far for me is boredom but warmer weather will help a lot with that. Right now it's 7 degrees here and we have water froze up somewhere, luckily I filled a bunch of gallon jugs yesterday.