Planning next winter full-time- suggestions?

[dnoonan1953]

We've been in Minnesota for 65 years, the last 20 of which saw a great deal of snow removal.
Quite frankly, we're fed up with this state, have our summer planned in our new 5er, and would appreciate input on others' preferences as to where to spend those 6 months.

[Old_Man]

When wintering in Arizona, I intent to spend the 16-hour nights sleeping like a rock. Some of the days, too. Reading, stargazing (Meade Maksutov-Cassegrain 127mm running straight from the house batteries), watching the Warriors, cooking seafood chowder, oh, and of all else fails, sleep some more.

I've been responsible for my adult life. I intend to indulge myself. My spousal unit, too. 😉

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

First thought is what are your current leisure time activities?

While your lifestyle will change full-timing, the biggest thing is you will have a lot more free time to fill. And almost none of us have the income to fill that time with paid activities. We look for free or cheap sight seeing opportunities. Winter snowbird campgrounds or areas can have a lot to offer.

We are closing our fourth winter as full timers and have not stayed more than 28 days at any single campground during a winter. We’ve spent a lot of time in Texas, Arizona, California and Florida in the winters. We’ve been places were we saw temps drop below freezing a few times, but never more than a couple days.

As full timers you are going to do a lot more setting up/ tearing down than you ever have before. You say you have your summer booked. How many travel days are in that schedule? A lot of folks like to use the winter to rest after a busy summer.

In 2014 we moved from one campground to another 44 times, 2015- 33, 2016- 63, 2017- 73 (2014 & 2015 each included 6 months of volunteering)

From Nov 1 to Mar 1 each winter we’ve moved:

2014-15 - 13 - Texas, Florida
2015-16 - 16 - Texas
2016-17 - 23 - Nov Utah, Nevada, rest Ca, Az, Tx
2017-18 - 15 - Texas

Now our family and doctors are located in Texas so we do spend some time near them during the holidays.

[Hobo2]

We have wintered in Az and the keys. A lot more bang for the buck in AZ resort style tennis ,Pickleball,quilt room, etc we pay 650 a month. We had payed 1950.00 a month to stay at on big pine key ,but the hurricane in sept. Stopped that. The keys are great and the fishing is great there. We might stay at the KOA in south Texas next year ,tennis ,Pickleball,good fishing. Bottom line if you got the money stay at a resort with 800 or more sites they’ll have so many amenities you’ll never have any free time. You need to book I April for next winter in popular resorts. They usually will return deposit with 60 days notice

[RGar974417]

Get the America the beautiful pass which gets you free admission to all National Parks and Historic Sites,plus half price camping at federal campgrounds.We got into Yellowstone free and paid $13 a night camping.Since you're full timers, you don't have to stay in one spot.In the fall and spring you could spend it in South Carolina,Georgia,Northern Florida or central Arizona.Since you're used to northern winters, an occassional snow or few days of cold shouldn't bother you when the majority of the time the weather will be decent. We spent Christmas in Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina about 4 years ago. The day we got there it was 80. The rest of the week was in low 60's.Short walk to the beach,short drive to nice restaurants and you can walk to Atatlaya,the home of the Huntington's who the park is named after.And at that time was $18 a night for W&E. They had great nature programs,some full hookups and the rest water and electric.Plenty of golf courses too. We also spent a week in January in Ocala,Florida. Weather in 70's.Lot's of places to chose from.

[ependydad]

ependydad wrote:
Personally, my family likes central Florida and south.

We thoroughly enjoyed the Florida Gulf Coast around Venice, FL. It was a nice area, easy access to salt water, and warm temperatures.

In fact, we've been bouncing around the Thousand Trails + Trails Collection campgrounds since mid-December and will have paid less than $1,000 for campground fees through early April.

[Old_Man]

dnoonan1953 wrote:
We've been in Minnesota for 65 years, the last 20 of which saw a great deal of snow removal.
Quite frankly, we're fed up with this state, have our summer planned in our new 5er, and would appreciate input on others' preferences as to where to spend those 6 months.

Arizona.

[TechWriter]

dnoonan1953 wrote:
We are going full time, and have this summer booked, but would appreciate some input on where people enjoy winters the most. So far we are looking at south Texas and Florida.

Before we started full timing, I created a US City Temperature Map of the average monthly temps in a number of US cities.

You lived in Minnesota most of your life and I lived in Wisconsin most of mine. We're both flat landers. Elevation affects temperature: higher = colder. Keep that in mind as you travel.

We settled on AZ. However, while it's in the 60's in Lake Havasu, AZ (735' elevation), it can be snowing in Flagstaff (6,910' elevation).

We've stayed on the Texas Gulf Coast and loved it, but that was in the summer.

[ependydad]

Personally, my family likes central Florida and south.

We thoroughly enjoyed the Florida Gulf Coast around Venice, FL. It was a nice area, easy access to salt water, and warm temperatures.

[John_Joey]

Instead of thinking about where to go for six months, think where is 70 degrees right now (or soon to be.) Then go there.

Right now that would be southern CA, AZ, and FL. In March that could be places like TX, GA, AL, etc...

[2gypsies1]

dnoonan1953 wrote:
Sorry about being unclear. We are going full time, and have this summer booked, but would appreciate some input on where people enjoy winters the most. So far we are looking at south Texas and Florida.
We enjoy the oceans, biking , fishing, golf and cooking!
Minnesota is definitely not in the cards for winters.
Residency is also going to become an issue, as we would like to lessen our income tax burden.

Well... that eliminates our favorite - Arizona for the winter. 🙂

You will have many options in Texas or Florida. Your first or even second winters should be spent trying out different areas of the states. Move around to test them out. Committing to one place for the whole season could be a problem if you get there and don't really enjoy the area.

As far as residency - and I assume you mean your 'domicile' because you don't have to actually live where you domicile - there are some things to take into consideration - Your age and do you need to purchase your own medical or will you use Medicare? That will determine where you will want your domicile to be. You'll need medical insurance that you can travel with. Medicare works great when you add a Medicare Supplement Policy. Some Medicare Advantage policies don't work for traveling.

Popular places to domicile for full-timers are Texas (check out the Escapees RV Club for an excellent mail forwarding program that will give you the address that you will need for domicile); Florida and South Dakota although South Dakota seems to have issues with medical insurance that you can travel with if you have to purchase your own.

Once you decide on a domicile address by using a mail forwarding company in that particular state, that address will be used for everything - medical, vehicle insurance/registration, voting, banking, investments, etc.

You've got some homework to do these cold nights.

Have fun with your planning. You'll be a lot warmer next winter!

[stickdog]

You may want to look into volunteering. We have volunteered at USFW Refuges the last 8 years, 24 hrs per person for couples or 32 hrs for singles. We've done refuges in Florida, Texas and this year in Louisiana. Full hookups and get to use all that knowledge you've aquired
during your working days. Volunteer.gov.

[BarbaraOK]

What do you like to do? We spend winter in Mesa, AZ. Like warm days, cool nights, great museums, shopping, concerts, sports (Spring training is only a month always!), good restaurants, and we can be out in the desert in 20 minutes.

Generally if you are south of I-10 you’re going to see warmer weather.

[Dance_Chick]

Not sure of your budget, but we recently stayed 2 weeks at Sanlan RV Resort in Lakeland FL. We had sold our house and were waiting to get in to our new place. It was such a nice place I hated to leave. The niceness does come at a cost, though...it's a bit pricey, IMO. You would be within 1 1/2 hrs. (maybe a little less) of the beach. Sanlan has hiking/biking trails, a bird/wildlife sanctuary, golf, activities, fishing, and more. You might want to check it out.

[Dutch_12078]

Each person will have their own preferences, but we prefer southern Georgia and Florida for the winter months. We like peace and quiet, spacious sites, and reasonable costs, so we mostly stick to state and national parks. And warm weather of course. This year our southern most stay will be at Midway Campground in the Big Cypress National Preserve adjacent to the Everglades.