How did you decide which area to go to first?

We established a home base which was relatively close to our 5 married children and 12 grandchildren. We commit to this same CG for a minimum of 3 months every summer to get all of our doctor visits and family time taken care of.

In the fall we pick certain destinations that we want to see. We travel to those state/destinations and end up in SW Florida for the winter. Then in the spring we have a new set of destinations we want to see. We set out from SW Florida and see those, ending up back at the summer base again.

We are seeing everything we want to see and averaging anywhere from 6,000 to 10,000 miles towing each year.

Being near the geographical center of my country, not all that far from the center of this continent, we would go to the places we could reach in the time we had for trips out and back, 2-3 weeks usually. I think I am showing a map.

But that's not full time, we maintained a home base, out and back. We did not restrict to RV travel, so we've been to Europe, Asia, and Africa. We had trips booked to South America but canceled when she got sick.

If you are into visiting big cities, I'm not so sure the RV is the way to do it. NYC, Chicago, LA, San Diego, we would drive or fly and stay in good hotels at the center of things. Houston was just a one day drive. Singapore, Beijing, Sydney, Rome, Paris, Lisbon, London, Vienna? RVing is not really an option.

We went to the places that interested us. When my wife got sick, her bucket list took precedence over mine; even so, we had to cancel two of her priority trips when she wasn't well enough to go. Now that she's gone, I prioritize my own list, which does not include a lot of RV destinations in North America. I don't know how much time I have left, outlook changes year by year with age.

Consider the places you want to see. Prioritize them based on what is important to you, not necessarily what it costs to get there. You never really know how much time you have left. After retirement, most people who have places to go, things to see, run out of time before they run out of money.

What works for me doesn't necessarily work for you. First year out, we road tripped down the Atlantic coast from Virginia to Florida (escaping a Michigan winter), checked out possible settlements in Florida (had lived there two years in a previous life). Then we visited England for a month, road tripped through the U.S. Midwest (twice), lived in China for a month (traveling most of the time), visited Alaska at the end of summer, then spent most of autumn in the Mediterranean. Volunteering to be bumped on the Alaska trip netted us free flights, so we finished off the year with a Mexican Riviera cruise (since repeated, extended, as an end of life celebration).

You may have completely different interests completely different resources. You go where you want to go, not where someone else wants to go. But you prioritize, because you don't really know who has how much time left.

We're from the Midwest and our short camping trips with the kids were done in our state or a nearby state. Our big 2-week trips were to places most folks want to take their family such as Smokey Mtn. N.P., Yellowstone or Rocky Mtn. N.P.

When we began full-timing we wanted to experience longer periods of time in the West because before it took so long to get out there during our working years. We began chipping away state by state and exploring every portion of the states, not just the big main attractions. We loved traveling the secondary roads and the friendly small towns. Over the 16 years of full-timing we returned to our favorite areas time after time. We also did things on our bucket list such as whole summers in Alaska and rafting the Grand Canyon.

Inbetween times we did return occasionally to the Midwest, East and South but soon discovered that the West was where we felt more at home and that's where we stayed.

Thanks to you all for sharing, its good to see how others have/are FTing. We can see we will likely be similar to how you did it Old Biscuit at least initially with only staying a week or two in a specific area maybe some areas just a few days whilst dividing the countries into specific sections per season.

I'm sure after experiencing a lot in the "vacation" type mode and being very detailed about documenting where we've been and what we liked and didn't we'll settle in to staying in some areas more after a few years. We've very conscious that initially our gasoline and CG rates will likely be a lot higher than getting a monthly rate, but we do like to boondock a lot and are very self sufficient to do so which will help compensate somewhat on the latter.

Once again wonderful to read how you all roll/ed and thanks for sharing.

We moved weekly or twice a month........250 miles max. Sometimes only a few miles. Travel was consistent each year. We were not on vacation.

We hit the road to travel not move and park. Only stayed in one place one time for couple months (helping sister while she recovered)...couldn't stand being parked.

Usually a week was sufficient to explore/see the sites...if not 2 weeks was.

We would set up and then go exploring/road adventuring at least 4 days a week.
Then on to next place.

FULLTIMEWANABE wrote:

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.

I'm leery of the 'destination' parks that are out of town, away from groceries and stuff, for that reason, too.

But snowbirding at a park in town is not like that. It's like a combination of living there and being on vacation.

All the daily-life stuff takes longer when you are new to an area. If you need a haircut or new brake pads or a weird shaped bracket to fit something, it takes time and research to figure out where to get what you need.

Then you fit in sightseeing when you can :).

Me, I have a long mental list of places I have always wanted to see, and ones I have wanted to get back to, so I just group them in chunks by proximity. One state per season, maybe two, on the way south and north, and a few months in one spot in the winter and summer, for the haircut and brakepads type stuff.

Like most of the others, we spent our first year "on Vacation"..that is treating every adventure as though we had to 'be somewhere'. Now we simply choose a section of the country that we want to explore. We usually winter in Az so we start from there and section the country. We like to spend at least 6 weeks in each state, California and Texas excluded. Two in the north, two in the south and two in the middle. We then use the toad to explore each area of each state. We rarely use the Interstates as the secondary roads offer a slower pace and more things to see and do. There are some places you'll like so well that you'll return. Currently we're on our third trip up the west coast because we love the beaches, but hate the Oregon coast cold. Look at my blog below and you can get the idea. We've put a little over 80,000 miles on our coach in the past 6 years....Dennis

Settle on one wardrobe, and match the next 30 days weather to that wardrobe!
Actually, there is no right or wrong answer. Stay in one place until you get bored, then move. Plan your moves to under 200 miles at a time. Park, visit the sites, move. If you get bored with doing nothing, you can always volunteer. Volunteer camp hosting is a great way to visit an area for 30 to 60 days at a time on the cheap. Most volunteer positions give you two days a week off, so site seeing is easy.

Check the national weather forecast and to where the weather is to your liking.