Ready to Live on the Road and Excited

[Donna_Jean]

Hello All, I just joined today so I am a newbie, I look forward to getting to know all there is to RV'ing. My husband and I are planning to retire in the spring, sell our house and buy a used 40+ Class A and live it in for at least 6 months or maybe longer. We are active and want to spend a lot of time out west in the national parks, hiking, biking and so forth. We live in MI now and plan to settle down in TN after spending time on the road. My big question is for those of you that have or lived in an RV without a residence how do you handle state residency. When we sell our house we will never live in MI again so i don't know what to do about things like drivers lic. taxes, voters registration, and so forth. I know we have over 6 months to figure this out but LOL i can't sleep at night trying to think how it all will work.

[ghooos]

There are many posts on this subject. Start searching including other forums and there are many options. Basically it's like moving to another state except you might have to periodically return to your state for whatever like DL, health coverage, etc. Many FTers use a mail delivery service. One popular choice is the TX Escapees.

Whatever state you select involves much more than you've posted. You'll get lots of opinions and while you're awake do your online research.

[JimBollman]

Back to one of your original questions, what state? If you're reasonably sure you will end up in TN why not make that your new home state. It checks most if not all the boxes for a good place as a base, no income taxes, no car inspections, reasonable RV registration, etc. Then if you do settle in TN you have that part already done. We moved to TN 4 1/2 years ago and love it down here. The Hall Tax has an exemption if your 65 or older and have a joint income of less than$68000. It will only be 1% next year anyway.

The one thing you may want to consider if your pretty sure where you want to be when you come off the road you may want to buy before you go on the road, real estate is going up fast in most parts of the state.

[Donna_Jean]

pianotuna wrote:
I don't understand the need for a bath and 1/2. I'm assuming that means two thrones?

.................

irritable bowl syndrome, colitis, Diverticulitis, recurring cdiff, chronic constipation, OR perhaps i am just a spoiled princess that requires an extra throne:D i know you mean well and i thank you for your concern but in more ways that one it's my business:):)

[pianotuna]

I don't understand the need for a bath and 1/2. I'm assuming that means two thrones?

My floor plan has an almost full size shower, and a separate water closet all packed into a 28'5" class C.

[Cloud_Dancer]

Donna Jean wrote:

Cloud Dancer wrote:
It IS exciting alright. We lasted 3-1/2 years, in a 40 ft Dutch Star with 2 slides.

Wow so for 3.5 years you only lived in an Motor Home, couple of questions, had you been RVing part time for a while first? Did you have any type of home or apartment for the 3.5 years you were on the road? and LOL i guess your marriage survived it. :C

Yeah, lived in the motorhome. But, we suffered very little stress because we had the savings to buy or build a house, AND keep the motorhome. We're the type who always lived in a big house, and had an RV, a bassboat, and a single-engined airplane. It's like we were born to have an exciting life. But, we've started getting old, and THAT part of it is no fun. But, we keep trying.

[js218]

Check out used Super C in the 40' - 45' range.

[Donna_Jean]

would love to get a bus in the 30's' range but so far none seem to have enough room, a bath and a half and a king bed are musts. I know that might seem extravagant to some but we know our habits and what will work for us and LOL most importantly keep us out of divorce court! If we can'tcamp inside the national park, which i don't think we will be able to, we will camp near and use our jeep to tour with. Funny that someone would mention the senior pass, we were at a party last night and one of our friends told me the same thing, so we will definitely be buying one. Thanks again for all the advice and words of encouragement

[Roy_Lynne]

This may have been mentioned but you should really rethink the 40' RV. Its just to long to fit in most National and State Parks, it costs a fortune to fill the gas tank and you would be better served with a 30'er.

[RGar974417]

If you don't already have it,get the Senior Pass. It gets you free access to every National Park and historic site.It also gets you half off camping fees at any Federal Campground including National Parks, Army Corps of Engineer ( COE),Forest Service and BLM.

[pianotuna]

Hi Donna Jean,

Another important aspect is to have an exit plan. I was full time for 5 years and miss it--but it was time to move forward. I'll still keep my RV (I love it), but it is back to being part time.

I'm fortunate to be able to snow bird for 4 months of the year--and that's when the RV will get the majority of use.

I'm glad to hear you will be able to drive the RV! That's a luxury I have never had. It would make life easier--if I could get a 30 minute break while someone else trundled down the road.

I hope you and your spouse will have a wonderful adventure.

[Grit_dog]

Well DonnaJean, all I can say is plenty of people envy your plan I'm sure, and it sounds exciting and well thought out.
Personally, if I was doing the same (plan to, to some extent), I'd be looking at the same. Used diesel Pusher mohos.
Sooo many of them out there that have depreciated 50% or more and are only 10% used up. Pretty good bang for the buck if you're traveling alot and want a big moho. More versatile than a large gasser for ease of towing (which is also a possibility given what you've said).
Downside for some is parts and service is big rig type costs, but even more of an advantage for you guys as it sounds like repairing and maintaining "only" 1 little home on wheels will be a walk in the park for him.
Best of luck going forward!

[ajriding]

6 mos or a year… Who will even know you are gone? When would they start counting days? You go drive around and camp, this does not mean you renounce your MI citizenship.

There are those extreme in govt that want to follow your every move, and Im sure they are able, but there is no mechanism (legality) to follow you and adjust your status based on tracking your movements.

It is not against the law to be homeless, nor to take a long vacation.
Do not consider yourself a full-timer for just a 6 month trip. You are just enjoying retirement. Unless you need to be at hospitals on a weekly basis, then why would your health provider need to know you are taking a vacation? This is not illegal. If you do have a need during the trip, then do what millions of Americans do when they are traveling and have a medical need. Go get help… If you have a more urgent critical medical condition, then that is a good reason to settle back into one location (MI or TN) so you have a regular doctor for the weekly visits.

Full-timers live in their RV, they do this for years or decades. By your post, you will not be a full-timer and will not encounter the hardships they may or may not encounter.

Go enjoy your trip.

[Donna_Jean]

our health plan is with Blue Cross which most doctors take, so that's a good thing

[Donna_Jean]

CA Traveler wrote:

TechWriter wrote:
For full timers, you want a "portable" health plan . . . one that operates (and costs) equally in every state.

And the doctors won't know you and you won't know them which might be a issue in some cases.

Carry all of your records with you. Visits, Xrays, blood work, meds, dental, eyes, everything as they may not have online access.

thankfully at present we don't go to the doctor often, but I get a shot in my knee every four or five months and talked to the doctor, he is going to give me a letter with a care plan if i need to see a doc on the road. great idea about bringing the medical records I will definitely do that

[Donna_Jean]

thank you all, so much good advice here that's for sure.
I hate to waste your time on giving me info that we do not need so i will give you a bit more info about us and what are goals and plans are.

For those of you that speak about health care, we are good, actually very good and very lucky, my husband has General Motors UAW retiree benefits now for both of us, he took a new full time job when he retired that offered benefits but he declined them and uses his retiree benefits. When we become Medicare age the GM benefits will become our secondary health insurance, we also have dental coverage. Unless something drastically changes we will not need to purchase health insurance.

We thought briefly about trailers and I was very impressed with the size and space in 5th wheels but my husband was clear he does not want to drive a large pickup truck cross country, he wants to drive in comfort in a DP. He drives a big diesel dully when pulling our 43' boat and he says he does not want that when we move to an RV. We plan on getting a two door jeep to pull behind the RV and we know for instance in some if not all the National Parks our DP might be to large to park there so we will park somewhere else and drive there in our jeep, that goes for other places we might want to go as well. Our big concern is since we do not know when this journey will start (because we will sell our house first) is that we can not make reservations ahead of time, and some of the popular places might be booked. The first place he wants to go to is CO.

Someone said 6 months is really like a long vacation and I guess that is really true so we will ask a freind to see if we can use their address at least until the end of 2020 and then if we still do not have a physical home we will ask my husband's sister who lives in TN if we could use hers. I would like to switch from MI to TN at the end of next year, it will make tax time easier. Has anyone used someone else's address, are their problems with that. Most of our bills and banking is done on line and except for the end of the year tax stuff I don't think we would get much mail