When to quit.

[Jayco-noslide]

Just curious how many of you who are still RVing past 75 and how many of you have quit or are planing to; partly because of age but mostly age combined with physical or mental deterioration? We have RVed(motor home now, following pop-ups and a small 5th wheel) for over 40 years. So far so good with driving (short days), vision and general ability but a urinary infection on the road on our last trip really stressed us out. So we know we eventually should quit and don't really want to wait until something forces us to immediately. Also, do you ever feel like "been there and done that" so have some doubts about embarking on a trip? I know there's no definitive answer but still interested in hearing.

[3ares]

We started Rving in 1968, potty trained one child, traveled from the Florida Keys to Fairbanks, Alaska (not all on the same trip). Have owned tent trailers, a pickup slide in, travel trailer and two fifth wheels and still looking forward to our summer travels. We winter in Texas and travel from mid May to mid October. My wife is 74 and I am 75. Hope to travel as long as we can. We do stay longer at our favorite places and try to keep our road trips to eight hours a day or less. As long as we have our health and enjoy RVing—why not keep going?

[importman]

At 60 I'm younger than most who have replied to this thread. But with rheumatoid arthritis and some serious back problems it's just not fun setting up and tearing down any more. So my wife and I are going to be putting our travel trailer on a permanent site in western NC. It's a beautiful campground and we've got a huge somewhat secluded site that already has a 9x12 storage building on it. We'll be camping anytime we want without the work of hook up and set up etc. And if we want to visit other places we'll just have to learn to stay in hotels. But to be honest the mountains of NC and Tn are where we almost always go anyway. So now we only have to drive 5 hours in a regular vehicle and walk in and begin camping. The way I look at it it's better than not being able to camp at all.

[Rog___Nan]

We are 83 and 85. Don’t travel long distances anymore but we sure do camp a lot in Indiana and Michigan. We really enjoy holiday camping with all the noises and kids having so much fun. Our daughter and DH have a class C and like to tag along. We are usually at a St park about 40 minutes away. We first take our unit over get a little bit set up then drive our toad back home and get the kids C drive it to the park and set it up. They come straight from work to join us. Whatever works for you at whatever age is what you do. Now our granddaughter and hubby got an old pop up for a Christmas present so they will join us and we will get to enjoy our greatgrandkids 2 and 4 life is soooo good. For a little over 10 years of going east to west coasts and north to south including Canada we are finally back to what we really enjoy most - camping !

[TomfromNC]

Hi, I am 80 years old and expect to continue to drive my RV wherever we want to go as I'm not dead yet. I know people who still drive at 95 and drive very well.
:W

[Paul1944]

I just turned 74 and have no plans to quit RVing any time soon. Sure I have slowed down the last few years but even though it takes me a little longer to setup and breakdown I'm still able to eventually get the job done. I feel that the benefits of RVing make it worth a little bit of effort.

[ppine]

azrving wrote:

ppine wrote:
I have been saving RVing for when backpacking, running rivers, and leading a mule string seem like too much work. Very soon I will be upgrading my RV to a nicer one at age 69. I am still backpacking and running rivers, but have retired from horses and mules.

Especially the horses. Ever drop a dead one in a hole that was just a little too small? Well, it's nice to have a chainsaw handy.

IN the old days when a horse or mule died out there we just left them. Then the USFS required the use of dynamite. Now they must be cut up and packed out.

[JIMNLIN]

For the wife and I we burned out after camping for 58 years together from WW II tents to station wagons to truck campers and on to three different 5th wheel trailers. We both retired in '05 and had planned on doing some full timing. After the first year we decided our 40 acre place with a nice house setting in the middle with no neighbors in site was a better choice for us than crowded campgrounds/rv parks and living in a 8" 30' box.
Were both 76 and in good health. I cut and sell firewood so I keep busy in the cold months and with 40 acres I can stay busy when I want to. I still do a little LTL work ....when I want to. I've always enjoyed towing on the road especially the last 20 years or so with the new diesels.
We use the rv some times for maybe 2-3 week travels usually to our old favorite places in the mountains or just traveling to different areas.
Camping glitter for us slowly died away about 20 years ago. Now were in the RV 2-3 times a year stage.

[mountainkowboy]

Till I feel I can't anymore.....physically or mentally.

[1ed]

I love this saying by George Bernard Shaw:

We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.

[cummins2014]

delwhjr wrote:

cummins2014 wrote:

colliehauler wrote:
When it is no longer enjoyable.

I think for us it will be the physical part, not that we don't enjoy it , it never gets old. But no longer enjoyable may mean the physical part is no fun anymore.

I think both of these sum it up.

I enjoy the process of loading, hitching up, etc. Its not a hurry sport. Most everything we need is already in the fifth wheel. Add a few clothes, some food, and we are off. Oh!!, and the fishing equipment. 🙂

I don't see much physical in the way we do it, but I'm sure there are some that have more requirements to Rv'ing then we do .

[DustyR]

BB_TX wrote:
Age is almost immaterial. When to quit? When you no longer enjoy it. Or when you yourself feel you are no longer physically able.

X-2

I think this pretty well sums it up for me. I'm 78 and was being stressed by a cataract while driving at night, that condition has been corrected and stress removed.

I believe that age is a state of mind, I admit that physically I'm not as strong as I once was. Do I plan on doing 600+ miles a day? Absolutely not, is 300+ a day doable? I would think so and I'm going to keep at it until mentally it is not comfortable.

The quote at the beginning of this reply says it all.

[delwhjr]

cummins2014 wrote:

colliehauler wrote:
When it is no longer enjoyable.

I think for us it will be the physical part, not that we don't enjoy it , it never gets old. But no longer enjoyable may mean the physical part is no fun anymore.

I think both of these sum it up.

[azrving]

ppine wrote:
I have been saving RVing for when backpacking, running rivers, and leading a mule string seem like too much work. Very soon I will be upgrading my RV to a nicer one at age 69. I am still backpacking and running rivers, but have retired from horses and mules.

Especially the horses. Ever drop a dead one in a hole that was just a little too small? Well, it's nice to have a chainsaw handy.

[ppine]

I have been saving RVing for when backpacking, running rivers, and leading a mule string seem like too much work. Very soon I will be upgrading my RV to a nicer one at age 69. I am still backpacking and running rivers, but have retired from horses and mules.