phil_crouch
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Re: Mail Forwarding and Home Base
cemmett wrote: OK, here are two more questions to help us narrow down some of our searching. What have been some of the pluses and minuses of mail forwarding services and how to choose a home base state/city? My guess is you already active full-timers have resolved a lot of these two issues. Thanks again for all your input. Our last inquiry yielded a lot of great info. Before you decide to find a mail forwarding service, first thing to do is to get rid of most of your snail-mail... Start doing this couple months before you start fulltime... Most can be handled online.. Banking, Insurance, even taxes can be handled online.. You will be surprised just how much less mail you really need when you fulltime..629Views0likes0CommentsRe: What is your month like
When we fulltimed, our goal was to stay in fair-weather year-round.. Up in the Northwest during the summers, down in the Southwest during the Winter... Took us a couple months traveling at a very slow pace to reach our goals.. We had a Campground Membership to help with park fees, rarely spending more than $10/day.. We also took advantage of monthly stays, boondocking/overnight stays when traveling.. Had a Motorhome pulling a small pickup.. After nine years, wife wanted another house, so we quit fulltiming.. I do not like this stick house life and wish we were still on the road..450Views0likes0CommentsRe: Budget considerations.. Possibly taking the plunge
As a fulltimer, there are many ways to save on your costs of parking your RV... When we fulltimed, we averaged $350/$400 month.. Some do it by workcamping/volunteering for their site.. We bought a Campground Membership and used those for $10 day, and stayed monthly a some parks.. We also drycamped/overnighted which was free.. On the road, we talked to other fulltimers that knew the area we were going and informed of us places to stay.. As a fulltimer, We were NOT on vacation, and our goal was to stay in fair-weather year-round, and take in the sites before moving on..420Views0likes0CommentsRe: Where do you forward mail to?
We had our mail go to my daughter's home.. she would send it to us if we wanted it.. She also had our permission to open it.. If something needed our attention, she would call us or email us... Jury duty was one, that we took care of with a phone call.. The junk mail that we received was placed in the recycle bin at her home.. Another thing we did, was to Downsize our snail mail, by getting most of it online.. Most business places will now prefer that you use the internet over sending snail mail.. We ended up with less mail and they saved a few bucks on mailing costs...451Views0likes0CommentsRe: Is this camping?
When in Scouts, we used a tent.. In the Army, used a tent or foxhole, and sometimes caught a nap in an ole M-48 Tank... Scenery was mostly in the woods or out in the Desert.. In the Navy, got to stay in a bed/cot that were suspended by chains, several stacked in a tier about 4 high and we changed scenery often.. learned a better way, RV's.. Now I consider it roughing it, if I go to sleep in my outdoor lounge chair close to the firepit with a cool drink.. Never bothered me about what anyone else thought about the way I camped or RV'd and could care less about what anyone wants to call it.. Camping or RVing, it's all great as long as I sleeping off the dirt and not under it.. Campgrounds, RV Parks, Resorts, or Dry Camping/overnighting, all work for me at various times, when I get the itch to stay there... Got the tent and backpacking outa my system in the time spent in the Army and Scouts..427Views0likes0CommentsRe: Please share why you love the full time lifestyle??
Selling the house was easy for us... We were going to downsize anyway, so decided to Sell and go fulltime... We put that money from the house into an Investment Account.. Went fulltime at 55, and did so for almost 10 years.. Wife then decided she wanted another house, which we bought with money from our last house.. I wanted to keep fulltiming.. Loved staying in fair-weather-year-round... The costs of fulltiming was less than living in this house, both the RV and house paid for... AND I hate living in one spot day after day... Sure we still take vacations, but not the same as the freedom felt while fulltiming and taking our little house too.. We were home every day we fulltimed... If the wife gave the word, this house would be in the hands of a Real Estate salesperson before the sun had a chance to set.. BE very careful on deciding to go fulltime, the BUG you get may never go away...366Views0likes0CommentsRe: repairs while full time
We had to wait over the weekend for parts to arrive once... The MFG wanted to send it regular mail and we talked them into overnight express but had to pay them and extra $10 for that to happen.. Over the weekend, the repair shop let us stay at their place with water/elec hookup.. In over 9+ years of fulltiming, that was the longest we waited for repairs.. Since we were fulltiming, really didn't bother me and enjoyed the stay using our tow vehicle to get around town during that time.. But, we did have a very large fir tree fall thur our house one time, had to move outa it for a month or so while they fixed the roof and other damage it done.. I would consider it about the same if something happened to the RV, just get a motel room and wait for repairs to get done.. Repairs can take a long time with a stick house too... Just ask someone who went thru a hurricane or tornado or floods...458Views0likes0CommentsRe: 2000 national tropical 6373
I fulltimed in a National Tropical for 9+ years.. It was a 1998 on a ford chassis.. It was a 35ft model.. I thought it was a well built coach and served our purpose.. Company did go out of business.. I think they had some problems with sides of some model years, but ours wasn't one that had that problem.. Just be sure and check the side walls out for delamination.. They changed the Tropical model over to diesel chassis but not sure what year that happened.. Good luck on your friends search..68Views0likes0CommentsRe: Do tires have to be changed at a certain age?
I would call the tire manufacture and see what they say.. Most RV trailer tires will last 5 to 7 years before you have problems, depending on the manufacture of the tire.. Just because they look good or have plenty of tread, they can still have a blowout and cause lots of damage to the RV..92Views0likes0Comments
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Full Time RVers
Thinking about becoming a full-time RVer? Ask the experts.Dec 28, 20241,587 Posts
