Full Time RV living - Page 9

[Milkymommi]

progress...

There was a little scare for a moment when the current owners were having trouble locating the paper work for our RV, but it's all good! We are picking up the bill of sale tomorrow, we have the keys and we're anxious to get on the road.

We have to handle the registration and all that jazz so for now send us all the good dmv/inspection vibes you can muster!

We also have a few potential repairs and the purchase of a dolly for our town and country. We are hoping the generator just needs a prime and routine oil and filter change - but what do we know LOL! The owners said they bought it in working order, drove it to the storage spot and never drove it. They apparently came once a month to start it for 10 or so minutes. That's what made us wonder if the generator just needs some lovin' rather than replacing. The batteries are brand new but need to obviously be charged up. Any advice is welcome.

Oh! and one more cool detail... it's a bit bigger than we originally thought. It's 34 ft rather than 31. Very cool. We went and let it run for about 20 minutes today and chilled out with the kidlets in it.

This is the full immersion version of rv fulltiming 101 We are supposed to be in Portland by March 8th... we'll see.

[Pilgrim]

Originally Posted by IntuitiveJamie

Gathering tons of info at this point. Just figured out what boondocking was. Good to know thats an option. I always see RV's in Walmarts parking lot. Now I know why. LOL
I am having the hardest time figuring out what we want. I know I really want a motorhome and we found the perfect one. But it doesn't make sense with my business. I have a radio show and private readings I do. I have to have room seperation to do all this. Although the motorhome we found as room seperation, the bunks are right next to the "master" and I would have to whisper. Or if the children woke up and were making noise, it would be a disaster. Whereas in a 5th wheel or trailer, there is much seperation and often across the trailer. But I don't want a 5th wheel.. whaaaa.
I don't think we have a choice though. I'm sure I'll get used to the idea, but the thought of having a 3/4 to ton truck, kills me. I just cannot imagine driving that thing around the towns and cities we stop in. I also really badly wanted the comfort of making lunch while were going down the road.
Any suggestions anyone?

*I want to add, this is all so exciting though, I'm not really complaining. I mean, when your worst decision is which vehicle to get, life isn't so bad is it?

Just wanted to say...

1 - You can't do a whole lot going down the road, as far as food prep goes. Opening the fridge while driving can be an adventure all by itself! LOL! So it's not like you can stand there and make a sandwich. We make sure the girls have their food before we hit the road, BUT, if something comes up, I can grab a can of olives, or something out of the fridge that's basically ready to go.

2 - I would highly, HIGHLY recommend that you rent/borrow a big pickup for you to drive around and try it out. We used to have a 1 ton truck to pull our trailer, and I simply could NOT drive it. If we had that setup now, I'd be very limited in where I could go alone.

3 - The space issue sounds very tricky. Many RV parks have rec rooms & places that are quiet. I wonder if you could do your work there sometimes? When DH needs some quiet workplace, he can usually find one. I don't really know the difference in the spaces from an Class A to a 5th wheel. But I can't imagine that there is that much difference when it comes to the noise level. The walls are literally paper thin! LOL! Even if you did have a separate "room," noise will still be with you. Also, I find RV living in general to be quite noisy, unless you are in the perfect climate all the time. The air conditioner, the vent fans, flushing, the heater, the washer/dryer, the oven, the dishes, the kids, people walking by - ALL make noise. There is rarely a quiet time in our RV.

[IntuitiveJamie]

Pilgrim..Thank you so much! That is everything I needed to hear and be aware of. My husband thought and vocalized the same thing that it prob. wouldn't be much diff. of a noise level from one or the other being only 10 ft of space difference and paper thin walls. We both always really wanted a motorhome. But man, those 5 wheels are nice. But i really hate driving big trucks. I'm uncomfortable in a 1/2 ton, much less a full ton, so you are right on the money about being limited there too.

So much to think about. We will have a blog soon to detail our journey to get to this adventure. THanks a mil. for helping me out!

[Irishmommy]

We can make sandwiches while travelling. Not the smartest, but it is doable. Only the adults get to though. The kids must always check with the driver before undoing a seatbelt, but we do let them get drinks/use the toilet if needed and if traffic situations allow.

Jamie, I would really suggest a Class A. We've had a trailer and a Class A, and the A is much easier for travelling in and for setting up. We've never had a 5th Wheel, and while I think they are lovely, a decent size one needs a decent size pickup, and for us to do that combo (pickup/5th wheel) was as much money as what we ended up with (Class A/small car), and our gas in the car is less than in a pickup for our every day travel.

Take note though, that we don't fulltime, but we do travel a lot 6 months of the year.

If you have the money, a Class A with bunks, or a Class A you can convert to have bunks, would be my suggestion. I think kids need their own space, even if it's just a permanent bed.

[Theoretica]

I have never found a class A with bunks...and I've been looking!! We'd LOVE to find one so we could tow an 'around town car' instead of hauling with a massive truck.

Anyone have floorplan links to some class a bunk houses?

[Irishmommy]

This is ours: http://www.hurricane-rv.com/ Hurricane 34B. At the time it was the only one with a third slide (the bed) and it made all the difference).

Okay, I can't find it, the bunk model there is smaller. This is ours:

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z.../Floorplan.jpg

I have interior pictures if you want.

[Irishmommy]

All the class A bunks are basically the same layout, but most other only have 2 slides. In our order of preference, after the Hurricane, Georgetown, Georgie Boy, Damon also make them, and a few others I can't remember offhand.

[PPK]

Originally Posted by IntuitiveJamie

Pilgrim..Thank you so much! That is everything I needed to hear and be aware of. My husband thought and vocalized the same thing that it prob. wouldn't be much diff. of a noise level from one or the other being only 10 ft of space difference and paper thin walls. We both always really wanted a motorhome. But man, those 5 wheels are nice. But i really hate driving big trucks. I'm uncomfortable in a 1/2 ton, much less a full ton, so you are right on the money about being limited there too.

So much to think about. We will have a blog soon to detail our journey to get to this adventure. THanks a mil. for helping me out!

Hi all!

I'm poking my nose in here for a minute, but wanted to say that I used to RV full-time with DH and now only do it for 2 months each summer.

We have a 30' class A. It is quite old at this point, but we've rebuilt everything on it. However, we will never, ever buy another class A in the future. The reason why is that every time your rig breaks down (which can be often even with newer models), you are left without a home for an indefinite amount of time, often times in a very random location!! I can't even tell you how many vacations were cancelled, or cut short, or destinations not seen.

This is how we ended up living in Houston

From what I've gleaned over time, its just a heck of alot of weight to be pulling. ie: transmission issues, overheating issues, etc. We've sunk alot of $$ into it and its still highly unreliable.

I figure, if I can drive that (which was much easier than you think!), then I won't have too big a problem with a pick-up truck.

We have severe emotional attatchment to it though, but when $$ is better we will purchase a tow-behind of some sort...or a 5th wheel if its full-time.

Anyways, I need to do a better intro in a bit, but wanted to put in my .02.

Good luck whatever you decide! Living on the road is awesome!!!!

[IntuitiveJamie]

I am def. taking notes everyone. Thanks!

Irish-I would love to see pictures! But the link you sent..that's a nice Class A. We have looked mainly at 5th wheels, but saw one class A and one Class C. We actually loved the class C. I'm not sure if I'll go quite as big as an A.
The C we looked at has bunks:
http://www.jayco.com/php/products/fl...16&mod_id=1113

It does not have an actual picture of the bunks though. It's 36 feet and meets all of our requirements except it doesn't have an oven (the one on the lot doesn't). So actually I was wondering input on that. Could you do without an oven? It has the convection oven/microwave combo.

[Irishmommy]

Jamie, that C is a very similar layout to our A, except you gain a bed (over the cab) and we gain two living room chairs (the driver/passenger seats swivel to be armchairs).

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...gi20547205.jpg
We actually removed the chair behind the passenger chair and it's in our living room. We have a basket for shoes and a table there now.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...gi20547207.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...gi20547209.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...gi20547211.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...gi20547215.jpg

To the right of the bunks you can just see the bedroom closet, which is at the end of the bed. If we fulltimed, I'd have some sort of storage under the window in the bedroom which is at the back.

[CageFreeFamily]

Originally Posted by IntuitiveJamie

Could you do without an oven? It has the convection oven/microwave combo.

We had neither an oven nor a microwave for the year we were on the road and managed just fine. I would have preferred to have one though.

[IntuitiveJamie]

Cagefree (btw love your name)- Thanks for the heads up. How did you mostly cook then? Outside, bbq?

Does anyone use a crockpot or breadmachine?

Do you recycle?

Anyone all cloth (TP, Paper towels and Menstrual stuff)?
We are going green on this trip. Just as green as we live at home, so now I'm trying to figure out the logistics of that.

TIA!

[PPK]

We didn't have a working oven, but I never baked (desserts or breads) much back then so I never missed it.

We bought a toaster oven and that worked great for tons of things (yams, frozen kashi pizzas, etc.) DH wants to get a convection oven type soon...I don't know anything about them though.

I used to sprout alot and would make sun-baked sprouted grain bread; this is location dependent though!

[PPK]

Originally Posted by IntuitiveJamie

Cagefree (btw love your name)- Thanks for the heads up. How did you mostly cook then? Outside, bbq?

Does anyone use a crockpot or breadmachine?

Do you recycle?

Anyone all cloth (TP, Paper towels and Menstrual stuff)?
We are going green on this trip. Just as green as we live at home, so now I'm trying to figure out the logistics of that.

TIA!

As far as recycling, not usually. The best effort was occasionally putting some in people's curbside bins, but that was infrequent at best.

I wanted to continue CD'ing for one of our trips, but we boondock and there just wasn't a way to get the water needed. I suppose stream water, but then to heat it, haul it, etc just didn't seem very realistic. If you're 'plugged-in' and are hooked up to water, then I think it wouldn't be difficult.

[PPK]

Sorry for jumping in without more of an intro!

I love reading this thread and although we are only travelling summers now, I'm still so thankful to be able to do it at all. I'm really enjoying reading all of your posts

Cagefree- I love your blog! Northern NM is one of my all-time favorite places, it looks so gorgeous where you are!


I also have a question:

I know I'm harsh on the idea of ever getting another Class A for the sake of mechanical breakdowns, but just curious how everyone else's runs? Ours is 25 years old, but at this point, have rebuilt the motor, transmission, rear end, and just about everything else imaginable on it.

I know there are many advantages I take for granted: fixing something to eat while driving, no need to un-hitch, easier in alot of ways.

Just curious what everyone else's experience is as far as reliability goes.

[Dahlea]

We started out with a 20 yr old Class A and never had any issues with it (90 Pace Arrow by Fleetwood)
I don't understand why so many of you cook while driving-that's so dangerous! To each their own, I suppose, but I would never cook while driving. I see plenty of people that don't keep their kids in car seats or seatbelts in RVs either and that just blows my mind. My kid is in his carseat if we're moving. It's still a moving vehicle, and you can still get in an accident!

We recently upgraded to a class A-99 Southwind with 1 slide out (I said I needed more room for the upcoming baby!) and we love it. Unfortunately, our first problem came when one of the leveling jacks failed and we have to pay around $475 to get it fixed. Ouch!

Intuitivejamie, there is nowhere around us to recycle, except for cans, so we are unable to. We are almost all cloth-diapers, TP (pees only) and 75% unpaper towels. I wouldn't do it boondocking, but we stay in campgrounds so it's not hard.

Anyone have a washer/dryer in their RV? I'm considering getting them but they're so expensive! Worth it or not with 2 kids? Be nice not to have to hit the laundromat!

[Pilgrim]

Originally Posted by IntuitiveJamie

Cagefree (btw love your name)- Thanks for the heads up. How did you mostly cook then? Outside, bbq?

Does anyone use a crockpot or breadmachine?

Do you recycle?

Anyone all cloth (TP, Paper towels and Menstrual stuff)?
We are going green on this trip. Just as green as we live at home, so now I'm trying to figure out the logistics of that.

TIA!

We have a crockpot and use it about twice weekly. We don't have a breadmachine, but we don't eat grains all that often. We do have our huge Excalibur dehydrator with us. It rides in the underbelly, and when it's in-use, it rides under the kitchen table.

We use all cloth! (diapers (though we are nearly done with those!), TP, menstrual, paper towels) I would not do this if we didn't have our own washer/dryer. But it's no biggie to us. Also, recycling is very difficult, unless you commit to hauling your recyclables around until you can find a place to recycle it. My DH simply won't do it, and sometimes it's not even an option. For example, we will be at this spot for 5 weeks, and there's no recycling. We just have to take a deep breath....and throw it away!

Here is a quote from my blog about this subject:
"We are now trying to incorporate that lifestyle (green/sustainable living) in with our RV living. We originally packed the RV with our glass bowls and glass jars for storage. Then we had trouble fitting it all in, so we took out most of it and accepted the fact that we were going to need some plastic storage, so we purchased a set of Rubbermaid from Costco. I think I mentioned in a past post about a jar breaking on our first trip out of the driveway. So, before we left for the big adventure, I took most of the dry goods that were in glass jars and dumped them into Ziploc bags with a heavy sigh of acceptance. I will say that 2 weeks into the trip, we have not opened the box of Rubbermaid from Costco, so maybe we have just enough glass storage. Time will tell.

We still use cloth everything, homemade products, and eat organic foods. We still have a stash of meat from Oregon, and I’ve made arrangements to purchase more sustainably raised meats from Paidom in Texas, which is our supplier from when we lived there before. www.paidom.com

The other problem we are having is that there is carpet all over this RV. There is even a lot of carpet on the lower portions of some of the walls. I would really, REALLY like to get rid of it. Carpets retain a lot of allergens, plus they off-gas yuck. On top of that, our kitchen table is on top of carpet, and that doesn’t work so well with children, especially babies who are just learning to eat! The carpet already looks like a disaster, and we’ve only been on the road for 2 weeks! But with no income just yet, it will have to wait.

And yet another problem is that this RV has a diesel motor, and the generator also uses diesel. This is just not good for anybody’s lungs, nor the environment, but it’s especially bad for an asthmatic child! I’m grateful that we can almost totally avoid the fumes. We can’t avoid them when we are parked at an RV park with our windows open, and another rig has their motor running. (oh, and we can’t avoid cigarette smoke from our neighbors either!)"

[IntuitiveJamie]

Pilgrim- Great info thanks! Did I miss your blog somewhere? I would love to keep up with it.

We are planning on changing the RV over to running on Veggie oil. I figured we wouldn't be able to recycle as much, but would prob. have to haul it around for awhile, like mentioned. We'll have to see how that works.
I too, can only see being all cloth if we have a washer/dryer, but do Class C's usually have those? I'll have to keep looking. I really want a washer/dryer but I just don't think we are going with a Class A. But never say never.
We are going to be promoting being green on our journey. So I have to figure out all the ways to be as green as possible and implement them.

I was thinking about the plastic problem as well and have already determined that we would have some plastic bins b/c I already know that will be much easier. I'm not planning on much glass for reasons you stated. I'm going to go with tin, stainless steel and wood containers as much as possible. I'm going to sew quilted pads to put between stuff that is noisy, or breakable.
So far those are my ideas. But I think for storage of undercarraige stuff, I can just see how plastic is the best option...keeps elements away, and you can see through it. I could use cardboard boxes I suppose and will consider it, but most likely use plastic.

Dahlea- I hear you. And my dh fully agrees with you. I have no plans on keeping my children running about if we are in traffic, or in a city or anything. I've told my dh that I'm okay if we are on long stretches of highway with very few to no other cars around. Still a running vehicle, yes, but I'm comfortable with that. Also, I don't plan on cooking. But making a sandwhich, sure. Someone earlier mentioned mostly prepping before actual driving and that makes good sense. Im guessing it is difficult while driving anyways.

Good to know about crockpot use. I'm also thinking about investing in a couple of Iron pans. Maybe one small and one large. There are so many things you can make in one, like one pot dish type stuff. Any thoughts on this?

LOVING the info ladies. Keep it coming. I am ingesting it all!!

[PPK]

1 or 2 cast iron pans, and a few saucepans to boil water and steam veggies, (bring a steamer basket). I think that's mainly what we use on trips now, and we cook nearly all meals. We had our wok as well when we were full-time and used it almost daily.

[Pilgrim]

Originally Posted by IntuitiveJamie

Pilgrim- Great info thanks! Did I miss your blog somewhere? I would love to keep up with it.

My blog is private, but I don't mind sending you (or anyone on this thread) an invite. It is actually private because I don't want certain family members to read it. sad, but it is what it is. PM your email addy. Disclaimer - I haven't been keeping up with it these last few months, mainly because DD1 has been sick and on the couch - not much to write about. (she's doing much better these past couple of weeks!) But, the very beginning of the blog would be of interest to anyone just starting out, because I started the blog around the time of our first garage sales!

We most definitely keep our girls buckled while driving. Dahlea - I don't remember seeing anyone say they cook while driving. I do get up to make a "fast grab" of something if my girls have run out of the food/water that we provided before beginning to drive. I think it would be impossible to cook while going down the road! (though we do often have the oven roasting a chicken or something.) I also let my 6yo get up to potty, but only if she asks, and only if we are going down a long stretch of highway with no traffic.

Oh, and Jamie - I never even thought to mention about plastic bins. In my mind, that was just a given! LOL! Definitely don't even think about putting your stuff in cardboard boxes in the underbelly. When you get a water leak for the first time, you will be so happy your stuff is in plastic! (yes, we had our fresh water tank spring a leak, and yes, some of the stuff in cardboard boxes got all moldy. Including some maternity clothes I was going to give to my friend. UGH!) Plus, the visibility and stacking qualities are very helpful. We also have plastic bins inside the RV. Originally, we only had the bins inside until we got to my parents' house, and then we unloaded a bunch of stuff into their attic and were able to put all of our plastic bins in the underbelly. But we soon discovered that we liked having the plastic bins inside because we had (still have) a busy toddler that can get into everything. The bins helped us "babyproof" a bit and provided extra "counter space" to keep things out of her reach.

Pots & pans - we brought a huge cast iron pot that fits in our sink. About 99% of our meals get prepped in that. We also brought a smaller cast iron pan that gets occasional use. We also brought a large, medium, and small (stackable) SS pot set. We never used the medium size pot until we ruined our small one. (DD1 was/is getting salt water steam treatments daily, and the salt water pitted the pot!) But, we used the small pot intensely for reheats. (we don't use the microwave.) We also almost never use our large pot. But, we tend to eat "one course" meals here. If we cook a mess of veggies - that's our meal. If we roast a chicken - that's our meal. I make a huge pot of soup at least weekly (in my big cast iron pot.)

Our meals can look like this (in the big cast iron pot.) AM - cook bacon. Warm up some leftover chicken in the drippings for DD1 who can't eat eggs. Fry up some onions & mushrooms in the grease, scramble some eggs into that. Breakfast is done. Leave the pan on the stove. Lunch: throw more grease in the pan and cook some veggies (I've been loving brussel sprouts or sugar snap peas at the moment or some sauteed spinach at the moment.) Sometime later, use the same pan to reheat soup or make a new pot of soup. Evening, wash the pan so it's ready for breakfast again. Before moving into the RV, it never would have occurred to me to NOT wash the pot in-between all of those meal preps. In fact, I would have used a different pan for each of those various cooking things.

As far as having a washer/dryer or not - I think many people get along just fine without one. Personally, we just can't do that. DD1 and I have serious chemical sensitivities, and the residue from the laundry detergents and dryer sheets that are left in the public laundry machines would make us very sick! As it is, I can strongly smell the scents coming out of the public laundry room and I get nervous! When DD2 was only a year old, I did 2 loads of laundry daily. One load of diapers, one load of either clothes, towels, or sheets. Now, she's just about done with her diapers, so the load of "cloth stuff" gets washed about every 2-3 days. What a relief with the laundry!