Full Time RV living - Page 21

[MoonStarFalling]

We looked into private party but ended up finding what we needed at a dealer. We got a good deal and were/still are really happy with it. They had a full service shop so it was in tip top shape. We did look at some older class A's in your price range. I really liked them but it wasn't practical with our business. If you get something older some places have rules about how old your camper can be. But the nice thing is you can paint and remodel inside without much worry about loosing it's value.

[incorrigible]

Very true on both counts.

I am wondering if we're just that smooth or if others are finding RV parks loosening up restrictions? We are young with kids and pets and an RV older than anyone in it. We have yet to actually be turned down by anyone, even when we should. If we ask they have always been willing to "make an exception" for us. Several have mentioned sales being down, and it's seemed like they were just willing to take what they could get. When our RV is too old, they've stuck us in the back of the park so people wouldn't see us, and given us a strict time limit for our stay. When we're not supposed to have kids or pets, (or if we're even too young) they've laid down strict rules about their behavior and monitoring. We don't stay in one place for more than a few weeks max, though. I doubt they'd let us slide like that if we were staying months.

[trekkingirl]

have you found one of those patty o rooms worth getting, or not so much? DH wants an RV  he saw that has no leveling jacks. They seem like they would be mandatory for full timing? What has your experience been?

Edited by trekkingirl - 9/8/11 at 10:44pm

[trekkingirl]

Looks like we may be getting our new home on Sat. Its a 93 thor pinnacle. 30 ft with low miles. We got a great offer on it. Only $5000 and no major issues. Wish me luck. I'm not as excited as I thought I would be. I guess I'm scared.

[incorrigible]

I've moved a lot, and that's pretty normal. The planning is exciting and fun, but when it comes time to take action things become intimidating. That's why most people don't take risks. They stay in the same area their whole lives, and cling to the familiar. If you just push through the fear, the excitement will come back. You'll be glad you followed through on your plans. Something will go wrong, and you'll get hit with regret and wish you'd never taken the risk....but if you push through that when it comes, you'll be even more glad and excillerated by your adventures. =)

[trekkingirl]

wow great advice, thanks. I'll let you guys know how it goes

[jrabbit]

Has anyone wintered in a Hybrid?  Specifically, we're looking at a 2008 Jayco feather (23B, I think) that really seems like it's exactly what we want NOW.  The only thing that makes us hesitate is thinking about winter cold.  Mainly, we'll spend winters in the south, but that could still be cold, we know.  We're in Texas now, and we figured we'd spend the winter in the south/Florida/whatever.   But, we've got a job offer in Calgary this Oct/Nov, so we're looking at driving there (the job would pay for a house while there).  We've rented a hybrid and driven to Wisconsin in September and really enjoyed the open air.  Yes, it got chilly, but it wasn't winter.

Looking for input fast!  We don't have a lot of time to think about this.  We are not in a position to buy a truck, so whatever we have will need to be towed with our Ford Expedition, which can tow up to 5,200 safely.  

--janis

(3 girls, ages 2,7, 11)

[trekkingirl]

Well we got the RV today! I am keeping my rental until November 1st, then we'll be official fulltimers. The place I had lined up for $80 RV storage fell through and now everywhere else wants over $300+   DH is really nervous about leaving it on the street so I hope we find something soon.

Edited by trekkingirl - 9/10/11 at 6:46pm

[incorrigible]

You could ask some local businesses. When we first landed here, we left ours for "just a couple weeks" at a time in a string of local parking lots until we figured out what to do with it. Turns out there's a big empty few lots with an abandoned house on the property a block from our place. We watched RVs slowly collect on the property and no one seems to care, so we put ours there too with a note in the window with our phone number. It's insanely expensive to tow an RV, and most tow companies will expect the business to pay for the tow then go after the RV owner for the total. They won't just tow and charge the owner like with cars...so businesses will call the number in the window (we post it front, back, and at the door) rather than deal with the hassle of towing. We always try to get permission if we can, though. It makes life run so much more smoothly.

[trekkingirl]

interesting I'll tell DH. We need to get t insured ASAP

[featherstory]

We're in our new trailer, trying to clear out the motorhome and sell it and really looking into moving.  DH has a security guard card and I've seen a few spots in the area that are work/trade for security.  I don't know how they feel about kids, but they have a lot more space, are in better neighborhoods and a lot cheaper.  Our rent at the park here is going up next month and the environment is not the best.  We also saw a couple that are cheaper but not work related and one a couple that are rural and completely free.  I really want to move.  I really want to find out how I'm going to move as well.  We have a travel trailer, and no way to move it right now.  We also have a little wrecked compact car and I'm not sure how this will fit in with our lifestyle.

We want to stay somewhere for 3-6 months at a time.  We would like to be able to go on weekend trips.  We plan to work from the computer with a home-based business and do events/workshops, etc.  I guess I don't really need to worry about that part right now, just how to move, where to move and starting up our business now.  All the places we're considering moving to would require getting our own internet set up and since we're vegan and car-less being in the middle of nowhere or just not close to farmer's markets is a cause of hesitancy...decisions, decisions.

[incorrigible]

Originally Posted by trekkingirl 

interesting I'll tell DH. We need to get t insured ASAP

That's probably a really good idea. We've had our RV for a year now and still haven't gotten around to insuring it. It was kind of a "starter" RV we only intended to keep until we had a better idea of what we really wanted, but we had really meant to insure it. I think my regular insurance wouldn't cover it because of the age or something, and then I just kept procrastinating and forgetting about deciding who we should use. At this point, it's parked while we make some upgrades to get more out of it when we sell it. We'll sell in the middle of snowbird season, when prices are highest around here, and buy our new set up at the tag end of snowbird season...when the prices are near rock bottom, but there's still some selection. ;) And I will be making a point of insuring the new vehicle RIGHT away. It won't be an actual RV though (we're doing something a little different, next time through) , so I will be able to just added it to our existing policy.

We DID sign up for Good Sam Club right away though, and that has been a miracle of a program. Absolutely sign up for them or another comparable club. They have a tech line you can call and they'll walk you through about any repair or upgrade you are willing to do your self, even if you know nothing (which was us at the start), and the roadside assistance takes hours, but really takes care of you right.

[trekkingirl]

someone suggested foremost insurance. has anybody heard of them?

[MoonStarFalling]

Congratulations! We just insured through our vehicle insurance but I know you're really supposed to insure with someone that offers full timing RV insurance. Good Sam has it I think?

Featherstory, congrats on your move and good luck with all your decisions. I was trying to stay raw vegan while on the road but it is really tough in some areas! Some places we stayed at you could barely find any fresh produce at all.

jrabbit, I'm not that familiar with the hybrids. Our 5th wheel is not set up for freezing winters though I assume the hybrid would be about the same. We wintered in south Florida and that was perfect. Anywhere where it's not below freezing for more than a few hours.

[caspian's mama]

i'm finally hoppin back on this thread.

i'm fed up with forever barely making rent & possibly never simultaneously owning a car.

i squander any money i do get on crazy neighbors or landlords & i'm always missing my faraway friends.

time to take the plunge! 

[trekkingirl]

caspians mom welcome

have you fulltimed before? We are taking the plunge on Nov 1st. We bought our RV last Saturday and are fixing it up for departure! Have any of you done disneyland in Aneheim, Ca? I think my RV needs to be looked over before I take her over the grapevine. She sat for a while and probably needs all thge fluids changed.

[featherstory]

Congrats Caspian's mama and trekkingirl.

Thanks moonstarfalling! Yeah, living a raw vegan lifestyle also means planning out where we're going to go ahead of time, which we didn't do the last time we did long-term travel(we were in a little honda and just camping out in our tent and in state parks).  We also want to stay in the places we visit for at least 3 months at a time, we have a few spots on our list that really seem to fit what we want to do, but we're so not there yet.  We don't have enough income and DH has some health issues he needs to tackle before we start.

Our rent in our RV park is going up next month and it is stressing me out a bit.  DH wastes our money and every single month we're low on money by the end of the month.  Even this month when we only had to pay $125 due to a credit we used.  It doesn't seem like we'll be able to move before the 1st because although there are cheaper and nicer parks than ours, we have bad credit and DH's dad had to come 8 hours to co-sign for us, with our bad credit.  We'd also need the money to get our trailer moved.  We're still trying to clean out and sell our motorhome and since our car wrecked a few months ago we're very reluctant to move somewhere that isn't in a great location, which, although its a little gritty, everything we truly NEED is in easy walking distance.

DH kinda picked up some bad habits from our neighbors and desperately wants to drop them but has failed each attempt he's made.  In some ways I wonder if we went all out of our way to move and really had to struggle, if he would find a way to set himself straight.  We do have some really great neighbors though and there's another family with kids around the ages of our kids and all the kids and the neighboring adults played outside with glow lights and sparklers and all kinds of toys and sang happy birthday to my 4 year old tonight, it was really very sweet.  They also got her a present and I was really surprised and appreciative of that!  I'm really glad we're here right now, I just wish there was more space, more grass/nature, and cheaper rent, or the ultimate goal, a decent income...getting there slowly but surely.

[incorrigible]

oh...one of my fave resources for food on the road is http://www.bountifulbaskets.org sometimes it's the only source of organic (and ds goes through phases where anything non-organic makes him sick)...and you can get loads of fresh produce uber cheap, and other random breads and things too. They have tons of drop sites in loads of different states. You have to have internet access on a monday afternoon, a credit card (even a prepaid just for this purpose will do), and know where you're going to be on Saturday. Drops are Saturdays.

Even now that we're mostly stationary again this is where we get our produce and bread. It was far better than anything else in the area in a LOT of places we traveled through in the RV!

[trekkingirl]

it's good to hear that other RVers are stationary too. I wasn't sure if we were an exception to the rule

[Rainey Daye]

Tried looking up that site and I believe it's bountifulbaskets.org that you meant.

Originally Posted by incorrigible 

oh...one of my fave resources for food on the road is www.bountifulbaskets.com sometimes it's the only source of organic (and ds goes through phases where anything non-organic makes him sick)...and you can get loads of fresh produce uber cheap, and other random breads and things too. They have tons of drop sites in loads of different states. You have to have internet access on a monday afternoon, a credit card (even a prepaid just for this purpose will do), and know where you're going to be on Saturday. Drops are Saturdays.

Even now that we're mostly stationary again this is where we get our produce and bread. It was far better than anything else in the area in a LOT of places we traveled through in the RV!