How Do You RV | RV Life

What does RV life mean to you?

I belong to several online RV groups. When someone inquires about travel days, selling their homes, traveling with dogs, campgrounds vs. boondocking, or any question about taking the plunge and going for it. If I didn’t know better, the responses would make my head spin! It’s not a 24/7 vacation. Nor is the RV life that big of a deal.

I guess it’s my run-before-walking way of thinking; I find those questions silly. Well, don’t take it the wrong way. No one can tell you what you should do or has the right answer. Every person travels differently, lives differently, and THINKS differently. What works for some may not work for others.

I watch several YouTubers, and some spend thousands of dollars on gadgets of convenience. I can understand why people think RVing is so daunting. It’s ridiculous. Not everyone can spend or has that kind of money. The reality is you don’t need all the latest and greatest gadgets to survive. I have this saying, “Don’t be a princess.” 

Go with your current setup. Increase or decrease as you need. You will be just fine until you find what works for you.

Some might need thousands of watts of solar, but to you, it would be a waste. Some find it necessary to have an app that tells you when you are leveling, but you might find getting out of the seat and manually leveling is not that hard. Some might need the coffee pot that plugs in or requires a generator to run, but you might find that boiling water and pouring over a filter gives you the same result in about the same amount of time. Some might find that prepping food in advance requires a microwave to heat, but to you, cooking outdoors or on your stove is better.

So how do we travel? I am frugal. We live on a limited budget. We swap between state/national parks with no hook-ups and KOAs with hook-ups. Most people find KOA expensive, and some can be; every area is different. I belong to KOA for several reasons: the main reason is our dogs. We have three: one is a German Shepherd, and several private parks have breed restrictions and two dog limits. The other reason is our 1999 Class C. Some private parks have age restrictions. I haven’t come across a KOA that has an age issue. KOAs provide full hook-ups, laundry rooms, and dog runs. There is a KOA located every 200 miles. I never have a problem getting a spot. We dry camp for several days, and then go to an RV park to recharge, do laundry, and catch up. I use Campendium to find places to camp and find some free spots. We have stayed at Casinos, Rest Stops, and outside of truck stops – we have to save room for the truckers. We also belong to Harvest Host for an overnight. We don’t drink alcohol, and not all places are wineries.

We’ve stayed at state/national parks with no hookups. We are fully contained, so we are fine without hook-ups. There are dump stations somewhere, almost everywhere campgrounds are located. We can go four days before we need to dump our tanks. No worries there. We have a 60-gallon fresh water tank, so a weekly fill-up works. We cook every day like we did in our home. No change there. We sometimes cook outside on our Blackstone, weather permitting, or we cook inside on our stove and use our oven. Our lights run on battery, we have 200 watts of solar on the top, and we have an onboard generator if needed. We like to watch TV, it runs on the battery. If we don’t have antenna channels, we watch DVDs. I have a hotspot for the internet, and I use my phone. We’ve never stayed in a place with zero service. I’ve had low connections, and we adapt. So the freakouts of no internet is not that big of a deal. I have an EcoFlow River 2 power bank that we use to charge our phones and laptops. To charge it, we either turn on the generator or the engine and plug it into the 12-volt charge. We primarily charge it on travel days.

Having an address is a big question. You can use a family member’s address. It’s not different if you were renting a room from someone. You can domicile in some states. The most popular is South Dakota.

Stability has a different definition for people. I am not worried about life after RV travel. I will probably sell my motorhome and buy a travel trailer and live in a park. For me, I am comfortable living this way. Houses are costly to maintain. Even if you own them outright. They are a lot of work. And the reality, when your time comes no one gives a crap about your equity or status. Live your life how you want to live. If the stable house means that much to you, face reality and realize full-time travel is not for you. It’s okay to be part-time or be an occasional traveler. Nothing wrong with that at all. You don’t have to take the plunge and give up everything to travel. It’s not the end all of living.

Embrace the journey, celebrate life, and travel your own path.

Thanks for stopping by for a read, I appreciate you!