Embedded Files
*This blog contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, I receive some commission at no cost to you.
Thank you for your support!
September 28, 2024
It was one year ago that I towed the RV for the first time; we had just bought our house on wheels and the excitement had reached a new high. This felt like the start of something big; the RV looked massive once we finally parked it in my parents’ driveway. I’ve experienced this type of extreme anticipation and thrill for a new adventure starting a few times in my life before: when I moved to Michigan State in 2013 after high school, when I left for my one-year study abroad to Germany in 2015, and when we moved to Colorado in 2021. These moments and experiences led me down new paths in life, revealing opportunities I hadn’t seen before. Bringing home the RV marked the beginning of our newest journey!
In the last year, we’ve traveled in Michigan, Florida, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico towing 4,500 miles. Since I’ve been delayed in posting this blog due to travel, we’ve added stops in Nebraska and Wisconsin on our way to the Upper Peninsula. We also added 1,500 miles for a grand total of 6,000 miles towed thus far.
Dunnellon, FL
La Porte, TX
Tucson, AZ
Taos, NM
Blue Mounds, WI
Kearney, NE
Switching to life in an RV has truly been a life-altering decision. The freedom we have felt to move as we want has impacted many aspects of our lives. This mindset shift has reminded me to seek all options and to look in nontraditional directions. I now see more possibilities than I did before and it feels like the world has become that much more accessible to me. I’ve come to realize more deeply that moments are temporary and change is led by me. It’s ironic to think that despite the uncertainty that comes with RV living, this lifestyle has led me to feel more control over my life choices and moves. I feel less anxious than I once did knowing that I have the option to change my surroundings at any time.
It’s been one year since we moved into our travel home, and I want to share five major lessons I’ve learned in that time. If you are thinking of moving into an RV or looking for a way to make full-time travel your reality, these might be points worth considering!
1. Slow travel is the way… for us!
Or so that’s been the way we’ve been moving. When we first imagined this RV life plan, we thought “Let's just move every month”. Then we realized that most state parks, National Forest Campgrounds, and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sites have a fourteen-day max stay limit per month, and sometimes per year. We then thought we’d move every two weeks but after our first four-hundred-mile tow during our three-week Upper Peninsula trip, we decided to rethink these plans. We canceled our stays for week two and three and extended our time at our first booking in Munising. Our three month trip to Florida was also supposed to be broken up into two or three stops but we bailed on those plans and stayed in St. Augustine for three months. Moving with our RV felt risky in many ways and we were happy to have more time to explore an area instead of pushing ourselves and our rig to move faster.
For remote work, it has been important to settle in one place for a while to ensure reliable internet connection, rather than moving so often that we risk not being ready for work on Mondays. If we were to travel faster, we would have found less time to enjoy a location due to work. Now we typically stay three months in one spot unless we have a stopover site that lasts four to fourteen days on the way to our final destination. Every traveler has their own limits, and each rig has its limits too! What works for some may not work for others, and finding what works for you is part of the RVing experience!
2. Size matters
RV size can affect your RVing experience, we’ve found! My partner and I wanted a bigger rig to comfortably work and live from the RV. Our RV is 36 feet long, weighs 10,500 pounds and has a high carrying capacity of 3,500 pounds. That’s quite large! Given its size and weight, and out of an abundance of caution, we have become more worried about taking the RV down dirt forest service roads to find boondocking spots like we once envisioned. It might feel overly cautious, but when the truck and RV are your biggest assets, protecting them from damage is a top priority! I could imagine us moving every fourteen days, boondocking without hookups on BLM land. I can also imagine the work and research that would go into preparing for each move to make sure it's safe and has the solar and internet clearings we need to run the RV and work. The unpredictability regarding the road conditions or spaces available can often make showing up to a new boondocking spot a risk. We’ve been in plenty of tough spots in the mountains in Colorado with our truck and just aren't comfortable taking risks with our RV.
If we had a smaller rig however, such as a lighter, smaller travel trailer or truck camper, we may be able to move faster and reach more places. However, there are trade-offs with a smaller set up too, such as potentially losing a full shower and fridge, an oven, a big desk, extra space, etc. As a result, we’ve adjusted our initial ideas to fit our current rig, which means we decided not to move as much and to stay mainly in RV parks or with private landowners. For those wanting to live the van life of your dreams, especially if boondocking on public lands is on your agenda, I’d say a smaller rig (van, truck camper, small travel trailer) is safer and more practical for this. However, if you're looking for ultimate comfort and all the amenities or you’ve got a big crew, maybe a bigger rig (travel trailer, fifth wheel, motorhome) is for you! I do know some people in larger RVs who boondock and manage the back roads; I just wonder how they do it! Later in this post I interview Kate (@kateophalen) to learn more about that!
Here are some pros and cons to various sized rigs that I can think of. I know I will be missing some points and I do not have the lived experience in all of these RVs but here are my thoughts after one year of observing this lifestyle:
3. Repairs will come
If you’ve got a towable, a motorhome or van, expect repairs. I never anticipated the repairs we faced in our first year of RVing. It ruined my RV plans and general savings being forced to cover such high repair costs. We changed our plans completely realizing if we have another incident like the last, we might not be able to continue living this lifestyle. So what went wrong? A lot… but let me give the numbers straight: $1,200 in RV repairs and $13,700 in truck repairs. It felt like an unreal situation just seven months into RV living. We pretty much have a new truck now. Before we started RVing, we aimed to have $5,000 set aside for emergencies but even that wasn’t enough for what happened to our truck and RV. Accepting that repairs are inevitable and being better prepared with essential tools and a larger emergency fund will make it easier to handle these setbacks.
Spare tires and the tools for changing them - we went to Discount Tire for a new spare and our local auto parts store for a breaker bar, etc.
4. Location freedom is a top priority
We chose this lifestyle mainly to travel and avoid being tied down to one place or one housing contract. It hasn’t saved us money yet. Maybe over the long term we will become more efficient and reduce costs but the initial expenses and all that we’ve faced have not been financially ideal. That said, we often find ourselves returning to the conclusion that it is travel and the freedom to move that are our main attractions to RV living. We have been able to explore new areas we never imagined because we moved into an RV. We have changed our route many times but instead of being upset about the altered travel plans, I only find myself grateful to be living this life and seeing the country.
When RVing, it can feel lonely at times not having an established community and it can be annoying not having access to a regular gym or yoga studio, for example. However, the ability to move, explore, and work as I want, free from any location obligation or need to be anywhere, feels more important at this point in my life. I am able to look past what I am missing and the comforts I am giving up to keep moving forward on this dream. It is important when RVing, like with any long-lasting friendships over time, to keep in contact with loved ones. It has been hard for me to develop my old habits of contact in the RV and it’s something I’m working to get back to. I would also recommend journaling or having some regular activity you enjoy such as art, walking, biking, cooking, etc. These hobbies and creative outlets have helped me feel fulfilled in my days and enjoy the places I visit when we aren’t doing touristy or outdoor activities.
5. There are infinite ways to live a travel lifestyle!
We’ve met people RVing in all types of ways on this journey. From truck camper travelers quick on the move to seasonal snowbirds staying stationary in warmer winter weather, we’ve met families and pairs living their best lives by design! Friends on Instagram have also shown me just how differently traveling can be done. I have loved observing the ways people reimagine their lives to prioritize a desired lifestyle. With creativity, flexibility, and some planned risk-taking, there are numerous ways to achieve a different way of living, whatever that means to you. I want to highlight four travel stories and how these friends are able to live their travel dreams!
MEET KAT!
I wanted to interview Kat (@katmarbel) because she has not let fear hold her back from living her dream travel life with her cat! I am inspired by Kat's desire to live like a local in places that interest her and to embrace slow travel by staying in short-term rentals for longer than average stays!
Introduction: I’m Kat. I work remotely and it’s been one year now since I packed up my apartment and started living a life of travel!
1. How did you decide on this travel lifestyle?
It was a very easy decision. I always loved traveling but found myself cramming so much into week-long trips that could only happen a few times a year at most. It felt like right when I arrived was the same time that I had to pack up and leave, never somewhere long enough to meet people, experience cultures, or fully enjoy it in the same way the locals do!
In September 2023, I landed a stable remote job and that was all the convincing I needed. The goal was to spend just 1 month in each place I went, but quickly those months started growing longer- allowing myself to really make friends and not feel like I'm ever in a hurry to arrive at the next destination. I also saw this as an opportunity to explore where I might want to call "home," one day. Michigan will always be my roots, but in searching I tried to imagine actually getting to live somewhere for long. So far, I can see that place being Breckenridge, Colorado, but we still have much to see!
What I'm learning from this experience is that "home" will never be a place to me, I find my home in people. people are what keep me somewhere, people are what draw me toward the next stay.
2. How does your work impact your ability to live this lifestyle?
In two ways. For one, it supports me to be able to support myself wherever I am. But I also work full time, and often 40+ hours a week! Typically the weekdays are busy, and some seasons I'm working all 7 days. I make it my goal to always get out and spend time with community / explore and hike wherever I end up. The great thing about my job is that I can work whenever, as long as the tasks are complete, so that allows me more flexibility as well!
3. How long do you stay in a location? Why?
Initially, I gave myself one month but now it depends. Sometimes I'll book an AirBnb for a month, and if I want to stay I just find a new one close by. Sometimes AirBnbs are slim picks where I want to go and within my budget, so I'll also explore other short term stays (vrbo, furnished lease takeovers, etc) depending on how long I want my visit to be!
I think it's really about keeping an open mind. Knowing that every stay is temporary means that you want to make the most of every day you have there, even if that just means taking a walk in a different part of town, or getting to know someone at a coffee shop. It doesn't have to be anything grand. If this journey has taught me anything it's that what you think you should fear is often where you should leap. And though I don't see myself stopping anytime soon, the hardest part of it all is getting to know and love people in different places, and knowing that I may very well never see them again.
4. What advice do you have for someone looking to travel and live a similar lifestyle?
Don't rush it. When you can go anywhere in the world, you'll want to go everywhere in the world. Making those decisions is hard, but be open. You can make your plans and set out where you want to go, but don't be too rigid about it. it's not going to look perfect, but if you give yourself the freedom to just take it one moment at a time, you won't lose it looking forward to the next one.
MEET CONNOR & ALEXA!
I wanted to interview Connor and Alexa (@2travelOTs) because they have turned their careers into an opportunity for travel! I am inspired by Connor and Alexa for their flexibility and teamwork. I’ve loved to watch them change states, travel abroad and seize each new location!
Introduction: Hello! We are Connor and Alexa and are both travel occupational therapists. We are 27 and 28 years old, and have been living the travel lifestyle since July of 2022. We love hiking, camping, backpacking, snowboarding, and paddleboarding! We are always excited to explore new places and trying to make the most of the short time we have living in each location. We have lived in Montana, Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona since we began our travel therapy careers. We rent month to month places, similar to a longer term AirBnbs. We have explored most of the states out west and the Midwest and are always looking for more to explore. We have a goal of visiting all of the national parks in America, and we are halfway there since beginning our travel careers! Some of our favorites so far are Glacier, North Cascades, Grand Teton, Olympic, Yosemite, Zion, and the Grand Canyon!
1. How did you decide on this travel lifestyle?
We both went to college for 7 years with 4 years of undergrad and 3 years of occupational therapy school. We have each lived in the Midwest our entire life before traveling (Iowa, Nebraska, and Ohio). We have both always loved exploring and visiting new places, especially the mountains. While we were in OT school, we learned about travel occupational therapy. Not only was the pay quite a bit better than a full time OT with a permanent job, but it also included traveling to many new places for work. We were both thrilled that traveling and making more money was an option for our jobs. We learned more about it and after passing boards and getting our licenses to practice in our favorite states, we first moved to Montana and have been traveling ever since!
2. How does your work impact your ability to live this lifestyle?
Our work allows us to live this lifestyle. We sign contracts that are 13 weeks when working in the hospitals, outpatient clinics, or nursing facilities. When working in the schools, we sign contracts that are for the duration of the school year. We are a little more limited because we have to find a location that has needs for 2 occupational therapists. We have to find locations that have an urgent need for healthcare workers, so we are limited on where we can go. However, we have always found great locations that we both love!
3. How long do you stay in one location? Why?
The amount of time we spend in a location is dependent upon our work. Our first contract in Montana we were only at for 13 weeks. We tried to extend, but the hospital had hired full time workers, so we were no longer needed. After this, we moved to Oregon. After about 10 weeks here, we were told we were no longer needed. However, we convinced our boss to let us work four 10 hour shifts together Friday - Monday, so all our patients got therapy on the weekends. This was perfect for us because we worked together, and exploring the national parks and other areas during the middle of the week was way less busy! We ended up being in Oregon for 6 months, then took 6 weeks off to explore Europe, then went back to the same hospital for an additional 10 weeks. We then signed a 10 month school contract in the Lake Tahoe area and had the best time ever. We took the summer off to explore and are now on a 9 month school contract in Phoenix, Arizona. Our work really decides how long we spend in one location, but we only pick locations and settings we would both love!
4. What advice do you have for someone looking to travel and live a similar lifestyle?
Do it!!! We both believe traveling is an experience everyone should have in their life. We never thought we would love the lifestyle this much, but it has been the best thing we have ever experienced. With our jobs, we are able to take as much time off as we want and truly enjoy the exploring we love to do. We know we can always find our perfect location and settle down, but right now we have no plans to do that anytime soon. It is a big leap to take at first, but it is worth it!
MEET KATE!
I wanted to interview Kate (@kateophalen) because she is living the fifth-wheel, boondocking RV life I dream of! I am inspired by Kate’s blog, and how she raises her full-time travel family outside of the traditional classroom walls!
Introduction: Hello! We are a full-time travel family of 5 exploring North America in our renovated RV. My favorite thing to do is inspire families to travel and learn together. I've written blog posts and e-books that I hope help you go for it! I love to share all the tips and tricks we've learned about full-time RV life, worldschooling, and travel with kids!
1. How did you decide on this travel lifestyle?
We slowly eased into our current lifestyle after deciding to leave Brooklyn “for the summer” over four years ago. We started off living in Airbnbs and utilizing monthly rentals. Then we decided that we loved the travel lifestyle, but wanted our own space. So we bought an older RV and gut renovated it, then started traveling exclusively in RV parks for over a year. Then we realized in Alaska that we could be getting way better views for less money by learning to boondock off-grid. So we invested in solar panels and upgraded batteries that quickly paid for themselves, and we’ve been off-grid for over a year, minus a few weeks’ break over the winter to hang with friends.
2. How does your work impact your ability to live this lifestyle?
For us, because we’re not independently wealthy and didn’t have a house to sell, working remotely is a key piece of the puzzle for this lifestyle. My husband is a remote recruiter, and I do social media consulting and content creation. I wish more RVers would be honest about the real privilege involved in remote work to fund this lifestyle.
3. How long do you stay in one location? Why?
We started off staying places for a month or so at a time, which is enough time to really get to know a place. It’s also cheaper with airbnb or RV park monthly discounts. As boondockers, we’re typically limited to 14 day stays, and we usually take advantage of the whole two weeks. It’s enough time to do some sightseeing and recuperate before moving anywhere from an hour to five hours away. We tend to stay longer and slow down over the winters in RV parks, where BLM or Forest Service doesn’t limit our stay length.
4. What advice do you have for someone looking to travel and live a similar lifestyle?
It’s hard when you’re just starting out and enthusiastic about it, but try not to travel too fast. It burns everyone out. Also, our travel lives really improved when we found some nomadic community, so I’d recommend prioritizing that early on. And finally, I’d really encourage anyone who can to get some solar and learn to boondock. (Check out Kate's helpful guide here!) It’s such a special way to experience nature, and it really is a money saver.
5. BONUS question: Big rigs and boondocking! How do you manage?
Boondocking does have some unique challenges, and road quality is definitely one of them. We do a few things to mitigate this:
1. Read tons of reviews on iOverlander and Campendium about the road conditions before attempting.
2. Satellite view the planned spot to make sure it's large enough for us to turn around or back in.
3. Drive super slowly on BLM and Forest Roads because it's definitely harder on our rig.
4. Scout any location beforehand if I'm not totally certain that we'll fit based on all of the above. I often have a "pre point of no return" spot bookmarked where I can park and my husband can jump out and scout before I drive a road I'm unsure of.
The other thing I will say is that boondocking just *is* harder on your rig. We've got dings and scratches on our truck and trailer that wouldn't be there if we always stayed on pavement. For us, it's totally worth it. But we don't have a brand new rig! I might feel differently if our trailer was worth $80K.
MEET AMBER & MATT!
I wanted to interview Amber and Matt (@amber.and.matt) because truck camper travel has completely grabbed my attention in the last few years! I am inspired by Amber and Matt’s detailed YouTube vlogs and every time I check in on their travels, they have covered so much ground!
Introduction: We are an English couple who moved to Canada on working holiday visas in June 2023. We quit our jobs and sold most of our belongings in England, bought a truck camper and started travelling Canada. In the Summer of 2023 we travelled Canada’s East coast, we spent the winter in Banff Alberta and this summer (2024) we travelled to BC, the Yukon, Alaska and to the Artic Ocean in the Northwest Territories.
1. How did you decide on this travel lifestyle?
The short answer is - we had a lot we wanted to see! We both were interested in spending time in North America, and had spent time watching ‘van-life’ videos on YouTube throughout COVID, and although we didn’t feel like we fitted into the ‘van-life’ lifestyle completely, we knew we wanted to spend a lot of time on the road seeing as much of Canada as we could, and being in an RV was the most flexible and cost-effective method of traveling in our opinions!
2. How does your work impact your ability to live this lifestyle
We both had jobs which we don’t think are necessarily very suited to full-time RV travel (in that we couldn’t work remotely from another country). Amber worked in mental health back in England, and Matt was a teacher. Although there could possibly be ways of making this work on the road, realistically we aren’t set up for working. Instead, we work in the Winter to travel in the Summer. The upside to this is that we are able to just travel without the worry of having signal or somewhere suitable for working, and also up in Canada the weather doesn’t really lend itself to being in an RV all year round! The downside is that when we are on the road we are constantly budgeting, keeping track of money and trying to save money wherever we can!
3. How long do you stay in one location? Why?
The longest we have ever stayed in one place was four or five nights, and that was only when we had lots of activities we wanted to do! That being said, we even packed up on the first full day we were there so we could drive to a trailhead! We rarely take the camper off the truck as it takes a bit longer than the five minutes it takes to tidy up and slide in. This also means that our battery stays charged up as we drive so we rarely book spots with hook-up as it’s just not worth it for us (and saves us precious dollars!). I would actually categorise us as road-tripping rather than full-time RV-ing, as we’re always looking ahead to where we’re going to visit the next day.
4. What advice do you have for someone looking to travel and live a similar lifestyle?
When you start out in RV travel you will meet a massive variety of people, each with their own rig, their own plan, and their own ideas of the best way to live this lifestyle. The RV community is incredibly friendly and helpful, and will always look out for you, but be careful to sometimes take what they say with a pinch of salt. For example, the amount of times we’ve heard from people that they haven’t showered for two weeks, or that they have never paid for camping... Or the worst is when they tell you they had a rig exactly like yours and they hated it! Who cares! We pay for camping more often than not, and we sleep soundly at night knowing that no-one is going to knock on the door at 3am asking us to move on. It’s true that some free spots we’ve stayed at are some of the nicest, but equally they have been some of the worst! Travel the way that’s best for you. There is no such thing as the best camper, or the best way to travel, they all have their pros and their cons.
5. BONUS question: What are some pros and cons of truck camper living, including size?
We love our truck camper because its compact and can just about fit into a normal sized parking space. It has also served us well on some incredibly difficult roads (think the Dempster Highway to the Arctic or the road into Alaska). The Truck Camper gives us great ground clearance, four wheel drive capability and is easily reversible! Another pro is that we can remove the camper if we need to. It takes some getting used to but we have got the process nailed, this allowed us to store the camper in the winter and then drive the truck as a normal vehicle, whilst retaining the small footprint which the truck camper has as we didn’t want a trailer.
That being said, it’s still pretty big, and sometimes not too much fun to drive around a big city (we’re looking at you downtown Vancouver). The problem, as with most Campers (if you aren’t counting fifth wheels etc), is storage and living space. We are currently maxed out on weight capacity on our truck because our whole lives are in the camper and the truck. Skis, clothes, shoes, tools, oil, washer fluid, you name it, it's all crammed into every little space! We do have a slide on our camper which is incredibly helpful when it comes to space, and has definitely saved our relationship, but when something moves, there’s the potential for it to stop moving when you want it to move, or start moving when you don’t, so there’s no right answer! For the travel we have done we think that the truck camper was the perfect option; we have been small enough to go into cities, fit on every ferry we have taken at extremely short notice, it has held up through every weather (snow, hail, rain, mud, sun, wind etc.) and we cannot take for granted the ability to quickly do a U-turn when Amber’s navigation fails us! We would definitely recommend a truck camper for your travel adventures, ours has truly served us well and has taken us to all of Canada’s provinces, two territories, to Alaska and back and four other US states which, even if we do say ourselves, is pretty good going!
These four accounts showcase their travel lifestyles and highlight just a few creative ways that full-time travel can be made possible. I hope you gained insight into these travel lifestyles from these interviews. I have loved learning from other travelers and even altering and reimagining our current setup based on what I’ve learned! If you can’t make full-time travel work just yet, consider potential avenues for incorporating more travel into the average month. Buy a tent, save for a pop-up camper or that dream travel trailer and start as a weekend warrior, or go on road trips and book rental stays of varying lengths to try someplace new!
Having recently arrived in Michigan, on property we own, and knowing what we now know about RVing and full-time travel, there’s definitely more changes coming to how we travel and live. With everything considered—RV size, repair costs, and changed expectations, we are looking into alternatives to our current RV lifestyle! Watching a variety of inspiring travel narratives that I’ve come to love and support through Instagram reminds me not to settle, but to switch things up when needed! Writing this blog has prompted me to think of many other little lessons I’ve learned along the way while RVing. A part two may be needed to cover all the smaller, yet still noteworthy, observations from one year of RV living!
Leave me a question about RV living for part two! OR submit your RVing tips, advice or experiences below!
Thank you again to the six people I interviewed, whose stories made this blog possible and continue to inspire me to refine my own travel life! Please show them some love by checking out their travels!
Kat - Instagram
Connor and Alexa - Instagram and TikTok
Kate - Instagram and blog: O'Phalen Adventures
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse