[ThursdayClub] Life on the Road
As of this writing, I’m wrapping up our trip to Northern Michigan – tomorrow we pack up Tillie the RV to head back east for a month on the Coast of Maine – Kennebunkport to be exact! The original plan was to head west, but I had a speaking opportunity in CT for Oct 1, so instead of trying to find a spot near an airport, fly back, and coordinate it all we decided to try and enjoy some foliage in New England. NOT an easy task because the leaf peepers will be out and about – but I persevered and found a place to park for a month.
New England has some of the prettiest spots but also the most expensive. This 30 day stay will cost me almost $1700 including electric and that’s with a 20% discount. Location and the cost of living all play into it. To put it in perspective a month in southern TX was $300 plus electric which ran around $80 per month. Smoky Mountains in TN ran us $600 including electric. Negotiating longer stays is financially the smart thing to do and if you are working, it makes sense from a lifestyle perspective. You can’t just go sightseeing 8 hours a day – so staying a few days here and there is just too hectic!
To wrap up this little miniseries about #RVLife I wanted to chat about what a day in the life of or month of a full time RVer is like.
I’ve chatted about costs and they do add up quickly as I’ve just demonstrated with our trek to Maine – but you also have to figure in fuel. The more you travel the more diesel or gas you’ll use and trust me, that adds up fast. Then there is maintenance on your rig – and that varies based on the age, the size, and the type. You start changing oil and tires on a 45 ft Class A – and you are easily into several thousand dollars.
The big point – be realistic with your budget and know how handy you are at fixing things!
Ok – back to the day in the life
If we are stationary at a campsite with full hookups – that’s water, electric and sewer – life is pretty simple. We can go about 5-7 days with our black tank (toilet) and less with the gray tank (shower, sinks) if we are boondocking or off grid. Our RV has 400 watts of solar power that will run our house lights, computers and basics if it’s sunny – it will NOT run the microwave and other electric sucking devices like hair dryers. We could upgrade our inverter to handle that but because we have a generator it just isn’t an issue for us.
Cooking – some people eat out all the time, we don’t. In fact we rarely do unless we are out and about. I would say maybe once a month we go out to dinner. I have a small convection oven and a propane 2- burner cooktop that I use almost daily. We also have a Blackstone griddle and grill and a cute little Coleman oven that sits on top and actually works great! Since we are plant based eaters it makes life a bit easier as our fridge is small – no worrying about keeping meat chilled or frozen. We shop a couple times a week – trying to plan out what we want for meals and it just works! We converted one of our closets into a pantry for our staples. Less clothes, more rice and beans. During the pandemic – it was a smart move!! As for cooking gear – we have stackable metal bowls, an Instant Pot, a Vitamix, a Nutribullet, 3 skillets of varying sizes and one cast iron dutch oven, 2 cake pans, a hand mixer and various spoons, spatulas, tongs etc. I miss my KitchenAid Mixer – not gonna lie, but there was just no room for it!
Clothes: I get asked “How do you survive with so little storage space for shoes” more than I get asked “How gross is dumping the sewer” – ps the later isn’t bad at all. Back to the clothes. Dave and I have more than we need – in fact we wear the same stuff over and over again and every couple of months we seem to purge more and more.
The reality is we have some nice clothes that we can mix and match for work events, date nights and other fancy shmancy outings. Other than that we are in Keen sandals, hiking or workout pants, t-shirts or tank tops and hoodies. I have a pair of Merril hiking boots – as does Dave, a pair of winter boots, a pair of brown flats, black flats, flip flops, some tan sandals and a pair of brown dress boots – oh and we each have one pair of running shoes. We are practical. I have some jewelry, a couple scarves and sweaters – and that’s it. If I need something else, I can always go buy it. You’ll be AMAZED at what you don’t need. All gets stored in 1 closet, 3 drawers, a couple baskets and a cabinet. Again – we could probably pare that down even further!
Working: Dave and I are basically paperless and we run our businesses via a laptop, iPads, 1 printer, 1 scanner and an extra screen. I do love my journals – so I still have a few although all of my work notes are done on my iPad now. We don’t have any fancy set ups – we work where the mood takes us. Sometimes it’s outside next to the campfire! Our biggest challenge is reliable cell service since we rely on it for Wi-Fi. Some full-timers use satellite but it’s not reliable especially in bad weather plus you have to lug around the satellite dish. Dave is waiting for Elon Musk’s Wi-Fi satellites to cover the US and be available for mobile – he’s guessing another year! Much of our travel spots are determined based on the cell service – so spending a month in Sedona won’t work for us unless we are literally “on vacation” and unplugged. For now – we just follow the good signals, find a Starbucks or even pull off on the side of the road for a conference call if we have 4 bars! #RvLife
Living in close quarters – relationships: There is NO personal space in an RV our size – unless you count the bathroom as it’s the only spot with a door. In larger rigs you’ll have separate bedrooms and living spaces – but ours is less than 100 sq feet of living space – so you are literally next to each other 24/7. We make it work by going for walks, working outside etc. – but in the end, he’s my bestie and we love hanging together so it works! Trust me – this isn’t for any couple who doesn’t have that type of relationship! I’ve heard more than one horror story. My suggestion is if you are concerned – rent an RV and try it out for a couple weeks. If you can’t handle that, you can’t handle full timing it.
Safety: We’ve never had an issue, but we are also smart. Not all campgrounds are alike, some are sketchier than others. Same with boondocking spots. The secret is to just be aware of your surroundings, lock up your bikes, your car and your RV when you aren’t around but don’t let the fear consume you! I like meeting new people and for me that’s the best part of the adventure – so although I’m cautious, I’m not a hermit either.
What’s next?
We’ve decided to travel until we no longer want to. Selling my beloved bungalow was hard, learning to part with “things” was a process but in the end, I don’t have any regrets. The adventure outweighs the material stuff I left behind. Surprisingly I don’t miss hosting the holidays, cooking for days and decorating. I really thought I would…but I don’t. I think I’ve officially passed that torch on to the kids – not sure they are happy about it, but they’ll figure it out!
RV life for me was a great decision – it’s one grand adventure, with lots of unexpected happenings, ups and downs – and that’s all part of it! Your adventure can be whatever you want it to be – really planned and plotted or freestyling it down the road!
All I know is life is pretty damn good and home is where you park it!