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Wayside_Wisdom Heard Along the Way
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FAQ — Frequently Asked Questions Click on a question to go to that topic: How did you decide to live full-time in a Recreational Vehicle? We have been camping all of our married life — at times in a variety of tents and at other times in a variety of campers. About two years before we began living full-time in our RV we were at a campground where we met a couple who live full-time in their RV. We had never heard of such a thing and we spent several hours talking with them about their experiences. Later, another full-timer at the same campground put us in touch with Escapees -- a large national organization of RVers. We joined Escapees, read their magazine, and bought some of the books they offered about living full-time in a recreational vehicle. We continued to talk and pray about the possibilities of our living full-time in an RV. When we felt that full-time RV living might be for us, we scheduled an eight-week trial run to discern more clearly whether full-time RV living would be for us. That eight-week trial run in January and February of 2005 confirmed for us that we were ready to sell the house and move into our RV. How did you learn to drive that thing? When we first began full-timing we attended a "Life on Wheels" Conference (unfortunately, no longer available). In connection with our registration for LOW we also registered for driving lessons immediately following the LOW event. Our instructor from Dick Reed's RV Driving School was very helpful and competent. He was with us for 3 1/2 hours on each of two successive days. He helped us learn to do a safety inspection and then had us take turns driving our own rig. He helped us with maneuvers, turns, backing into camping sites, driving in city traffic, on rural roads, and on interstate highways. We are both more competent drivers as a result of this driving instruction. The Escapees Mail Service provides prompt and reliable forwarding of our mail. We can call prior to 5:00 p.m. on any business day and our mail will be sent out the next morning to the address we have designated. Since the address assigned to us by Escapees Mail Service is a "street" address it is recognized in Polk County, Texas, as a legal domicile and we may use that address for voting, for vehicle registration and for any other purposes requiring a street address. We have found the Escapees Mail Service fees to be reasonable. The staff is very helpful. For more information visit www.escapees.com , call 800-231-9896 or write mail.service@escapees.com . In addition, we do most of our bill-paying online. We receive our credit card statements online and pay them online. Thus, we receive very few invoices or statements through the USPS mail. How can you afford to live full-time in a Recreational Vehicle As we came to the end of our first year of living full-time in our fifth-wheel trailer, we discovered that we had lived within the budget we established for ourselves. In fact, our total expenses for that first year were approximately the same as the last year that we lived in our home in Greenville, Ohio. At first Mary Sue was quite alarmed because it seemed like we were spending money all the time. In reality, while there might be campground expenses daily, there are no longer mortgage payments, utility payments, property taxes, etc. We don't maintain a snow blower or a lawnmower and we don't have payments for water, sewer, electricity, or cable TV. Unlike some who live full-time in an RV we have chosen not to be work campers — people who work 20 hours or so per week in exchange for a free RV site and other benefits. Such work campers can stretch the money even farther than we do. The rising cost of diesel fuel has proven to be a small bump in the road. While the increase of the cost of diesel fuel represents only a small percentage of our annual budget, it does represent some serious dollars. However, we know that we can make other adjustments in expenditures to accommodate the added cost of fuel. Moreover, we knew before we began full-timing that we needed to budget for inflation each year. We also save on fuel costs in the same way as do people who live in traditional houses — we consolidate errands; we don't make unnecessary trips; we also plan our annual itinerary in a way that allows us to migrate from north to south (and vice versa) and see family along the way with the most efficient use of travel mileage. During the first year that we lived full-time in our fifth-wheel travel trailer, we drove our truck a total of 18,500 miles. Those miles included towing the trailer 11,504 miles. In that first year we towed the trailer only 98 days. On the days we towed the trailer we averaged 137 miles. We prefer to tow the trailer no more than about 150 miles in a day and then to stop early so that we can rest, get our exercise, and enjoy a state park, national forest, or other sights nearby. We try not to tow the trailer two days in a row so that we have time to enjoy the sights in each area where we stop. Why did you choose a fifth-wheel trailer instead of a motor home? The choice between a fifth-wheel and a motor home is a very personal one. We have known people who have started with a motor home and have changed to a fifth-wheel and others who started with a fifth-wheel and changed to a motor home. For us, the fifth-wheel trailer makes sense. We have only one drive train to maintain. Insurance on a fifth-wheel is cheaper than on a motor-home. We know full-timers whose motor home transmission went out and while the motor home was in the shop for two weeks, they spent two weeks in a motel. If our truck is in the shop, we still have our house in which to live. Before we went full-time we owned a motor home and towed a small car (toad) behind it. On one occasion I inadvertently turned onto a dead-end street. It is impossible to back up in a motor home with a toad attached. We had to disconnect the toad from the motor home, turn both vehicles around, and reattach the toad to the motor home. In that situation if I had been driving our truck towing our fifth-wheel trailer, I could have easily backed up far enough to get out of the dead-end situation and back on the highway again. In addition, we believe that we are able to have more useable living space for the initial cost in a fifth-wheel trailer than in a motor home. What should I know before I buy an RV? Whether you are considering an RV for full-timing, snow-birding, vacationing, or simply weekend getaways, be sure to check the RV Ratings from the RV Consumer Group before you buy. Above all — if you plan to live full-time in your RV, make sure that the unit you choose will safely accommodate 3,000 pounds of payload since statistics indicate that the average full-timer couple loads between 2500 and 3000 pounds of personal stuff into their RV. The RV Consumer Group also offers additional information on weight considerations when choosing a motor home or a truck with a towable. How do you access the Internet and e-mail? Our laptop computers are both Wi-Fi enabled – meaning that they can access the Internet through wireless hotspots. Currently more campgrounds are adding Wi-Fi (wireless Internet) either free or for a small charge. When Wi-Fi is not available, we use a Verizon PC Data Card. In four years of RV living we have observed a significant improvement in the cell phone coverage and wireless data access. When we can not get WiFi and cannot get a cellular signal for our Verizon Data PC Card, we go to a nearby library, or other location with either a Wi-Fi hotspot or a computer available to the public. In Ontario, most visitor centers offer the use of one of their computers for visitors to check e-mail. More and more public libraries now offer free wi-fi. Others have computers which guests may use for on-line access. Since our e-mail is web-based (We use Yahoo; other web-based e-mail services include Hotmail, etc.) we can access our e-mail on any computer. |