Pace while full timing

[Nwcid]

We are hitting a point where we are going to be able to spend more time out. If you have seen my other posts, we will not going true full-time, however we are planning on going most-timing.

In the last 3 years we have been doing some longer trips. The first year I just took 6 weeks off of work and basically just vacationed. Last summer and this winter we took off and did 2 outings of 50 days each. We have also spent plenty of time with a week here and there. We mainly boondock and that is our future plan.

On our trip this winter we had planned on "slowing down" but that did not work. At the time we did not know she was going to have a remote position. This meant that most days as soon as I was off work we were in go, go, go mode trying to experience all of the things in the area.

For the last 2 years when we have been traveling, I have also been remote working. My wife has not had to work as we have been traveling around her schedule. She has just accepted a remote position with employer. We are in our late 40's. We have 2 properties that we have to maintain and are family owned so we will have "home base" for the foreseeable future.


Now with the long winded stuff out of the way here are our plans. Typically we will head for warmer weather as late fall rolls around. We will likely come back to our home base mid to late spring. I am not sure what we will do in early summer yet. In the summer/fall I have in person work doing wild fire deployment. I am not sure if my wife will go with me on deployment or not and it might vary. The vision I have is that we will head to an area we want to explore and spend 2-6 weeks. We may spend more or less time depending on what there is to do. We will rarely stay less than a week since moving on a "work" day is not practical.

So with all of that in mind, how long did it take you to start pacing yourself? I know this answer is going to vary a lot. What tips or tricks did you use to slow down?

[Old-Biscuit]

WE traveled weekly/bi-monthly depending on area we were in.

WE moved 250 miles between destinations and then during the week/2 weeks we would explore the local area.

We didn't have a time limit or outside responsibilities as we are Retired so it was easy to go slow we weren't on an extended vacation.
It was a new lifestyle that we could enjoy at our leisure.

Hard NOT to go go go when you have limited time and commitments

[twogypsies]

We never had time limits. We've even moved 50 mi down the road when we found out we wanted to explore that area in more depth. A few times we explored every nook and cranny of only one state during the summer.

Especially if you're boondocking like we did, you can easily move whenever you get 'the itch'. It may be a day or two or may be a couple weeks. Our holding tanks lasted about two weeks and by then we were usually ready to move on to another spot. Especially with fuel prices now moving is the best option rather than long drives to sitesee.

You'll get the hang of it... whatever works for you.

[momdoc]

As full timers we are in the "living mode" and not "vacation mode" and travel as such. We usually stay for a week or more in any one place before moving on. Our drive between sites is usually less than 250 miles.

Currently 8 days in Lake Tahoe, now 8 days at eagle lake (Susanville CA) then 10 days in the Mt Shasta area. Then on to OR and WA. We will spend 2 months doing OR and WA before heading to Colorado...Love it!

[TampaDave]

We tend to stay put for three months at a time (not counting side trips and random adventures) because it's less expensive that way. And spend about half our time at home base because it's near family.

Even when we are on the road we find ourselves staying in the same place often. Mostly due to work pattern but some of it is, it's nice to be in a familiar neighborhood.

Always feels good to get underway. Always feels good to come home. Not too difficult to maintain that balance but that's what we are shooting for.

[Nwcid]

Thank you for all of the input so far.

[pduggs]

You’re young so moving often shouldn’t be as big a deal as us older folks. We’re in our mid 60s and retired. So we like to stay awhile after driving to a new location. However we can still cover a lot of ground when we want to. We drove from Boulder CO to Grand Rapids Mi in three days. We drove from Tampa to the Detroit area in three days this April.

When we’re driving through we like to stop at Walmart’s for the overnight. It’s worked well for us. Pull in have dinner, watch tv, and go to bed. Then hit the road early.

[rarebear.nm]

We are retired and are not working so time does not matter much. Sometimes we are gone for 4/6 months other times a week or two or anything between. We are based in Santa Fe so it’s not bad there either. Sometimes when moving we’ll drive for 4 hrs or perhaps 30 minutes. We have never stayed on one place over two weeks. But we may make lots 2-3 days stays and then move on. Next two big trips will be Key West and New Foundland. Each about 4-5 months. Plenty of stops on the way.

[FLJOE]

Everyone is going to be a little different. We hit the road pretty hard the first year or two but then slowed the pace a bunch. We prefer to have multiple night stays in campgrounds and only travel around 300 miles per day, but that isn't a strict rule either. We could have a 260 mile day and then a 620 mile day all in the same week. Sometimes weather speeds up our travel plans and sometimes it slows them down.

Depending on what areas we are traveling to we generally make some reservations. We are set up for dry camping but I like to pick when and where I dry camp. I certainly don't want to be at the end of a long day towing and find out there are no sites available within 100 miles.

Not sure how long you have owned RVs, but since you are not retired keep in mind that all RVs, new and used require upkeep and maintenance especially if you are full time traveling in them. I probably spend 6 to 8 hours per week on my RV, some weeks more.

[jrs]

It varies. In the winter we'll do 2-3 months at a location either in FL, TX or AZ. Then it's typically 1-2 wks. When visiting the kids, we stop for a month. You want to stay at least a week because rates are lower vs the daily rate. Cost will drop more if staying for a month. In San Antonio last fall we stayed 3 wks but paid for a month because the cost was cheaper.
This winter, we'll slow up even more with monthly rates because we're going to the Maritimes (including Newfoundland) this summer. So need to cut down on fuel costs later.

[Nwcid]

Rates have not been an issue for us so far. Typically it cost about $20/week for waster, dump, propane and fuel since we boondock.

In the last 3 years of RVing, which is over 250 days we have under $500 total in campground fees. Most of those campgrounds were only because the group we were with stayed there. For most cases RV parks have nothing to offer us, we are fully self-contained. I know if we want to stay in certain areas we will need to look at parks.