What's your approach to full timing?

[MaxB]

Just retired, house is up for sale, and we hope to be full timing soon. So, I'd like to hear from other full timers as to your style and approach. Do you view it as a perpetual vacation? Are you more focused on the camping aspect and traveling? How long do you usually stay in one place?

I know there are going to be dozens of variations, but that's ok. I look forward to learning from your experience.

TIA,
Keith

[Old-Biscuit]

We went FT to travel.....
We moved weekly/bi-monthly .....didn't go FT to stay months at one place
We wanted to see the USA so we traveled secondary/backroads --- hate Interstate Travel (that is for truckers earning a living and working folks on vacation)
Tried to never use same route twice

FTng was NOT a 'vacation' --it was a life style for us

We traveled on Mondays ....typically pulled out at 10AM and was set up/enjoying a cocktail by 3PM
Travel was 250 miles or less.
Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday where for adventuring, exploring, sight seeing etc.
Fridays were for laundry, RV Maintenance, checking equipment and people watching (weekender arrivals)
Saturdays were for shopping/restocking supplies
Sundays were total relaxation and more people watch (weekender departures)

If we really liked an area we would stay another week

We put more miles on truck adventuring/exploring areas during the week then we did on travel day

Retired/FTng and no need to rush/over extend...

FTd for 7 yrs.....Life threw curve ball.
Miss it, Loved it and don't regret one minute of it.

Good luck on your new life phase.....it is an adventure----not a vacation

[momdoc]

Congrats on the game plan.

It takes a while to get out of "vacation" mode and into "RV Living" mode. Yes we spend lots of time exploring the area we are in (hiking, biking, touring and such) but we also do normal day to day stuff.

When we travel to a new site we usually keep it to 250-300 miles and we now try to stay at least 5-7 days in one place.

It is a learning curve. Best thing to "pack" for the trip is a good attitude. Good luck.

[momdoc]

Congrats on the game plan.

It takes a while to get out of "vacation" mode and into "RV Living" mode. Yes we spend lots of time exploring the area we are in (hiking, biking, touring and such) but we also do normal day to day stuff.

When we travel to a new site we usually keep it to 250-300 miles and we now try to stay at least 5-7 days in one place.

It is a learning curve. Best thing to "pack" for the trip is a good attitude. Good luck.

[Bob_C]

I've found it's cheaper to stay a month if you're staying in a park......I've seen what I wanted to see, so now it's just people watching.......and doing things as I want and not when it's necessary......

[wjohnson913]

Old Biscuit gave some good insights.
We sold the house, needed to down size anyway with the kids being gone. We started a year ago and when we started we committed to a year. Now we have next year booked.
I don’t know how long we’ll do it but we do love the lifestyle. We do go mobile every week or two. We will spend a month in one spot to visit kids and grandkids. We do spend several months on the ground in the winter. This year a couple months in SoCal then a couple months in Arizona.
If we do go back to a home it will be somewhere nice for the winter then spend 8 months on the road for the foreseeable future.

[grindstone01]

Our plan is to send a month or more either volunteering or workamping in each state. This gives us a chance to see what it is like to live in different areas of the country. We are not tourist or on vacation, this is our 10-15 year life style by choice. So far we have stayed in 29 states in our 8+ years of FT.

[Agesilaus]

Fulltiming is not vacationing x 365 as others have pointed out. Now we stay long periods in one area. Let me note you can only do the one month stay in private cg, not any federal or state parks which generally have a 14 plus/minus a few day limit at any one place.

Unlike many others we have already been to all 48 lower states along with some of Canada. And we have been to just about all major national parks. But we feel there is plenty more to see that we missed the first couple of times thru. We like hiking and are getting going on bicycling. We also are doing more boondocking.



You need to find your interest areas, some people like to hang around the campground socializing, others want to be out exploring, some like to visit towns and cities and go to restaurants and so on. Find out what you like.

[ramn4ver]

Been full timing for 10 years. Just retired a year ago. Fulltime in one RV park. 40 ft Rushmore. Bought a second 5th wheel/toyhauler. 30 ft Raptor. To haul our Can Am S ide X Side. We go once a month to different riding areas in the Northwest for a week. With a group of 5 other riders. Great times.

[twogypsies]

There are no correct answers as to 'how to' but most will agree, it's not a perpetual vacation. It's a lifestyle. You don't have to be doing something every day. Besides, if you do it as a vacation it's going to get very expensive.

We enjoyed volunteering for public parks to give something back to places that we enjoy. Volunteering also gives you purpose. You know you're appreciated and helping out. We didn't do it continuously and when we did we would commit for two months; no more. We've given cave tours and lighthouse tours, our favorite. We volunteered on a 10,000 acre ranch in Oregon, at a fish hatchery, on a houseboat cleaning the shoreline on Lake Powell in Arizona and positions in campgrounds. We also volunteered in local schools with the elementary reading programs. Loved them all!

We loved staying on public lands in the boonies. We towed a Jeep which gave us unlimited fun in the backcountry and we met many wonderful folks that way.

We are members of the Escapees RV Club and got involved with them. We have lifelong friends through this organization. We also domiciled in Texas through them and used their mail forwarding service which was reasonable and excellent. Never a problem.

Have fun planning!!

[Trapper2022]

We tended to stay from 2 to 4 weeks in an area. The longer you do it and the more you see you figure out areas you want to go back to and spend more time in. The miles we drove the first year declined in future years. It’s a great lifestyle. Safe travels


Enjoy the journey

[8824rv]

We in our 7th year of fulltime. We did the "required" cross country trip for 6-7 months our first summer, New England the second and our east coast "big city tour" in year three. We hit DC, Philadelphia, NYC (including a week out on Long Island) and Boston.
We spent those winters in Florida.
The past few years we have been "migrating" between Florida (four months) and the 1000 Islands in NY (five to six months depending on when it starts snowing in NY). The 1400 mile trip, north or south, takes us about 4-6 weeks and includes twice a year visits to NC to see the kids and grands, doctor appointments etc. We try to take a different route each year avoiding interstates as mentioned in other posts. For example, we're currently in NC still 600 miles from our Florida site, and have already traveled 1654 miles hitting, Ohio, Indiana, the Smokies in Kentucky, the Blue Ridge, in Tennessee and NC.
Safe travels whatever you do. Just remember to stop and smell the flowers!

[jrs]

Originally Posted by Old-Biscuit

We went FT to travel.....
We moved weekly/bi-monthly .....didn't go FT to stay months at one place
We wanted to see the USA so we traveled secondary/backroads --- hate Interstate Travel (that is for truckers earning a living and working folks on vacation)
Tried to never use same route twice

FTng was NOT a 'vacation' --it was a life style for us

We traveled on Mondays ....typically pulled out at 10AM and was set up/enjoying a cocktail by 3PM
Travel was 250 miles or less.
Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday where for adventuring, exploring, sight seeing etc.
Fridays were for laundry, RV Maintenance, checking equipment and people watching (weekender arrivals)
Saturdays were for shopping/restocking supplies
Sundays were total relaxation and more people watch (weekender departures)

If we really liked an area we would stay another week

We put more miles on truck adventuring/exploring areas during the week then we did on travel day

Retired/FTng and no need to rush/over extend...

FTd for 7 yrs.....Life threw curve ball.
Miss it, Loved it and don't regret one minute of it.

Good luck on your new life phase.....it is an adventure----not a vacation

Pretty much 2X here for us too. We travel Tuesdays and maybe 4-5:00 cocktails. We did slow up with Covid, being careful where we go and places being closed. Currently near Wilmington NC and would love to visit the USS North Carolina but will next time instead.

[HDrider]

Our fulltime haits have evolved over the last 8 years. For the first 4 ears we pretty much moved short distances every week. Then at some point we found ourselves sitting for a month in one spot during the winter and moved the rest of the time, then 3 months in one spot during the winter and moved around the the rest of the year, now we spond 5 months in one spot suring the winter and travel and we have strted picking spots to sit for 1 month stays during the summer.
As long as we can stay active and not get bored in those spots we have chosen to sit I think this trend will continue but as soon as we get our fill of one of those sitting spots we will move on to something new, no eal roots have grown.