Just Curious

[Chester Taje]

I am just curious about the number of people and type who actually live in RVs year round. It seems to me that in the lower US and some parts of Canada this is very possible.

Whats everyones feelings on this?

[Donna D.]

I think there are a number of us considering leaving the anchored living part of life behind and looking to fulltime in a molded lightweight fiberglass trailer. I'm glad webguy was thinking along the same lines and started a separate forum: Fulltiming

Or Ches, are you thinking people just use their trailers similar to a Park Model and don't travel? Since you mentioned the lower US and some parts of Canada...

[Chester Taje]

Yes Donna----People who's only home is a RV. I know about us who use Rvs for camping and such and go fulltiming BUT still have a home base someplace.

[LSChilders]

My sister and her husband full-time in a 37 ft. Fifth wheel. They've lived in the same unit now for 8 years.

I know a fellow in Utah who has fulltimed in a 32 ft. 5ver for 27 years now.

And a High School buddy of mine who lives with his wife and two birds in a 5ver, and migrates with the seasons.


Then there's Sonia who lives full-time in her custom built "Horizon" unit.

Not only is it done, .... it's done on a large scale.

[Chester Taje]

I guess i did not make my question clear. I am thinking about people who are forced to live in RVs because of there particular unfortunate circumstances.

I hope this is more clear----Thanks to those who have posted.

[bonnie w]

I can't quite understand how your original question of people live who live in RV's by choice was related to those who are forced by financial circumstances to live in them. Your own reply was a clear as mud. I personally am not down n' out, and live in my 30ft. 1976 Holidare by choice. I have chosen this lifestyle since 1994 with a few moves over the years. Have lived here in Port Hardy since 1994, and couldn't have found a more beautiful place. It's situated right by the Quatze River and the end of Port Hardy Bay. The wildlife from Eagles, Mink, Bears, Cougars and the barking Seals are a sight to behold. The rent is super reasonable - $295 including cable and hydro (heat with an electric heater). I have a wee yard for my dog and garden.

Attached to my trailer is a covered porch with wood stove for those freezing nights in the winter. Lots of storage for tools, washer & dryer.

[Greg A]

The wildlife from Eagles, Mink, Bears, Cougars and the barking Seals are a sight to behold. The rent is super reasonable - $295 including cable and hydro (heat with an electric heater). I have a wee yard for my dog and garden.

Attached to my trailer is a covered porch with wood stove for those freezing nights in the winter. Lots of storage for tools, washer & dryer.

Wow, Bonnie, $295. Where does the line form to grab a space up there and come join ya?

[bonnie w]

Well Greg, putting all the perc's aside I wouldn't mind being in Arizona for the winter months instead of a heater hermit.

[Bigfoot Mike]

Well Greg, putting all the perc's aside I wouldn't mind being in Arizona for the winter months instead of a heater hermit.

Bonnie,

Did you get my PM?

[Lainey]

Ches,
There is a small mobile home park here in town that also has an area for RV's (longterm). In the summer the RV area always seemed quite full, and I notice that it hasn't cleared out much even with winter approaching, maybe about 15-20 units there still. There are a variety of rigs parked there, but generally, they are not all what I would think of for a warm, winterized RV. My assumption is that they are here for work, and this is a much cheaper option than buying a house when prices are so high and people are looking at 40 year mortgage terms just to make the payments.
I wonder how they will fare when the temps dip down to the -30's?

[Pete Dumbleton]

Ches, you have scratched open a problem that affects Full Timers heavily. There is a cultural bias against trailer dwellers, as evidenced by "forced to live in RVs". It affects all sorts of things like parking in Wal-Mart to declaring a domicile and getting something as simple as mail service and a driving license.

That said, most of the forcees either rent in a trailer park or are migratory workers of some kind, like seasonal electricians or welders or such.

[Gina D.]

Ches, I lived in my VW camper for a short period of time during the early 80s when the economy stunk in the States. I had lots of company. I pretty much stayed in the Mount Hood National forest in an area that allowed dispersed camping, and I had folks around me, just like me.

Rather than spend just about every penny I got from unemployment on rent, (My savings ran out, I was pretty young) I gave notice and "Moved" into the bus. I was fortunate enough to have the camper already, it was my daily driver. I did not just live in it and spend my days going "woe is me" in the woods, however. Among the folks around me, we all spent our days looking for work, or doing temporary work. After I had something permanent, I stayed in the camp until I could afford to move into a small apt and get back on my feet.

As I mentioned, folks "like me" were singles and ineligible for assistance except for a small amount of food stamps, and an unemployment check. None of us were typically homeless street folks that are commonly thought of.. drugs, lazy, you get the idea. We simply had run out of, or were conserving our standard resources in a really HARD economy and used our rigs.. because we had them already. If I started without a rig in the same circumstances, I can't imagine how I would actually GET one, and bring it up to living standards. And believe me, being in a VW bus with a full sized Springer Spaniel is probably not up to MOST folks even lowest standards.

In Oregon, at that time, this was relatively easy. I can not imagine doing this in the city, but I know some folks do. They "Stealth Camp" to avoid the law, they keep moving.

I also can't imagine, in the States, anyway, having a suitable safe place in an RV park that was achievable with limited resources. I suppose there are such places, like Bonnies, but usually, cheap rent here means living among undesirables. Not always, but for the most part, not anywhere I would be comfortable in (But never say never.. I may again, one day, not have any choice)

There are places that attract the alternative livers AND the poor here..SLAB CITY is one area around here that comes to mind. Quartzite and most of the Mojave desert is BLM land and you can camp on it for free with a yearly permit, with limitations (Long term stay areas)

Volunteering for the forest service, or working for one of their concessionaires provides one woman I know that hosts a campground up here in summer and one down in San Diego during the winter a way to live rent free and make her small disability check support her. Thats about her only way to live without having to move in with her children.

[Roger H]

An interesting question, Ches...

In 1987 I went through a separation from my first wife, and subsequently later a divorce. I wanted to find an inexpensive way to live in San Diego (no mean feat in those days), and a trailer seemed to be just the ticket. A friend of mine had a 1970 Airstream Safari Special 23' that needed some work, and he offered it to me for $2,000 delivered wherever I wanted it. I jumped at it, and while I had it on a ranch on Black Canyon Road in Ramona (one of the few properties out there that apparently didn't lose their home last week!) for a few months, I eventually moved it to a trailer park in La Mesa on Alvarado Road, which in those days was right next door to La Mesa RV (now Bob Stall Chevy). Now, its apparently an RV Resort. Then it was just a trailer park.

Anyway, I lived in my Airstream for nearly a year. I enjoyed the "lite" lifestyle, the lack of home maintenance, and the interesting folks who lived all around me. There were a few who just lived the RV lifestyle and enjoyed it. There were some who were transients, working in construction or other trades, and a few who were on the fringes of society and doing their best just to get by. I have some pretty interesting stories about my neighbors from the trailer park during that time!

It was a great lifestyle and despite the not-so-happy events that precipitated it, I enjoyed it and remember it fondly.

After I met and married Laurie, we kept that Airstream for years, and finally sold it to her dad and stepmother. Sadly, they loaned it to friends who wrecked it.

Roger

[Gina D.]

I found several interesting article on Slab City. Here is a typical one

[Frederick L. Simson]

I am thinking about people who are forced to live in RVs because of there particular unfortunate circumstances.

In 1987 I went through a separation from my first wife, and subsequently later a divorce. [b]I wanted to find an inexpensive way to live in San Diego (no mean feat in those days), and a trailer seemed to be just the ticket. A friend of mine had a 1970 Airstream Safari Special 23' that needed some work, and he offered it to me for $2,000 delivered wherever I wanted it. I jumped at it, and while I had it on a ranch on Black Canyon Road in Ramona (one of the few properties out there that apparently didn't lose their home last week!) for a few months, I eventually moved it to a trailer park in La Mesa on Alvarado Road, which in those days was right next door to La Mesa RV (now Bob Stall Chevy). Now, its apparently an RV Resort. Then it was just a trailer park.

I bought my Fiber Stream from a man who lived in it under identical circumstances to Roger's. The desire to live in San Diego inexpensively is even more difficult today. The old trailer parks are changing ownership, and the new owners are doing what it takes to cover their much higher expenses. Those that remain as RV parks go the Resort route. The rest are cleared for redevelopment into condo projects. The only option left for many fulltimers here is stealth camping.

Warning! The following article's [b]Reader Comments follow-on section contains one questionably vulgar word used twice.
San Diego Real Estate On Wheels