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Old 12-12-2011, 02:02 PM   #41
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FIRST, if you are going to do this, you should consider joining Escapees at least for a couple of years. Read all you can before you do it, just to be prepared.

I have owned a house in the suburbs and lived in many apartments. I have also traveled in the past with work in travel trailers, fifth wheels, motorhomes, a Silver Eagle coach made as private coach (never used as a bus) and also stayed in my share of hotel/motels. After not traveling for a while, I decided i wanted to hit the road, but I had to make an income. Around 15 years ago, I set up my plan and began working it. I was also going to do it in some kind of Airstream.

To make a long story short About the time I bought my 1986 Argosy, I had a couple of contracts canceled, the economy changed and due to that and other circumstances beyond my control, I ended up "full-timing' but in one location.

You can read part of the story at Airstream History dot com.

Since life goes on, fifteen years passed and I still haven't left town, all the while telling others "Do it now, don't wait!!" while I waited. But the finances are in order and I am giving it a couple of years or so and I will be able to live the dream without worrying about income. FINALLY!!! My plan (subject to change) is to move the Hitchhiker to a location in Florida as a home base and use a Casita for seeing the country. I need the "home base" since I now run an online radio station called Airstream FM. But I am REALLY looking forward to having the time to get away and being free from the need to be at a certain place weekly just to pay the rent. I am looking forward to seeing the country and meeting people I know only from these forums, especially people like Donna D* who have the most fascinating portrait photos and seem so interesting. Can't do it right now, but I'm gettin' ready.

If I were you, I would get at least a 16 or 17' trailer, whether Scamp or Casita. I would go with the Scamp fiver IF I would put a recliner in place of the dinette. I can't relax sitting at a dinette!! With the Casita FD, I can replace the captains chairs with something more comfortable. Since I travel alone, it works out fine for me.

One thing I have noticed since 2008 is several people around me are living in an RV out of economic necessity. Most have not camped as an RVer before or stayed in campgrounds at all. So they do not have the mindset of an RVer nor to they know or display the simple courtesies that most RVers expect in a campground, such as NOT cutting through someone else's lot or not picking up after their pets.

Before I bought my Argosy, I read every book I could find on full-time RVing and joined Escapees and the Good Sam club just to read the materials and see what it was all about. There were no internet forums such as this fifteen years ago when I started. But still, I was able to educate myself before jumping into it.

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Old 02-06-2012, 06:32 AM   #42
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I think maybe full-timing out of "necessity" may have two faces. The most obvious is flat out financial and the other is just being consumed by stuff and trying to keep up with it to the point that the necessity is to save one's mental state. I read this article yesterday: Living in a Pop-up Tent Trailer in Baja Mexico and I just loved it. Probably 15 years ago, my husband took a good job in AZ and we moved with our very nice and new Coleman pop-up. When we got there, we could not find a decent place to buy immediately so considered renting but we could not afford anything safe/clean. So, we stayed in an RV park in the pop-up for 5 1/2 months. It was summer and hot but they gave us a great deal on the campsite and we put serious money in the bank. Being in small quarters found us out hiking, visiting museums, zoos, etc. Myself, my husband and our son with the other son actually visiting for a month or so and a dog. It took a lot of organization and it was frustrating at times but it was a time we look back on as one of the best times of our lives. While doing this, we met another couple with a son who had lost their homes because of severe tax problems, people who "had it all" and lost it and their situation was so much different than ours but we were able to be friends and swap living tips. I had once saw a show on TV years ago where they were interviewing "minimalists" and I knew that was what I wanted to be. One young lady had all of her possessions in a cigar box, everything that met something to her - I thought that was so cool! Being able to do your own thing, having your own definition of "successful" and not giving a darn what someone else thinks about it, priceless!
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Old 02-17-2012, 05:59 PM   #43
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my new move to fulltiming should come pretty easy (after 31 years 'camping out' in my coast-to-coast semi-trucks) ... but, I had to get cornered before I made it happen ... lost everything I owned in the 2008 Humboldt fires, so I traded the 42mpg Civic in on a new Ford van, and (after visiting the factory), ordered my new Casita 17' FD, which I am scheduled to pick up mid-October ... I hope their 'finish' dates are reliable, as I'm wearing a hole in my friends' sofas , need to get rollin' ...
Jimmy...Been there done the livin in a White Freightliner for over 25 years coast to coast,border to border.So now that I'm retired,my 13 foot Scamp is just a bigger sleeper.
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Old 02-24-2012, 10:30 AM   #44
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I've been fulltiming more or less for ten years, the last six out of a 25' Avion, which I have recently downscaled from. I work as a fly fishing guide and writer/photographer. It's really a matter of perspective, and it never fails -- on days when I beat myself up for being "Homeless", I get a fishing client who tells me that I am living the dream!

Dream on, y'all. Glad to be part of this community.
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Old 02-24-2012, 03:31 PM   #45
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-- on days when I beat myself up for being "Homeless", I get a fishing client who tells me that I am living the dream!

Dream on, y'all. Glad to be part of this community.
Jonathan, a couple of days ago, I realized I make a better traveler than nester. I have had a house in the subburbs, lived in many apartments, traveled in the past in all variations. But I make a better nester than traveler. Bought my '86 Argosy 32' 14 years ago for traveling but ended up not traveling, living in it 'till almost 3 years ago when I bought a Nuwa Hitchhiker 5th wheel. Family and friends don't understand. The older I get, the less I care. The money I would have put into an apartment has been put into investments that will allow me to leave town in a couple of years and travel like i want to travel. You aren't at all homeless. You have a home for sure.

I always say I live an alternate lifestyle...the RV lifestyle and I love it. I'm saving a bundle. Let 'em spend thousands on upkeep of a house. I still love what I do, I just wish I were in Florida instead of Texas. But that time will come also.

Don...not homeless in Texas
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Old 02-24-2012, 03:37 PM   #46
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I like to talk to people, so I've met all kinds of fulltimers:

1) The ones with the $800,000 RV who saw the country for a year and then became wildlife volunteers at wildlife refuges in gorgeous spots--just talking to visitors...
2) The retired public interest lawyer in her 60's on SSDI with Parkinson's, tent camping fulltime with a dog and four cats. For health reasons, in national forests, and apparently according to her neurologist, doing better than any of his other patients (she did take medicines)
3) The guy over in the water only site with a fairly crappy Aliner and a van he used to fulltime in. A sort of friendly alcoholic type, who loves fulltiming
4) His friend, in 40's, living in a truck camper (nice truck, nice truck camper) with his wife, fulltime--sold their house in Maine.
5) The couple, he in his early 60's she in her early 40's, who like to hunt, have a license to cut and haul timber when they choose, and can fix anything--but they too drink a bit too much. Very nice folks, though. Will settle down in a year or two and buy land and put a doublewide on it, but for now, they're living in his trailer

Others who have the freedom, portable work, or retirement or SSDI income, who want to live in a good climate year round but don't have the big bucks for two homes, so travel to warmth in winter and cool or higher altitude in summer, in their trailers.

It's been interesting to hear someone say, "I won't pay over $6/night for a site." Being from NY, where our combined rents were over $3000/mo, the idea of paying $180 a month tops for a site (water only in national forest--carry your solar panel and honda generator) is an eye opener...
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Old 02-24-2012, 03:56 PM   #47
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I like to talk to people, so I've met all kinds of fulltimers:
Yesterday at the RV Show in Dallas, I met Mrs. Fred Brandeberry who told me about their life as fulltimers. She and Fred sold their house mostly furnished including the dog over 10 years ago and have been on the road in a motorhome for all that time. She LOVES what they do. He teaches seminars at RV shows and rallies and they travel around the country.

We talked about 15 minutes at the show and she could not have been more excited to be there. My plans are to get the finances ready, then hit the road in a Casita (unless I change my mind) keeping the Hitchhiker parked as a home base. If you put off your plans long enough, you can pay for two RVs while waiting!!

But don't wait, do it now!!

And enjoy the people you meet along the road.

D*
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Old 06-06-2012, 03:39 PM   #48
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There are so many full time rv'ers out here there would be no real way to count them all. Everyone with an empty lot in every town within 100 miles of us has a couple of RV's parked on it. It's goten almost crazy out here. It's a genuine oil boom right now but it's only a few dollars away from being a bust. Our invasion of RV's is for just the opposite reason of most, at least they are all working out here around Midland..
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Old 06-06-2012, 07:05 PM   #49
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I bought my first house by moving into a tent from early spring till aug. I had enough to put down on an apartment but figured if I held on to that and did not pay apartment rent.... Yep enough for a down payment in 5 months. That was by choice.

Going back to the original post, I do wonder how tough it must be mentally to go from a home address to what must seem like living on the streets after losing everything you worked to achieve. With kids that your trying to take care of? My god talk about having to dig deep for the strength to tough it out and adapt.

I hitch hiked all over this country when I was young, met lots of really interesting and nice people. More than a few not so nice. I was big enough and frankly tough enough to deal with folks who wanted to not be nice with me as the target. I can not imagine having to bring a wife or child into that environment, or even having to deal with it myself at this age. Yet I know many people not that much different than myself are doing just that.

I'm a realist, and have thought about what if... and yes having a camper would make that an option. Especially since the 20% cash I put down on my house plus the improvements I have made still would probably not let me sell my house for what I owe on the mortgage. If I lost my job I would probably start packing while looking for another.

I mean no offense to any of the prior posters but see a real disconnect between the original topic of being forced by job loss out of your home into your camper to buying an RV and full timing. If you have a choice it's really different than if you are driven by circumstances into a situation your forced to make the best of.
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Old 06-07-2012, 11:08 AM   #50
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I mean no offense to any of the prior posters but see a real disconnect between the original topic of being forced by job loss out of your home into your camper to buying an RV and full timing. If you have a choice it's really different than if you are driven by circumstances into a situation your forced to make the best of.
As someone pointed out, the original article was somewhat misleading. The woman in the article has been living in that RV for 5 years before the economic crisis. That would be for nine years now, since the article is four years old. She is not a product of recent poor economic times. She is on disability for mental illness. The original post and article are now 4 years old.

In the last three years or so, I have noticed some folks moving from homes into an RV for economic reasons. I don't mind that, except most have no clue about how to "full-time" in an RV. They are not RVers and do not understand basic campground ediquette. Undisciplined kids run everywhere, between other lots and things that RVers know you don't do. Also, many folks do not even attempt to pick up after their pets, meaning one can step in dog poo regularly, even outside the door of their own RV. At one point, I got so tired of telling people the basics of how to dump a tank that I finally printed instructions on holding-tank issues and still hand-out copies at least weekly to folks who are clueless.

However, I currently have a neighbor who bought a beautiful 1991 Foretravel at a great price. He made a big deal out of the fact that this was the first RV he has ever owned. However I quickly learned that he knows everything about them. So I watched and let him struggle with hoses and cords, being the macho man he is.

I don't mind anyone enjoying the RV lifestyle. But learn some basic campground etiquette and don't let your kids and dogs run wild. And please turn down your stereo or close your door. Not everyone enjoys Lynyrd Skynyrd when they are trying to study.
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Old 06-07-2012, 02:43 PM   #51
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As someone pointed out, the original article was somewhat misleading. The woman in the article has been living in that RV for 5 years before the economic crisis..... She is not a product of recent poor economic times. She is on disability for mental illness.....

In the last three years or so, I have noticed some folks moving from homes into an RV for economic reasons. I don't mind that, except most have no clue about how to "full-time" in an RV. They are not RVers and do not understand basic campground ediquette. ......

I got so tired of telling people the basics of how to dump a tank that I finally printed instructions on holding-tank issues and still hand-out copies at least weekly to folks who are clueless.

However, I currently have a neighbor who bought a beautiful 1991 Foretravel at a great price. He made a big deal out of the fact that this was the first RV he has ever owned. However I quickly learned that he knows everything about them. So I watched and let him struggle with hoses and cords, being the macho man he is.

I don't mind anyone enjoying the RV lifestyle. But learn some basic campground etiquette and don't let your kids and dogs run wild. And please turn down your stereo or close your door. Not everyone enjoys Lynyrd Skynyrd when they are trying to study.
Not current economic times but SSDI is generally not an amount that one would want to live on or could afford a "normal" standard of living in much of the country, especially back when housing prices were skyrocketing. Today SSDI averages $1,100 back then even less and is based on SS qaulified earnings, with a max of around $2,300 which would take earning over $100k for many years.

The lack of experience was sort of my point, and the lack of choice. Most of us who are campers have learned from our experiences or mistakes over time. And we are mostly just out to have a good time using disposable income so it's a low risk, low stakes choice. Have bailed to a motel when arriving too late to set up or due to weather being too hot.

We have learned to "full time" as opposed to having it thrust on us. I don't full time but have no problem doing multiple weeks, it's a routine, but a learned one. Learned at leisure.

It would be a little rude but you should make your neighbor a YouTube star by shooting video and sharing his "experience" with the world.

I don't think the economic times or being forced into an RV have much to do with the rudeness and lack of etiquette. I have been seeing that for decades. I think some of it is just the number of people, and many who don't come from camping background but decided to buy an RV, after all it has all the comforts of home. Right?

You might get a grin out of this. Back in the 80's my brother-in-law had a run in with some fellows who thought everyone in the campground wanted to listen to their car radio all night. He went out asked them politely at about 11:00 pm if they would turn it down, they did a little but then right back up. So he went out again and told them they were being rude. They told him he should mind his own damn business if he knew what was good for him.

Brother-in-law in a matter of fact voice informed them that the North Vietnamese army had spent two tours trying to kill him and they might want to think about how intimidating their sorry butts were in comparison, they should also consider how unsuccessful the VC had been before they acted rashly. Radio went down, stayed down.

It is nice of you to provide a hand out on how to empty holding tanks. Most of us learn from others, sort of the point of this forum.

Kids run around when they camp it's what they do, it's what I and my siblings did when we were kids. They should know not to ride bikes or run through other peoples camp sites, I know my folks would not have let us get away with that behavior. I don't recall that problem in my own experience. I do tend to do more rustic camping which may be different than your experiences. And I'm not doing anything as demanding as studying so am probably less bothered by noise or activity of kids.

With dogs, most owners I know clean up after their pets but it only takes one to leave you with a puppy land mine outside your door. Those folks annoy responsible pet owners more than you can imagine. I don't know of any park that allows loose dogs.
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Old 06-07-2012, 11:21 PM   #52
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They should know not to ride bikes or run through other peoples camp sites, I know my folks would not have let us get away with that behavior.
As a child I was taught respect for other people's private property. Nobody in my neighborhood growing up bothered with fences; everyone knew who owned what and you only entered someone else's property when invited.

That isn't happening any more. I have a corner lot and the only way to keep strangers from cutting across my lawn and from lounging on my front steps was to put up a fence. My sister visited from upstate New York and remarked that she had never seen so much fencing before.

Kids aren't "raised" by their parents, they're in gangs. Parents aren't home because they have to work multiple jobs to put fast food on the table and gas in the tank and maybe pay the phone bill.
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Old 08-02-2012, 01:21 AM   #53
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I'm a 20 term social worker in Seattle. I have found that people live in their motorhomes/trailers for many different reasons. freedom, flexability, economics, social reasons etc. I live in a very small house (670 sf), own a small cabin in the woods (400 sf) and have just purchased a Compact Jr (hunter I) trailer. I also live on a dead end street in Seattle where many a camper ha stayed. My simple advise is don"t judge a camper by their vehicle or or how they look, judge them by how they are as a person(s)are and how they act while "camping" in your area. There are as many reasons as to why someone has chosen "the life without a permanent address" as there are thy types of individuals. Yes, there are some "bad eggs" out there, but not all...just a thought ....
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Old 08-02-2012, 06:14 AM   #54
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Yesterday at the RV Show in Dallas, I met Mrs. Fred Brandeberry who told me about their life as fulltimers. She and Fred sold their house mostly furnished including the dog over 10 years ago and have been on the road in a motorhome for all that time. She LOVES what they do. He teaches seminars at RV shows and rallies and they travel around the country. ....
D*
Do you know of any websites--aside from fiberglassrv.com similar to Fred Brandeberry's with RV hints, tips, etc for folks with smaller trailers like the 13' Bolers with no toilets, A/C, etc?
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Old 08-02-2012, 06:30 AM   #55
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If it cost a nickel to go 'round the world I couldn't get out of sight but.....
The closer I get to the end of October, the more I am inclined to put my rig together and head south for about four(4) months. This was our plan for 2009-2010 but it didn't happen. I can estimate costs, do up a tentative budget, allow for overages and if I run out of funds I can just head north for the 49th. Life is short and we never know what the next day will bring.
Itchy feet? Wanderlust? Just plain crazy? Maybe I can find an answer.
Why not eh?
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Old 08-02-2012, 02:08 PM   #56
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I came across this article from the Associated Press a few days back and thought it may be of interest. Seems more and more people are turning to living in RV's and automobiles as a alternative to being flat-out homeless. It's raising concerns with communities who have to face a growing population on transients living on the streets, and having to accomodate those who are trying to deal with tough economic times.

All of this may be something for those who are considering fulltiming to take in mind as they may see more and more communities not putting out the welcome mat for fear of a flood of the "downwardly mobile".

Here is the link to the full article.

ConwayBob
I don't think that's the right link. It was very political and had nothing that I could see referring to campers. Also, doesn't seem to be AP.
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Old 08-02-2012, 03:00 PM   #57
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One of the best Forums for fulltimers is the Escapee Forum at Escapees.com. Most Escapees have full timed for 10 years, not to escape the economy which is near impossible to escape, but rather to see freely see wonderful North America.

Escapee members also have access to Days End, a virtual no cost lost of places to camp, a legal permanent address in Texas if you choose plus numerous other benefits.
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