My first tip would be to go back to the first post in this FullTimer Forum and read them all, esp the ones about properly establishing a home base/state -- Since you only intend to do it for six months (one lady I know was going to do it for a year, but that became longer -- She finally bought a log house in Tennessee and lived in trailer beside it while fixing it up -- She lasted two weeks in the finished place before she moved back into trailer, rented the log house and hit the road again, where she still is!).
You will have to set up some way of getting your mail -- You can do a lot nowadays between internet and 1-800, but sometimes the mail is needed. Best way is family picking it up and then sending it in a priority box or Tyvek envelope to General Delivery at a small PO where you will be IF you check first about GD -- The small ones are less likely to lose your mail, esp if you have come in to introduce yourself first and ask about GD (Not all POs do GD, and the big ones are more likely to drop your mail in a dark corner -- Lost almost a week at Denali NP in Alaska because I made the mistake of using the PO in the park where there were large numbers of summer workers getting GD! Package #2 of 2 was sitting right there next to #1 of 2 but they didn't see it for almost a week -- Wasn't really the delay, because I found plenty to do in the area, but the uncertainty of where the mail was).
BTW, some Natl Parks/Monuments will accept GD or "Camper" mail in their PO so you don't have to leave the park to get it.
Another big tip is to learn to do without shore power electricity ALL the time, not just occasionally, with an occasional plug-in of your
battery charger for a full charge and some desulphation -- By taking 'unimproved site', you will come to realize how much money is being charged for a couple of decimal KW to pay off all that underground cabling, pedestals and whatnot . Change your habits and lifestyle to not need a reefer, for example -- Learn which drinks are good cool without being iced -- Use powdered milk if you need milk (It's really just skim or no-fat milk), for example -- Learn that we Americans are super cautious when it comes to Use By dates and stuf like bacon and eggs keep longer than we are led to believe -- Eat fresh stuf, don't just store it -- Spend the money saved on hookups on good food!
If you aren't washing dishes or you, you don't have much need for a hot water heater, so without reefer or WH, you don't need much LP.
Consider a Sun Shower if you just can't go without the daily rinse (also consider that you will be generating gray water on the ground...) -- You don't need a shower enclosure if you have a bathing suit.
Get the drains off your
battery -- Ditch the
electrical water pump and save energy, save fresh water and generate less gray water -- Put water into a squeeze bottle for rinsing stuf -- Get rid of dishes and use paper plates but keep the paper plate consumption down by eating out of the pot (stays warm longer, depending on pot) -- I reduced my gray water to an amount that would fit in my laundry jug Gray Water tank (empty in CG toilet in morning, along with other Yellow Water tank laundry jug).
If you must have an entertainment center, make it your laptop and run it off an inverter (I used my truck
battery so the next time I drove the truck only, the battery would be recharged) -- Get a good pair of earphones for listening to those rental DVDs, better sound and won't bother neighbors.
Use CG toilets so you aren't constantly hunting for black water dump -- Have a porta-potty but try to get so it's difficult to remember when you last used it.
Haunt the Escapees and RV.NET forums for lots of full time tips, plus read a few books, starting with "
Blue Highways" and "
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", then browse the book rack in Camping World.
Learn to answer "What do you do all day when you full time?" with "Pretty much what anchored-home people do all day except the parts about mowing grass and shoveling snow".
Look for library book sales and garage sales, as well as Leave One - Take One boxes at RV parks and host sites.
Get gregarious at the CGs, esp with the other full-timers, and listen.
Don't change CGs on Summer weekends, esp holidays, except on Sunday (lots of people leave then even if the holiday is Monday) -- Stay away from waterfront sites on weekends because that's where the party hearty crowd gathers, even if it is just a wet spot like the tiny spring and runoff in Texas Springs CG in Death Valley NP.
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