Almost immediately upon getting our Safari Trek motor home, we caught the RV bug... by the second week into our 2010 trip, we were pondering how to rearrange our lives so we could live and travel fulltime in an RV. Well, it took us a little over four years to sort things out, but here we are - living our dream!
Our evolution to becoming Fulltimers wasn't easy but nor was it as hard as you might imagine. Because we really, really wanted to live this lifestyle for at least a few years, our motivation was strong enough to carry us through some tough decisions. One important issue we had to consider is that we both have parents who may need us nearby within the next few years, so we were feeling some pressure that if we were going to become Fulltimers, we needed to do it soon.
So where to start?
The first thing we had to do was crunch numbers to see if we could financially handle this lifestyle change. We spent many, many hours going over everything, double-checking, and then checking again. We were going to make a huge change in our lives and so it was crucial that we could handle it financially. There is not much point moving into an RV if you cannot afford the maintenance, fuel, campground costs, etc. And, in addition to meeting our cost-of-living expenses, we also needed to be sure we had sufficient financial resources so we could enjoy the lifestyle - it costs money to sight-see! We were fortunate in that our 2010 RV trip provided helpful experiences upon which to base our estimates.
Once we verified we could afford this lifestyle, there were two major milestones to accomplish: selling the house and streamlining our possessions.
The other major effort was to drastically streamline our possessions. We approached this slowly starting in 2010, easing into a minimalistic mindset and shedding the most obvious "fluff" around the house. When we committed to putting the house on the market, we jumped into high gear: sorting through what to keep, what to store, what to sell, what to donate, etc. We ended up putting some things in storage: we would not part with items such as family art, antique furniture, photo albums, etc. We selected and moved some clothes, kitchen ware, tools, etc. into the motor home. Going from a 2300 square foot home with a basement and garden shed to a 350 square foot home with weight limits forced us to think carefully about what we really needed. As it turns out, we don't need that much! Many Fulltimers admit they started out with too much, and shedded the excess after the first year or so.
Becoming Fulltimers also involves working out some logistical issues. The most common are:
- What State to use as residency? We chose to maintain our Tennessee residency by using a friend's address. Our drivers' licenses and vehicles registrations are all in Tennessee. Our storage unit is in Tennessee. It is likely we will return to Tennessee when our fulltime RV days come to an end.
- How to receive health care? Lynda is in the militiary retiree Tricare system and can get attention anywhere in the US. I am in the VA healthcare system and can also get attention just about anywhere in the US.
- How to pay bills, keep up with banking, pay credit cards, etc? We went paperless in 2001 and so this is not an issue for us. We pay bills on line, get e-copies of statements, etc.
- How to get mail? We get very little real mail, and made arrangements with friends and family to receive our mail. They discard the obvious junk, and review the rest with us by phone, or forward the mail to our current location, etc. It's not a big deal.
A very important part of becoming Fulltimers is to get an RV that suites your needs. Everyone's needs are different. We felt that our beloved Safari Trek was simply not big enough for fulltiming, and so we sold her in 2013. For fulltiming, we decided to stay with a Class A type RV and that the length should be not more than 35 feet; we needed something big enough to live in comfortably but small enough to get into
We initially looked for a diesel-powered Class A but quickly discovered that choices are few in the 35-foot length, and almost all have very small water tanks. So, we turned our attention to gas-fueled RVs built on a Workhorse chassis with a GM engine and Allison transmission. We did a LOT of research and the 2002-2005 National Dolphin LX 6342 models kept rising to the top. We were very fortunate to find a 2004 Dolphin LX for private sale less than 100 miles away.
And that is how we came to be Fulltimers. We are not unique: people have been doing this for years and, as jobs become more temporary and people more transient, families are starting to live this lifestyle also. They homeschool the children as they move around the country.
What a great way to live!
