Thinking about full -time RV living? We're breaking
down the pros and cons from stationary setups
to nomadic life on the move. Avoid budget pitfalls,
decide if a home base is right for you, and learn
how to stay prepared for emergencies. Plus, the
latest RV news and an RV pro tip you won't want
to miss. Welcome to the Restless Nomads, the
ultimate RV show for modern -day rubber tramps
and weekend warriors alike. Whether you're chasing
sunsets full -time, savoring seasonal escapes,
or just hitting the road for a quick weekend
getaway, this is your go -to show for tips, tricks,
and tales from the road. Join us as we dive into
everything RV. Choosing the right rig, surviving
life on wheels, and navigating the highs and
lows of life on the move. From towables to Well,
thanks for joining us again on another episode
of The Restless Nomads. Check us out online at
TheRestlessNomads .com. That's TheRestlessNomads
.com. Let's jump right in to some RV news. Here's
your RV news update. National Park campgrounds
are seeing record bookings this year. The spring
and summer travel season is quickly approaching
and popular national parks are already fully
booked well in advance. So if you're planning
on visiting Yellowstone or Yosemite or Glacier
this year, you better get on it. But you might
be relying on waiting for those cancellations
maybe next year. Also, a new tax law could affect
full -timers. A proposed nomad tax in some states
aims to impose property -style taxes on long
-term RV dwellers who don't maintain a permanent
residence. Man, every good thing that comes along,
the government has to step in and try to ruin
it, don't they? The details are still unfolding,
but full -timers should keep an eye out for these
legal changes. I sure hope they don't do something
that foolish. That's really inhibiting your freedom.
Also, lithium battery prices are dropping. That's
good news for us RVers. You know, lithium battery
prices were out of reach for most folks even
10 years ago, but now they've fallen 20 % this
year. So that's making solar powered and off
-grid camping more affordable than ever. There's
your RV news. Let's jump into today's topic.
So today we're talking about the many flavors
of full -time RVing and also the pros and cons
of full -time RVing. So if you're thinking about
full -time RVing, you know, there's so many YouTube
channels that paint this as just this glamorous,
wonderful, adventurous, luxurious lifestyle.
And it has its upsides, but there are some downsides,
too. Now, there are a couple different types
of full -time RVers. There's the stationary full
-timers. Usually these are folks that just can't
afford a Sticks and Bricks house or something
like that. Maybe they're on Social Security or...
that kind of thing. You see this a lot where
someone buys an RV and they put it in a park
and they live in that RV but it never moves.
It just stays right there. It doesn't matter
if the tires go flat. No big deal because they
ain't ever moving it, right? So essentially it's
just like living in a mobile home park with a
smaller mobile home. It ain't moving, right?
Can be a good idea if you need to downsize in
space and in budget, although RV parks per month
are going up. For example, we stayed at one that
had a monthly rate of $275 about 10 years ago,
and I think it's over $600 nowadays. So just
be aware of that. Still cheaper than renting
an apartment, but that's a lot of money for a
parking space and an electrical connection, if
you ask me. Good for folks that are trying to
save money and they still need to be near work,
family, medical care, that kind of thing. That
can come with some challenges, you know, if you
have surgery or something moving around in a
small space like that. Can be good or can be
bad depending on the situation. Some people do
it just because they like the simplicity of RV
living without the constant movement. Here's
a couple of the downsides. Some campgrounds limit
long -term stays and you may end up paying high
monthly rent without ever really traveling. Most
RV parks offer a monthly rate and those are the
ones that you want to seek out. Another downside
to this which is kind of dumb in my opinion Sometimes
the RV parks will have age limits for the RVs.
Most of them require the RVIA sticker on the
side so you can't bring a school bus or a converted
cargo trailer or something like that. And a lot
of them have gone to where your RV must be 10
years old or newer. Which that can be a serious
challenge if you're operating on a budget in
the first place and you buy a little bit older
RV. You know there are several RVs that are 20
years old that look great and everything works
in them. But some of these parks require 10 years
or newer which I think is kind of bananas. I
mean it's an RV park. Get over yourself right.
Okay, second type of full -timer is the more
traditional and the kind that you see on YouTube
all over the place That's the nomadic full -timer.
It's a little bit more adventurous and I would
just say entertaining because you're seeing new
places you're traveling It's the the true wanderers
RVers who rarely stay in one place for too long
and they move from state parks to BLM land to
campgrounds the truck stops to RV parks to you
name it, right? And everybody has their own preferences.
Now one of the biggest pros is that you can pretty
much go wherever you want. So if you don't like
where you're at, you can pick up and move and
you're somewhere new and you're constantly exploring
new places. It can be affordable if you do it
correctly, but it is more than likely going to
cost you more than If you were to stay stationary
in an RV park or something like that now some
people Depending on how much you travel really
affects what you should budget for this, right?
Some people will travel to a place and they'll
stay for two or three months or they'll stay
for a couple weeks And that can help as far as
affordability goes If you stay a little bit longer
and it also gives you a little more time to be
able to explore and travel days are just stressful.
So putting a little bit of distance between you,
I mean between your travel days can help out
and make it more fun. You just kind of have to
determine by experience and also how much you
want to pay for gas, how often you want to move.
My wife and I have found that about one week
is our sweet spot. We can stay in a place for
about a week and then we want to move on. Some
people stay for a month. Some people stay for
a couple weeks. Some people stay for a season.
Just depends. For us, we start getting kind of
antsy after about a week and we want to move
on. Now, if you're a full -time RVer and you
don't have a permanent home base, there are some
things that you have to think about. There's
some risks that come along with that adventure.
So let's say that you're a full -time RVer and
you sold your home. Well, if you get into an
accident or your truck breaks down, you need
to have a plan because you don't have any safety
net there. Now there are some things that you
can do to kind of mitigate these risks if you're
full -time and you have no backup place to go.
First and foremost, have good insurance. In fact,
you can buy insurance that is kind of catered
towards full -timing so that if something happens
to your RV, your insurance company will actually
pay for a hotel, for a certain amount of nights,
or even a rental car should you need that while
your RV is in the shop getting fixed. So good
insurance is a must if you're full -time you
want to have the most protection you can get
also on the topic of insurance Make sure that
you have comprehensive insurance that way when
your Truck is disconnected from the trailer if
you have a towed rig or if your Motorhome is
parked with the engine off in a campground and
a tree falls on it or something like that You're
covered you want to be combing your policy making
sure that you're covered for Every instance that
you can and if you're not covered by something
asks what it will ask what it would cost to get
it covered Because like I said you want the maximum
coverage you can get And typically RV insurance
is not that expensive now that brings me to this
so your automobile insurance Like let's say you
get automobile insurance for your truck usually
covers the trailer while you're in tow The same
goes for a motor home. If you have automobile
insurance on a motor home and you wreck the motor
home, then you're usually covered. Now if you're
at a campground and you forget to chalk the wheels
and the motor home rolls off the cliff but the
engine's off, your insurance is gonna try to
weasel out of that. So just be aware of that.
And there are most of the time you buy specific
policies that cover the RV when it's not in motion.
So things to think about there and always a good
idea to have as much protection to give yourself
some peace of mind And and also, you know if
you break down and you have to take it to the
shop You have some options there that you won't
be coming out of your pocket I've got two more
items here for some added peace of mind. So another
thing you want to have is an emergency fund And
you usually want to have enough in this like
if something catastrophic happens Let's say you
your engine throws a rod or something. You can
cover the cost of that Because insurance won't
be covering that right they may cover the cost
of the hotel in the rental car while the trucks
in the shop Or your motor homes in the shop getting
fixed, but you want to have enough to cover that
It's a good idea to have that saved up before
you even set out and as you move down the road
This should be separate from your maintenance
fund But when you have to use it you need to
immediately start building that back up if you
can Okay, so emergency fund maintenance fund
big two and then you can save a ton of headache
and money if you start learning how to fix little
things on your RV by yourself. When you take
it to the shop, you're going to have to pay labor.
That's really expensive. I think on average about
two hundred dollars an hour. It's crazy. And
you have to wait for them to fix it, which usually
means that you have to wait for them to order
parts and everything else. It's a real pain in
the butt. Whereas if you learn how to do it,
you can fix it. on some sweat equity, no paying
for labor, just the cost of parts. And usually
when you set out to fix something that breaks
and things will break in an RV, they always do.
No matter what RV you get, you're going to have
things that break. It's the nature of the beast.
Learning how to fix those things usually teaches
you more about other systems in that RV where
when the next problem arises, you'll be better
equipped to address it. YouTube University is
the best place for learning how to fix problems
with your RV in my experience. Also join a bunch
of the Facebook groups for your RV specifically,
your make and model, and you will oftentimes
find problems that other people are having that
have preventative measures that you can take
right now to avoid those problems or just have
them in mind and know what to do should they
arise. Okay, we'll look more into that further
on down the line here. Then we have hybrid full
-timers and my wife and I have made our way to
this. We did full -time RVing for a whole year
when we were looking for a house and then we
bought a house. Now we're hybrid and I don't
even know if you'd consider us full -timers necessarily
right now, but we have periods where we go full
-time. So we'll go for extended trips. Some RVers
own a home. Some of them even have an RV lot
that they own. You can actually buy an RV lot.
The last time I looked around at them, they were
going for about $40 ,000. Depending on the area,
it'll be higher or lower. But you actually buy
that little bit of property. It can be a site
that you buy in a park, or you can buy property
and install hookups on that property and an RV
pad. and then it's yours. So you always have
a place to bring the RV back to. Now, that doesn't
really solve the problem. If your RV catches
on fire, where do you go? Right. So have that
in mind. But it's a good idea if you can afford
it to have a place to kind of retreat to in case
your RV breaks down or your truck breaks down.
A lot of people, my wife and I included rent
out portion like a guest bedroom or something
like that of their home when you're on the road
for an extended period of time and that can help
cover some of the costs of owning the home and
and having the electricity on and the gas and
the Garbage service and all that you know if
you're just shelling out money for those services
but not really using them that can be kind of
frustrating. So maybe consider renting it out
to a traveling nurse or something like that.
We prefer the short -term rentals. They're only
there for six weeks or so and then they're moving
on. That way when we come home if they're still
there we don't have long to wait before they
leave. But that's kind of one of the ways that
you can enjoy the best of both worlds. Having
a home base makes full -time RVing feel a lot
less risky because if anything happens Let's
say you're down in Arizona and your truck breaks
down or your RV catches on fire Worst case scenario
you jump on a Greyhound or on the Amtrak or in
an airplane and come home And you have a place
to lay your head that night, which is pretty
nice So those are things to consider Well hey,
let's go to a break. We'll get into some more
challenges of full -time RVing just after the
break and also your RV pro tip on the way right
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Nomads radio show. Mike here with you. hey visit
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you can click on featured shows and then you'll
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make it out alive with sam wilson terrible at
fishing with michael ruffino and the life outdoors
radio show That's a hunting Southern Oregon radio
show with Nate Bailey. All right, time for the
RV pro tip. Always have a backup plan when it
comes to reservations before heading to a new
destination, especially if it's far away. Always
research a backup spot just in case your campground
is full. or you get double booked or something
like that, especially if you're going there and
you're relying on first come first serve and
you plan on showing up later in the day. Holy
smokes, especially if it's a weekend. We worked
a season at Lake Cachisse in Washington and they
didn't allow anyone into the campground before
two o 'clock and there were literally hundreds
of cars lined up all looking for a campsite.
By 145 in the afternoon and they were just lined
up outside the campground Waiting to get in and
you know, of course the people in the back of
the line oftentimes we had to turn them away
because the campground was full at that point
and There was just no more sites available. So
having a backup site, even if it's a Walmart
or a Cracker Barrel or a truck stop maybe some
public land nearby Having that plan B is going
to save you a lot of stress. One of the things
that you can always do when it comes to reservations,
let's say you're wanting to go to the Oregon
coast in the summertime and you can't get a reservation.
Well, if you're Say you're camping over on some
public land in central oregon or something. You
can check for last minute cancellations because
So many people change their plans all the time
and those cancellations will pop up Be in contact
with the campground if you can over the phone.
That's probably the best way Otherwise, you're
kind of relying on the internet and hitting that
refresh screen Refreshing the screen looking
for those cancellations Now, uh, let's get into
some Nightmares of last minute reservations.
If you're a weekend warrior, no big deal, right?
If you go to make a reservation and you find
that the campground is full, well, no big deal.
You just enjoy the air conditioning that weekend
and you stay inside and stay home. Or you look
elsewhere, right? Somewhere relatively close
to home. Now if you're full -time RV in and you're
staying in a Walmart parking lot and they give
you 12 hours to stay there and then you have
to move on, that can be a little bit frustrating
if you are trying to find your next place to
go and everything you're looking at is booked.
So it's really important to plan ahead especially
for popular areas if you're near national parks
and things like that. These places sell out so
fast you got a book well in advance and what
I usually do what I'm kind of planning our itinerary
our trip I look at the most popular places that
we're passing through and we want to stay in
I book those first and Because you kind of have
to have some flexibility with dates So book the
hardest to get ones first and then book the easier
ones around that. That's a little pro tip for
you Just a sideline mentioned here February 2025
I went to book a site at Silver Falls State Park
in Oregon, which is Just east of Salem and it's
pretty popular February they were already sold
out couldn't get one night in July. That's how
bad it is sometimes Okay, so when you're looking
for these backup sites Good idea to be looking
at public land and be able to boondock if you
have to. Now in the dead of summer, if you don't
have a generator or you don't have enough battery
bank to run the air conditioner, that can be
a huge consideration, right? I know in the summertime
we like our 30 amp power because we want that
air conditioning going. But public land, BLM,
National Forest, All the ones that allow you
to stay and do what they call disperse camping.
And you also have to think about accessibility
when it comes to getting an RV in there. You
want to be looking at the satellite views on
Google Maps and making sure, hey, is this even
going to be feasible? Because a lot of public
land has disperse camping allowed for up to 14
days, but maybe you can't even get into that
area to camp. Now typically with public land
a good rule of thumb is if you don't see any
signs saying no camping you're allowed to stay
there. Do your research but typically the length
of stay is limited to 14 days which is pretty
generous. You can also look at Google Maps or
RV Trip Wizards or Allstays or one of the many
apps and look for other places in the area. Call
around, see if they have any availability should
your first option not work out. So one of the
biggest downsides to full -time RVing is that
you don't have a permanent home if you're not
a hybrid person but you're actually on the road
and that is 100 % full -time your home. Now things
that happen if your RV gets stolen, that's one
of the worst things right it breaks down or Maybe
it burns to the ground. It's going to leave you
in a situation where you're scrambling for shelter.
So again that emergency fund for Situations just
like that Very important and I'll hit it again
really good RV insurance not expensive You should
get the maximum coverage you can and then also
consider having a storage unit or a home base
to keep some valuables another Solution to this
if you're full -time RVing especially with documents
they sell You can either get like a fire safe,
which is a good thing To have and you can keep
your passports and your birth certificate social
security cards that kind of thing in the fire
safe Those are kind of bulky You know if it's
you don't want something huge for an RV and you
don't want anything very heavy So they sell these
fireproof bags My wife and I bought one of those
and it's just like this document bag. That's
fireproof And it's rated, you know, it can burn
for an hour or something like that, but have
that Buy one of those bags with all your documents
in it and have it in a place where you can grab
it and get out the door and make that a part
of your egress strategy. Grab your paperwork
as you make your way out the door. If at all
possible, keep it in a location where it's easy
to grab. Maybe not for a visitor, but somewhere
where you know you can get to it quick and get
out a window or a door if something should happen.
Let's talk a little bit about things that can
drain your bank account if you're full -time
RVing, especially if you're brand new to it.
So most people don't even think about the cost
of movement. Gasoline is expensive. RVs are typically
not efficient. So think about that and maybe
you're getting on line and you're planning out
your first maiden voyage and you have a plan
to Drive 300 miles every day 400 miles every
day and you're gonna stay in a different RV park
Things are gonna rack up pretty quick because
you're paying a lot of money in gas. So you need
to Be cognizant of that Not only does that add
a lot of stress because driving an RV any kind
of RV is Nowhere near as relaxing as driving
your Honda Civic down the road. It can be a little
bit stressful Now there is the rule of threes
My wife and I have kind of adopted this and typically
here's the rule of threes. We won't travel any
more than three hours on a travel day typically.
Now we make some exceptions especially for the
last leg on the way home. Usually that'll be
a little bit longer because we're motivated to
get home. So not that big of a deal. Maximum
three hours drive time or 300 miles. This is
totally personal preference, but it works if
you follow this rule You'll find that there'll
be a lot less stress and you'll enjoy your time
a lot more and then when you get where you're
going Don't move for three days. So three hours
300 miles and three days of rest in between travel
days makes for Much easier and that's three days
minimum Rest between travel days makes for much
more enjoyable and easier RVing trips if you
ask me and many others. I'm not the inventor
of the rule of threes. I got that from other
folks on YouTube Now another big pitfall that
most new full -timers have Especially if they're
going to be on the road for extended periods
of time You know, even if you're a hybrid you
own a home, but you're gonna be out for a couple
months on a trip or If you buy an RV, sell your
home, and you're going to be out there 100 %
of the time, you want to avoid being in the vacation
mindset. And I say this, but I know that each
and every person is going to go through some
degree of this before they figure it out. They
have to experience it. But a lot of RVers burn
through their savings quickly because it feels
like a vacation, right? When you're traveling
and you're excited, you're going to go eat out
a lot. You're going to be buying all kinds of
souvenirs because you're excited about all the
new places that you're seeing. It's natural.
This is your new normal though. It's not going
to be a vacation. The sooner that you shift to
a budget, budget conscious, sustainable travel
style, the better. Now let's talk about some
stays that may be a little easier on your wallet.
So we did an episode on the thousand trails membership
that offer that offers long term stays for pretty
affordable, especially if you are full time or
going to be traveling extensively. Compared to
regular RV parks and I did a budget breakdown
how much it would cost per night On a certain
trip using our thousand trails membership. It
can be a great option one of the things that
a lot of people enjoy doing and My wife and I
are not quite like this, but a lot of people
love it is boondocking on public lands That's
free, but you're you don't have any hookups and
generally even if you do have A good solar system
and a good battery bank or you're running generators
and you got plenty of fuel you have some limitations
mainly water Where you get in your water because
you can only take so much out with you also gasoline
for in for the generators and then the biggest
and Probably the one that runs out the fastest
is your black tank when that black tank is full
Where are you going to dump it? That is more
than likely going to be your time of stay limitation.
The one thing that makes you move on to go find
a dump station. Now another great way to save
money if you're a full -timer and even make money
is by work camping and we did an episode on that
too. You can stay an entire season at a campground
and get paid to clean bathrooms and check people
in and collect camping fees and so forth. And
we discussed in that episode the two models here.
Some work camping jobs are volunteer only. So
you just get your space and some are paid. I
would encourage you never to accept a volunteer
position without hookups because that is a really
bad deal. And the more people that accept those,
it's communicating to places that hire these
folks that that is acceptable. And it simply
is not. If there are no hookups, they aren't
bringing anything to the table other than a parking
spot. You should not be volunteering there. Otherwise,
you're really making it more difficult for everyone
else involved. In fact, I have I have a bit of
an issue with volunteer programs, period. Hey,
if it works for you, then great. I don't take
the jobs because I think that we bring value
to the table as work campers and it should be
compensated. The more people that accept volunteer
positions, the more these folks that hire these
people are going to see that and go, oh, we can
do this on a volunteer basis. Let's get rid of
the paying positions. And that is going to be
bad for a lot of work campers in the long run.
now sometimes volunteering can be okay if Everything
else is to your expectation Like the Oregon State
Parks when you volunteer You're not required
to do heavy lifting and cleaning bathrooms and
things and they only ask for a commitment of
one month at a time That seems like a pretty
good deal. But if an organization wants you to
volunteer 40 hours a week to clean Crappy bathrooms
and spend six months there doing that and all
they're going to provide you is a parking space
without any hookups You are getting screwed my
friends Okay, we we have to address this one
of the biggest problems with full -time RV living
is the homelessness stigma Just because you live
in an RV doesn't necessarily mean you're homeless.
Now it really gets down to semantics. How do
you define homeless, right? But typically, the
stigma of homelessness is associated with drug
use, mental illness, unhygienic living conditions,
that kind of thing. Now let's be real. There
are full -time RVers struggling with homelessness.
I think it's a separate symptom. of a bigger
issue. But then you have full -time RVers that
work every day remotely, retirees. You have adventurous
families living that way by choice. And I think
that's a huge factor. You know, are they doing
it by choice? Are they traveling by choice? And
are they going and seeing exciting new places?
Or are they traveling a less than maintained
motorhome or travel trailer and getting kicked
out of parking lots That'll kind of tell you
which one you are, you know, if you're thinking
about this now part of the stigma comes from
some Terribly irresponsible RVers that are ruining
camping for everyone else Some RVers will go
out and camp on public land Usually the 14 -day
max they are Well over that when they go they
try to live out there on public land and they
usually trash sites They ignore all the stay
limits. They ignore all the rules. They're out
there doing drugs They're just making it there.
They're painting a very bad picture of what it
means to be a full -time RVer the worst thing
that I've seen and this Happens more often than
I like to admit these same folks. Let's just
call them the trashy folks right the irresponsible
folks Have been caught dumping black tanks on
public land right in the campsite sometimes without
a Stinky slinky or a sewer hose connected They
just pull the valve and let a rip and they dump
all of that human waste right in the campsite
The reckless behavior like this is what leads
to campground closures, national forest closures
to camping. BLM takes a look at it and they say,
no, this is costing us too much money to send
people out to clean up after these guys. So we're
just going to do away with it altogether. So
when you see this kind of thing, it's a good
idea to report it. Many people that go out and
boondock on these public lands actually take
a trash bag and litter pickers and Clean up,
unfortunately, I mean, it shouldn't be your responsibility.
But if you don't do it, if we don't do it as
a responsible public, then these irresponsible
people will likely drive our government agencies
to close these things down and make it unavailable
for the rest of us for good. So to protect free
camping, they're out there cleaning up these
irresponsible people's trash. We need to take
care of these places. It's the only way to maintain
our continued use of them. Well, hey guys, that
wraps up this episode of the Restless Nomads.
Do you full -time RV? What are your biggest struggles
and best tips? Just log on to therestlessnomads
.com, drop us a message, let us know. I'm curious
to hear from other folks and looking forward
to maybe doing some interviews and future podcasts
from full -time RVers. Hey, we've got some exciting
news. We will be hosting the Crescent Lake Campground
this season. So, if you are in the area this
summer, stop by and say hello to the Restless
Nomads, your hosts, Mike and Angie. Well, until
next time, everybody, stay safe, happy camping.
We'll see you on the next episode of the Restless
Nomads Radio Show.