I’m an avid follower of RV Life blogs, and vlogs on YouTube. I’m dreaming of the day I can travel full time. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic though, I’m seeing a lot of RV’ers getting stranded with no place to go. They are understandably upset about campgrounds being shut down, public lands being closed to camping, etc. Mostly back in the eastern USA at this point. They are now scrambling for places to stay. I saw one RV’er complaining about people who have homes taking RV trips. “Uh, you could always buy a home and have a place to go back to”, I reminded him. He gave me a flip answer about why should he own two homes. Well that’s all fine and good but don’t complain. People with homes have every right to be out there as much as he does.
But why do I write all this? Because so many people enter into the RV lifestyle with no backup plans, no safety nets. Always have an out. Always have a plan B. Sure it cuts into the “freedom” of the RV lifestyle. There are people out there that earn just enough on the road to pay their bills. They don’t earn enough to save for a rainy day. They don’t save for medical emergencies, maintenance emergencies, or living emergencies like we’re experiencing now. The fact is, private RV parks are open and have MANY open spaces. But this doesn’t fit into the “cheap RV living” narrative all these YouTubers are selling.
Please, Please, PLEASE! If you’re going to live full-time on the road, make sure you are completely ready. Make sure you have a slush fund to deal with emergencies. The best and most realistic discussion I have seen on this comes from a YouTube channel called Chickery’s Travels. They posted a video recently with a very honest and frank discussion about RV contingency planning. I leave you with that. Travel safe!
Air Prayer 
Yes. We saw several vloggers lamenting the loss of their national and state park reservations. Bob and Pearl on “Next Exit” have been saying that for a few years now. Meanwhile all of the nomads over on Bob Wells “Cheap RV Living” channel are so proud of their cheap knife-thin existence. No plan for when the free and cheap situations dry up. Gotta think more than one or two steps ahead.
I really wish the RV channels would stop trying to sell the dream. Dreams are wonderful but plans are wonderfuller! I saw one YouTube video of a young woman who went and bought an RV after watching a few YouTube videos. She moved out of her apartment and into this Class C motorhome and was completely unprepared. She didn’t know how to dump the tanks, she didn’t know about power adapters, she didn’t know about water hoses freezing in the winter, battery care, etc etc etc. She was on her video crying and not knowing what to do next. I hope she sold the RV and moved back into an apartment.
Many people want the perceived simplicity of the lifestyle as depicted by full timers on YouTube but they haven’t even camped out in a tent yet. Start with hiking, then backpacking and tent camping, then try renting a small camper and learn the mechanicals necessary for a safe, comfortable, hygenic lifestyle., all the while, saving to pay cash for their RV home. We take our daily residential living systems for granted. If they can learn to take inconvenience and discomfort in stride, be extremely flexible about plans and have backup plans always in place, they might make it past he first month. 🤪
I want my own bought-and-paid for boondock
spot (maybe several in different parts of the country) that I can install or that have in place electric, water and sewer. House or cabin optional. Travel when we like and stay in place when we like (maybe install buried vaults of prepper stuff—like toilet paper 🤣).
When we age out of traveling we can drop in a tiny house and call it a mini farm. I love you guys! 😘🤗❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Good points! I like the title of the worksheet Scott had made years ago as we start to plan RVing.
**If God wills** <3<3
Indeed! True in ALL things. ❤️