Ready to retire and fulltime RV

[KSrvER.5]

Re: Ready to retire and fulltime RV

Sarge, here is some Ideas, the Corps of Engineers have parks all around your area, hence they have gate attendants and park volunteers, now a gate attendant will get paid and works usually 4-6 month contracts most places you sing for 3 year terms. Here you get free camping/water/electric and some income and "work" its something that keeps the mind busy..yes you will deal with a lot of people but you get regular folks going to the lake and get to know a lot of people, its fun. Another idea is become a volunteer most places you can do a season or a month again its free hook ups and it depends on the place some you might work a lot some not much..I know some parks south east of you like Kaw lake that has many campgrounds and can get several volunteers or gate attendants. Go to the Corps of Engineers website and find lakes and they all have contact info about volunteering its one way to be full time and save a lot of money by staying in parks for free. You can stay at one or many parks during the year. But you could find a small cheap travel trailer and do one summer or even a month of volunteering in your area and get to know folks that do this full time.. Good luck on becoming full time..

 

[H2H1]

Re: Ready to retire and fulltime RV

ALREADY RETIRED, BUT NOT YET READY TO GO FULL TIME

 

[dvfreelancer]

Re: Ready to retire and fulltime RV

We went full time last month but did a lot of research before making the jump. And we still made mistakes. My mom insightfully pointed out that we haven't been at it long enough to know we're having fun. And we got crosswise on our first volunteer gig, so you always have to have a backup. A place you can go if you have to leave. People who keep their homesteads can always run home. That's a good feeling. But we were like you, we couldn't afford the house and living on the road so we sold the house.

Had we gone full time with our first camper, it would have been a disaster. The rig we ended up with is a big improvement. If you can afford a Class A, that's the comfortable way to go. It's easier to overnight in Walmart and Cracker Barrel parking lots. But they're expensive to maintain and insure and you can't exactly drive them to the local gas station for an oil change. We compromised with a big truck and 10,800 lb 5th wheel. It's roomy enough we're not cramped and I can take the truck to the shop for service. If the camper has to go in for service, we can drive down to my mom and dad's while it's being worked on. I like the fiver better than the pull-behinds we looked at, but then you're locked into a bigger (and usually more expensive) truck.

Buying your rig with the house proceeds is tricky unless you have somewhere to stay for a month or two while you shop. Going back to a house isn't impossible, especially with the real estate market like it is now. But my whole concept of housing has changed since moving into an RV, yours may too.