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We love so many aspects of full-time RV life. It is freeing in so many ways – hence our blog name, free as wheel ever be. It affords us the opportunity to go where we want and when we want on our terms. I don’t think we could be any happier and most times we are just down right giddy about it.
“We didn’t think you’d make it 6 months!”
We heard this recently while visiting good friends. I’m sure they aren’t the only ones who have thought it and I admit it went through our minds initially. We went through so much change so fast in the beginning but here we are almost 2 years later with no regrets. While there are definitely things we miss about the brick and mortar stationary lifestyle – hot baths and throwing big parties to name a couple – our love for this lifestyle far outweighs the few negatives! And here’s why…
Loving this full-time RV life because…
Home is always wherever we are
Full-time RV life means we always have our home with us. No packing and unpacking for trips. No lumpy beds or pillows that give me a sore neck. No leaving our kitties with a sitter. We always have a fully stocked kitchen. We never say we forgot this or that because it’s always with us. There is a certain sense of comfort I feel every day because even if we are in an unfamiliar area, we always come home.
We are checking off that Bucket List on the daily
I knew this new full-time RV lifestyle would give us the freedom to do and see all we’ve dreamed of but I underestimated the experiences we would have in a short amount of time. 13 National Parks/Recreation areas. 10 new states. Places we dreamed of visiting when we retired SOME DAY. But who knows what the future holds and if we would have been able to realize that dream of travel. We are changed forever having visited places like The Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, Horseshoe Bend, Lower Antelope Canyon, Lake Powell and many more. This is definitely one of our top reasons for living this nomadic life and this country offers so many unique experiences. Check out our post describing all the best adventures around Page, AZ
We spend quality time with family
I know you hear this a lot, quality vs quantity of time. When we lived in our large house it was a lot of cleaning and maintenance. Plus I was working a job that took me away from the house 50+ hours a week. Because of that stress our occasional weekends and vacation were our only time to satisfy our wanderlust. That did not leave much time left over for family. Since starting this full-time RV life journey we’ve had the tremendous opportunity to be more present in the life of our 5 kids and 5 grandkids. When you are able to park in some of your kids driveways it allows you the opportunity to experience the day to day and not just the occasional weekend. You get to have movie nights, family dinners, game nights, school functions, sporting events, cuddles and so much more.
We were even able to be present for the birth of our youngest grandchild which would not have been possible if we still lived 9 hours away. I wish we would have embarked on this journey when the first grandchild was born because we missed so much. But that’s OK, we are doing our best to catch up and form those relationships now that will last a lifetime. I hope one day they will be able to talk fondly about the time they had sleep overs in Nana and Grandpa’s camper (parked in their driveway) complete with make your own ice cream sundaes and chocolate chip pancakes.
We took a risk, left our comfort zone and found community
I can’t tell you how proud I am of US! We followed our hearts instead of listening to those nagging reasons why we shouldn’t live this life. Fear and discomfort are the reasons why people typically don’t follow or realize their dreams. It can be paralyzing. In our situation, I had lost my job and was going through so many emotional changes and could have easily fallen back into the corporate world – there were definitely opportunities. Instead we choose the unknown. A new way of life – full-time RV life
We left a community we loved and thought we’d never find one that understood our desire to live free. Boy were we wrong about that. Say what you will about social media and the harm it can pose but there is positive side that we discovered. Through social media we have found a community! Like-minded adventurers that are here to support, inspire and lift us up in times of doubt. I’m so excited because as I write this, we are heading to an RV Entrepreneur Summit in Alabama. We will meet face to face with other RVers/wannabe RVers working from the road – for others or themselves. Another reward that makes the risk worth it.
We have less stuff
And let me tell you, with less stuff we have less stress! I don’t know about you but the anxiety I felt when I went to our 3rd floor and looked at all those boxes was huge. With less clothes, I have less decisions to make in the morning. That alone gives me 30 minutes back every day. With less coffee mugs there’s no choices to make and you get that caffeine coursing through your veins sooner. With less TV channels to watch we spend more time outside. With less rooms we have less to clean. Essentially with less stuff we have MORE time and isn’t that what’s most precious. And the even better part, we choose how to spend that time.
We want to hear from YOU now!
If you are living a full-time RV life already, what makes it worthwhile? And if you aspire to live this lifestyle, what are you hoping to love about it?
25 Responses
cindy stanton
Wonderful!
Great job!
You tapped into how many of us feel. I look forward to reading more of your experiences, insight & advice on living more with less ?
Cindy
Tina Klinefelter
Thank you for your comments Cindy! I am so happy you found value in our experience and I will definitely be posting more in the future on this topic! ?
Alicia Beam
Your blog is bringing me to tears. We love having you guys visit us and be close. Having you with us during what was undoubtably the most difficult time in our life, had brought us so much calm during that storm. You will never understand how much we appreciated you both! And now, we get to watch you guys explore and enjoy life and it is certainly something we strive for some day! Keep writing! I love to read it 🙂 love you!
Tina Klinefelter
Oh girl, I love you too! And now I’m crying so many happy tears. Thank you for all the kind words and you know there isn’t anywhere we would rather have been than by your side during that time and now we have the most wonderful granddaughter as a result of all YOUR hard work! xoxo
Sir Bill of Bourbon
Tina, Many thanks to you and Craig for hosting a special friends celebration in Virginia…!☮️❤️
Tina Klinefelter
Our pleasure Bill! We love nothing more than re-connecting with our dear friends! xoxo
Denise Park
Tina, I love reading your posts and will continue while reading your blog. So much fun following your adventures!! Great job and looking forward to more exciting reading.
Tina Klinefelter
Awww thanks Denise! I know you share the same love for travel/camping as we do.
Lori Jenkins
Enjoyed reading your post. Husband and I are interested in doing this in the future. Well, me more than him, but I’m slowly winning him over.
Tina Klinefelter
Thank you for sharing Lori! We love inspiring others to take their own incredible journey! Good luck winning him over! ?
Rosemary Dugan-Lambert
Tina,
I am so glad you and Craig are living life and traveling. I enjoyed reading your blog and look forward to reading some more. Jesse and I would love to RV someday when we are retired.
Rosemary
Tina Klinefelter
Thank you Rosemary! I know you and Jesse will love it. Maybe you can do it sooner once Julian is older. I know many full-time traveling CPAs! 😉
Hailey Donson
Love and miss you guys! Great to read about your crazy exciting interesting life! Love it!!! ❤️❤️❤️
Tina Klinefelter
Love you too Hailey! You’ll have to come visit us on the road sometime! We would love to have you. ?
Calmanistro.com
A luxury fifth wheel, brand new, might cost you $75,000. A similar motorhome will probably cost close to $200K, if not more. The price to space ratio normally holds true on the used market as well. For us, this was very important and made it a better value for us to buy a fifth wheel. We wanted to lower our cost of living when transitioning to full-time RVing and didn t have a lot of money upfront to invest in RV life, so a fifth wheel wasn t as costly of an investment for us.
Tina Klinefelter
I totally agree with the purchase of a fifth wheel being more cost effective than a motor home of same space and luxury. How long have you been enjoying the full-time RV life?
Kelly
How has the pandemic affected your RV lifestyle? Are you feeling secure in spite of it or does it make you wish for a home base? We are considering the lifestyle but recent events have us re-thinking…would love your take on it. Thanks, Kelly
Tina Klinefelter
Hi Kelly! Thank you for reaching out with an excellent question. We are fortunate to be stationary in our RV right now in Florida because of a temporary job assignment. Hoping to be on the road again soon. That being said we feel very secure because we essentially have a home base here in a gated RV park. And even when no new reservations were being taken (due to county and state mandates), we did not have to leave.I know some RVers who had reservations had them canceled and that’s a true unforeseen downside to this lifestyle during a pandemic. Had we been on the road as normal, we would have gone to one of our kids driveways during this pandemic. We are blessed to have that option as many RVers do not and were forced to stay with relatives to wait this out.
One thing I will assure you of, even though it was tough for some RVers on the road during this perfect storm, this community rallied and helped find them places to stay. I will also say that this has taught us all to have some back up plans in place so that would be my advice. Move forward with your plans but be prepared for the unknown. I never would have predicted anything like this happening! Good luck and reach out any time!
Alicia
We love the full-time RV life. Traveling with our young children, working on the road with a different view out our window as often as we choose, and slowly checking things off our bucket list. We’ve been living this life for a year and have no plans to stop anytime soon. I’m so glad we can do this while the kids are young and not just after we retire.
The RVing community has been amazing. There are always helpful people around when we need them and we have learned so much this past year.
I also blog about our adventures over at simplejoyfuljourney.com. Thank you for sharing your reasons why you love RVing!
Tina Klinefelter
Hi Alicia. So happy you are enjoying full-time RV life as well. I see more and more families on the road every day. Wish I had the notion to choose this lifestyle when our kids were younger. And yes, this community is so amazing. I thought I wouldn’t find community on the road, boy was I wrong. Wishing you safe travels!
Ron Morse
Hi Tina,
We’re loving the fulltime RVin life. We’re sitting in Wells Maine enjoying the sunny weather. We retired two years ago today. We started with a DIY campervan and traveled from our home in E Tn to Maine to California twice. Montana Wyoming Colorado and everywhere in between. Last summer while we were in Wyoming my wife and I talked about fulltime RVin. My response was I’ll fulltime but not in this campervan. So we went home to Tennessee, sold our van, but the house up for sale (didn’t sell yet) & in Oct 2019 we bought what we think is a beautiful rv that fits us fine and I was able to keep my Ford F150 4×4 that I didn’t really want to part with. We flat tow it behind our rv. Nov. 13th we hit the road. A little over 8 months now and we’re loving this lifestyle. Your welcome to follow me on Instagram, Rlmorse
Or my wife started one when we hit the road, Retiredrvcouple
Tina Klinefelter
Hello Ron. So happy you love RV life as much as we do! And I’m so jealous you are in Maine when I’m in very hot Florida right now. Enjoy some lobster for me! Thanks for sharing your instagram account. 🙂
Ron Morse
Hi Tina,
Maine been in a heatwave the past few days. Yesterday was 98, felt 110. Now its 83 feels like 95. Tomorrow its suppose to be 98 feels like 105 & today our AC went out. Had an RV Dr. come check it out & he said it lost its freon, I need a new one. ??? But its all part of life on the road.
Tina Klinefelter
So sorry to hear about the AC. Yes this is RV life sometimes. We take the good with the bad. But at least you have lobster! 🙂
Ron Morse
Have you seen my pics of Lobster on my Instagram. We even made lobster mac and cheese. ?
We’ll be back in Fl for the winter.