When we decided to sell our house and live in an RV fulltime, the responses we got from family and friends fell into 2 very different and distinct categories:
- The “Oh, I wish I could go with you” jealousy response.
- The “Are you out of your mind?” horrified response.
Of course, those from the second group were the people who suck joy from every happy occasion (the naysayers) — the ones who felt confident that we would be back in a house before the year was out.
Lots Of Questions
Without fail, the people from the second category asked us these questions:
- How can you just walk away from your house like that?
- What will you do if one of you gets sick?
- How are you going to support yourself?
- Won’t you miss your children?
- Where will your children go for Christmas?
- Where will you live when you get too old to drive?
It’s Like A Weight Was Lifted From Our Shoulders
Now that we have been living in our RV home for more than 8 years, I can answer all these questions — and more — without hesitation.
When we handed over the keys of that deteriorating, money pit of a house to the new owners, I felt such joy and relief!
I no longer had to worry about the huge mortgage, the roof that needed repair it seemed like every other year, mowing the grass that refused to die over the winter, or whether or not the proposed 4-lane highway just outside the subdivision entrance was going to lower our property value.
I was FREE! Free to go anywhere I decided to pull that travel trailer.
Things Have A Way Of Working Out
Six months into our new lifestyle, Jim was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue — the big “C” word that everyone dreads to hear. That was about as sick as anyone can get. He had to go through:
- Having all his teeth extracted
- Surgery to remove the tumor, half of his tongue, and 17 lymph nodes
- 37 radiation treatments afterwards
But, while he was going through it all, he did not have to worry about mowing the lawn, repairs or upkeep of a house, whether or not we had the money to pay the mortgage.
All he had to do was sleep on the sofa, and walk outside twice a week to empty the holding tanks on the RV.
How We Make Ends Meet
We’ve been working in RV campgrounds and RV resorts almost since day one.
We moved into the first campground 10 miles from our old house, and Jim started working there the next day.
We usually decide where we want to go, then start looking for a job in that area about 6 months before we go there.
While we won’t get rich working in campgrounds… a free full-hookup campsite, free use of the laundry facilities, free wi-fi, and more than minimum wage for all the hours we work can keep us pretty well fed!
We are quite frugal during the summer months — so that we can do volunteer work in the off-season. It works out well for us.
Family Ties For Fulltime RVers
Yes, we do miss our children, but even if we still lived in a house, we would miss our children.
Two live in Georgia, but rarely had the time to just drop by when we lived in the house. One is in the Air Force, and has only just recently been assigned to a US base — having spent 9 years overseas.
And I tell people if the kids want to visit us for Christmas, they can rent a cabin, a hotel room, or bring a sleeping bag — all of which they have done over the years.
Our children think it’s great that we are enjoying our life and doing what we want to do — and they come to visit as often as they can.
I have no idea where we will end up, but I’m in no hurry to make a decision. We still have a few miles to go down the road before we have to decide where to hang up the keys. By then, we will probably have changed our minds as often as we change the scenery outside our RV window!
If you come to a fork in the road, take it. — Yogi Berra
