Bill’s observations on RV life

At the time we bought our RV in November 2016, I thought we’d done enough research to have a good feel for what an RV and RV life is all about.  It turns out that not only did we know very little, but we’re still rookies and still learning and making rookie mistakes. However, that is part of the adventure and the fun.  Anyway, here’s a few things we learned:

We sit up high in our RV with a huge window and get to see incredible vistas and sights as we drive across the great United States of America. Although we intellectually knew the scope, variety, and splendor of what we would see, the reality is simply awesome.  And we’ve only touched the surface.  Every now and then we snap a picture, but the best images are those on our memories.

Driving a large RV with an attached car is both terrifying and cool. You don’t need a special drivers license, but you should.  There are number of things to actively keep track of while driving: where you are in the lane (RF is 8 ft wide in a typically 10 foot lane), turning radius, height restrictions, and the fact that you can’t back up with the car attached.  Mistakes are costly.  On the bright side, you are the king of the road – you can see the fear in the eyes of other drivers.  They will do their best to get out of your way.  We’ve put some wear and tear on our rig – scratches, dents, a couple of windshield chips.  But, it can all be fixed and with time and practice there will (hopefully) be fewer and fewer.

On the demographics side, the full-time or seasonal RV community tends to be dominated by people like us – retired or semi-retired and in our 60’s and early 70’s.  However, there are a lot of people living in, or traveling in RVs from a wide variety of backgrounds and circumstances.  There are Class A and Class C motorhomes, 5th wheelers, and all kinds of trailers of  different sizes, quality, and vintages.  There are professionals that travel from place to place to work – often out of their RVs and home school their children. There is a huge population that just use there RVs for weekend getaways. And there are people who live in their RVs because that’s all they can afford.  Where they all stay depends on the location, amenities, condition, and cost.  Many campgrounds cater to seasonal campers, others to high end RVers, some to transient traffic.  Several places we’ve stayed in are “55 and over only” and/or have a maximum RV age (such as 2010).  As we travel during the school year we don’t see many children except on “good weather” weekends.  This is something we miss – enjoying the sounds and sights of children outside having a good time.

“Our people”, the RV types, are as a group very friendly.  It’s hard to go anywhere in a campground without striking up a conversation.  Most people (ourselves included) who regularly locations in RVs do so for the experiences that travel brings and are generally outgoing.  Most want to share those experiences and hear what others have done. The most common ice breaker is “where ya from ?”.  New York state license plates are a magnet for conversation seekers.  Someone may ask “how do you like your RV ?” – this can lead to hours of discussion over several days.  In the course of these daily conversations we have met all kinds of interesting people, every one of which has their own story.  In some cases they become “transient friends” – people you click with and may stay in touch with through Facebook or email.  The whole social interaction part is one of the best things about the RV lifestyle.

Our Class A RV is an incredible system of systems – think of it this way: it has almost all the appliances that you have in your house, all the controls you have in your car, many of the capabilities of a diesel 18 wheeler truck rig, and a few other things like hydraulic leveler jacks and slide-outs.  And because it’s all squeezed into bus-sized package and is shaken and vibrated every time you drive it, stuff breaks.  This provides endless things to worry about, work around, and fix. I consider this to be a compact version of my adult life.  It’s still great to be challenged and useful  after checking out of my professional world.

Many of our friends and relatives have asked “don’t you get claustrophobic ?”.  This is a reasonable question when you live with your spouse 24/7 in something like 300 square feet. At this time (late March 2018) we’ve spent about 6 months in our RV since we retired a year ago.  I can honestly answer the claustrophobic question with “no” for three reasons. First, we spend a lot of time outside – the beauty of traveling is that you get to pick the place and climate you’re in and we choose “no snow” and “sunshine” to the degree it’s available. Secondly, we are fortunate enough to have a great RV for living – with the slideouts extended it has a nice “great room” and bedroom.  It separates into two rooms nicely each with it’s own TV, so when we want to “do our own thing” it’s easy.  Finally and perhaps most importantly, you need a spouse that is highly compatible, tolerant or your quirks, and likes to do the same things you do.  It also requires you to hold your tongue at times and sense when your other half needs some space.  I count myself as incredibly fortunate, particularly on #3.  Also, we get a 5 month hiatus when we go to Wellesley Island in the summer.

The answer to another common question is “I don’t miss our house”.  At least not right now.  Part of the reason is probably because we’ve been on a virtual vacation for the past 12 months and have none of the household responsibilities or expenses.  The whole Christmas holiday period was interesting – we stayed at 10 different locations and had 14 changes of address over a 3 week period with lots of driving.  However all our hosts (family and friends) were the absolute best and most generous of people.  We had a great time, but it was a bit “more active” than previous years.  The thing I miss the most is a decent internet connection.  Campsite internet is universally terrible or non-existent.  We have a Verizon hotspot and Dish satellite at both our RV and cottage, but it is very limited. We have no streaming video – talk about the dark ages !  Having said that, we’ve learned to cope and it’s a relatively small price to pay for the experiences we’re having.

As I write this, below is a panoramic picture I just took outside our RV in Greenfield, CA (near Monterey) on a nice, but not unusual morning.

WLB