Day in the Life of a Full-Time RVer
Over time, we have heard a variation of the question, “what is it like to be a full-time RVer?” and honestly, it is a little hard to answer. I think we would have a hard time synopsizing what it was like living full-time in a sticks and bricks too. Perhaps an easier way to talk about the uniqueness of this lifestyle is to point out some of the similarities and differences to a traditional, American way a living.
Mobile versus stationary
The most obvious difference is that you bounce your home around the country or you place your home on a piece of land for a period of time with the ability to move it when needed or wanted. This is certainly a benefit if you want to travel and see the country while still having your things surrounding you. The downside is that you are bouncing your home around the country thus making it a depreciating asset. Every night you need to have a place to park your home. If parking your home in a campground, you most likely don’t get to pick your neighbors. Picking up and moving, especially if you are doing it frequently, can get tiresome. You may find that as you travel, you tend to stay longer in a spot than you initially started doing. Being as mobile as you want is both awesome and can be stressful.
It’s not always a glamorous lifestyle
The internet shows all the beautiful locations you can access with your rig and the perfect evenings sitting around the magical campfire. Reality is that you need to dump your own waste water every 3-7 days, burn-bans are common in certain areas of the country, bad weather confines you to a very small space in a camper and there are camping spots where you can actually reach out and touch your neighbor. There are many beautiful camp spots around the country and equally awful ones too. Adjustments in expectations is a must if you want to keep your sanity.
Things will break
Remember the comment about a depreciating asset? Bouncing water lines, electrical circuits, fasteners, and framing down the road causes wear and tear which causes things to break- even in brand new rigs. If you accept this right away, your stress level will go down tremendously. The internet will become your best friend and you will quickly realize the value of campground expertise.
More time for what you want to do
Before it sounds like this lifestyle is all doom and gloom, there are wonderful benefits. One of the benefits that we weren’t expecting was the fact that we have much more time for things we want to do rather than things we had to do in our previous life. Commuting, work, commuting, lawn, cleaning, maintenance of 2100 sq ft, etc. left us little time at the end of the day. We lived for weekends. Now, with the flexibility of our business and with only 325 sq ft to maintain, our obligations have decreased and we have more time to explore and live life intentionally.
Less stress
I remember getting anxious every Sunday afternoon which would manifest itself in crabbiness. What I realized over time was that I was starting to feel stressed about the week and angry that my weekend of “freedom” was ending. We have noticed that our lives are much less stressful since starting this journey. Of course, any lifestyle will cause some stress, however, for us, we have slowed down and are enjoying each day for the gift that it is rather than yearning for the weekend. I no longer have the anxiety of Sunday evening and in fact, sometimes even forget what day it is!
Daily Agendas
Perhaps it would help to see what some average days are like on the road. Again, there are a million different variations of these agendas however it should give you a decent idea of what life may look like.
Moving Day Agenda
Get up (5:00am-7:00am)
Breakfast (basically caffeine) and get ready for the day
Start securing belongings and getting slides ready to pull in.
VACUUM and VACUUM again. (If rocks or anything hard gets near the slide wheels, it will scrape the floor.)
Dump the tanks (if we have sewer)
Wrap up and secure the water hose and filters.
Pull in slides
Hitch up the 5th wheel to the Truck- secure leveling pads and chocks.
Do a final walk around- everything is locked, levelers are up, safety chains secured etc.
Hit the road! Drive for 3-8 hours depending on conditions and where we are staying.
We usually try and have something premade for lunch or easy to assemble as our fridge is a little buried and there isn’t much counter room to prepare a meal.
Get to site hopefully by 3:00pm. If it is a quick overnight, we drop the front stabilizers and stay hooked up. We usually don’t pull the slides out.
Otherwise, we do everything in reverse. (Detach, level the rig, push out the slides, set everything up inside to live again.) This takes about 45 minutes.
After we set up,
We have an easy supper meal to prepare for the first night too.
We usually take a walk around the campground to get the lay of the land.
I check out the laundry, if they have one, and see what payment system is needed. Many have electronic pay systems now however a couple of sites we needed cards issued at the management office. During off season, the office many be open for limited hours so it is good to get the cards before you haul all your laundry over.
We sit outside and often times meet our neighbors or others walking by.
Day at the Campground
(If something is broken, we spend the day troubleshooting and fixing the issue.)
Wake up
Take the dog for a walk
Have breakfast and get ready.
Check emails, Social Media, analytics, write
Go play something (pickleball, mini golf, chess, puzzle etc.)
Lunch
Maintenance
Walk the dog
Sit outside, work on something on the camper or do a hobby
Dinner
Go for a walk with the dog
Go play something, ride the bikes, or sit outside
Play a game inside or work on business
Watch TV or a movie inside
Get ready for bed
Out and about day
Wake up
Take the dog for a walk
Have breakfast and get ready.
Head out to explore (drive, hike, event, whatever!)
Sometimes we mix our hiking and events with needed shopping. Combining trips helps to save time and fuel! We like farmer’s markets too so we get to have an event and grocery shopping at the same place. Win!
Get back to camper and spend the rest of the day either inside or outside depending on time and energy level.
For us, we like to have an active day followed by a day back at the campground. Exploring takes a lot of our energy so it is nice to recharge. If we only have a few days in an area, we find that we do a lot of exploring and are very tired when we arrive at our next site. You will learn what works best for you and your energy level too.