RV Stuff: Our Life in JohnnyDisco

This post is in response to an email we got a few days ago.

The folks who sent the email are a Saskatchewan couple in their 40's.  They are attempting a similar lifestyle to My Fella and I, heading south for the winter in their Class C motorhome. 

The new snowbirds had a few questions about this gypsy kind of life.  Can't reprint too much of the email I received since I never asked permission, but this will give you a snapshot of who they are:

"We have some experience as RV'ers, but certainly not as travellers.  We are a little apprehensive about heading south into the States, but we are so excited as well.  Our friends say we are crazy to give up our jobs, and spend 6 months in a little motorhome together, but we are best friends, and we are more than ready to jump off the hamsterwheel as well. 

We sold the big house last year, and were thinking of fulltiming, but so many obstacles came up, that we ended up buying a new condo.  Things like - how do you give a permanent address for Drivers Licences, income tax, health care, mail, etc.  Hey, maybe these can be some ideas for future blogs.....it seems like fulltiming is harder for Canadians, doesn't it ?"

First of all, thanks for reading the blog and thinking we know what we're doing  :)   My Fella and I have only been full-timing for 18 months so we're still newbies too.

But here's a few thoughts in response to your questions:

When we made the decision to move into an RV fulltime, we had no idea how it would go or what to expect.  Now both My Fella and I wish we would have done this years ago.  This lifestyle is very addictive and the freedom is hard to put into words.

The few downsides are the obvious ones:  limited storage space, lack of personal privacy at times, whole new learning curve, etc. But My Fella and I are very respectful of each others space and are usually able to compromise.

The many positives of this lifestyle far outweigh the negatives:

• always having the comfort of our home with us
• cheaper cost of living
• freedom and flexibility to move our home when necessary
• being able to travel with our mutts
• not being tied to a specific location or nasty neighbours

RVing in the USA is basically the same as Canada, except cheaper.  Gas, food, RV parks - almost everything has a smaller price tag.  Most of the USA is RV travel friendly and the interstates make the country easy to navigate. 

Our fave site for getting honest RV park reviews is RVparkreviews.com.  And we are members of discount camping clubs Passport America and Camp Club USA who both offer 50% off at RV parks across the USA.   Both memberships have time/length of stay restrictions but are still well worth the money.  

And a quick final note with regards to getting your mail when you have no fixed address:  we have a UPS box that has a suite number - which means we have a legal street address for things like income tax, bank statements, etc.  The cost was $165 for 15 months and for an extra fee they will ship our mail to us wherever we are travelling in either Canada or the USA.

Hopefully this post has helped anyone interested in full-time RVing.  And maybe some of the regulars (with more experience) will add their two cents in the comments.

And to the Sask couple that emailed me in the first place:  Good luck with your new snowbird adventure!  And JohnnyDisco (our unit) wanted to pass on a 'Hello honk' to your Class C   :)

Comments

[Don]

We full timed for 4 years and one thing that bothered us was not having a real address in Canada to come back to. I think that if you kept your condo and rented it out or if you can afford just to let it sit empty, you might decide to return to it once in a while or finally sell it if you find you don't miss a home base. We never had an anxious moment for our safety anywhere in the USA.

[Rae]

It is indeed harder for Canadian full-timers. Another Canadian full-timer and I wrote an ebook about the lifestyle. You can get more info at http://full-time-rving-in-canada.ca/ It will answer most, if not all, of your questions.

[Trent and Teresa]

Hi Kelsi...

Thank you ever so much for addressing some of the issues we are facing !!

I gave my notice today at work, and to say we are a little excited is a huge understatement....sometimes I get these "waves" of excitement because I still can't believe that our time has finally come. We have been wanting to escape our cold, dark, winters for many years !!

I hope to meet helpful folks like you on the road, who are willing to share ideas and solutions

Take care, Trent & Teresa

[Croft]

I sent this on to my friend Rae, a full timer herself who actually wrote a book on full timing in Canada. She might reply here.

[Croft]

Hi Trent and Teresa! I see you are finally about to take the plunge! When you start your Blog make sure to send me the link.

[kelsi]

Trent & Teresa - you're so welcome!
By the way, I agree with your assessment - RV lots in most of BC are quite pricey. My Fella and I are in no hurry to buy one right now, but in the next 5-ish years (after he quits his summer golf job) we talked about buying a small RV lot somewhere in the Maritimes. Or maybe Mexico.
The other wonderful thing about this lifestyle? You can try out so many new locations until one feels like 'home'.
Please keep in touch.
And ditto what Mexi-Croft said - let me know if you and your SweetPea start a blog!

[Monty Germaine]

I especially love the desert photo at the end. Looks like good ole Arizona.

[Mave]

we ditto Dave and Kelsi's view on full-timing, although we haven't given up the condo yet. This will be our third winter down in Mexico and we both can't wait to go. We did a test run in our new rig, by going to visit relatives in Sask, named Dos, which means two in spanish. This is a newer rig that has 2 slides compared to our really good old rig which we traded in. Btw, we are Dave's parents and they got us to Mexico the first year and we can't thank them enough. Thanks Dave & Kelsi.

[kelsi]

Hey there Monty - I just checked out your website (RVrenovators.com) down in Mesa. Do you get a lot of Canadian customers?
And just out of curiosity, what's the weather been like in Mesa so far this summer? Here in BC, we've had the wettest July on record. I'm sure a LOT of Canucks are looking forward to some sun this winter in Arizona!

[kelsi]

Welcome home Mavey y Miguel. Hope you had a great time in Sask. We watered your plant twice... and left a couple frozen pizzas in your freezer :)
Love the name of your new rig by the way. And when are you starting up your blog again Mavey?