Learn More About Fulltiming at Life on Wheels

Many fulltimers come into the lifestyle with a limited background in RVing. It’s a big challenge to learn how to fulltime, while getting acquainted with the nuts and bolts of RVing at the same time. Some find that getting "life training" really makes things easier. Enter "Life on Wheels," an annual ‘RV college’ put on in several locations throughout the country.

Life on Wheels conferences provide class settings on a wide array of topics: From safety and technical issues, to boondocking and Mexico travel. Fulltime wantabees may really benefit from some of the lifestyle classes.

This years conferences kick of in Tempe, Arizona--which have already filled up. Other locations for the 2007 conferences include Bowling Green, Kentucky; Moscow, Idaho; Bethlehem, PA; and Des Moines, Iowa. For the full slate of information, including classes available, visit the Life on Wheels web site.

How Do You Budget for Fulltiming?

"Can I fulltime on $500 a month?"

This question recently appeared on a fulltime RV forum, and elicited plenty of interest. It's not an outlandish question, but hardly one that can be answered simply. Each individual's needs, wants, and resources vary. Expenses you have on the road will be different than those you now have to cover--but on the other hand, there may be things you pay for now that you won’t on the road.

Here’s a tip: Work up a budget that examines both sides of the issue: Itemize each expense you pay now, and compare to those you may deal with as a fulltimer. To help you out, the RV Hometown website has put together a neat two page budget form that will help you analyze your future. Follow this link to the pdf file.

Finding & Keeping Books on Your RV Travels

If you’re not too old to remember the 1960’s "Batman" TV show, you might recall Roddy McDowall cast in the villainous role of "Bookworm." This bad guy’s locus of activity was, not surprisingly, "The Bookmobile." Seems that McDowall’s character wasn’t the only one who liked his ‘tomes to go,’ plenty of fulltimers are inveterate readers. "Where," cry the newbies, "Can we find books on the road? And where can we put ‘em?"

Finding books on the road isn’t as difficult as it might appear. Yes, there are public libraries everywhere; many have policies that allow books to be lent out to "non residents." Of course, if you’re just passing through, borrowing a book from the local library might not work out. Hold tight, there are a lot of other places to look for reading material.

We’ve found a ready source of books in many towns are book exchange stores, most of whom specialize in paperbacks. These typically "barter" books, asking a small percentage of the books you "buy" in cash. But freebies abound: Many RV parks have "take a book, leave a book" areas; some laundramats in high RV traffic areas provide a similar service. Public library "friends" groups often have a shelf area in the library where books are sold inexpensively or given away.

Keeping books on board the RV is largely a matter of space. If you have room in a cabinet, so much the better. But in our case, we ran out of cabinet space long before we ran out of books to shelve. I constructed a bookshelf to accomodate paperbacks, but driving around corners would empty the shelves. To keep them in place when rolling down the road, I added a special bracket:

A wooden dowel, as wide as the bookshelf, acts as a restraint to keep the books penned in. To hold it in place, brass welding rod is cut and bent to form two hangers--one on each end of the dowel. Each hanger is bent so that one end pokes into a hole drilled in the end of the dowel, the other into a similar hole drilled into the side of the bookshelf.

Insure Your Stuff in a Self-Storage Unit

A wanna-be fulltimer posted this query on an internet forum:

"We are planning to RV full time for about a year. When our home sells, we will place our personal effects ( furniture, etc) in storage and go on the road. Our problem is that our insurance company will not insure our goods when they are placed in storage. As long as we have a house, our homeowners insurance covers the items in storage, but as soon as we sell the home it stops. We were offered insurance through the storage company, but it was very expensive."

What’s a fellow to do? Many wanna-be fulltimers face similar decisions: Unsure if they’ll really enjoy the lifestyle, they don’t want to burn their bridges, so they hang on to various possessions and see how things develop.

Depending on what "very expensive" is in your book, we were able to set up a scenario wherein an RVer in Arizona wanted to insure his storage unit items for $10,000. An insurance brokerage agency got us a quote for $50 a month. If that’s not expensive, it may be a way to give you peace of mind. Here’s a link to TenantOne.

Photo courtesy of frozenchipmunk on flicker.com. This image is subject to the following provisions:Your are free to Share -- to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work and to Remix -- to make derivative works but any use must be attributed to frozenchipmunk.

Are Membership Camping Clubs Worthwhile?

Membership camp clubs--are they the answer for the fulltimer? When we say membership clubs, we refer to outfits like Resort Parks International (RPI) where you "buy" into a "home" campground, and then are able to camp at other affiliated campgrounds around the country, often for a few dollars a night.

It’s a never-ending discussion among new fulltimers. Some swear by such memberships, others swear at them. Here are a few things to consider:

Most all membership clubs charge a fee to get started--some low, some quite high. Fine and dandy. From there, however, is the little matter of annual "maintenance" fees. These can range to a little bit, to several hundreds of dollars per year--even more. And once you’ve tied into a membership club, you’re stuck paying those maintenance dues, even if you don’t ever use a club. You may be able to get out of it, if you can find someone who'll buy your membership.

Some RVers find the membership arrangement advantageous, after all, they can travel all over the US and stay in membership parks in their "system" or a cooperating system for only a few dollars a night. Others say: Yeah, but you’ve got to be in the neighborhood of a cooperating park to take advantage of it; if you’re somewhere else, forget it.

For our part, we've looked into joining, but never found one that seemed like the advantages outweighed the disadvantages, especially since we enjoy boondocking so much. One alternative for those who are "on the fence," is an organization like the Happy Camper Club. While you won't find much camping for three or four bucks a night, you will find campground across the country offering half-off their published rates. Since you’re only "tied" into a $49.00 per year membership, it may be a good way to look around while you think about joining up with 'the big dogs.' Check out a Happy Camper Club membership.

Count Birds--Get Prizes

Fulltimers are sometimes asked: What do you do with all that time to keep from going bats? Forget the bats--some RVers say it’s for the birds. If bird watching is on your hit list, then don’t miss out on the annual "Backyard Bird Count."


Every year the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audobon Society team up to get people out and do a feathered census count. Now in its 10th year, the event will help scientists to see how environmental changes--say urban sprawl and global warming--are affecting our feathered friends. Last year counters tallied up over seven and a half million birds of 622 species. That’s no chicken scratching.


This year participants who send in a birding checklist will be entered in a drawing for some prizes worth squawking about. From birding binoculars to memberships in the Audobon Society (including that nifty "Audobon Magazine," with bird books of all sorts along the way.
So how do you get involved? The great bird count runs from February 16 to 19th in a backyard (forest, swamp, RV park, desert, et al) near you. Sink your talons into the official bird count website at http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/. Hurry up or you won’t beak (er, beat) the deadline.

Home is Where You Park It--For Free!

Many fulltimers give up home ownership, and turn to the "home is where I park it" philosophy. But where do you park it? Across the country, state parks are crying out for volunteers to greet campers, give directions, and do a "host" of other light assignments. In exchange for their service, most parks provide a free RV spot, often with utility hookups.

Two such states in need of volunteers for the upcoming summer camping season are South Dakota and West Virginia. In South Dakota, volunteers will be needed this May through September; 24 hours a week are required. In West Virginia, electric and water hookups come with a free RV site in 16 state parks.

Our advice? State parks like to fill their positions early--apply now!

Welcome to Fulltime RVer!

There’s no way to know just how many folks live in their RVs full time, but the number must be staggering. Why they do it is pretty wide open: Some do it to see the country, others to save money, still others to follow their trade or business. No matter the reason, fulltimers all share their own set of joys and challenges.

For every fulltime RVers, there must be many more sitting "in the wings" biding their time for retirement or home sales to allow them to take to the freedom of the road. Our blog aims to help both the "on the roader," and those in the "not there yet" group. We’ll talk about issues affecting fulltimers from living in the confined space of an RV to broader issues like making a living on the road and payin’ the bills.

We love to hear your feedback! Please use the "comments" column freely. We look forward to seeing you on the blog, and on the road!