My Full-Time RV Lifestyle Is Nearing the End

[ATCguy]

Well, after 6 full years, and a damn good portion of the 2 years prior to that… I’m putting an end to my days of being a full-time RVer.

Earlier this week, I signed a lease on a home in Cody, WY where I’ve spent a good portion of my time on &/off over the past 3 years. Starting in mid-August I’ll be settling down there for awhile, and just making shorter RV trips to get away occasionally.

It’s been a GREAT run, and I’ve enjoyed just about every day of my nomadic traveling life. I’ve been blessed & fortunate enough to have checked off just about every place on my ‘wanna-go-there’ & ‘wanna ride my motorcycle there’ lists… many of them multiple times now.

But the bottom line is, these days… well it just isn’t as much fun anymore.

If you care, or maybe just bored and want something to read… here’s the longer version:

There are various reasons that have brought me to this point, and I’d actually considered doing it a couple of years ago. But I have to say that 2 things have seriously brought me to the point I am now.

First is the near-continuous maintenance & repair issues I’ve had on the rig just this year… though I know that could be mostly resolved by trading it in on a new one. I got lucky, and have had a pretty good unit. But with the high miles & constant use it’s had… as Frank’s said in another post… “It’s time”.

The 2nd, and more compelling reason is the change & evolution of the lifestyle that many of us have witnessed within the past 24 months.

As I said, it’s just not as fun anymore. This is not a slam against anyone, nor do I mean these next comments to be insulting, because we were all new to RVing at some point. But the overwhelming influx of newbies into the RV world… combined with the high demand & low availability of campsites, has turned what used to be a leisurely activity into a labor-intensive quest for desirable locations.

Gone are the days of being able to somewhat ramble about, and wander the country aimlessly… to make plans & amend reservations on the fly, and just go wherever you felt like going. While I’ve always had a basic itinerary, it was always easy to change direction and amend the plan if desires changed. If I got late notice to meet up with a friend or 2, or if maintenance & repair issues arose causing me to delay departure… it wasn’t all thot difficult to make alternate arrangements. But that just isn’t available anymore. The same goes for trying to get RV maintenance & repairs. The service centers (which have always been busy) are now overwhelmed and booked with clients for over a month in advance in many cases… making the ability to get in for emergency repairs damned-near impossible. This is especially true with many of the newbies having no discernible mechanical knowledge of their rigs whatsoever. They buy these things thinking they have the same build quality, reliability, and customer service options as their Acura’s & BMWs… and are genuinely surprised when they find out that’s not the case.

Although the numbers have been ticking up for awhile (to include the time I bought my RV and began), and things were beginning to change… the invasion of COVID into the world kicked all of the changes in this business & lifestyle into high gear. People quit flying, they didn’t trust hotels… but they still wanted to get away occasionally, even if it meant just staying close to home. Then the celebrities, who were no strangers to staying in RVs on movie lots & filming locations, began posting videos of their travels in their own safe little RV cocoons on social media… and a whole new means of travel was exposed to the masses. They went out and began buying RVs by the hundreds & thousands.

I read a report recently which stated than an estimated 1.2 MILLION RV units had been purchased in the past 24 months (new & used)… overcrowding an already underdeveloped campground/RV park network, unprepared for larger modern-day rigs, nor updated with sufficient modern amenities (WiFi, site development, etc)… which only added a generously estimated 20,000 sites nationwide.

Now I have no idea if those numbers are accurate… but if they are, the math works out to a 60-to 1 deficit. Or in other words… 60 new RVs on the road for every new site that was built. Even if you consider that probably only half of them are on the road at the same time… that still works out to 30-to-1.

As such, it’s no wonder why it’s so hard to find & make reservations anywhere less than 6 months to a year in advance.

And before anyone gets their pantries in a wad… I wanna make it clear that I’m NOT blaming everything on the new owners. As I said, 8 years ago, I was a new owner. My comments were about the evolutionary cause & effect the huge short- term influx has had. Plus, there are many other factors that were calculated in my decision. Some trivial… some major… but most too involved to to list here with out becoming a full blown book, complete with chapters.

But some of those other factors are that I’m getting older… the lingering aches & pains from my spinal injury a few years back are making tasks more difficult to accomplish… and, going back to comments made above, campsite prices are going through the roof. The laws of supply & demand are in full effect… and unless you don’t mind staying in either a plain dirt field, or a campground sitting beside an industrial area, the daily rates are getting damned expensive in most any location that has a desirable attraction nearby (national park, sports venue, the beach, etc).

So that’s why I’m getting out… at least for now. I don’t mean out of RVing altogether… just out of the full-time mode.

Who knows, maybe the market will change again in a year or 3. The same report also stated that its estimated that over 60% of these recent buyers won’t keep their RVs after things eventually normalize, and they begin trusting the convenience of airline travel & hotel occupancy again. Of course, by that time, I’ll be older still… and I’m quite certain my health won’t have improved significantly. But we’ll just play it by ear, and see how it goes.

[sundancer 87]

Well Tom, you can smile when you say 'I did it' and not frown if you had to say 'I could have done it'.


That's my smile when I lived on the beach for 20 years, I did what some people dream about.


No regrets man!

[lcv800]

Stay in touch. Thanks for all your help over the years.
Rusty

[franktafl]

That comes as a shock since some of us have been living our lives vicariously through your adventures.

[ATCguy]

Originally Posted by franktafl

That comes as a shock since some of us have been living our lives vicariously through your adventures.

Oh, I’ll still be around. Like I said, I’ll still be making trips with the RV… I just won’t have to carry nearly everything I own with me, or have to use a different barber-doctor-dentist-grocery store every time I need their services.

[sundancer 87]

Good to know the bed time stories won't have ended with you being mostly stationary.

[ATCguy]

Originally Posted by sundancer 87

Good to know the bed time stories won't have ended with you being mostly stationary.

You should see the “un-edited” draft I typed up before posting what I did. That’s where the whole “…full blown book, complete with chapters” reference came from.

[Ovalvw]

With having been camping in For the last 25 years with various campers In and around mostly central Florida Our family completely understand where you’re coming from a year or two ago you just make a phone call on a Thursday and have a site for Friday or the weekend or whatever. Luckily we are used to summer camping and take the ATVs out in the side-by-side so getting in campgrounds in the summer (Mud parks)is not as hard as other times.and our Older campers they were new back then did not have near the maintenance issues of the stuff they’re pushing out today you are very right about most younger people with their Acuras and such not having the mechanical abilities. Our family completely understands where you’re coming from All our best central fla

[Redfour5]

I've heard of many "former" full timers doing what you are doing for the same reasons. What used to be fun is now work and the "courtesy" of people who have been camping for years or decades full timers or not is lacking in the newbies. Some of it may be ignorance, but a lot of it is just the more raw nature of the society we presently live in. The first time I heard someone say, I can't get any signal for their phone and being extremely loud and frustrated, I knew the world had changed. A lot of rude people in the world today, always right, never wrong, judgmental and just plain nasty in their responses even when you politely point something out. So, we find ourselves no longer telling others about our "secret" places and altering our camping to Sundays through Tuesday instead of Friday to Sunday and getting online for reservations at the very beginning of 90 day windows and putting "alerts" on others in case someone cancels. This actually has worked a couple of times at very good places. So, adapting, but we pretty much have taken a fifth wheel off our long term plans as we simply don't want to deal with the new reality. And if you are offended by this anyone, go look in the mirror to see if it resonates with you in any way...

[sundancer 87]

Originally Posted by Redfour5

I've heard of many "former" full timers doing what you are doing for the same reasons. What used to be fun is now work and the "courtesy" of people who have been camping for years or decades full timers or not is lacking in the newbies. Some of it may be ignorance, but a lot of it is just the more raw nature of the society we presently live in. The first time I heard someone say, I can't get any signal for their phone and being extremely loud and frustrated, I knew the world had changed. A lot of rude people in the world today, always right, never wrong, judgmental and just plain nasty in their responses even when you politely point something out. So, we find ourselves no longer telling others about our "secret" places and altering our camping to Sundays through Tuesday instead of Friday to Sunday and getting online for reservations at the very beginning of 90 day windows and putting "alerts" on others in case someone cancels. This actually has worked a couple of times at very good places. So, adapting, but we pretty much have taken a fifth wheel off our long term plans as we simply don't want to deal with the new reality. And if you are offended by this anyone, go look in the mirror to see if it resonates with you in any way...

You and Tom are right on point with reasons to put away the 'camper'. For some of us we don't have that long to put up with the sorry society of today. If we keep shaking our heads at the disadvantaged out there we might just make our heads fall off.

[dsol]

I think part of the challenge is with the country so locked down for so long that many people turned to camping almost out of desperation. They didn’t know much about it, and didn’t know many that camped either but needed to do something other than sit at home. Many received stimulus money and weren’t spending as much because of limited things to do.

Hopefully, all these types will not like it and get bored with it when they realize it takes some work and planning and eventually let their RV’s sit and rot in storage as they can start to go to hotels, time shares and amusement parks.

Finding camp sites in So Cal has always been really difficult and required reservations as early as possible, especially during the summer and I could see how full timing would be really hard here. We have some places we camp regularly that are not federal or state and we rebook holiday weekends for the next year each time we go. Obviously, that doesn’t work at state and federal places.

Furthermore, during the pandemics many places were closed which limited options even further as all these new rigs hit the road. It was a perfect storm of events limiting supply, increasing demand and just screwing things up.

Hopefully, this passes!

[lcv800]

Got so tired of playing the game with reservations and wait periods, found a spot in Fort Myers Beach Florida and just bought a spot. Pricey but a good feeling knowing I have a site for the rest of my RV-ing days.
Rusty

[ATCguy]

Originally Posted by lcv800

Got so tired of playing the game with reservations and wait periods, found a spot in Fort Myers Beach Florida and just bought a spot. Pricey but a good feeling knowing I have a site for the rest of my RV-ing days.
Rusty

I’ve thought of doing the same at one of the usual winter resorts I frequent in Arizona. But even that still does nothing for me during the busy summer travel season, and I sure as hell don’t want to be down there enduring 100+ degree temps every day from June through September.

[sundancer 87]

I lived in that Arizona sun for nearly 30 years, ain't nuthin wrong wif me, ain't nuthin wrong wif me.

[lcv800]

I don't blame you Tom. Snowbirding, fine but not all year round. Ugh!

[videoarizona]

Tom, you hit the nail on the head. Thank you.

Lack of manners will probably be the reason we stop RVing. As others have said, rudeness is "in" these days. I don't take kindly to that behavior.

The people I've met over the years in RVs have been some of the nicest people you ever want to meet. At least I got to experience that!

Enjoy your "non-rolling" home!
If you get up and go outside to check the propane, we will understand....grins!

[dmcvey]

I would say I agree with almost everything you mentioned in your article. Been RVing for about 40 yrs. and things have definitely changed. Started with a 24' travel trailer, progressed to 30' TH and now 4 yr. old 40' Voltage. I think more than anything the most disappointing thing for me is the lack of quality or the feel of security in towing a newer RV. I had numerous suspension failures which ran into the thousands to repair. My older units never had these problems which made my towing and maintenance much less aggravating. As for the booking of campsites, I have had the same problem. Instead of trying to book in the remote high sierra' s I have instead stayed at the mega rv resorts along with 300 other RV's. Not my cup of tea, but at least I can home base and travel with the truck to sites I used RV to.

[RVNevada]

Tom,
Sorry to here your cutting back, well I'm joining you, I will still go to AZ for winter in the Gila Bend Area, but hope that the new ones will slow down and we can get back to sometimes just arriving at a camp ground and find a spot.....I am taking the Grandkids to Disneyland in so cal, and already had to make a Res. because they don't have too many pull-tru spots for 43ft toy haulers....Good Luck Tom, it will get better........I hope, turning 70 next year, so not to many years for me to enjoy!!

[CSCLARK]

Well Tom I have to agree. I have seen a drastic change in the RV environment over the last 24 months or so as well. Rudeness, unfortunately is in. I used to go out of my way to help just about anyone that pulled in a spot that looked perplexed, not anymore. They all know it all and mostly keep to themselves and their cell phones nowadays. I just sit back and laugh more now then ever before, entertainment is cheap in an RV park.

Going on 5 years full-time myself and both of us are still enjoying it for the most part. Main reason we still chug along is we are doing more mooch docking, visiting family and friends we haven't seen in years, which has been awesome. Yes the 2014, Voltage 3990 has miles on her but TODAY I can still pretty much fix anything broken!

Been great following you along and your help like Rusty and the rest have made it not just easier but amusing as well. Safe travels, enjoy the home times but keep in touch too.

Chris