1. Nothing free is ever that good. There is always more minuses than pluses.
2. Bathroom showers in all rv parks are never that clean. I guess they’ve never heard of bleach or hand-held shower nozzles.
3. Everything is filled with both good and bad. There is an upside and a downside to everything.
4. There are too many smokers everywhere. We often have to tolerate them in RV parks because there is no such thing as a non-smoking rv park. The rv’s are parked so close together that smoke from a neighboring rv can be torture for people like us, but there is nothing we can do about it except close up the door and windows. Not easy to do on a warm day. We are forced to endure until we can move on to somewhere else and hope to get lucky. We usually request not to be near smokers but they can’t always accommodate us.
5. Bars and restaurants are often smoky. Even smoking areas can overlap into the non-smoking areas. One has to learn to tolerate.
6. Try to eat before going anywhere or you’ll end up eating in restaurants. That may be fine part of the time but most of the time you’ll want to eat your own food in your home—your rv. And eating out gets very expensive and can drain a bank account. Always allow time to eat before going to movies or other events or you’ll be starving and eat their expensive food.
7. The more outdoors type of camping you do, the more problems with insects. Hornets, bees, flies and red ants are always a problem. The greener and more forested the area is, the more bugs. We use a hornet’s trap and ant trap when we need to, and we hang fly strips if necessary. We also sprinkle salt around our patio area to deter ants, but we only do this if the patio area is gravel or dirt. We don’t do it if there is grass or plants.
8. If a picnic table is provided at our rv space (and they are only half the time), we always turn it upside down to sweep it and spray it with bug spray, to kill any spiders lurking about. We let it dry and air out and then wash it down and apply a tablecloth when it is dry.
9. RV people are the best people in the world. All so helpful, friendly and cooperative and yet, they understand boundaries. That’s important when living in such close quarters. We always try to behave likewise everywhere we go.
10. RV people divide up into groups. The 1st group, the largest, are the retired people who either live and travel on the road, or are out often or for extended periods of time. The 2nd group are the vacationers. These are people with or without families who still work and go camping or rv traveling when they get vacation time for a couple of weeks at the most. The 3rd group are the poor who hit upon hard times and found themselves without jobs, then went broke, lost their home and now all they can afford is to live in their run-down rv/camper/trailer and live in an rv park. Some of these have struck a deal with the parks they live in. Free or reduced rent in exchange for work. Of these poor, some are permanently disabled, mentally or physically, and cannot work and have to get by on social security or disability payments. And of these, many are veterans. So be respectful.
11. There are rich and poor rv’ers and they are easy to spot by the type of rv they drive. The big, new, executive ones pretty much tag someone as rich, while the others are pretty much the same and drive modest rv’s. There isn’t any snobbery though, which is nice to see.
12. I have rated rv parks on a 5 star rating, with 5 being the really beautiful, executive, exclusive and expensive parks. There aren’t that many of those and they are only for rich golfers in my opinion. A 1 star is a dismal, dirty, run-down park while 2 and 3 stars are sort of average. What makes me rate them high or low is the condition of the bathrooms. A 4 star is the best with newer facilities, lots of amenities, great bathrooms. We mostly stay in 2-3 star parks. Obviously, we try to get the best possible park at the lowest possible price.
13. Part of traveling is to experience new things and that means both food and activities. We ate things like Honey Crisp Apples (a variety we’d never heard of before), and elk jerky and marionberries. Activities could be something like zip-lining, bungie-jumping, a helicopter ride, a boat tour, trout fishing, going to the ballet or opera, or any number of things you’ve never done before.
14. We have 2 – seven gallon propane tanks. We use one up every 2 weeks and it costs about $25 to fill it. Propane is what we use for the hot water heater, the heating and the cooking. It costs about $50 per month for propane. We also have a 3 gallon propane tank that we use to cook on the little BBQ grill we have outside.
15. With our solar panel it costs about $20 per month for electricity. The electrical is what we use for lights, a/c, electronics (tv, computers) and the refrigerator. Our hot water heater has electric capability but we don’t usually use it. With our solar panel, we only use about $20 per month of electricity.
16. It costs us about $50 per month to do laundry in the RV park Laundromat which is usually cheaper than using the Laundromats in town.
17. We’ve learned that there are 2 types of rv parks—the camping experience of State & National Parks and lakes in wilderness areas, and the town rv parks which are privately owned. State and National Parks don’t always have full hook-ups but the town parks always have full hookups. The State and National Parks require reservations in advance, the town rv parks you can just arrive and get a spot if they have room.
18. Town rv parks are usually located in the ‘bad’ or ‘not so good’ areas of a town. The hotels get the prime real estate, the rv parks get the leftovers. At least, the affordable parks do. In Tempe, Arizona the park was next to the metro and there were shootings and police sirens all the time. In Morro Bay, Calif, our park was on the beach but next to the waste water treatment plant. In Tucson, the park was on the outskirts of the ugly side of town and was overcrowded and run down. That park catered to the poor, disabled, and vets. In Las Vegas, the rv park was very nice but located in the northern part of town next door to Nellis Air Force Base and the jets drove us crazy with their noise. In Corpus Christi, the park was across from a school and next door to a cemetery, and near the chemical plants which spew smoke all day long. Often we’ve stayed in parks that are right next to the freeway or next to an airport so the noise is constant. In a State or National Park, it tends to be quieter, except of course, for the party people on the weekends. In town rv parks you don’t see children too much. Mostly the travelers are our age or older. At lakes and in the National and State parks you see families with kids more.
19. RV’s have small living quarters no matter how big they are. People who have some sedentary hobbies and interests will do better than someone who is active all the time and claustrophobic in small areas. While it’s important to be active every day and get some exercise, there are times when you’ll be stuck indoors and you’ll need some quiet interests. TV and movies, reading, writing, puzzles, computers, games, practicing music on a portable instrument (guitar, flute, etc.), crafts and hand stitchery, even cooking and baking are all good ways to pass the time.
20. You have to enjoy or at least tolerate driving to do this lifestyle because there is a lot of driving involved. Having a good car stereo and radio is helpful, having conversation with your partner, and being able to tolerate quiet is important.
21. Cooking in the trailer is different than cooking at home with a lot more space and more gadgets. In the trailer I am having to learn how to cook very simply with fewer implements, less pots and pans and even less food. I use my crock pot a lot more—even making lasagna in it and didn’t even boil the pasta—just broke it to fit in the layers and let it cook several hours on low. It tasted fine, but was a little dry as I didn’t take into account that I should have thinner sauce and needed more liquid to cook the pasta. Next time I’ll know and adjust the recipe for it. As I said, a new learning experience. I also use the top of the stove more—more skillet cooking and sautéed food. Meals are very simple—only one or two items. We like burgers and meat so we grill as much as we can outdoors. But a burger meal is just a burger with no frills—no chips, no potato salad unless there is company, which is rare. So in some ways, we’re eating less. I have to buy small amounts of everything. No more buying large bottles of olive oil, we buy the smaller ones even if it cost more per ounce. We no longer buy the 2 for 1—we just don’t have space for extras. I buy grated cheese instead of grating my own—it’s easier. I’m not above using convenience foods when it is just easier. I have to think about making as little mess in my tiny trailer kitchen as possible. Plus, we just don’t want to be home too much. The reason for travel is to be out and about experiencing the area we are in. So we even eat out quite a bit. We don’t want to buy a lot of food and then end up throwing it out either. Hence, we only plan a couple of days of meals and they may actually end up lasting a whole week if we are eating out and on the go. We’re not above using some canned food, something we rarely did at home. I buy canned soups and canned meat like chicken or tuna for quick sandwiches, or on crackers when I don’t have bread, or on salad if I don’t have crackers. But I don’t buy up a lot of this either. No space for it. I do utilize my tiny freezer to freeze a small amount of leftovers if necessary but I can’t save much, so we have to cook small amounts—something else new I am having to learn to do. I buy only small containers of coffee, no room for the big cans. I can only have 1 bottle of salad dressing at a time. No room for several bottles. We use it up before we buy another. The same goes for paper towels, Kleenex, and condiments.
22. Technology, specifically a GPS—contrary to popular belief, it’s only 50% helpful. When ours is not taking us on a wild goose chase, or bypassing freeways to send us through side streets, or telling us the nearest donut shop is 100 miles away, when I just saw one the day before (but can’t remember the street it was on), or sending us to places that are closed for business…..then it can be helpful. But I still have to use paper maps, and my computer. Online, I can google the local directory to find the places I’m looking for, call the numbers listed to see if they are still in business, and then even google directions which are more accurate than my GPS. The only time the GPS is really helpful is if there is an actual address to feed in it. Then it will get us there, albeit by using streets but not freeways. So again, Map-Quest or Google directions are often better although they are not fool-proof either. We found that our GPS had old information and needed to be updated, so we paid the $25 to get updated maps, but it’s hardly any better. People try to tell us we should buy a better GPS or Onstar or any number of techno gadgets, but we’d go broke trying to have it all. We are trying to travel within our means—a trac-phone and an old GPS and paper maps. At least we do have a laptop and use the public internet whenever we can, even at the risk of being hacked.
23. Living on the road and just traveling without commitments and schedules or at the whim of others is very liberating and we value our freedom enormously. But with this comes a price. It also makes us feel disenfranchised from others who are working and living in one place and having roots. We are coming to terms with our loneliness, and some days are harder than others. There is good and bad in everything, even in traveling.
24. Television, which is such a big part of everyones’ life, is a very small part of our life. Of course, if one can afford it then it is possible to have satellite tv and better cable, but we can’t afford all that. So we’re at the mercy of whatever RV park we are in, and most of them, especially the cheap ones, have very few cable channels—and usually the ones they have are the worst. We channel surf to find the best of the worst—like QVC, or local political channels that air the latest city council meeting, or the 10 Spanish channels, or cartoons. Sometimes we’re lucky and run across an episode of Twilight Zone or a rerun of Seinfeld which is half over, but most of the time we are reduced to finding other pursuits or renting the occasional movie from a Blockbuster (which we still have a membership with), or actually going to a movie theater. This isn’t so bad. When I lived in our home I got very addicted to television because we had the best of the satellite channels and Netflix so I hardly ever had to leave my home and it was easy to spend the entire day watching programs, something I never used to do when we had so few cable channels in the years before. Living this lifestyle, we are forced to get out into the real world and mingle a little more and actually do things.
25. RV parks which have clubhouses or recreational rooms are often the most social and you’ll meet new friends. But some parks are just more social than others anyway.
26. No one wants to talk about poop but the reality of living in an RV is that it is something you have to manage. I’m talking of course, about the Black Tank, which every RV has. We quickly learned 3 lessons: #1: That you must use special fast-dissolving toilet paper that is made for RV’s, #2: You should use chemical agents made for the tank (it’s easy—you just pour a couple of ounces into the toilet and flush every time you drain the tank); #3 That you must install a sprayer on the side of the tank to rinse it out whenever you dump the tank. #4 Use a garden hose with special nozzle in the toilet to give further cleaning about every 2 or 3 times you dump the tank. This rinses the tank from the top down with a high pressure rinse and makes the difference between a stinky rv and a fresh smelling rv. Rinsing also keeps the sensors free of debris so you can read the monitor correctly. If you’re going to live and travel in an rv, it’s something you have to get used to without being squeamish.
27. There can be long stretches of road where there are no gas stations, so one must be very careful. If you stay on interstate highways there are always gas stations and services but if you want to drive a scenic route or pass through little towns in the outback, it is easy to get stuck without petrol. With the economy collapse a few years ago many little towns closed the gas stations, so don’t trust your GPS to always guide you to the nearest one. We get only 8 miles to the gallon when pulling our trailer so we have to be especially careful.
28. We learned we really don’t like to be anywhere the temperature falls below 40 degrees, especially if we are without hookups (because we can’t use the heater). We can manage temps of 30º but we really don’t like it. It means that we have to worry about our tanks and hoses freezing, and we have to use heat more, and we feel vulnerable to the elements.
29. We should have done a trial run of living in our RV before we actually left on this journey. Then I would have had a better idea of what to bring and what to leave. I brought so many non-essentials and left behind things I could have used.
30. Gasoline: In most RV’s including ours, paying for petrol takes a huge bite out of our budget. We get 8 miles to the gallon when pulling the trailer, so that averages out to $100 for every 200 miles we drive. We’ve learned a couple of tricks to help us make the most of what gas we use:
a) We try to keep our speed at 55 mph on the freeways and interstates. I forget exactly what the formula is, but that is a standard practice to maximize fuel efficiency in RV’s.
b) We drive shorter distances and stay longer at locations. We sometimes stay a month in an RV park just to conserve money to make it possible to continue the trip the following month with money in the bank (RV parks are cheaper by the month than by the day). We also have to do this when we anticipate expensive repairs to the truck or trailer. It takes a long time to travel and see the country but at least we’re doing it.
c) We check our tires regularly to make sure they are inflated to correct air pressure standards.
d) We try not to idle the engine. If we’re in line and it looks like it’s going to be a while, we turn off the engine. Idling burns a lot of fuel. We also try not to be on the freeways and interstates during rush hour traffic for the same reason.
e) We try to travel off-season when fuel prices are lower. We may encounter rain or sub-optimal weather at times but we make the most of it by enjoying the good weather in-between. If we’re stuck in the trailer on a rainy day, we play board games and catch up on reading or other favorite hobbies. I even use the time to clean the RV really well or bake something. As soon as the weather clears, we’re out and about. If we’re in a city we go out and about no matter what the weather.
f) We plan our trip ahead of time to find the shortest route to save on unwanted excess travel miles. If we’re on the road for extended periods, we plan ahead a day, a week or a month by checking out our plans online and using a GPS.
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