Dear So and So

[snapdragen]

I find myself shopping online, looking at various motorhomes and trailers. I'm not sure I'd really enjoy having one though, since I hate driving for more than an hour or so. I can dream....

[Pax]

I find myself shopping online, looking at various motorhomes and trailers. I'm not sure I'd really enjoy having one though, since I hate driving for more than an hour or so. I can dream....

Snap, several retired/full timer folks I know follow the 2-2-2 rule when traveling via RV; Each day, no more than 2 hours of driving, parked by 2 PM and stay for at least 2 days. You see more of the country that way, and don't wear yourself out in the process.

[emily_in_nc]

Snap, several retired/full timer folks I know follow the 2-2-2 rule when traveling via RV; Each day, no more than 2 hours of driving, parked by 2 PM and stay for at least 2 days. You see more of the country that way, and don't wear yourself out in the process.

That's totally going to be us if we do it! Neither my DH nor I particularly enjoy driving. It's either boring or stressful, depending on traffic and where you are. We mind it less out west than in the east, though, for the wide-ranging views and usually less traffic and curvy, stressful roads. Less rain too. :-)

Pax, what did you end up getting? You mentioned a Roadtrek dealer -- is that what you got? We love their newer e-trek model, but it's way above our budget. If we wait long enough, perhaps, but they're still too new to be budget friendly, even on the used market. I bet you're gonna love it once you can make it your own. It's comforting to me to hear that you also talked about it for a long time (a very long time) before pulling the trigger! We've been talking on and off for maybe 6-7 years.

[Pax]

Emily - it's an old Roadtrek, a 1999 190 Popular. Luckily the first owner lived in NM so it was never in a really rainy environment, he took excellent care of it cosmetically and mechanically. The second owner was diligent about the mechanical, she just didn't seem to care about the cosmetic at all... but she only had it three years so it's all fixable.

Spent another two hours in it today de-littleoldlady-ing it. Removing her cushion covers and a metric ton of plastic pink flamingo crap; it's starting to feel like ours.

[emily_in_nc]

Spent another two hours in it today de-littleoldlady-ing it. Removing her cushion covers and a metric ton of plastic pink flamingo crap; it's starting to feel like ours.

Teehee...Sounds like it's getting better every day! I do think part of the fun would be making a motorhome into our "home", and compared to all the traveling we've been doing where we stay in hotels or other people's rentals (VRBO, Airbnb), it would be nice to have a place for everything, not have to constantly be packing and unpacking, and just have OUR own space, even though small. Also nice to be able to travel with doggie without having to rule out so many places for not being pet-friendly. These are some of the appeals of it to us.

I hope you get to do some fun traveling with your Roadtrek. Post photos when the time comes!

[Eden]

My parents have been "full timing" for more than 20 years now… I couldn't live that way, but they love it. They don't have a home base period, they've been using various relatives and friends homes as their address. They criss cross around the states and Canada for the most part. They've made little forays across the border into Mexico, but haven't spent any significant time there - I don't think even over night. They follow the good weather around and try to visit all the little stuff that mostly gets missed if you are traveling quickly.

One note about dogs - if you do travel with a dog it can still be difficult to visit some places like national parks. Dogs aren't allowed on trails at all - basically not outside of parking lots and some campground areas and you cannot leave them alone at campsites or in vehicles (including motorhomes), so what you can actually do there is very limited. I think my parents (or at least my dad…) might like to have one, but they haven't for that reason.

[emily_in_nc]

My parents have been "full timing" for more than 20 years now… I couldn't live that way, but they love it. They don't have a home base period, they've been using various relatives and friends homes as their address. They criss cross around the states and Canada for the most part. They've made little forays across the border into Mexico, but haven't spent any significant time there - I don't think even over night. They follow the good weather around and try to visit all the little stuff that mostly gets missed if you are traveling quickly.

One note about dogs - if you do travel with a dog it can still be difficult to visit some places like national parks. Dogs aren't allowed on trails at all - basically not outside of parking lots and some campground areas and you cannot leave them alone at campsites or in vehicles (including motorhomes), so what you can actually do there is very limited. I think my parents (or at least my dad…) might like to have one, but they haven't for that reason.

Yes, I am very aware of this as we've been to quite a few National Parks (without our dog, of course). However, people do leave their dogs in their motorhomes often -- we've seen (and heard!) it as we've walked through quite a few campgrounds. If the campground has rules against it it is either because they worry about nuisance barking, which ours doesn't do (we're lucky if she barks one time a week!) or the pet's safety from heat or cold. If you plan to avoid the hottest or coldest times and leave fans running and plenty of ventilation, fresh water, etc, I don't see the problem. Otherwise you can't even take a bike ride or go out to dinner together. If you have full hookups, you can even leave the A/C running for them, if needed.

When we've stayed in hotels with Paisley, there have often been rules about leaving dogs in the room alone, but we've done it many times because, as I say, she is (very thankfully!) quiet, non-destructive, and just sleeps while we're gone. She doesn't jump up on the bed, so we just put her blankie on the chair (if there is one), so she can sleep there until we return from our bike ride, meal out, whatever. We use the "do not disturb" sign on the door so the housekeeper won't enter the room. We have stayed in many, many hotels over the past few years and have never once had any issues with doing this.

That said, we would be more likely to stay in state parks or boondock. National parks, while a special treat, can be very crowded, so we wouldn't necessarily concentrate on those as we prefer places with fewer people.

We are already nomadic like your folks, we just stay in rentals rather than an RV so far. We have a mail service that gets our mail to us wherever we roam, or we have it sent to my step-father to look at and scan in for us if needed. We are officially Florida residents, but really, we are full-time travelers as we have no home there or anywhere else, for that matter. So changing to an RV would not be as big a change for us as it would be to someone who has lived in the same place for awhile. We've done that, of course, but we are enjoying traveling around in our early retirement years. I am sure we'll settle down again one of these days, but where and when are far from decided.

[snapdragen]

I like the sound of this...