We "full-time" for eight months out of each year. It is great while we are gone, but now that it is time to go "home" for the next few months, I find myself looking forward to gardening, to having room to sprawl and having more independence, to soaking in a tub, to seeing old friends and shopping in familiar places.
Like the OP, what we really enjoy is the travelling, but with rising diesel prices we find ourselves staying longer in one place to take advantage of weekly or monthly rates and to cut down on driving. I am afraid the skyrocketing fuel prices will change the RV lifestyle for lots of people.
We'll never full-time. We'll take lots of trips and be out of the southwest in the summer, but back for the great winters. We want the security of having the house to come back to when the time comes to really stop rving. Hopefully, not for a very long time.
2007 2500 Dodge Ram Big Horn 4X4 QC Prodigy
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Lifes Just One Big Cartoon, And We're the Star Players!
That's exactly how we feel. We absorbed the rising fuel prices over the last few years, but with oil and $125/barrel and going higher, there doesn't appear to be any end and the trade offs required were no longer worth it. I think everyone has a different "breaking point" but I didn't want to be stuck in a small RV (or even a big one!) in one place because we couldn't afford to travel. I'd rather be "stuck" in my house!
I don't post in the fulltimers forum often because I'm not a fulltimer. I'm kind of obsessed with the idea of fulltiming though, so I check this forum daily and read a bunch of fulltiming blogs every day, too.
I really appreciate posts like yours because I think they help to give a more balanced view of what fulltiming would be like. Not everyone is going to love fulltiming and I don't think that it is because they lack some essential quality or "don't have what it takes."
I think I would probably love fulltiming but I do have reservations and your post helped me pinpoint some of those reservations. I lived on a boat for five years, so I know I could deal with living in a small space, but I have yet to come across an RV park that I would want to live in for 3 months. I think I would feel trapped if finances forced me to stay in one place longer than I wanted. I could totally relate to what you said about the kind of claustrophobia that isn't cured by going outside.
It sounds like you are at peace with your decision and I'm glad no one has tried to make you feel like you somehow failed. I give you major props for having the courage to try it and even bigger props for moving on when you realized that you would be happier elsewhere.
Sorry, this post is so long. I hope it didn't sound like I was bashing fulltimers in any way because I think the folks in this forum are the greatest. (Well, maybe the second greatest, after the Class B folks.) I've learned a lot by reading about everyone's experiences. It has changed the way I travel and even the way I live. That probably sounds a bit corny, but it's true.
“Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God” -Kurt Vonnegut
Thanks for your kind words. I know our full timing experience has changed us forever. We had a chance to see places we would never have seen under other circumstances. A friend sent me an e-mail with a link to a site that has about 100 pictures taken in national parks--and I realized we've seen all but about 20 of the parks highlighted. Each picture brought back more memories and nothing can ever take that away from us.
I think I also have a greater understanding of what people in different parts of the country experience on a daily basis--whether it's the congestion of the LA area to the wide open spaces (requiring long drives to get basic supplies) of west Texas or North Dakota. It also helped us make a positive choice about where we wanted to live--rather than just settling some place because it is all we have ever known.
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) I've learned a lot by reading about everyone's experiences. It has changed the way I travel and even the way I live. That probably sounds a bit corny, but it's true.
