As some may have noticed by reading between the lines, this past year some aspects of our RV-based nomadic lifestyle began to wear a bit thin for us. After four years (five for Chris!) on the road together, our ping-pong route between Florida, St. Louis, Burning Man, and San Francisco had begun to develop ruts, and we have both been starting to itch for some sort of change or new adventure.
The opportunity for us to winter in St. John came at the absolute perfect time for us. This has been a perfect change of pace, allowing us to re-energize, experience a different style of travel, and contemplate what is next.
Over our years of posting on Technomadia, we’ve shared a lot of the positives of full-time RVing:
Think Inside the Box on Wheels
Temporary Neighbors, Not Guests
And there are indeed many incredible positives to this lifestyle. But like all things, there are negatives as well.
Now, after a two month break from our RVing life, I’ve re-centered enough to offer some balance to all the above bravado to give a peak into some of what became frustrations for us.
RV Parks and Campgrounds Can Get Old
With some notable exceptions, we found most commercial RV parks extremely lacking. Most do not provide much privacy or outside space, and some are literally little more than giant parking lots without even any attempt at separation between spots. Very few are well laid out with ample privacy or views.
In general, RV Parks offer significantly less space and privacy than a typical suburban or urban home or apartment. So while RV parks do offer a great service by allowing you to live in a variety of great locations, it’s not always the most comfortable surroundings for spending extended time at your home and mobile office.
Much of the time you will have neighbors within arm’s reach of you, with their windows just a few feet from yours. And all too often they will have a barking dogs (that intimidates your cat), or early rising kids that disturb your restful late morning sleep (‘quiet hours’ always seem to favor early birds, not us night owls).
And while RV Parks offer amenities like bathhouses, it got really old to be showering in public places with bad lighting, poor water pressure, and someone else’s mess. And the worst part – having to get dressed to leave your house to go take a shower in the first place.
And there are also ‘RV Resorts’ which offer more amenities, but mostly we just found “resort” to be code for overpriced with a non-working public hot tub.
We definitely had a preference for public run campgrounds, which tended to be much better laid out and more in nature. Unfortunately, public campgrounds are not intended for longer term stays and often lack basic amenities like full hook-ups.
Stealth Camping is not Sustainable
Street camping, whether stealthily in a city, or in front a friend or family member’s house, is generally a great (and free) option for a night or two. However, in these situations, even with our small trailer we tend to be rather conspicuous, and we need to be in a stealth mode to avoid attracting unwanted attention. While this is fine for a quick visit, it is draining long term. I don’t like feeling that we have to hide, minimize the light at night, and try not to make a peep.
Too Much Motion
When you have a house on wheels, there’s little holding you back from setting off on the next exciting adventure – rationalizing that you can always be still later. And while yes, a house on wheels also means you can just park when you want, it’s really hard to say no to awesome. For us, it became too easy to put our ease of mobility ahead of our needs for still catch-up time – and we had been in deficit for quite a while.
Being in motion constantly takes its toll, especially when you’re also trying to run a business and fit in quality social time. Everything else goes into maintenance mode while you focus on the scarcity of time you’re faced with in each location.
Our Small Space Got Too Small
We absolutely love our Oliver Travel Trailer. Most of the time, it was the perfect balance between functionality, quality, style and maneuverability. But that’s not to say that there weren’t times that we wished we could push a button to expand the space. And that wish became more and more frequent as we went on.
Hosting friends for dinner or gaming was limited to there being good weather outside and access to a picnic table. And when we did have friends join us inside – trying to share a small space often resulted in some frustration.
And there were times when we would have killed for just a foot or two more counter space…
Too Visible
In such a small and unique looking trailer, we constantly had a stream of folks wanting a peak inside our home. We were rarely able to just be somewhere without attracting attention – whether it be at campgrounds, parking lots or scenic overlooks. Usually we loved the opportunity to share, but there were certainly days I just wanted to put a cloaking disguise on the trailer to make it look generic so we could blend in and be left alone.
Will we return to RV’ing?
RVing was good to us for many years, and I don’t regret a single moment of it. And overall the positives of the lifestyle vastly outweighed the negative.
But as with anything in life, if at some point the negatives start to poke their head out more and more often, it may mean that it’s time to re-evaluate that path. Perhaps it is time for something new and different?
We suspect there may be folks who have bets on if we’ll return to the Oliver after our time in St. John is up. Honestly, we aren’t sure ourselves, and we have been making a list of things we’re considering next. Some of our options do include returning to the Oliver (or even a larger RV setup), but we are also considering moving on to other adventures that are not RV-based.
And no, “settling down” in one location is not on the list…
I found that some travel trailer companies have started making better guality small size units about 24 feet with slides accomadate visitors and storage. The Lance brand 2185 is excellent!
So, are you saying full timing is the problem or is it simply RVing itself? The reason I ask is I never thought of doing the full time thing (love my house too much) but would like to get out of these soul sucking winters here in upstate NY.
Hi Terry.. seems you stumbled on a really old post that was written when we took a short break from RVing. Since then, we’ve been back on the road for 4+ yeas and loving it. Check out the rest of the blog to learn more.
I love your blog, thanks for sharing.For future travels you might check out http://www.expeditionportal.com/ A 4×4 RV like the earthcruiser might serve you well. Maybe circle Australia? Just an idea. Again thanks for sharing.
My husband and I have been technomading since September 2008 and our experience is similar in ways to yours, but really different in intention and design. We’ve spent longer durations in fewer places for one — and rarely go exploring for exploring’s sake. Our rig is a typical motorhome which allows us more space (even for a music studio), but less mobility. My biggest complaint is being limited to staying on the outskirts of cities, which means we can’t enjoy much time in urban areas. The gas and maintenance expense of an RV can be prohibitive as well so we only travel when necessary (Summer in the North; Winter in the South). Hope to compare notes in more detail and thanks for sharing your experiences.
I know life in the Oliver has gotten a bit tiresome, but you owe it to yourself to live in a Class A motorhome for 6 months before giving up RVing. One really can’t present a full spectrum analysis about RVing without investing time in a Class A. The amenities of auto-sat-dishes, hot running water, showers and toilets, washing machines, big refrigerators, separate rooms and work stations, central air and heat, king size beds, basement storage, open up a whole different world of RVing. Just a thought…
Honestly, Michael – there’s nothing appealing to us about big rigs aside from the ability to host people for dinner. And that’s just not enough for us to submit to a life of being tied to roving between RV parks. Just not our style. We have contemplated a slightly larger RV than what we have, but in all honesty – we’re tired of domestic roaming and repeating routes & patterns. There’s a whole world out there to explore!
I have been following your adventures on your website for several years. From the schedule that you posted in the last year, I can see how you are both burned out. Just look at your posts for the last year and see that you were on the move constantly and never had hardly any downtime to relax and chill.
It’s good that you both have some time to yourselves and are doing some reflection on what to do next. One thing that I can tell you that I have learned in life is that you have to learn to say “NO”. People mean well, but if you let them, you will end up being committed to do all sorts of things and have no time to yourself. You will then find that rather than enjoy something (like Burning Man), you don’t enjoy it and just want it over.
Good Luck and happy adventuring !!!
JimmyP
It’s definitely a tricky balance when you want to leave yourself open to awesome via serendipity and making sure time to ourselves is made. And we’ve certainly said no to our fair share of things too. Too much awesome out there 🙂
Thank you for the honest look into your lives today. I for one can’t wait to hear and see what you decide to do next.
Wes Waddell
http://Www.FreeTravelScrapbook.info BLOG
Guess we should decide pretty soon what is next … time is slipping away.
“Stealth Camping is not Sustainable” – you probably already know – most WalMart stores welcome RVers to stay in their parking lots at any time, but just in case… It has been company policy for years now, subject to the store manager & nearby neighbors. The Twitter account @rvwalmart http://twitter.com/#!/rvwalmart clarifies and has info. (Seriously, I learned about this at their HQ in Bentonville.) Confirmed with branches of my family who are full-time RVers… they refer to it as “staying at the WalMart Astoria” for the night. 😉
Transitioning from “on the road” to “rooted again” has its pluses and minuses. I’m a big fan of climate control & indoor plumbing – but there are times you can feel *too* tied down again.
Still, as long as you don’t buy a home? There’s always the option to ‘flee’ again at any point once you know you can do it.
Oh yes.. any full-time RVer generally knows they can overnight in many Walmarts (and other retail locations too). And it’s great for when we’re making miles and just need a place to catch some ZZZs and restock the fridge. But it’s certainly not sustainable living – you can’t set up camp, you can’t unhitch, you can’t even level your rig, you can people walking/driving by your house all the time and you certainly can’t stay more than a couple nights.
And yes indeed, that is a key. Designing a life to give you the option to be mobile when you’re called to it. It’s awesome.
Having boated off and on for the last 10 years, I think you will definitely find it to be different and refreshing for a while, but depending upon where you want to spend time (especially far offshore), working onboard and getting consistent reliable high speed internet could be an even bigger challenge than in the RV. The more you crave amenities, the more likely you’ll end up in marinas which often have a lot of the same characteristics you’ve grown weary of in campgrounds. We were just wondering if in your travels you guys ever came across any place where you might want to stay put in the RV for an extended period (few months maybe?). Sounds to me like maybe you need a little less frequent traveling and a little bit bigger rig. Will look forward to hearing how you resolve this dilemma. =)
There have certainly been some places that would be good to put down the landing gear for a while for us. Sometimes however, the pace we feel called too just doesn’t jive with the events/people we’ve made commitments too.
If we did return to long term RVing, we’d definitely consider that a lesson learned to put a higher priority on planning more still time when we feel called to it.
And yeah, that’s one thing for sure that scares me about full time sailing. We had some full timers around St John relate the bay their moored in as being just like a KOA on water. *shiver* Not my idea of fun.
Cherie, I can completely understand how you feel. I got tired of traveling while I was in the US Navy for 20 years. I have seen more countries than I have states. Something I wish to rectify in a couple years. So if you both decide to sell your Oliver Travel Trailer (Orion) will you give my wife and I a heads up? I am always checking the Oliver website to see when/if they will ever start production again, with no info so far either way. I have checked on other types of trailers, but the Oliver is what we have our hearts set on as our starter trailer. Plus yours seems to be setup almost perfectly for traveling off the grid more than most. Thanks for keeping us up to date on your website. I love reading about you all.
Respectfully,
S. Kaeseman
Oliver is definitely a unique product both in quality and features, and they only ended up making about 45 of them. And amongst those, ours is definitely unique in the geek and off-grid ability.
Selling it this year is on the list of potentials. If we do come to that decision, we’ll keep your contact info on file for a heads up.
Thanks for following along!
Oh I completely understand this post! It’s almost too funny to read – this is exactly how it was when we lived on our sailboat. It was awesome and so many ways but the little things add up – I hear you on the showering bit. How i hated to walk up the docks to use the shower! It was just annoying after a while. I always wanted to live an RV (and san diego is ideal for street camping on the beach) but after the year on the boat I really had to wonder if it was something I still wanted to do. I’m still on the fence. Whenever i see a beach RV I say to myself “ahhhh rolling wagon of freedom…” but then I think yes, w/ a toilet you have to pump out and electricity issues just like the boat and it seems less appealing. I did a lot of camping too and it is tough to find a great campground – esp. for an RV.I was always in a tent but many RV spots seem just like a parking lot, which is sad. I know someday I’ll do it though and I’ll def. be looking through more of your posts. 🙂
I hadn’t caught on your blog that you guys lived on a sailboat for a year, how awesome! That’s on our list of possibilities, and been a long time dream. But, at this point – it’s seeming a bit too much like RVing – but on water, with more problems, costs and responsibilities. So it’s funny to read about how you connected with our post 🙂
I’m sure it will happen at the right time for us, just like RVing for you guys.
Looking forward to following along on each other’s adventures, we seem to be on similar paths.
i never knew there so many draw backs to Rving
There are drawbacks with anything..
“‘Resort’ [is] code for overpriced with a non-working public hot tub.”
LOL! This is so true… why is it so hard to find a functional hot tub???
This list really hit home for us. We’ve also had a lot of issues finding really good accomodations; RV parks can get pricey, but stealth camping and boondocking are difficult to sustain. I’ve been trying to find more public campgrounds, but as we’ve been having some serious issues with our batteries, camping w/o hook-ups has become a non-option for us unless it’s only for a day or two. I really envy your solar set-up; relying on faulty batteries and a generator has really limited our camping options!
There ARE a ton of benefits to this lifestyle, though, so it’s hard to complain. It’s just worth noting that the reality is in many ways different than expectations going into it. 🙂
We were able to find a lot of state and city/county parks that offered at least water & electric hook-ups – depending on the area of the country. But yeah, not being equipped to be off grid for more than a couple days really does limit your options. Our favorite camping situations were out in the boonies on public lands (not even campgrounds). However, the places and people we wanted to be often didn’t mesh with that.
There are indeeds tons of benefits to RVing.. we just rarely talk about the frustrations, which are weighing heavier on our minds now.
I spent much of my life on boats. My father built the first one, then bought a 1935 Richardson, and lastly an Owens. they were all motorboats and we kept to the bay and rivers., although we did experience the dangerous tides around NY. My husband thinks we could weekend with a small travel trailer. From my perspective boating and small travel trailers aren’t that different, small and cramped. I will miss the block ice for the ice box. It is very difficult to get. You don’t want to be foolish in a boat, but finances caused my family to be docked most of the time, and your neighbors were close.
You bring up some very good points here – ones that I’ve been thinking about too, and I’m not even on the road yet! But I also can’t see myself living in an apartment for the rest of my life – after more than 30 years the noise and lack of privacy have gotten old. (Well, actually they got old long time ago…)
I haven’t been following your blog for very long, but I have appreciated your take on this lifestyle – you always seem to see both sides of things, and this post especially has given me a lot to think about. I’ll be interested to see what you decide after your time in St. John is finished.
For me, I came from a beachside house in Florida that I had a fair amount of privacy in. I don’t like close quarters, and living in an apartment would definitely get old for me too. When staying in a lot of crammed in RV Parks – I would definitely say that privacy aspects are on par (or worse) than apartment living. However, so much easier to move 🙂
Boat?
It’s one of many possibilities on the list.
I say its good to set aside a good thing just before it turns sour. Besides, USVI are pretty tough to turn down! You might enjoy Culebra off the coast of Puerto Rico. It’s a very small island (mostly known to the locals I think) that is only an hour ferry ride off the coast. Anyways, secluded beaches and limited number of vehicles.
See you at SxSW
We’re definitely digging the secluded island feel after the contrast of a spell of frequent movement and RV Parks. The break is definitely good, and perfect timing.
Can’t wait to finally meet you at SxSW!
I got tired of the stealth camping too. Or the overnights in big-box store parking lots.
Like everything there are pros and cons, but you guys have certainly put in your time with the RV lifestyle and there is a lot of world out there to still explore.
I’m rooting for you to go with a sailboat 😉 But then, that’s my tendency too.
Overnights in big-box stores (when in moderation) weren’t anything to write home about – certainly. But we certainly appreciated the option when just making miles during a transition. In our ideal world however, we’d drive a couple hundred miles then find a nice scenic campground with good cell signal to stay at for a couple days. When that happened – it was great!
Sailboat is certainly on our list.. and we are enjoying hanging out with full time cruisers here in the USVI to get a realistic grasp on it. However, it’s also a huge ramp up and investment.
We recently came to some similar conclusions — before ever purchasing our RV trailer! Our motivations were different, but hearing some of the negatives from seasoned vets helps a lot. Having said that, we are actually going to spend several months car-camping this year. We will be staying with friends and family often, but will also hit a lot of campgrounds. The good news is that tent sites are never on asphalt! We hope we can avoid those RV negatives while experiencing the positives of mobility. Plus we have shortened our original multi-year RV plans to a good half-year of car-camping before heading overseas. Maybe this winter we can meet up in some beach bar in Costa Rica?
I think the first time I suspected that you were road-weary was some of the updates from last year’s Burning Man. Thanks for the update!
I in particular definitely entered Burning Man resentful, and definitely came out of it completely burnt out. Don’t get me wrong.. the burn this year was my best yet, and Camp Nomadia was completely *awesome*. But for me personally, I was mentally exhausted upon arrival. It was definitely difficult to remain ‘on’ for all the reporters, presentations and documentaries we had lined up… nevermind enjoy the event and our friends camped with us. I think a half year is a good time period in which to enjoy the positives with the negatives remaining silent. It’s kinda like a honeymoon period 🙂 Especially if you can keep it to public parks.. which in general, are awesome! Just wish there were more of them in the places we wanted to be for events, family, etc.
Ha…I dropped by Camp Nomadia to say hello, but you (Cherie) were crashed out…Chris kind of had that “And I am NOT going to mess with her” thing going on!
I know you’ve probably got a lot of folks lined up to take Orion off your hands, but I’ve been stalking you guys for years! So…be sure to give me (Rocinante) a shout-out over on the Oliver forum…I’d be happy to join in the bidding war. Ok, maybe not so much a bidding war, but…hey. Any runner-ups can buy my 13′ Casita!
Enjoy the islands…sounds like it’s good for your soul!
Michelle
Sorry our paths didn’t cross at BM, Michelle! Always so difficult to get in seeing everyone.
Guess we should start keeping a list of folks interested in the Oliver, should we decide to sell it.