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We've been full-time since 2007, and have definitely experienced more difficulty securing campsites on a whim, but that started before the pandemic. You'll find it harder to spontaneously pick a spot anywhere east of the Mississippi and as others have said, at popular destinations anywhere, especially during the holidays. As a writer for the RV industry, I've spoken with quite a few campground owners during the last year, and they have all experienced a surge in visitation. They've also pointed out that although thousands of new RVers are on the road now, only a miniscule amount of campsites have actually been built over the last decade. As a consequence, the competition for sites is tougher than ever. The good news is that with advanced planning, you should be able to have plenty of fun trips wherever you want to go--it might not be exactly when you want to go there.

I LOVE your jewelry! As a metalsmith myself and Texas-based business owner who works from the road, I really appreciate your work and would love to learn from you some day! I believe what your friend is referring to is the Polk County Business Personal Property tax. Each year I fill out their rendition form and Polk County taxes me a very small amount on business equipment I claim. It's not a big deal, I believe less than $200 annually for just under $10k of equipment that I claim. Can't recall at the moment. You can call the Polk Central Appraisal District for more info, 936-327-2174. The only other business tax I'm aware of is the sales tax I send in (currently annually) on purchases made by my Texas-based customers. Hope this helps.

Oh boy you've touched a nerve with me. I recently wrote about the sorry state of health-insurance for full-time RVers who are under Medicare age. It's gotten worse with every passing year for younger full-timers. As of 2021, there are no PPO plans for TX residents who buy on the Federal Healthcare Exchange, just HMOs. HMO plan members who buy on the exchange are not covered for anything but extreme emergencies when traveling outside of Texas. My husband and I fall into that category. You didn't say if you are or are not 65 or younger (we are). We found a relatively good clinic in Kerrville for preventive care, but we wouldn't bet our lives on it or seek care there for any kind of chronic illness. As HMO members, you do have the option of changing where you want to get care within Texas, so you are not limited to MDs in Livingston. As for us, next time we seek preventive care in TX, we will choose a physician in the greater Austin area where there are more plentiful provider choices.

Yes! There are so many positives to that outlook. How many of us wished that more RV parks had better amenities, sites that can accommodate newer RVs, etc. The market will respond accordingly and eventually we can all enjoy more creature comforts out on the road. It's a win-win.

Exactly. We've seen a lot in our 14 years as full-timers without a S&B. Yes, it's busy out there. But like the pandemic, my gut instinct is that this is a temporary situation. Because if there's one thing I've learned when it comes to this lifestyle, is that most people, tenters, RVers, whatever, will predictably flock together to the same spots close to home, pandemic or not. Since the majority of new RVers are dependent on Internet access, the key to getting away from the hordes is to get into the outback away from good cellular connectivity. This is one thing that hasn't changed, and from what I can see, there's still plenty of outback in North America for all of us. Also, it really is a good thing for more people to get outside and go RVing! We want more people to know about the magic that waits for them in nature. There's never been a better opportunity to educate newcomers about how to take care of the great outdoors, ecosystems of our fragile planet, climate change, etc. As I mentioned in our blog recently, I could be wrong, but then again, maybe not. I prefer to think positively about the industry growth.

Oh this is helpful, thank you so much for the details. Since we used WillMaker software to do the wills, I'll double check on the self-proving affidavit component (I don't think ours required one). Thanks a bunch.

These are all super helpful links, thanks so much! I may report back here to let you know how it went.

Thanks. Yeah our problem is that estate planning docs have to be signed by a notary in the state of which you are residing (at least in Texas, anyways). We aren't in TX right now, thus the need for an e-notary.

Oh yes they really do exist. I didn't know about them either until COVID. Apparently the rules for notarized docs have been relaxed because of the pandemic, and e-notaries have popped up all over. Apparently Texas was the first state to legalize it, you just have to participate via video conference with one of these vendors.

Hey full-timing friends! My husband and I are registered Texans and need an e-notary for our estate planning docs. I've never done an online notarization and have no idea who to use (there are tons!). If anyone out there has a service they used and liked, I would love to hear about it. Thanks!

Yep, call the county. But I'll share our experience: We are domiciled in Livingston. Bought a fifth wheel in Wyoming, and the dealer sent the paperwork in to Polk County. Our registration went through without an issue, and we didn't need to get it inspected in Texas until we returned almost a year later. No issues. Each year upon registration renewal, we check the box that says our vehicles are out of state and we promise to get them inspected the next time we are in TX. Sometimes that happens in the same year, sometimes not for a couple. It's never been an issue. Texas makes it easy to be fulltimers and we love it. Congrats on your new toad!

Please let us know if it works out for you. That's an interesting situation. Have you picked out a mail service yet? I know exactly what you mean about the pre-medicare options being better in Travis County. For us, making a domicile switch wouldn't be worth giving up the mail service or our Livingston address. As much as we don't like our insurance plan, thankfully BCBS allows us to choose physicians anywhere in Texas. So we chose a primary MD in Kerrville last year, but they weren't great. We may look at practices closer to Austin this year.

Are you a full-timer working on the road in a non-traditional job or unconventional business? If you've been successfully doing it for at least a year, and you are an Escapees / Xscapers club member, we want to hear from you! We especially want to hear from club members doing unconventional work that is not tech-related. This is for an upcoming edition of Escapees Magazine. If you would like to be featured, contact editor@escapees.com. Thanks!

We also prefer camping in the sticks. But we work full-time on the web, so when we are not near cellular broadband, our rooftop deployable RV Datasat 840 is how we get online. The link goes back to our blog with all our experiences using the system. Mobile satellite internet is not for everyone and it is not cheap, but we find it worth the investment since we must have reliable connectivity.

As you can see, it's an individual thing. But since your situation sounds a lot like ours, I'll share our experience to hopefully give you some insight on how it can work. We do work long hours, more than we did before we hit the road in 2007 because the Internet has changed customer expectations. Whereas before we had work hours, today it all blends together. As you know that's the nature of being self employed. But... Pre full-timing we were outdoorsy people but our physical health was just meh. Sure, we biked and hiked more because we started living in beautiful places. But we never challenged ourselves physically. It was pretty much status quo, just in more beautiful places. Twelve years later, hitting 50 made something click. We just ran our first marathon and plan to continue doing so well into our later years. This didn't necessarily have anything to do with full-timing, but the ability to train in freekin' awesome places is quite motivating! So yeah, we're in better shape than when we started. We still work crazy long hours, but without the burden of homeownership and all that accompanies it, we have waaaaaay more free time to pursue a higher level of fitness. Good luck to you! Keep in touch and let us know how your adventures go. See ya down the road!

It really depends on what you end up enjoying the most: boondocking in faraway, remote places or the conveniences of living near or in towns In our 12 years fulltiming we've shifted from almost all boondocking to a 60/40 blend of dry camping and park stays. Along the way we discovered that: Reservations near and in any popular area (e.g., anywhere on the west coast, in the Sierras or in larger college towns) are pretty much mandatory during summer, sometimes during winter as in the case of the west coast. Boondocking in remote areas is great if you're set up for it (solar, etc). You can enjoy tons of free stays in the west, but during summer it's not exactly fun when the temps are high. In winter, you'll have company but it's still nice. Monthly RV park stays are almost always a better deal than weekly or nightly. Escapees parks offer wonderful deals for enjoying either boondocking or hookups. I think your first year out you'll be finding out what you enjoy the most and for us, it was our most expensive year. The more we slowed down, and discovered the camping methods we liked, the more we were able to cut back on rent. Have fun out there and experiment. That's what the full-timing adventure is all about!

Echoing what everyone else said. Don't know where you heard that bad advice and I'm sorry you followed it. We have never had a problem after telling repair people we are full-timers, either with insurance or warranty work. We've been 12 years full-timing and are always upfront with a shop when we call for any kind of service (which thankfully is rare). Once we tell a shop it's our residence and we are going to sleep in their yard until the job is done, they get us out of there quickly! If they won't allow us to do that, we look elsewhere. Good luck with that repair. Sounds awful. I'm sorry!