Luis
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Posts posted by Luis
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12 hours ago, Kirk W said:
Just to add a little bit more information about the benefits of belonging to this RV club, here are the park rates, with nonmember rates in ( ). Listings are full hookup, 30a with 50a usually a few dollars more. Dry camping at any of these is $7.50/night. Rates are as of 1/22/2022.
Raccoon Valley, TN $23 ($30)
Sumter Oaks, FL $28 ($32.50)
Rainbow Plantation, AL $25 ($30)
Tra-Park, TX $23 ($30)
Dream Catcher, NM $21 ($26)
North Ranch, AZ $21 $(26)
Turkey Creek, MO $20 ($24)
Rainbow's End, TX $22 ($27.50)
So Escapee’s have there own RV resorts or just affiliations.
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14 hours ago, Twotoes said:
Price depends on location and season. I have a big rig and live in it full time so National Parks are not an option except for a short 2 or 3 day stay. Most don't have any hookups. But with my Senior discount I can stay for less than $20. Most Escapee Parks and Co-Ops are around $25 a day. Most private parks with big rig sites and FHU are running $55 to $65 a night. You can get less with a P/A membership but they have lots of restrictions like only discount for 1 to 3 days and no weekends. Parks in popular areas (think AZ or FL in winter) are going for $75 to $85 for a night and some are over $100. Staying for a week or month will cost less per day but many Resorts are over $1,000 for a month stay. No more are the days of $25 to $35 a night.
We want to stay as long as we are able we want to make sure we take our time and enjoy the places we are heading too. But it doesn’t have to be a resort as we are open as long as it is a clean park.
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18 hours ago, Danfreda1 said:
If you have Allstays app you can find city and county parks with 2-4 nights free before paying. We also only make reservations for rallies or to visit someone at a specific place. If you don’t need a place with top of the line amenities we have found plenty of places we can find a spot at.
Thank you Dan. I downloaded the AllStay App to my devices. No amenities needed all the time. We are seeing those trips in ours heads as Vacations. The rest of the year is only really about being able to hook up, or boondocks in a safe place. Thanks again.
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21 hours ago, Kirk W said:
Prices and availability both vary by area with the highest prices and the most difficulty finding campsites both being most difficult near larger population centers. This past summer we made reservations ahead for most of our travels but I also watched closely to see if the parks we stayed in were full each night. When we traveled through Oklahoma & Missouri in May, no park that we stayed in was ever completely full, although the nearest to that was the Escapees, Turkey Creek RV Park. In July we stopped in 4 parks Kansas and 1 in eastern CO that were not full but had quite a search to find a site between Denver & Ft. Collins, CO when making reservations for July stay in late May. In WY we stopped in 2 different parks and neither were full. The lowest price was a self-service park near Abilene, KS that was $35/night, with most sites costing $45 or more. In Rawlins, WY and in Genoa, CO we paid $40/night and neither of those were completely full when we were there.
Hello Kirk. Their is miss emotions about this question but it doesn’t seem like it is as horrible as some RVers are putting it. Thank you for your post.
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1 hour ago, Twotoes said:
I have been full time now 9 years. I ususlly stay in one place for several months. A summer stay and a winter stay. In the past I only had to book a site about 3 months in advance. Now it is at least 6 months and sometimes 1 yr, booking my return before I leave. I am in FL for the winter and have been told by many RV parks that they are not going to do monthly reservations any more and require a 12 month lease.
I have also been volunteering in State Parks and National Parks summers past. Last summer the campground I was hosting was sold out even on week nights. I just booked 4 weekdays at Glacier NP for myself for the end of Aug and was told I got the last spot. I have an all electric Class A and don't boondock often. Need the electric to run the A/C for the dog. And most State and National Parks have a 14 day max.
Additionally, I very rarely can get a site for $35 to $45 a night anymore. Prices have gone up and are averaging $65 to $85 a night at most private RV Parks.
Thank you Twotoes. I have looked at that budgeting about $40 dollars a day for lodging. You believe that budget to be low and shoot more for $65?
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3 hours ago, rpsinc said:
I am following this subject with great interest. We are in discussion about going full time but we do have a nagging voice that keeps saying that things in the RV world are changing and they will not be the way they used to be, even in the most recent past. That being said, we are only looking for a place for our 1 rig, and expect to be boondocking capable but still have to do a park here and there just because we will need a break.
I have also seen lots of reports of public lands being closed due to many issues, some funding, some overuse and of course the unfortunate RVers that are not following or dont know to follow good etiquette and manners.
The world is changing and I dont think we can truly gauge what the "new" normal will be, but as for us, I think our opportunity to experience what "old timers" did, has passed. (That being said I do appreciate being able to enjoy the experiences shared here by some of those) I have worked my entire adult life to get to this time so we can be able to see the wonders of this country and enjoy our "golden years" RVing, I am uncertain if we will realize that goal. We can, though experience things differently and I am hopeful that it will be good enough.
I do hope that those experiences surpass your goal and blessed be that good enough turns into memorable moments. I share your sentiment about “The world is Changing”. Thank you for your honesty. Maybe we can share our findings and thoughts as that nagging voice has reached our ear as well. Blessed Be.
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4 hours ago, Solo18 said:
I've been full-timing for almost 10 years, and prefer state, national, and county parks, so i make my reservations as soon as sites open. I know not everyone likes to do this, but I have specific campgrounds and specific sites I like to get, so early reservations are what I do. Right now, I am working on national parks in July. I already made reservations for several weeks in Washington State, but those sites are pretty much booked up already.
Some exceptions might be if you have a very small RV or don't care where you stay. There may also be cancellations a couple of weeks before you want to go somewhere.
What you need to do is make a list of when sites open in each state you might want to visit and plan that way.
Great strategy Solo. Thank you much.
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4 hours ago, mptjelgin said:
We have found that things have changed dramatically in the past 3-4 years (starting well before COVID). We have pretty much given up on state and national parks unless we can plan and reserve several months in advance. In the past we never had problems dropping in from Sunday night through Thursday night, but that is now much more difficult, especially if you don't want to change sites during your stay.
For our Texas State Parks we are generally making our reservations several months out, especially for longer stays. As an option we have friends that have put together trips with shorter lead time, but they end up changing sites 2 - 3 times for a 5-night stay.
Even private parks in many areas have become more crowded and are less likely to be available for a last-minute stay. Single nights are often not an issue, but as your desired length of stay increases so do the odds that you'll need to plan further out.
Our observation is that there are so many more folks out now in RV's, included folks that are working full-time (telecommuting) from their RV, as well as families that have hit the road and are home-schooling. Whether this tapers off as things get back to "normal" (whatever that is) remains to be seen. But I feel like this is likely going to continue for the foreseeable future.
Thank you for your honesty. I did a trial run on RV Trip Wizard and there were parks that I could not even see a reservation almost one year out.
This is the reason why I posted the questions as it has been a hot topic. I don’t mind planning. I just couldn’t really get a clear answer when I was doing the trial run as I can do the travel, is just not probably the route I want to take.
Thanks again.
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Hello to all.
Our full time RVing research continues and we have come to across a lot of talks about RV life popularity continuing to grow. With this conversation about how hard it is to book RV locations, no matter which one it is. No Vacancy. I went into RV Trip Wizard and I can see that there is more vacancy when you search three months out or more.
Is this really becoming as big of a problem?
How far out are you seeing yourself having to plan out?
Are these memberships, such as Thousands Trails good alternatives?
Is this just a fad that has been seen in the past and as we say, “This too shall pass”?
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Safe and Happy Travels!!!
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4 hours ago, sandsys said:
If I was still RVing you would be welcome in my camp and that of many others I know. Please, don't let that concern be your deciding factor.
As to selling your stuff, one of my favorite systems was the couple who put a box next to their door labeled something like "travel fund" then turned friends and neighbors loose to choose what they wanted and how much money they would put in the box. If two people wanted the same thing it was up to them to negotiate with each other. The "about to be full timer" couple refused to know who paid what so as to have no regrets. They made out well.
What we did was hire someone to run an estate sale. That was easy but we didn't make much.
Be aware you can join Escapees and start using their mail service long before you actually hit the road. The minimum recommendation is three months in hope of catching people you forgot. You simply have all your mail sent to your Escapees address then they forward it to you in batches as you request it and for which you pay.
We liked knowing we could spend a night anywhere so having a decent solar system was critical for us. We spent many nights in parking lots at Walmart, Cracker Barrel, RV service places, etc.
As to working remotely, the best place to learn about gear is: https://www.rvmobileinternet.com. Chris and Cherie have been full timers since 2008? and they make some of their money by testing/analyzing gear and sharing what they learn with the rest of us.
But, medical insurance is still the deciding factor for people not yet eligible for medicare so you should probably do that research first to get some idea of what's out there even though it changes every year. Recently Florida has offered the only truly nationwide insurance. Fortunately, Escapees has a mail service address in Florida if you decide to go that way.
When researching vehicle insurance be sure you are getting a full timers policy. You need liability insurance that used to come with your homeowners/renters insurance.
So much to learn.
Linda Sand
Yes Linda. So much to learn. I love your Travel Fund idea. Thank you for the mail forwarding never saw it in that point of view. We do not have solar but we can see what it would take your natal on our Winnie. So much great advice. Thank you again.
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1 hour ago, bruce t said:
A few comments.
First simply remember that every problem has a solution. You just need to find that solution.
Second. Do it now. We traveled a lot. One day I woke up in hospital and our traveling life had ended. Don't wait until it's too late.
Third. Listen to all the advice but do it your way.
good luck.
Thank you Bruce for the encouragement. I hope you are well and sorry to hear about your hospitalization. Blessed Be.
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2 hours ago, Blues said:
If so, not by much. Mr. Blues and I both have credit ratings over 800, which is more than high enough to get the best rates on car insurance and the like. I've never borrowed money in my life, and Mr. Blues has borrowed only for a mortgage back when he owned a house, but not since then.
To the OP: You said you're still going to have jobs--presumably fulltime. Even if they're remote, they're still fulltime, so I'm not sure how being a fulltime RVer will affect your ability to recharge your batteries. You'll just be sitting some place different, and you'll have to be planning where you're going to sit next.
You don't have to move into an RV to get rid of all your stuff, and if you want a simpler lifestyle, owning and living in an RV is not the best way to get it. If you want to travel and see the country, an RV is a good way to do that, but if you're still working for someone else, your opportunities to see and do things will obviously be constrained.
My biggest suggestion would be to rely on about 1/10 of what you see in youtube videos advertising the lifestyle.
Thank you for your insight and honesty.
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2 hours ago, Lou Schneider said:
Don't worry, RVing isn't just for straight white people. Kay Peterson's philosophy was to cast the net wide, to make Escapees as inclusive as possible. Take a look at Xscapers and the 30-something year old Escapees Stonewall BOF group, there are lots of folks out there.
LOL, I am sure is not. It is more about those that we encounter on the road as we are out an about. I read the history behind Kay’s vision and even the time that he was confronted by members of the group as well and loved his response to the group. Such great liberating way of thinking.
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1 hour ago, Kirk W said:
You have probably come to the most all inclusive RV club in existence, but even so you would not be the only one, no matter what your status happens to be in most parts of the RVing community. Most of us in this group just see people who like RV life and have little concern about what you choose to do in private and consider it to be nobody's business but yours. Our club has many special interest groups within the larger group and LGBTQ is one of them. There are some subgroups that you wouldn't fit into, but that is true for all of us because they are based on special interests but none of our club sponsored events exclude anyone. As long as we are tolerant of others and maintain courtesy to other members, you are welcome. I am an ardent supporter of the Escapees RV Club because I learned long ago that life is much more interesting if you have friends who think or live differently than yourself. Even though I have been a married man for many years, you would be most welcome at my campfire, along with a lot of other folks who think and live differently than you or I.
While the Escapees are in my view the best of the best, I also believe that the majority of the RV community are courteous and kind to fellow RV folks even when different.
It just confirms the observations that me and my partner have had about the community. I agree the courtesy and just plain respect for one another is so important and something that we might see less and less in some areas. You all help us so much in making this decision one that we feel comfortable by sharing your expertise. Thanks again.
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3 minutes ago, Lou Schneider said:
There are many ways to stretch your fulltiming budget. You can spend the winter months in the desert Southwest. Places like Quartzite, actually most of the areas in Arizona below the Mongollon Rim have warm winter weather while the rest of the country is snowed in. There are nice, inexpensive RV parks along the Colorado River and especially in Yuma if you want a more urban lifestyle. Or just chill out and boondock on BLM land along the Colorado River for a while.
I get excited about our journey getting there as I read the way that you describe our beautiful country.
I want to try boondocking before our freedom date(This is what we are calling the date that we have set to embark on this new chapter of our lives), but I am concern about safety. I dislike having to say this, but being a minority as well as a member of the LGBTQ+ community it is something top of mind. I just hope that as we have been impressed by the sense of community in our trips, we are also about knowing that the community is accepting of diversity and inclusion practices. -
3 minutes ago, Steven@146 said:
There is a whole lot to think about going full time.
How do you want to live full timing, real cheap or not so cheap, or a mixture. We stay at a lot of state parks for up to two weeks, Escapee's parks for a month or so and we have a few private parks that we stay at for months at a time. Usually @ 475 - 525 per month full hook ups. We also have stayed at places that are at or near premier attractions like Disney or a major national park, they get real expensive.
Right now we are in Galveston at a KOA Holiday and it's $700/ month for full hook ups electric included with WiFi and cable TV. Jamaica Beach is about the same, Stella Mare RV park is a lot higher.
Banking, All our banking is done on-line, a little planning here, we maintain two separate banking/savings accounts. One account is at a major bank with locations all over the US and the other at a local Texas state bank. If one gets compromised, we still have the other. We check the transactions closely. Two different credit cards payable with on-line transfers from our banks. Credit cards are used for fuel and campground fees and such. We do have the capability to transfer money between our checking/savings accounts at the different banks. For cash we usually go to like a Walmart and pay for our purchases with our debit cards and get cash back.
In our travels we really like to eat out and sample the local fare. Here in Galveston, we like sea food so our dining out gets expensive, so we cut back on groceries. Bottom line for us we don't scrimp living full time.
Thank you Steven for your insight. I love the way that you describe your decision making process as we have discussed the same. We want to enjoy ourselves, but also know that we are not in a 365 day vacation. I have a large list of illnesses in my family and we have always thought about doing this when we retire, but we are also afraid that we won’t get to do so if we just wait for our retirement. There is a lot to learn so I am grateful to all of you as the RV community seems to be so helpful, empathetic as well as giving. Already have experience this as we have an RV already. Thank you again.
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4 hours ago, Kirk W said:
First of all, welcome to the Escapee forums! The Escapees RV Club was founded by a group of people who were living in their RVs while working and traveling back in the late 70's. Slowly over the years it became mostly retired folks but today there is a shift back in the direction of the club's origin to more and more folks who are younger and travel as they work. Many of the members of this forum either are now or were once living full-time in their RVs and more than a few worked in some form as they traveled. My wife & I took an early retirement package at the age of 57, sold everything that we couldn't carry with us and lived in a motorhome for almost 12 years. We didn't do much paid work on the road but we spent most of our time as resident volunteers in federal, state, or county parks and wildlife refuges working a few days a week in return for our RV site and utilities in order to keep costs down and stretch the budget. There are others here who have done or are doing paid work in order to earn a living as they travel as well. I believe that you can find a great deal of support and advice about doing as you are considering so feel free to ask any questions or to offer thoughts in any of our forums. I suggest that you take some time to explore the Escapees RV Club website and post any thoughts that you then have.
In addition, the Escapees a few years ago added a separated section to the club that is aimed at younger, still employed workers and at families who earn their living as they travel and that group has become the fastest growing part of our club. Check out the X-scapers website as well since it is aimed at the younger, still working folks who are part of our group. You will find a great deal of help available in both groups.
Thank you for the warm welcome, insight and resources. We are determined to make this happen so we want to make sure that we do it right. Thanks again.
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1 hour ago, Lou Schneider said:
Welcome to the Escapees Forums! Can you work remotely if you have Internet access? It's fairly easy now with widespread cellular coverage available. Another factor is health insurance - you'll have to replace an employer provided plan with individual coverage if you stop working. Like Kirk said, check out the Escapees' Xscapers subgroup for ideas.
Can you pay off your RV before you start out? The amount you can save versus continuing to make payments can be astonishing! It's best to start out debt free, IMO.
I did something similar in 1990 and again in 2000, well before remote work became widespread. The first time I found a clause in the union contract that allowed taking up to 3 months off and having your job waiting when you returned. It was originally intended as maternity leave but that part got deleted when all of the sex specific language was taken out of the contract. So I took a month off and toured Australia.
When that was eliminated in the next contract, I changed jobs and negotiated with my new employer for additional time off beyond the normal 2 weeks annual paid vacation. I explained that I tended to burn out and we settled on two weeks unpaid leave every 3 months.
I worked there for 5 years, reducing my expenses by continuing to live in my RV in a local mobilehome park. This only works if you're in an area with mild winter weather, RVs don't do well when temperatures are consistantly below freezing. When the company sold in 2000 the new owners didn't want to continue that arrangement so I quit and travelled for a year and a half until the money ran out. Then I found another job, negotiated a similar package and worked until I retired at age 55 in 2005.
A divorce in 2011 wiped out most of my savings, so I returned to RV life, took a year to get my head together, then found another job in Los Angeles where I worked until I retired at age 63 in 2016.
Today I'm comfortably retired and the minimalistic lifestyle I developed over the years allows me to live and travel comfortably in my RV on my Social Security with a nice nest egg in reserve. A big factor in this was joining one of the Escapees Co-op Parks which provides a secure home base at minimal cost.
The main things I'd recommend is to minimize your present living expenses before you set out and bank your savings to accumulate a nest egg for unexpected expenses. Nothing lasts forever, vehicles break down, etc. It would really suck if you decide you want to return to a stick and brick life but can't afford to do it.
Start out debt free, in my case I used part of my savings to buy a used RV for cash instead of taking out a loan for a new one. Actually, I've bought and sold several RVs over the years, and the total cost is still substantially less than if I'd bought a new one when I started out. These days groups like Bob Wells' Rubber Tramp Rendevous and HOWA are advocating a similar, if more extreme version of this. I guess I was just a few decades ahead of the curve.
Thank you for your insight. One of the Pros that we spoke about, was being able to do this now while we are healthy. We are definitely not rushing into it as we have given ourselves two years to eliminate our debt as well as all the other steps that we need to take towards a minimalist lifestyle. Thank you again as every bit helps.
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Happy New Years to all and hope this year is full of great getaways for all.
My husband, our two fur babies and Winnie (that’s what we call our RV) have been able to enjoy some great trips in 2021. So much that it has made us think differently about the way we live.
We both hold corporate jobs and work very hard day in day out. We feel blessed that we are able to live the life we do, but also feel like we are missing the best years of our lives waiting for retirement to come. We recently have started to consider the minimalistic life. Sell everything we owe, get some good remote jobs and just become full time RV’ers.
Of course this step is not an easy one and have been researching the Pros and Cons about such a drastic life change. Life only gets faster and time tends to just pass by and even taking a weeks vacation now a days is just not enough to recharge the batteries when working demanding corporate jobs.
Do we have any full time RV’ers in the group that can share their perspective and experience?
Is this really possible?
Is there any advice that you would give the group before considering to make this change?
Is it worth it?
Lots to think about and would appreciate any insight from all of those that have already made this type of life decision.
Great Travels to all!!!!
No Vacancy
in Beginning RVing
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Thank you Trailer Traveler