Non-Retired Full Time RV Living

[Rick and Michele]

My wife and I are looking to move full time into an RV here in the Knoxville, TN area. 

We are looking at some RV Resort/Camp places and have questions in regards to getting a proper address for our DL, mail, etc.

Any help would be great,

 

Rick and Michele

[Twotoes]

Many people who are full time use a mail forwarding service because they travel extensively. If you are going to stay put in one camp ground, ask the camp ground if they accept mail and use that address. If you want to get a mail forwarding service Escapees has one of the best. 

[Kirk W]

1 hour ago, Rick and Michele said:

My wife and I are looking to move full time into an RV here in the Knoxville, TN area. 

Welcome to the Escapee forums! We are happy to have you with us.

Are we reading this correctly, that you plan to live in your RV while continuing to work your job in Nashville each day and not travel? TN is one of the few states that accepts a mail forwarding service address for driver's license and vehicle registration, unless something has changed recently. If I am correct about your plan, then I suggest that the first step is to locate an RV park that you wish to live in and which gives monthly rates and allows permanent residents. A good place to start is by looking at Campground Reviews to see what is available in your area. Once you have some ideas about possible parks, visit them to check out the facilities and ask in the office about what you wish to do. As Twotoes stated, some parks will allow you to get mail in the park and use that address, thus avoiding the need for a mail forwarding service. 

You will also need to get RV insurance that has a fulltimer clause on it and not all insurance companies write that type of insurance. i suggest that you post additional information here so that we can give more specific responses. 

[Rick and Michele]

Thanks to the both of you we really appreciate any help.

 

[rpsinc]

We have used Americas Mailbox for some years now with great satisfaction.  They are in South Dakota, not that it matters.

[sandsys]

Welcome. It's important to decide why you want to live in an RV. If you don't plan to travel in it, a park model or mobile home might be a better solution for you. If you tell us more about your reasoning, we can offer more help.

Linda Sand

[Rick and Michele]

14 hours ago, sandsys said:

Welcome. It's important to decide why you want to live in an RV. If you don't plan to travel in it, a park model or mobile home might be a better solution for you. If you tell us more about your reasoning, we can offer more help.

Linda Sand

We are looking to buy a Class C RV to live and work out of as well as travel in for our vacations. Once we retire we want to travel full time and see the US. The work that I am in has allowed us to travel the world now we want to see the US and visit as many national parks as we can.  

 

[Kirk W]

1 hour ago, Rick and Michele said:

We are looking to buy a Class C RV to live and work out of as well as travel in for our vacations.

As you begin to shop for an RV, do not overlook the class A because the cost for similar size is not a lot different and they have far more storage. Storage is a major issue when you live in an RV and carry everything you own with you. Having driven both, it takes a bit more adjustment to drive the class A but once you get used to the mental part I consider the class A as easy if not easier to drive. You would be wise to spend some time at the largest RV show in your area, looking at everything they have just to familiarize yourself with all of the possibilities. As you do this, take the time to pannamine doing the things that each of you do daily, with particular attention to those things you do at the same time. That will give you a much better feel for the space requirements that you need. 

How long do you have until you can retire?

[Rick and Michele]

36 minutes ago, Kirk W said:

As you begin to shop for an RV, do not overlook the class A because the cost for similar size is not a lot different and they have far more storage. Storage is a major issue when you live in an RV and carry everything you own with you. Having driven both, it takes a bit more adjustment to drive the class A but once you get used to the mental part I consider the class A as easy if not easier to drive. You would be wise to spend some time at the largest RV show in your area, looking at everything they have just to familiarize yourself with all of the possibilities. As you do this, take the time to pannamine doing the things that each of you do daily, with particular attention to those things you do at the same time. That will give you a much better feel for the space requirements that you need. 

How long do you have until you can retire?

Kirk, I have about 8-10 years till retirement. We have both decided that there will be no more Expat positions for us as we want to stay stateside from here on out. We are registering for the RV boot camp in November as well. We are just getting started so all the advice thus far from everyone has been greatly appreciated.

As for the RV we are looking for one right on the cusp of an A and C. We wan to be able to travel the likes of twisting and turning mountain roads without major issues. A good road example would be Newfound Gap Rd. from Gatlinburg to Cheorkee.

Thanks again.

[Kirk W]

1 hour ago, Rick and Michele said:

We wan to be able to travel the likes of twisting and turning mountain roads without major issues.

A class A can go pretty much anywhere that a class C can, except that you could get a class A that is longer than any class C. We dove our gasoline powered class A, towing a Honda CRV over most of the routes of the USA. It was 36' long. I have driven it along the west coast (US101) and over the Rocky Mountains via several different routes. 

When I drove that road it was before we owned an RV and too long ago to have much memory of it, but I highly doubt that you can find a road that a class C can travel but not a class A of similar length. 

[Rick and Michele]

17 minutes ago, Kirk W said:

A class A can go pretty much anywhere that a class C can, except that you could get a class A that is longer than any class C. We dove our gasoline powered class A, towing a Honda CRV over most of the routes of the USA. It was 36' long. I have driven it along the west coast (US101) and over the Rocky Mountains via several different routes. 

When I drove that road it was before we owned an RV and too long ago to have much memory of it, but I highly doubt that you can find a road that a class C can travel but not a class A of similar length. 

Thanks Kirk.

[sandsys]

So, if you buy a new rig now it will already be 80-10 years old by the time you move into it for full time traveling?

We lived full time in a 24-ft Class C for about 18 months. It takes a LOT of downsizing to do that. We ate mostly freeze-dried meals to help keep the weight of food down. You never really think about a 16-oz can of food weighing a full pound until you move into a rig with limited CCC. For us, the main advantage of moving from a 24-ft Class C to a 35-ft Class A was the ability to empty our previous storage room. Yes, both were diesel engines so that was not the cause of the difference in the carrying capacity between two.

Linda Sand

[Rick and Michele]

19 hours ago, sandsys said:

So, if you buy a new rig now it will already be 80-10 years old by the time you move into it for full time traveling?

We lived full time in a 24-ft Class C for about 18 months. It takes a LOT of downsizing to do that. We ate mostly freeze-dried meals to help keep the weight of food down. You never really think about a 16-oz can of food weighing a full pound until you move into a rig with limited CCC. For us, the main advantage of moving from a 24-ft Class C to a 35-ft Class A was the ability to empty our previous storage room. Yes, both were diesel engines so that was not the cause of the difference in the carrying capacity between two.

Linda Sand

Thanks Linda. We are looking at a 32ft Class C.  You are correct it will be 8-10 years old before we can go full time on the road, that is just a reason to upgrade at that point

[SKP073615]

If you are going to work in TN and spend most of your time there, you will likely be considered legal residents of TN, independent of any other mailing address.  So you may want to research what the TN state laws are about who they consider residents.  You may have to register you RV and other vehicles there, vote and be up for jury duty there.  After retirement, you may want to review your domicile situation.

Art

[hatrack]

On 4/23/2020 at 12:14 PM, Kirk W said:

TN is one of the few states that accepts a mail forwarding service address for driver's license and vehicle registration, unless something has changed recently.

Kirk,

TN doesn't accept mailboxes for licenses and registration. We did a change of address a couple years ago and got them to accept it but last year they didn't want to renew my plates and finally agreed if I paid cash and said they may call me during the week to cancel my registration. So far they haven't. When the DW renewed her licenses last year the local office would not renew and sent it in to state to be to be reviewed, it was renewed but no star on the licenses.

[Rick and Michele]

10 hours ago, hatrack said:

Kirk,

TN doesn't accept mailboxes for licenses and registration. We did a change of address a couple years ago and got them to accept it but last year they didn't want to renew my plates and finally agreed if I paid cash and said they may call me during the week to cancel my registration. So far they haven't. When the DW renewed her licenses last year the local office would not renew and sent it in to state to be to be reviewed, it was renewed but no star on the licenses.

That is the problem I am trying to avoid. I will be doing more research on the topic.  I have no problem changing my domicile to Florida but I will be working here in TN.  I may have to go see a lawyer.

[Lou Schneider]

Getting legal advice is a good idea.  IANAL but it seems to me it would be difficult to claim one state as your legal domicile while working and living fulltime in another.

[Kirk W]

19 hours ago, Lou Schneider said:

it seems to me it would be difficult to claim one state as your legal domicile while working and living fulltime in another.

That is true in all cases that I am aware of.