This lifestyle was an evolution of our weekend camping turned into a dream of full-time travel. We had already made a plan of traveling full-time in an RV when we retired but we got anxious and impatient.  

We took those desires and began to overcome our fears. we changed our thinking from I can’t or not now to I can and why not? Realizing that a dream without a plan remains a dream, we delved deep and our desire to make this happen for ourselves became stronger and stronger.

We researched and planned and made our dream a reality much sooner than originally thought.

We can help you do that too!  We created a program just for people wanting to transition to full-time RVing.  It's called the Full-time RV Framework.  If you want to fulfill your dream of freedom and travel – << Learn More >>

It depends. I know that is not the answer you want! 🙂  After full-timing for 5 years we found that most people can live comfortably on $3,000 – $4,000 a month.  That will not let you travel frequently or let you be in full vacation mode with entertainment options.  This amount will vary person to person, couple to couple depending on your debt load, cost of health insurance and various other incidental expenses you will incur.  

Not yet!  Our original plan was to wait to do this when Bryan turned 65.  As we researched our dream, we heard stories of people who waited and didn’t get a chance to travel as planned either due to illness or finances.  Those stories catapulted our plan into high gear.  The biggest thing to overcome was fear and doubt, but we did it and so can you, if you desire.

After losing Bryan in 2021, I am forever grateful we took the chance and built a full-time RV life.  If we had waited, we would not have had our chance of living our dream together.

We have a blog post about that!  Read about choosing mail service here.

We had to shift our thinking.  The journey to freedom begins in your head.  Once we delved into things with a possibility attitude, things began to look differently and turned into opportunities instead of obstacles.

Let us give you an example.  Neither of our jobs naturally transitioned to the road.  Bryan was in a manufacturing position and Luann was a practice manager for a medical office.  

Taking the skills we did have we researched opportunities that could be done remotely.  We set up a small business entity. Bryan took a course on RV Maintenance.  That class had a business bent to it where you could learn to do RV inspections for money.  

Luann had an accounting background and took a course in building her own bookkeeping business.  One day the realization hit her –  the doctor she was working for could be her first client!  She pitched it to him and the rest is history!  Shifting your mind is definitely the first step in creating your dream life.

We plan on traveling until we can't.  No one is promised tomorrow.  We have chosen to take some risk for a greater reward of making memories and minimize regrets. We will cross that bridge and solve those problems when they arise.  We plan to search as we travel for a spot to settle into as we age and travel less and less.  If sickness happens or disability and we haven't bought a permanent home, we are considering the Escapees Care Center.  We plan on prudent spending and saving as we approach our golden years, while living our dream without delay.

Update 2022 - losing Bryan was very hard.  But I am forever grateful we lived our dream while we could.  After rereading the above that I wrote many years ago, I realize the truth in those words more profoundly than ever.  

Our original full-time RV was a 2008 42′ Tiffin Allegro Bus from the previous owners who had kept it in a garage most of the time and only used it to travel back and forth from Virginia to Florida for their winter fix.  There are stellar deals out there for those who look.  We chose to buy used because we wanted a higher end motorhome and wasn’t able to afford that high-end RV new.  Buying used can be scary but read this post about RV inspections and don’t let used scare you.  

In 2019, we downsized a little to a 2019 36′ Tiffin Allegro Open Road.  We wanted to save some money on fuel and maintenance and knew that a gas model could give us that. We also wanted to be able to get in and out of places a little easier without sacrificing our creature comforts.  This RV hit all the goals for us.  We flat-tow a 2015 Jeep Trailhawk that carries our bikes on the back.

After my shift to solo, I now travel in a 2019 Leisure Travel Van with the corner bed floor plan.  It's perfect for my solo travels and easy to manage by myself.  I just love it!  I am not currently towing since the rig is so easy to maneuver and park.  I still take my ebike with me wherever I go!

After 38 years of marriage, 3 beautiful children and 9 awesome grandchildren, Bryan went home to be with Jesus in 2021.  

This left Luann a chance to give up or keep living their dream of RVing.  She chose to go on in supporting RVers wherever she can and remembering Bryan with her RV lifestyle journey.