Full Timer's Roll Call

[scothuffman]

Hi I am Scot and my wife is Dale Ann. We have been RVing since the 70s, our first trailer was a 16' Ideal. We just purchased our 2017 Solitide 360 RL in October 2016. We have two boondocking trips under our belt so far.
I plan on retiring the end of June this year and my wife in another year from now. We plan on fulltiming for a period of time, not sure how long yet the wife wants a home base, to travel the country. We are raising our grandson, 9 years old now. I have a few questions to any fulltimers with children and home schooling them. How difficult is this while traveling, how do go about this process, how have the children adapted and do you think the children are missing out on anything... social, education, or otherwise?

Thanks Scot

[LFISGR8]

I personally cannot impart any words of experience on this subject but there are several full time families on Youtube that are homeschooling that might be able to provide you with some insight. Look for Streamin Freedom, Knorpp and South, Keep your Daydream....these are just a few that I can think of off the top of my head.

[USN2USA]

Bought current rig (348M) and truck in mid 2015.
Logged about 3 months of use and a couple thousand miles by years end.
Did a few mods the first half of 2016 and then retired from the Navy last August from an overseas assignment.
I've been "homeless" ever since. I truly enjoy full-timing and I continue to make mods/improvements along the way.
Major mods are listed in signature line; if anyone has any questions about specifics let me know & I'll share what I know.
Farm boy by birth, engineer by trade and a tinkerer at heart.
Currently down near San Antonio to take care of VA processing and heading out next week for Phoenix to meet up with wife.
After that I hope to find a route to Medford Oregon that DOES NOT go through California; family is expecting us up there mid April.

Safe travels,

[CLturner22]

Hi There...we are Julie and CL.

We've been Full-Timing (officially) for a couple of months now, but a lot of that time was spent doing a pretty damn intensive Solar install.

Now we're out in the wild (Boondocking in Moab, UT at the moment actually) with our two cats (one of which is completely blind, since birth).

We also run a web site. It's not completely dedicated to this lifestyle, but touches on it a lot (and will in the future). It's also home of our podcast...which covers everything from Full-Time RV to Ghost Hunting, to being your non-traditional "Burners".

If you're interested, we just published Episode 2, where we discuss this choice and answer questions from one of our daughters and her fiance (both of our daughters are full-grown and on their own).

https://oddrealities.com

You can listen to the episode at: https://www.oddrealities.com/fulltimerv/

Now I'll climb off our soapbox...thanks!

[D2Reid]

Welcome Julie and CL. You guys have a lot of neat stuff going on. We love Moab, where are you boon-docking? There are so many good places.

Ever get up into the San Rafael Swell? Here is a little out of the way place. The easy one is visible form the highway so not the best, but no issues with pulling an RV into it. The area on the north side of those coordinates is better, but the road is not RV friendly. If you get off the interstate on the south side, follow 1028 down about 3 miles there is a nice secluded pullout. The road is scary at first, but really not anything worse than some RV parks. Don't go past the second set of coordinates, you could probably make it pulling a trailer, but it would stressful. Absolutely check the weather before your stay. If that road gets wet it becomes impassable. I mean not even 4x4 jeeps go down it. When it is dry it's firm, has good traction, and very few rough spots.

Easy 38.923317°, -110.418455°
Bit harder to get to 38.901063°, -110.441146°

The appeal: Not for normal people. For us: Stars, no civilized light reaches here. Canyon hikes, we love hiking the different canyons. Rock Climbing, lots of established routes, more non-document routes. OHV riding, we have dual sport motorcycles, 100's of miles of trails.

On one of your pages is the question: "So, the Mobile Dream…worth it?" There aren't many people out there willing to pay the price. Somewhere I read: "There are two kinds of people in the world, nomads and castle builders." I suspect that amongst my stalwart German/Scottish genealogy charts lies either some American Indian or possibly or perhaps some Mongolian. I should do the test, it would be interesting. But I am a steadfast nomad, love it. Love change, love discovering, love diversity. I tend to get depressed when I stay in one place to long, boring.

So welcome to the life. May your travels be easy, the weather good, the roads civil and the adventures grand.

Dallas

[CLturner22]

Thanks Dallas!

We're set up at Ken's Lake - beautiful spot!

I've been a very frequent visitor to Moab for over 20 years, but was *not* prepared for the current reality that seems to have hit the tipping point this year; Moab has gotten busier than the infrastructure and city can handle! EVERYTHING is taken and crowded. I'd spent a couple of days scouting BLM campgrounds when we arrived (we spent a few days spot-hopping at Archview). When it came time to move, everything was taken!. It was by pure luck, bribery, and my winning charisma that we happened upon a family leaving the best spot in Ken's Lake. My wife was already "a couple hours late" to work. But we slid in, set up, got a signal and she commuted to the office safely (rough walk, through cat-traffic, to the office in our garage).

I used to work for an Outdoor magazine as their "Director of Media". My job was to spend a couple of weeks each month backpacking the wilderness with my business partner, taking pictures and video for the magazine, web site and TV show. In all that time, I *never* really spent any time in the Swell! Sure, I did Little Wild Horse several times, spent weeks in Goblin Valley and the immediate area, but never went into the Swell proper and spent time looking.

I really appreciate the tips! I'm new enough to the experience of driving/towing this behemoth that I'm not quite ready for cunning stunts - in the Fall I should be! But the first set of coordinates should be very doable! I think anything "not for normal people" is right up our alley!

We've got some friends who are Nudists (we're not, but we don't have a problem with naked people...we're Burners!), and they often have gatherings in the Swell for the very reasons you mention. One of my older brothers frequently backpacks these areas for weeks at a time (he's got over a year of vacation time at his job and they're anxious for him to start using it up!). He often crosses paths with groups of Rangers hiking around in nothing but boots. These back areas are special...and not just for the Voyeuristic qualities. The things you experience and see are worth a lifetime of memory! Especially the Dark Skies!!!

Have you tried camping in Cedar Breaks? Are there any spots large enough for a 350M? I'm going to take a look in a bit, but I'd love to hear from someone who's actually been there with their rig. I doubt it's open yet (WAAaaay high up in the mountains).

Safe travels!

-CL

[D2Reid]

CL - we are off topic here, I have continued our conversation in a new post: Wild Turkeys, the remote places we love.

Dallas

[MitterMoe]

Starting next month, the wife and I will be off to be travel nurses. The property is just waiting to close, all the "stuff" that won't fit in the trailer is already in storage and we will be changing our address to the folks house soon. We plan on doing this for about the next 5 years picking assignments in areas we want to visit. We are already in the 310 at a friend's property and will be off after closing is complete and we get our first assignment. Fingers crossed all goes as planned.

[D2Reid]

MitterMoe, welcome to the full timing life style.

Dallas

[Jcently]

I have been a full timer in my 2014 369RL Solitude for 3 years now, I have had no problems with it and I am very happy with the quality. However, I am in the process of looking for a smaller one since at 38 ft it is too big for me and I do not need all the extra space.