What was/is your motivation for RVing?

[cruisinTx]

OK, I looked through thread titles and did a search on "motivation" & came up without an answer to my questions. I'm not even sure I'm asking this in the correct part of the forum, but here goes. What was your motivation to start RVing? It doesn't really matter if was 30 years ago or yesterday or next week; I'm curious what motivates many of us to get into this lifestyle.

I'll share my thoughts about why we are considering RV life for several years after my wife retires. I retired three years ago and am loving it but am also getting the urge to see more than I have in my first 66.5 years on this Earth. Even though we do not yet own an RV, I want to go see things beyond the 7 or 8 states where I have traveled extensively, mostly on two wheels. Instead of sticking around Fritch, Texas playing golf, riding bicycles and motorcycles and shooting pictures of fabulous sunrises and sunsets, I want to see the New England states in the fall, Mt Rushmore, the Pacific Northwest, Florida, the east coast; etc. etc. I want to spend a few weeks at a time in beautiful spots before I can no longer go there due to health----or death. A three month journey to get to Maine and back by the backroads (no Interstates) would be my idea of just one of many ultimate journeys with an RV.

What motivated or motivates you?

[livinthelife]

OK, I looked through thread titles and did a search on "motivation" & came up without an answer to my questions. I'm not even sure I'm asking this in the correct part of the forum, but here goes. What was your motivation to start RVing? It doesn't really matter if was 30 years ago or yesterday or next week; I'm curious what motivates many of us to get into this lifestyle.

I'll share my thoughts about why we are considering RV life for several years after my wife retires. I retired three years ago and am loving it but am also getting the urge to see more than I have in my first 66.5 years on this Earth. Even though we do not yet own an RV, I want to go see things beyond the 7 or 8 states where I have traveled extensively, mostly on two wheels. Instead of sticking around Fritch, Texas playing golf, riding bicycles and motorcycles and shooting pictures of fabulous sunrises and sunsets, I want to see the New England states in the fall, Mt Rushmore, the Pacific Northwest, Florida, the east coast; etc. etc. I want to spend a few weeks at a time in beautiful spots before I can no longer go there due to health----or death. A three month journey to get to Maine and back by the backroads (no Interstates) would be my idea of just one of many ultimate journeys with an RV.

What motivated or motivates you?

We love to travel, and retirement was coming up.

That, plus the fact that Mama (me) wasn't sleeping on the ground, in a tent, anymore.

[traveldawg]

Sightseeing / Exploring. Hiking. Sleeping in our own bed; showering in my own shower and towels. Freedom to move about (or stay put). Food choices without having to go anyplace else. Meeting friends along the way & not having to impose on their facilities - or meeting them at a camp site.

[Wdkerek]

We have two rather large circle of friends that camp. Were invited a couple of times and really enjoyed the camaraderie a such. One group is our age, mid 50's and up and the other is 35 ish. So we get to bring our grand child who is 8 along with us on about half the trips.

What I did not think or plan for was that her parents, our oldest and his wife would enjoy coming with us as much as they do. Granted they like the RV resorts quite a bit more than the National or state parks, but they LOVE to come. They are social media influencer type kids, so I was shocked.

[Tigger1]

We’ve been camping a long time with tents, pop ups, and now our third TT. Love being outside, hiking, walking, birding, etc. We belong to a group and camp with them monthly and really enjoy their friendship, pot lucks, card games, and campfires. We also try to get out on our own.

[WhittleBurner]

We both have camped for what seems like forever. I grew up camping and doing roadtrips with my Mom. Gary and I have gone through the typical progression in what we camp in. What seems like 20 years in an awesome big old Eureka canvas tent, then another 13 in our little Aliner...bouncing up in size to a 28 ft TT then 5er

What drives us to go and keep going... being outside with nature, wildlife, scenery , great sunsets and waterfalls. Fall camping rocks, no better time to enjoy the campfire on a cool but not cold night. We love hiking to waterfalls, taking photos and just being outdoors to relax. We have met some great and interesting people along te way, some we keep in touch with to this day.
Absolutely love long extended road trips, we don't rush and like to spend extended time (at least a week) in areas without rushing to see the next stop. We spent 10 days at Yellowstone and still felt like it wasn't enough.

[Gronk1]

Have been camping since I was a kid. When I got old enough to drive bought a '72 Jeep & military trailer that I put all the camping stuff in. Graduated to a fiberglass off road tent trailer that had a 2 foot wide dressing room & fold out queen bed, & a new '98 Wrangler. I guess the motivation was to get away from it all...and people. Loved being out in the middle of nowhere for a couple of weeks or until the ice melted.
Then came the 5ers. INSIDE plumbing! DW was never gettin' in that tent trailer again. Something about not having to find the other side of a tree again.
On our 3rd 5th wheel & love seeing new places farther away and for longer than we could go in the Jeep. Love walking/hiking/biking in new areas. Liked to try restaurants in different parts of the country (can't do that anymore...thanks covid cooties) But just can't get far enough into the middle of nowhere with a dually, & 35 ft trailer.

[GeoffnCheri]

Pretty simple for us. Tent campers for years which were great trips. After getting a little long in the tooth and the third straight monsoon in three trips, "She who must be obeyed" said "no more". "If we are going to keep camping, we're getting an RV". No regrets.

[Sarge33Army]

We talked about RVs for a long time, but not really in a serious way. What drove us to our first TT was being tired of sub-par hotel rooms. We moved up in hotel classes/prices more than once, but kept finding poorly cleaned rooms and MOLD in showers. Never had bed bugs, but that was also a concern.
We bought out first TT in January 2014. Found very quickly that we loved this life! Since then, we've taken dozens of short trips (less than 300 miles each way) and three long trips (3K to 5.5K total miles each). They were great! This year isn't "normal", but the few trips we did take this year weren't nearly as enjoyable due to our fellow campers and their lack of respect for others, nature, or park facilities. This observation actually started in 2019. It's really disappointing.
We have a short trip planned for late September and then again in December. We hope to rekindle our love for this life when the parks have fewer people. Hopefully, next year (my second year of retirement) will find us back to normal.
Take care and safe travels!

[TheLexx]

In our case we have triplet 8 y.o. boys and a dog. So traditional travel in hotels is a real hassle. Most hotels limit 4 occupants to a room. The ones that accept dogs want a $75 non-refundable deposit/cleaning fee. So we end up having to rent two rooms or try to sneak a 3rd kid into the room. And then there the hassle of meals. Our kids eat like horses. This means 3 square meals. We don't eat fast food if we can. We eat mostly organic. So dining out is an expensive and time consuming deal. Housing typically ended up being $500 a day if we needed two rooms, plus the cleaning fee for the dog. If we can't find a hotel that accepts dogs then we have to board the dog, which is another hassle and expense. Our food budget typically costs us about $250/day while travelling. So we're talking about $800/day total. If we take off for the entire 2 months of summer vacation, that's 60 days, or $48k!

The fifth wheel allows us to spend lots of time together. It's far cheaper to rent a campsite and much much healthier to cook and eat in. Prior to Covid, we barelyate out at restaurants on RV trips, only doing so as a treat now and then.

And then there's the issue of cleanliness. I've stayed at the finest hotels (Four Seasons/Ritz Carlton on up). They are just superficially clean. In our fifth wheel we have a memory foam mattress and pillows chosen by ME. I have most of the comforts of home. The only thing I really miss is our multiple showerhead shower at home with firehose velocity water pressure. That and having two giant capacity washer/dryer..........and my home theater.