All You Need to Know About Our Decision to RV Full Time

We’re going RVing! Full time RVing that is. We’re excited to share our journey, so in this post I’m going to share all you need to know about our decision to RV full time. How did we come up with this crazy idea anyway? We’ll dive into that along with some of the process to get us on the road.

The Dream

A few years ago Jeremy searched YouTube for videos about places to RV in Colorado. He stumbled upon a full time RVing family and was quickly hooked on their channel. At first, I thought it weird that he was watching these strangers traveling around North America, but before I knew it, I too was watching them live out their dream. Who knew that traveling in an RV wasn’t just for retired couples?

We learned a lot and came to realize that this was something we’d really like to do too. We started using our little RV a little differently. Rather than just going “camping”, we started exploring too. We saw new places and made new memories. 

In January 2021 we got a little taste of full time RVing when we went on our trip to Texas for a little over 3 weeks. We had so much fun and made so many memories on that trip! At the end of January, we wished we could have kept going. We wanted more opportunities to go RVing and thought we might even start taking steps to be able to go full time. 

Why Now?

We’ve dreamt of it for a while, but COVID actually helped us make us more mobile and push us toward our decision to RV full time. School and Jeremy’s job were both keeping us fixed in one place. Last year we decided to homeschool due to COVID, so that was one problem solved for us. Though Jeremy’s job could be somewhat remote (that’s how we could go to Texas), it could not be 100% remote. Some changes in the company spurred the decision for him to start looking for a new position, and he started a new, remote job in May. 

After Texas, and especially in the spring and summer, we worked toward finishing projects around the house to get it ready to sell. We had no firm timeline and hadn’t made a decision to go full time RVing, but just felt that selling was the direction we wanted to go. 

In June, we were talking about selling and moving to the mountains (that’s another dream). The housing market has been crazy here, so it seemed like the right time to sell our house. We planned to build a house, but as we looked at land here and there, I wasn’t quite at peace with starting that process yet. 

While looking for an RV to live in while building a home, Jeremy stumbled on a fifth wheel model we had never seen. When he showed us the model, a light went off in our heads. We grew more excited and at peace about the idea of living in the RV than building the actual house. That made us realize that now is the time to just go for it and RV full time! We’ll still buy land and/or a house at some point, but we’re not in a rush. 

The Process

Finding Our New Home 

Jeremy found the exact model of the fifth wheel for sale in Fort Collins. It was the only one in Colorado and the next closest one was in Tulsa. We hoped that it was as good as it looked. We were all already taken with it. 

It was better than we thought. Though used, the owners only traveled in it for 2 months. It sat for about 10 months in storage, but the owner kept it covered the entire time. He told us all about the rig and things they’d added or had to repair…right down to the paper towel holder they added. It was well cared for. It felt like a new rig with some of the bugs already worked out for us. 

We started the process to purchase the rig the next week and closed a couple weeks after that. It was ours! Before the closing, Jeremy added a fifth wheel hitch and bought new tires for the truck, so he could bring it home right away. 

The First Trip

Over the next week we loaded and organized the new rig with all the old stuff from our previous trailer. 

On a side note: selling our old trailer was another thing that God put into place. We sold it the Friday before Labor Day. The new owners drove away with it about an hour and a half after posting it for sale. Considering the time of year, we thought it would take days or even weeks to sell!

The first trip was short but went well! We made memories, went to a new place (for the boys and Erin), and spent time with family and friends. We had some little mishaps, but nothing major. Getting fuel on the way home was an adventure. and something new. We’ve never had to worry about the height on our rig, but we’ll be keeping an eye on that for sure!

Getting on the Road

Our house went under contract while we were on our first trip, so now we have what we would consider the “big things” figured out (buying a rig, selling the house, Jeremy’s job, and school). In the weeks to come, we’ll work on packing up items we want to save and store and getting rid of the stuff we don’t need. We’ll have lots of organizing and loading to do in the rig as well. It’s big, but it’s still a limited amount of space!

We plan to move into the rig the weekend of October 9th and 10th. We’ll hopefully stay at a nearby campground, so we can not only settle into the rig before traveling but also continue to work on getting the house ready for the new buyers. We hand over the house toward the end of October but plan on staying in the area until October 30th. We’re planning to spend another week in the Colorado Springs area before really hitting the road. Where will we head first? We’re hoping for somewhere warmer…a beach would be a bonus!

There’s a lot of work in the coming weeks, but we are looking forward to it! 

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