A recent question asked in a RVing group:

That’s a great question, and I thought this might make a fun little blog post.

So here goes… in our experience, some of the most surprising discoveries of our full time RVing lifestyle have been:

How fast time goes by on the road. The sentiment of ‘Wow! We have a whole month to get from Point A to Point B’ quickly becomes ‘Ugh.. we only have a month to get from Point A to Point B’. There’s just so many amazing experiences and beautiful locations that we frequently find ourselves wanting to stick around longer than we intended. After 7 years (?!?) on the road, there are so many places we’ve yet to get to, and so many places we want to visit again!

How much we enjoy a variable pace. Like many new RVers, we exhausted ourselves in our first year by moving every couple of days with no break – afterall, we had to ‘see it all,’ right? We’ve learned to listen to our hearts, and know when it’s right to put down the landing gear for a few weeks to months, and when it’s right to hop around a bunch. We also found that no matter how much we simplify the setup and take-down process, it takes time and mental energy that is not sustainable for us to do constantly. We’re also constantly amazed when we stay still for a little bit, how much awesome catches up to us.

How many people have invited us to be temporary neighbors. When the invitations first started coming in for us to driveway surf with relative strangers, I felt sheepish about accepting them – after all, I didn’t want to seem like a freeloading moocher. We got over that, and realized we’re not guests – we’re temporary neighbors, and most our hosts enjoy living a bit vicariously through our adventures. Now we have nomadic ports across the country with people who genuinely love having us as part of their lives (and us them), and who get disappointed if we don’t ‘mooch’ off them. These have become invaluable connections in our lives.

Adapting to a new sense of community. I didn’t fully realize the positive role a regular & local community had in my life. It took a while for me to adapt to a new concept of community – one in which almost all our friends are far away at any given moment, and quality time with close friends is temporary but intense bursts. Actually, I can’t say we have fully adapted to that, but we have learned to ride the ebbs and flows a lot better.

How easy some things are. Many of the feared little logistical things like handling laundry, dumping tanks, making minor RV repairs, finding great campsites without lots of pre-planning, navigating always changing resources (grocery stores, managing food restrictions, urgent care services, etc.), just turned out to not be that big of a deal.

How complex some things are. Things that we knew would be difficult turned out to be even more of a challenge – staying connected online, figuring out where to have shipments catch up with us, setting up a great mobile banking solution and finding primary healthcare providers that are ‘nomad friendly.’

The varying attitudes folks have towards us. The reactions we get from people range from we’re living a carefree, cheap and isolated from ‘real’ society lifestyle… to an expensive, overly complex and socially immersive lifestyle. Fact of the matter is, full time RVing can be either of those extremes and anywhere in between.

How homebodied we actually are. When we arrive to a location, we don’t normally venture too far from home. We’ve found we like the variability of our immediate surroundings – which is why always living in the perfect spot became so important to us. We’re not the type to park the RV and use it as a basecamp to go explore lots of touristy locations… we’re good with embracing our nomadic homebodied nature.

How RV parking options vary so darn much. From closely spaced ‘row’ parking where you can smell what your neighbor is making for dinner, to parks designed for a sense of privacy with ample spacing and separation. And oh gosh, the variability of costs! How pricier ‘resorts’ are usually our least favorite style, and cheaper ‘campgrounds’ and even ‘trailer parks’ more often provide the amenities we like best. We’ve learned to roll with it, and try to appreciate each experience for its merits.