Questions, Answers, and Reactions!

For today’s blog, I wanted to do things a bit differently. When Jerry and I first started telling our friends, coworkers, and families about our plans to become full-time RV’ers, we received some interesting responses, reactions, and questions. I wanted to take the time to answer these questions to give you all a little bit more insight of our plans and thought process going into this next chapter in our lives. 

All of these are real conversations Jerry and I have had with people in different areas of our lives. We have enjoyed reconvening at the end of every day and discussing what reactions people had today. It’s been a fun social experiment! So here goes.

Reaction: That’s super cool! 

Reaction: I’ve always wanted to do that! 

Reaction: ……what? What is that? 

The reactions to the news that we sold our house and plan to go on the road full time has been varied. Either everyone is excited and in awe of our decision to take such a risk or very confused. On the whole, everyone has been very supportive of our decision and want postcards/beverages from all the great places we visit. 

Question: Where are you going to move?

Answer: All over the place! 

Question: Where are you going to live?

Answer: Our RV. 

Question: But where is your home? 

Answer: Our RV. 

Question: But where is your house? Do you have a house? Where is your home base?

Answer: Our home is just like your home, it is just on wheels. We can take it anywhere we want. 

We seem to be getting these types of questions a lot. We get that it is a totally unconventional way to live, but we are so excited to have a home we can bring with us and explore all corners of the country. 

Question: How long are you planning to do this for? 

Answer: Truthfully, we don’t have a timeline. We want to enjoy our next act on the road and see as much of the country as possible. We know full-time people who have been doing this for 20 years and love it as much as they did their first year. There is so much to explore so why not take our time and see everything on our list? If and when there comes a time where we can’t travel, we will be ready for our next adventure and settle down. We are in no rush.

Question: What about your carbon footprint? 

Answer: Jerry and I have both commuted to work for many years. Jerry always had to drive at least an hour both ways. My jobs have not been in one location and I have driven all over the Bay Area. And my mother, when she was alive, lived about 50 miles from me and I was visiting her at least twice a week. Between the two of us, we were driving at least 1000 miles during the week, and that’s not counting any weekend activities we partook in. We will be getting rid of my car and only using our one truck that we will be picking up later this month in Utah. Yes, it is a large truck and diesel. However, we will not be driving all day every day. Our plan is to stay in each location for at least two weeks. Many of our upcoming reservations are for 4-6 weeks. With all of this in mind, we believe our carbon footprint will be much less than it was living and commuting in the Bay Area.  

Question: What about mail? 

Answer: I discussed this in a previous blog, and through Escapees RV Club, we set up our  mail forwarding as a part of domiciling. Our permanent address is in South Dakota. This is for credit cards, Federal and State issues such as drivers license, and vehicle registration purposes. Our mailing address is in Texas. Our mail comes to Texas and then Escapees will mail it wherever we are. Each time we settle in a new location, we just call Escapees and tell them where we are and they will send our mail. It’s a bit of a clunky system, but with everything digital these days, it really isn’t too much of a hassle. Plus, we gotta support the heroes at USPS right?

Question: How often do you have to go back to South Dakota?

Answer: We don’t! Just because we are domiciled in South Dakota doesn’t mean we really ever have to go back there if we don’t want to. Yes, we have to be mindful of when our licenses expire, but hopefully we can just renew online and have them mailed to us. However, South Dakota is an incredibly beautiful state with so much to see and do. I have been doing lots of research and can’t wait to plan our trip there for more than the few days we will be there to set up our domiciling. However, they have brutal winters and we will not be subjecting ourselves to that type of horror. Remember, we are from California. 

Question: What happens when you want to go on a trip where you have to fly? What do you do with your RV?

Answer: We just find a place to store our RV and take off on our trip. It’s pretty straight forward. The cool thing is that because we aren’t based in one place, we can do lots of research and find the best location and priced airport to fly out of. For example, if we want to go to Hawaii, we are most definitely flying out from the West Coast, but can price compare between, say, San Francisco and Los Angeles area airports to find the best deal. It’s pretty neat. However, we are really in no rush to fly anywhere at the moment. We plan to enjoy the great places, people, food, and culture of the continental United States.

So there you have it! These are the most common questions and reactions we have gotten. We are so excited to have you join us on our journey. Until next time!

Just One More… Question! I love to answer all of them so send your best!

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