Wow, where has the time gone? Over the last few months, things have been fun, busy, and exciting over here. If you follow my Instagram (@rvworking) you’ll know that (aside from being long overdue posting this,) I’ve been super busy moving! Nope, not back to the stick and bricks (well, keep reading below for more on that) but I did a major upgrade – from my 1992 Fleetwood Bounder 31 foot RV to a 40 foot 2016 Thor Outlaw.
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Can not wait to share what I’ve been up to recently! Stay tuned for the big reveal!
When I originally bought my RV, I was shopping and just like buying a house, you want it all. The biggest, fanciest, nicest one you can buy with all the bells and whistles. And then, you notice the price tag, so you start compromising and taking things off here and there. Buying a RV for full time living has it’s ups and downs. When you are just going for a few days/weekends/week, the RV can have some missing things, but when you depend on it every day for living and working, it needs to meet your needs. For this reason, I wanted to get something entry level where I wouldn’t depreciate much in value, I could scrape, bump, scratch, and beat up without much fear. Thankfully, none of that happened, and I got lots of experience driving, parking, and living. I also found lots of things that were on my wish list to either be unnecessary or things that weren’t on my wish list that I hadn’t thought of. Buying an older RV, and testing it out was by far, one of my best experiences ever.
I had a few options in mind, and starting looking around for the right one. I knew I wanted something newer, but I didn’t want to buy brand new. So, my search started with a few years old, and I ended up finding over a months period, two – one in Ohio, and one in Texas. I drove to Ohio with my dad to look at the first one, and ended up walking away. It had the feeling of being rode hard and put away wet, and some simple things like screwing in a cabinet or fixing a light bulb just weren’t taken care of. I didn’t have a good feeling about it. About a month later, I decided to head to Texas and take a look. I was pretty impressed with both the dealer, and the RV I decided to move forward with it.
Take a look at the awesomeness of this party bus!
I’ve always thought moving was one of the least favorite things you can do. Normally in a stick and brick environment, you box everything up, label the room, and finally moving day comes where you load up the truck, haul it across the city/state/etc and unload the boxes to the rooms.
Moving from one RV to another was none of that! I started with driving the new RV to the campground I was staying at. I asked for a bit of forgiveness instead of permission, and was hoping it would work! (Hint: It did!). I drove in the new RV, went to the guard shack/office and said I was here to put my old RV in storage, and this one on the site. But, I would need a few hours to move everything. Thankfully, the campground I was at had available storage (which I should have checked ahead of time!), and just outside of the storage yard, there was a grass field with power hookups. This came in handy as it was very, very hot! I started the move about 6pm, and instead of boxing room by room or cabinet by cabinet, I opted for no boxes, and to carry everything by hand. Thankfully as you see from the above Instagram photo, I was able to park both next to each other. I carried clothes, dishes, towels, games, movies, food, etc. out one door, eight steps away and in the other door. I quickly noticed that not one cabinet was the same size or same place as the other so it was a bit tricky. And, I didn’t want to just put everything in there and sort it out later as I would most likely run out of room on the floors/couches, etc. So, it was an almost all night move. I finished most of the moving by around 3am and went to sleep, and had to be up by 7am to have the old one in storage before 8am.
Lessons Learned: Lots! I knew I was buying the RV, so I should have planned a bit better on moving stuff out, having it prepared a bit more, and maybe even pre-boxing a few things. In hindsight I’m glad I didn’t as I didn’t want to deal with getting boxes, etc. But, having a second campsite, even if I had to pay and being able to do it over a weekend would have been ideal. Trying to move in a short period of time, in the dark (minus the porch lights and a few flashlights), was not fun. But, it’s over and done with and I hope I don’t have to move for quite some time!
I wanted to bring the new RV to my parents for a few reasons – one, who doesn’t want to show off the new toy, and two – I had lots of plans for updates to the RV. Some things like picking up the washer and dryer I had in storage to put in, swapping out the couch for theater seats, and adding vent covers to the roof to prevent rain from coming in were just a few things. The most convenient though, was being able to leave the RV at my parents while I was overseas on a work trip, and gone for a week long cruise. Not only was this cheaper but much safer!
During the last 12+ months, my travels have taken me to 14+ states, and I plan on hitting the last two states I’ve not been to (ever) which is North and South Dakota. I plan to hunker down though in much warmer states during the winter. Having the new RV gives lots more flexibility, meaning I can park almost anywhere (that you can park a 40 foot RV + a tow car) and fire up the generator, turn on the invertor and work. No longer am I at the mercy of campground power! So, I hope to move around a good bit more.
I still need to get the old RV from storage in Texas to my parents, where my parents will watch over it. To do that, my Dad and I are headed off for a ten day trip, which includes a week at a RV Port Home. These are homes that integrate your RV as part of your everyday living. We’ll spend a week here before heading out on the weekend to swap the RVs. This particular neighborhood has a test home, one you can rent for a few days/week to see if the home concept is something you like. The place is awesome, and you should check out the post on it (coming soon).
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