Full Timers: Do you have a "base camp"? Also, what is RV culture like?

[Docv]

Originally Posted by RadioWagon

Hey y'all. I'm new to the AS forums, and this is my second thread ever. Hello!

My husband of 10+ years, Doodle Dog, and I are considering making the leap to the AS life. We've picked out our ideal model after a bit of shopping (would need further confirmation, but at the moment it's a Cloud 25FB Twin). Anyway, point is, we've done our research and are very attracted to the life.

Reasons:
-- I love travel, but hate hotels (noisy, dirty, pricey, and on our recent cross-country trip, we didn't like having to stop early or beeline to make it to our points-reserved room)
-- Weird road attractions are super interesting. Like, Oasis of Kansas in Colby, what was that? I don't know, because we had to get to Missouri by whatever hour. I don't expect greatness, I just want to see the thing.
-- Having one 35-lb dog makes a trailer pretty attractive, because she can be with us without staying in iffy hotels or paying huge pet fees.
-- We both work from home, although figuring out Internet is a big deal that could make or break the whole thing, since his job requires a boatload at a time. Internet access is a moving target that is a bit daunting.
-- Our best moments have been in national parks and places of natural beauty, like Volcano Ntl Park and Big Sur. I loved being there, and hated leaving, and was envious of people in RV's who could explore at off-peak times and generally just "be" there. Cities are great for shows and food, but nothing charges me up like seeing elephant seals barking or standing awestruck in front of a weirdly shaped rock.
-- We're introverts, which is actually something I wonder about almost enough to ask for another thread about it. Are RV people generally just introverted, or is there a partyish, Nattie Lite vibe to many of the RV grounds? There are so many spots that we could never get a good picture of the culture in general. I camped frequently many years ago, and some was great, but some was hell punctuated by bad drunk guitar. PS, introversion doesn't mean we hate people--I get lonely, actually--it just means we have our fill after a bit and then need a break. We prefer meaning over fluff.
-- We considered doing this RV life a few years ago, but bought a smaller house instead. Now, we sold that property, and are renting, and here we are again considering a mobile life.
-- I just kind of want this inside and out, even though it's scary. Even though there are unknowns no matter how much research you do.

My big question right now is: Do full timers have a kind of base camp, with a basic secondary dwelling, that they use for an address and call home during those times of the year or season when they want to just stay put? Do you ever have enough and just need a month or two to be still? If so, do RV parks serve that need?



We thought a permanent base camp was so clever, but the logistics and costs are daunting at best. Very few places that I've found have such accommodations, and the few that do only allow class A monster-size homes or are priced astronomically. OR, If you buy land with the idea of putting a one-room cabin on it, there are a zillion cost, convenience, and zoning considerations. Plus no one to tell you if it's robbed or flooded.

All these little turnarounds and headaches got me to wondering whether this is why full-timers Are full-timers, and not semi-timers with a little pad to call their technical home.

So BIG QUESTIONS:
1. How do you tell which places are nice to stay for the short or month-ish or seasonal times? If it sucks, can you cancel? (What I am trying to say is, many of these websites are sketchy as hell, and I worry about putting a credit card into them. Also, since the whole idea is mobility, how do you handle when you book for a month and want out after two days because it's not as advertised?)
2. Do full-timers also have cute little one-room base camps where they can chill out if they're tired of being on the road and need to sit still for a bit? If so, how did you work that out, and where should we look?
3. In general, what is the vibe at the well-reviewed RV sites? Is it mostly nice, regular folks, or are there lots of people you'd be wary of leaving your kids with (aka meth labs on wheels)? I'm trying to ask if there are sketchy people without sounding like a total B. Please know my heart and where I'm actually coming from. We're trying to figure out if places are party zones for acoustic guitar and beer cans until 2 am and not-great citizens, or places we could work and meet folks now and then and feel safe.

I hope that all comes across the way I mean it. I hope this all works out and we get to meet some of you one day. I hope for world peace. But, world peace is a toughie, and a trailer is a reality, so here I post. Cheers, and epic thanks for your opinions and insights.

My wife a RN I am an md we both are 66 we are planning to buy a 30 classic twin
We are lucky enough to have friends with a 500 acre ranch in Georgia where they raise cows chickens pig and sheep. They have a little cabin we will use as our base
Stay there when they need help and travel when they don’t
We hope to find a balance.
We don’t want to commit to a permanent home since we don’t know where our two daughters will end up living.
Makes sense?

[wave man]

Everyone has a different situation, if it makes sense to you or just makes you happy I say why not.

[tevake]

Originally Posted by trumpetguy

I like your idea of adding some sites for others. We live in Pensacola so you are fairly close to us. Good look and I will watch for your announcements.

Thanks for your well wishes Trumpetguy. I'm really growing to like this area. Offers nice variety, active resort lined coast, quiet little old towns inland, a bit of gentle rolling hills for enjoyable drives in the country. Sweet spring fed creeks to explore.

We are still working our way thru the labyrinth of governmental permitting. Turns out it is as challenging as you hear about it. But all in good time. The plans for the property are evolving with more time spent here.
And it's pretty nice here parked under the big oak tree, doing initial work on the place.

Cheers Richard

[skyguyscott]

You might want to check out North Texas Airstream Community -- sounds tailored to your needs.

[ErnieDurbin]

Funny you should mention the term "base camp." That is exactly what my wife I call our landing spot. We made the decision to downsize our life back in February 2018. At that time we put a deposit down on the luxury apartment, sold our house and got rid of 90+ percent of the things that we own.

The heirloom items we stored in a secure off-site facility. We decided that we would spend the 3+ months or so in between in our Airstream 23 FB. We moved out of the house early in order to prepare it for sale. Make it very "shiny" to potential purchasers. The house sold in 3 days.

After spending some time in the Airstream, we fell in love with the nomadic lifestyle. We have made the decision to purchase a larger (Globetrotter) Airstream and start full timing.

Because most of our children live within 4 hours of the greater Cincinnati area, we made a decision to create a "base camp" in Southwest Ohio. In that process, we thought about purchasing property and building a large open span pole building that would accommodate the airstream and also an apartment inside. But the more we thought about the more we did not want to be attached to real estate and all the expenses of maintenance.

Ultimately, we rented a commercial warehouse with a small office space attached. The office space also has a bathroom. I am still working and we can write off this space and utilize the physical mailing address. The costs are well below $1000 per month for the "base camp."

We have committed to this "base camp" for a one year period and then we will see what happens. In the meantime, we have a local landing spot and a place to store our heirloom items. We can also visit friends and family from the spot. And by the way… The Airstream fits beautifully inside the building. See attached.

[RadioWagon]

Dear Ernie--wow! What a sweet setup you've made for yourselves, with bonus points for flexibility (re: the ability to get out if it no longer works in awhile). The office / warehouse setup is clever.

Thanks also to everyone who posted with ideas and their stories. It has meant a lot and been extremely helpful to hear from people about their own journeys and ideas.

I wanted to write a quick update on what we actually decided to do, since it has been a bit of a whirlwind year with major life choices, and we finally are in a place where I can confidently update in a concrete way.

We did look into Airstreams excessively, with multiple long drives and afternoons walking around hot trailer lots going into the various models, pricing, debating, figuring out how it all works. But in the end, we realized that full timing in a trailer wasn't exactly what we were looking for. The goal was to eliminate stress, but reading more and more about the long term lifestyle of it, we realized it wasn't usually like the brochure (aka, you alone in the woods in peace). There were almost always going to be lots of other people, and we wanted to get away from people. We also didn't want to spend forever planning, but you have to plan your next stop, always, when full timing.

In the middle of all this, we visited the Southwest for the first time, and that was that. Within a day, we'd decided to move to the area. We had already executed the Airstream plan, which made getting rid of 90% of our stuff easy, which made the move easy. We lived in a hotel for a few months while finding a home, and eventually found a good one.

We've been in for a few months and love it. The house has a little land, and I'm making a nice hiking trail, and it's quiet and private--all things we wanted out of the AS life.

Our pickup truck has been a family treasure, though, so that wasn't a bad buy. We don't need the max tow package, and should have gotten 4 wheel drive because of local snow, but it's okay. We just bought a $100 tent to clip on to the back bed and topper, which means we can try camping--again, checking the adventure/exploration box, but in a way that is more flexible for us.

I just wanted to post the "rest of the story," to say thanks to all the folks here who helped us out with their own. It really made a world of difference, and was very kind. Thank you.

I hope to bump into people on the road! I am still paying attention to the forums. We won't be in a beautiful Airstream, but we'll be out and about soon enough.

Thanks again,
RadioWagon

[HHPJ]

My base camp is at Sungate Community in the Palm Springs area. Gated, 55 and over, 270 a month HOA, 300 year for Taxes. I stay here for the winter. Trash and water are included. Clubhouse pool sauna, weight room. If I ever get tired of Airstreaming, I can place a tiny home on the lot. But I don’t see that happening.

The season is fantastic here during the winter months, lots to do here, Joshua tree National Park, big bear, even Quartzsite is right down the 10 freeway about an hour and a half, I can rent out my lot when I’m gone.

[stevejones]

For years my wife and I talked about full timing. The plan was to downsize drastically, put whatever we couldn't part with in storage, and hit the road. But as we got close to retirement and were picking our AS and working on downsizing and selling our house, my wife said she felt uncomfortable not having what she called a "home base". What if something happened to one of our kids? What if one of us developed serious health problems? Where would be go to do AS maintenance, etc.? We also thought about the cost of storage, and after hearing some horror stories of damage to stuff kept in storage we decided to alter our plan and started looking for something affordable to serve as our home base.

So we now have a new smaller house in WV that we have just moved into that is our home base. The cost of living, taxes, etc. are manageable here. We have a place to be when we are not on the road that is climate controlled for storage of what remains of our "stuff". We are close enough to where we used to live to keep our old dentist, doctors, etc. Not sure how it is all going to work out, but for now this is what we are doing.

Steve

[Manning G]

RadioWagon, we all know you'll be back!
All the best.
Manning

[Shinyabode]

We are moving into our 25 Sarfari full time this summer. We have a handful of location options within 30 miles of our jobs, and will easily save half of our current townhouse rental expense, not to mention utility costs. We have already parred down clothes and junk, which is cathartic in its own right and are focused on simpler living.

[Lindenwood]

My wife and I are in the process of transitioning. We pared our 4bed house down to a 6x12 Uhaul trailer, and a lot of that volume was furniture that obviously won't be needed in the Airstream (king size mattress and a 5-section sofa, for starters). We still have a ways to go, but I also just finished trimming down our "must-keep" items like diplomas, plaques, and old photos into a single plastic tote bin. Other than that, it will mostly be all my garage stuff (tools, etc) that has to be trimmed down further.

Originally, we thought we were going to have a base camp--likely a small condo or something--for all the reasons mentioned. However, after realizing we'd be spending an extra 15-18k per year on such a place, we figured we could have a lot of fun with the money left over if we just went all-in on Airstream living. My truck bed will basically become my garage (probably after some more donations), we'll drop off that bin of valuables at my parents', and be all set!

[PKI]

Linden - just one point - at some time, you either can't or don't want to continue traveling. You need a funded exit plan. My belief is that a "paid for" home base is a very smart way to establish the foundation for whatever your future plan may be.

Good Luck with your adventure. Pat

[Lindenwood]

Originally Posted by PKI

Linden - just one point - at some time, you either can't or don't want to continue traveling. You need a funded exit plan. My belief is that a "paid for" home base is a very smart way to establish the foundation for whatever your future plan may be.

Good Luck with your adventure. Pat

Thanks!

We will actually be stationary most of the time, just sucking it up in the AS between weekends and longer getaways. In any case, I am not buying another house for a long time, partially because I expect to have to move at least a few more times before retiring. And, we are not yet sure where we want that to be. So, if we do get tired of it we'll probably just move into something small until we really have a long-term solution figured out.

[patriciahawk]

Originally Posted by tevake

Some really good questions you have there Radiowagon.
Welcome to the forums.

I've been full timing in my 345 motorhome for about three years now.
Haven't been able to do as much traveling as Id like, as the cost on the road adds up so quickly.

Also I haven't pared down my stuff enough to be self contained in the coach.
So I have rented a spot in a more of a trailer park here in central Az for a lot of that time. Even when traveling as it would have cost nearly as much to put the stuff in storage while traveling. Plus it feels good to have a home base of sorts to know I can come back to.
It is an interesting community in this trailer park, sort of a last resort kind of situation, for those that can't afford better. Not nearly as fun or friendly as in R V parks. But ok for now.

At any rate, my brother and I have just bought a piece of property in the Fla panhandle to develop into a home base for both of us. He has been full timing in he's 30' classic AS trailer for about five years.
Yep I caught the aluminumitus while having my first RV experiences with him.

He has been vollunteering in a Fla. state parks for most of that time. And really likes some of the parks along the coast in the panhandle.

Some resent health issues he's had, have made it clear that full time park vollunteering may not be a forever thing.

The place we found is about 25 miles inland from the Panama City beach area.
And is located in a pocket of old growth mixed forest, with lots of big mature oaks and magnolia trees on our place.
we are planning to build pole barns for our rigs with room to build some screened living area adjacent to the rigs in the pole barns.

There is a two car shop and a one car plus sized shed for storage and extra vehicles, allready in place.

If we can get the variance we have applied for we would like to develop additional sites for guests and to rent to others that would like to base themselv s in the area.

The key for us is to maintain the wooded nature of the place providing separation of spaces and the park like feel.

It is just less than two acres, we figure that we can have up to five or six spaces
And still have the space to make it nice for folks that don't want to park right next to neighbors. And like a little room to themselves.
Ultimately it would be nice to build a small shed at some of the sites for those that would like to base themselves there and have a bit of personal storage space or a little work space for projects or craft activities etc.

We hope to attract some likeminded long term tenants. That enjoy the place and being around each other. And still want to do some traveling at times.
Rather than a flow of short stays of passers by.

All will hinge on the success of the variance, and our success in finding a few folks that like and fit the plan. Fingers crossed.

To answer another of your questions. The atmospher in parks does vary considerably. The tightly packed commercial parks with spaces cheek to jowl.
And folks just stopping in on their way.
To state and other types of parks offering more natural settings, where folks tend to stay a week or so and are usually fun to touch in with, folks enjoying vacation time are usually up for a good time and are good company.

I loved that saying. Your parachute can't open till you jump. Ha, good one.

We have just made the jump and are watching for the chute to open now.

Cheers Richard

Any updates?

[BigSxyWhtGuy]

Wow. Back from the dead... thread is almost a year young [emoji23]

[kb0zke]

Well, we have an update. Since I posted back in 2018 we have become leaseholders at The Ranch, an Escapees co-op in SE NM, between Carlsbad and Artesia.

[tevake]

Originally Posted by patriciahawk

Any updates?

HI Patrica, thanks for asking about our progress.
To put it simply, it's important to understand the regs and intent of the county government where you try to develope this sort of park like property.

In our case, even after going to the county council member that over saw the planning process, and getting his encouragement for our plan before buying the
Property.

We found that after over a year and a half. Of trying to work with the planning department to meet their requirements for our permit application. We found that their requirements keep expanding each time we met with them.
Eventually becoming so difficult and expensive to meet that we have given up on our plans.

In many parts of the country there are strong restrictions in longer Term living in RVs so determine the county direction before makeing the jump.

In the mean time we have made good progress in cleaning up and improving the property we bought adding a well, septic system etc. so should get our efforts rewarded if we decide to move on.

Cheers Richard