Full-Time Rvers are folks who live in their Recreational Type Vehicles without having a Brick and Mortar (Stick and Bricks to RVers) structures to go back to when not traveling. They are usually found in: Campgrounds; RV Parks; private land; family property, and COE (Corps of Engineers) Campgrounds or BLM(Bureau of Land Management) parking areas better known as Boondocking.
Being Solo during normal times can be trying because where normally you have two people splitting up all of the chores like; hooking up and setting up, now there is only one person. Driving is usually done by one person while the second person sometimes takes over along with helping with parking. When traveling Solo, the driver is also the person who does the parking which may offer a few challenges. With luck, the park that you’re staying at has someone to help with parking instructions especially when you have a back-in spot.
For me the first quarter of the year was pretty normal and before I left my winter spot I did my normal grocery shopping given my next stop was only ½ hour from the nearest grocery store. I drove to my next RV Park and like normal I setup camp. First thing was to put blocks under each leveling foot, hookup electricity, install sewer hose then finally hookup the water. The rest of the setup goes like this; move table, take out BBQ table cloth, place BBQ on table, strap/lock bicycle to table, get storage crates out of the truck bed and place under the table, and finally get out lawn recliner chair. Mind you all of this is usually done by two.
Within 3 days I found out that all hell had broken out. People are going to the stores and buying all kinds of paper products including toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, tissues along with all kinds of disinfectants and hand sanitizers. It got so bad that they were also buying the more expensive RV toilet paper. I actually watched the news to find that this new virus was running amuck. People were wearing face masks, gloves and in some cases full bodied protection, just to go shopping. I was now faced with the possibility of running out of RV toilet paper and only had one package left. I turned to Amazon.com. I noticed that my usual 8-pack that sold for $5.97 was now up to $7.00 for a 4-pack. I was actually grateful that I had found some to order. Now that my immediate problem was taken care of I needed to access my on-hand food. 5th Wheels don’t have a lot of storage so after looking around I figured that between frozen food, canned food and pasta I could last a month and possibly two months if I ate smaller meals. This was only because I filled my freezer before leaving my winter RV Park. What I was either missing or had a small supply of was packaged rice, potatoes and soup. Not knowing how long this was going to last. I turned to Walmart.com and ordered all three. I wasn’t in panic mode however I had no idea how long this was going to last and wanted to make sure that I could make soup, rice and potatoes since they only required water. All three are easy to store and are filling if push came to shove. The other good thing about these is that they really don’t spoil and I can use while traveling.
The reason for going Full-Time was because I wanted to travel and see things along with having fun. Being Solo and being told to stay in one place was tough. It meant no day trips to places that I either enjoy or want to visit because they are new to me. While I’ve now hunkered down in an RV Park, fellow travelers were having to find new places to stay because their RV Park/Campground had closed or would be closing. My RV park closed the; pool, reading/tv room, laundry, bathrooms and office. I now found that I had to stay inside unless I was BBQing or taking a walk around the park. I did sit outside between my fiver and truck but made sure that I was at least 6’ from the street. Keeping a distance of 6’, I did visit with folk passing by or as I passed their site, no sitting and visiting as usual. At one point I felt very isolated in a 38’x10’ space even though I had access to the internet and streamed TV/movies.
Living on a fixed income can be a challenge but if budgeted properly it’s doable however during these times of scarcity, food and other items have sky rocked out of site as much as 2-3 times their regular price. This is where I had to decide whether to pay those outrageous prices and make sure that I had what I needed for the long haul. The budget went out the window.
I stayed hunkered down for three months and everyday watched to see if I was actually going to continue to travel when it was time to move. I contacted RV Parks to see their status along with keeping track of all of my activity reservations. One by one my activity reservations started to cancel and a few of my RV parks were closed. Keeping an eye on State and National Parks/Monuments was important since most of my plans included these areas. Part of my travels included visiting; Zoos, Aquariums and Wildlife places and them being closed might change my plans.
Being Solo, it was really important for me to keep in verbal contact with friends and family since I wasn’t getting the normal people contact that I was used to getting during day trips. Weather, no matter Solo or not can be a challenge however it sometimes keeps you in doors with no one to talk to.
After about a month I started to run out of perishables and I found that Walmart.com outside pickup was a real option. I’m not sure if I was more excited to get perishables or getting back on the road again. Just getting out was a real treat and I was excited to work on my shopping list for my next shopping run since so many products were out of stock. I now found that ordering from Walmart.com was easy and that I could get more food delivered to me and not have to drive and take a risk of being exposed especially since I had no masks or disinfectants. I also found several places where I could order masks which made me feel a bit safer. The news kept saying that those over 60 were at greater risk and shouldn’t be out and about. Even though I’m in good health, I had no idea how contagious this thing really was and so I didn’t want to go out to any grocery store.
I never let fear drive my actions however I also wondered when this isolation would end. Loneliness can creep in when you least expect it and at one point it did make me wonder if I had made the right decision to go Full-Time pulling a 38’ 5th Wheel. Everyone seems to think that living Full-Time in an RV of any kind is always fun, I can attest to the fact that it isn’t. Unlike a house that is built with 2’x4’s and 4’x4’s, Rvs are mostly 2” all the way around including the roof. Add wind, snow, rain, hail, freezing nights, possible frozen pipes, frozen water/sewer tanks; living on a daily basis can be a challenge and now you add the fact that being Solo means you have to whether the weather all by yourself. Lets not forget things that break and need to be repaired either by a mobile tech or if you’re lucky are simple enough that you can repair yourself. I thought living in an earthquake zone was really a challenge until I stayed my first night in my rig. I can attest to the fact that Rocking and Rolling during a heavy wind storm is not necessarily fun or sitting watching the hail come down so heavy and praying that it doesn’t come through the roof.
For the last month before I actually left my current RV Park, I watched for signs of things opening up and had to come up with an alternate plan if for some reason I had to cancel everything. I really didn’t want to cancel because many of my reservations were non-refundable and I would lose thousands of dollars in RV park fees. I was down to the wire and two weeks out all of the RV Parks opened up, I decided to hit the road and just live life like I started out to. I still faced the possibility of being stopped for 14 days of quarantine along with the fact that things could change while I was on the road. With knowing this, I made sure that I stocked up on food, water and juice to last awhile during my travels. I am now on the road and things are changing including curfews, continued wearing of face masks and more activities being cancelled. Even though things are still happening, I am still glad that I made the decision to be a Full-Time Solo because where else can I move to a new location and see a different sunset every night if I chose.
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