5 Years - Our Travel Pattern

We're coming up on 5 years living this way. By the strict definition of the American Full-Time Rv'ers Lifestyle and Information Federation (AFTeRLIFe)  (no fixed home; live in a functioning RV 365 days per year), we are certified fulltime RVers. We've thoroughly enjoyed the lifestyle but have reached a point where we're pondering the future, questioning and critiquing how our current lifestyle has evolved -- what it's evolved into, and are considering changes we might make to enhance things a little in the future.

With all that setting the stage, I'll be writing a series of posts on topics relating to our lifestyle and future changes we're thinking about... in order to get them into the record.

On Our Travel Pattern:
Our fulltime RV lifestyle is NOT one of fulltime travel and I think our experience is typical of many who claim to be fulltimers. It's one thing to live in a little box on a fulltime basis; it's quite another to be on the move, traveling, all the time. As I look back over the last almost 5 years, there's a pattern that's developed in our case. In short, that pattern is a series of alternating periods... one traveling (or wandering, exploring), and the other sitting in one spot for an extended time, either visiting family or hiding out from winter. 

Our periods of "sitting" are in Wisconsin (family) during the summer, in the Northwest (family) during either spring or fall, and Texas (or someplace warm, someplace south) during the core of winter. The time spent in this sitting mode has ranged from a month to three months, with the average being about two months.

Our periods of "travel" fill in the gaps between the periods of sitting and have ranged from two weeks to three months... but the average is about two months, maybe a little less.

So that's our pattern. Each year there are three sitting periods and three travel periods, with each period averaging two months. And that means, in summary, we're traveling about half the time and sitting about half the time.

OK, but what does this all mean? Why are you bringing this up?

I'm not sure... let's see where this goes in the next post.

 >> Part 2 >>