Have you been bit by the RV bug? Do you spend hours reading blogs on living the RV life, blogs that go on and on about a life of freedom and travel? Do you go to RV shows and wander through the huge homes on wheels, dreaming that you’re steering one of the huge beasts to wherever your heart desires?
It’s easy to get caught up in what RV expert Sunny Skye calls the RV hype—for example, you’ll wake up every morning looking out your window at beautiful views of nature, you’ll meet interesting people you can sit around a campfire with and trade foil dinner recipes, and you’ll be able to travel to places you’ve always wanted to see.
What the RV marketers don’t tell you is the other side of the nomadic lifestyle coin—the mechanical problems by the side of the road, the constant searching for water and a place to camp, the uncertainty of having just anyone able to walk up to your rig in the middle of the night—well, in short, the truth about the mobile lifestyle.
Sunny has been RVing since she was a kid, and she’ll show you how to assess if the nomadic lifestyle is for you in an unbiased and educated manner, balancing the pros and the cons. She does this by walking you through the most common steps in the RV life:
- The Awakening: You first start to realize the RV life exists.
- Plotting and Researching: Trying to decide whether or not RVing is the lifestyle for you. Thinking about the ways you could do it and whether or not it would be suitable.
- Getting the Rig: The stage where you actually look at rigs, eventually buying one. This stage may take a long time, though typically it’s not like the previous stages, as you’re now committed to doing this.
- The First Uncertain Months: You’ve begun the RV life and are either loving it or questioning it. Life is good, even though there may be lots of bugs to work out, such as how certain things work.
- Settling In: The newness has worn off and you’re feeling competent in your abilities to handle things.
- Getting Homesick and/or Lonely: Once in awhile you have a pang of missing your old life or house or the people you left behind.
- Hard Times: You’re becoming more comfortable with it all, then something happens, throwing things off kilter. This phase always makes you wonder if you should stay on the road.
- Happy Times: You’ve solved the problem and are back on track and really enjoying the RV life.
- Burnout: This can come in many forms, but the general feeling is that you’re tired of living this way and need a change.
- Another Awakening: It occurs to you that you don’t have to keep RVing and can go back to a house or apartment, or even a plot of land with your RV on it.
- Plotting and Researching a Different Life: You want to get off the road. This stage is similar to when you were thinking about getting onto the road, but in reverse.
- Getting Off the Road: The cycle is complete. You’re now back in a house and no longer want to RV, for various reasons. You may now decide to sell your rig, though you may keep it for short vacations or weekend travel only. And you may eventually decide to go full-time again.
Of course, not all RVers go through these steps or in this order, but Sunny gives you a good look at what you can expect on your RV journey. And if you’re one of those who ends up staying on the road forever, you’ll start out ahead of the game by knowing what to expect.
This book makes a good companion to Sunny’s other books, especially “Living the Simple RV Life,” “RVing with Pets,” and “Tales of a Campground Host.” You’ll also enjoy “Any Road USA: Living a Life of Freedom on the Road,” by Sunny’s friend, Bob Davidson.
