The RV Lifestyle
BOSTON (CBS) - As you see those RVs rolling by do you wish you were in one heading anywhere? You have snowbird envy.
If you think you might like the RV lifestyle, do some homework before you make a down payment on an RV. The average age of an RV owner is close to 50 with 40% of owners over 60.
I would strongly recommend renting an RV for an extended vacation to see if this is the life you thought it might be.
Type in RVing at Amazon and you will get lots of books on the subject. My favorite, The Complete Idiot's Guide to RVing, is in its third print run. Avery funny book is How Not to RV, which is about the writer leaving New York City for some adventure.
And you will need to learn about repairs and maintenance as well so you'll need a copy of the RV Owner's Handbook.
Proceed with caution on the websites you find. They all make RVing sound so romantic! Start with the website Go RVing, the then RV Travel.com.
I Googled "RVs for sale" and got over 32+ million hits. This tells me a lot of people are getting rid of their RVs. So you will have lots to choose from.
Don't forget the maintenance cost of an RV. They also need to be stored when you are not on the road. And excise tax on a fancy new one could be around $4,000 a year and you need to insure it. RVs get lousy gas mileage so running to the store for bread could cost you $4 before you get in the store.
And don't forget the campground fees. Figure $50 a night or more. There will be just so many nights you will want to spend in a Walmart parking lot. And something so many folks don't think about because they romanticized so about the travel, you are going to have to empty the toilet storage tank eventually.
Do you think the nomadic lifestyle is one you could embrace? Do consider a dress rehearsal, a practice run. Do not, I repeat do not sell your house and all of your worldly possessions and buy an RV to drive off into the sunset.
As for me, I know I could not live with my husband 24/7 in a tin box no matter how big it was! We wouldn't make it past the Mason Dixie line together! I would be on a plane home by the time we reached DC! Maybe even New York! Truth be told, I would be out of the RV in Hartford.
I know it sounds so great to run away from all of the mundane stuff that makes up our lives, but it often is that mundane stuff that gives our lives our stability.
