Wanting to go full time

[CarpeDiem]

This is primarily a question for full timers, but if you have an idea jump on in. We live in Orlando and currently do most of our camping within 3 hours of home. We prefer state parks and so we have to plan almost a year in advance. We would like to start by branching out to nearby states and visiting friends. How far in advance do you have to plan your stays? And any other words of wisdom would be helpful.

[cboss]

We, like you prefer State Parks, COE, USFS, etc.
Some states are three months in advance, some are six, some out west are even twelve.
Federal CGs are normally six months in advance.
Reserve America and Recreation.gov are your go to websites for reservations.
We travel from 1 Nov to 1 May every year. Before we leave home I have reservations for the entire trip.
It's fun during the summer just making reservations for the trip. We try to go to new places every year, although we do have our favorites.
Most of the favorites are near the Grandkids!

[ependydad]

The answer is a solid and hearty - it depends. A lot of fulltimers want the ultimate in flexibility, others make limited plans as they don’t want to be stuck to a hard schedule, and others are making plans 180-210 days in advance (or further in high popularity spots). And even others who staying in an RV park is a rarity- they boondock as much as possible.

I have Fulltimer friends in each category.

We tend to plan 3-6-9 months out. I get twitchy if I don’t have at least a 3-6 month plan. But then, as soon as I do- I feel “trapped” and tied down. And then the plan changes 5-6 times. Ultimately, we end up somewhere either close to the plan or wildly different; you just never know.

I also have a vague idea of what I want to accomplish next year. I have my eyes set on the Midwest/northern Midwest. I want to hit some of the big parks we’ve never gone to. We are more prepared for boondocking, so we might wing it. But we also may start looking at reservations for the summer and making some of the biggies. (shrug)

All of my planning works around calendar “pins”. Places I absolutely have to be at. Things like doctor’s appointments, family events, or just special events we are looking forward to- the Balloon Fiesta or solar Eclipse or rallies. And then our travel short of shakes out from there.

[CincyGus]

I'll preface my comments with I am not a full timer, yet!

That said, I have been researching the topic for about 5 years as I'm a couple away from retiring from my second career and plan to fix that YET part!

In reading numerous forums and monitoring everything I can about Full Timing in particular (ESCAPEES is a great FT Forum), including following numerous Youtube channels created by people that are FT-ing, the answer given by ependydad is 100% spot on.

One other thing I will point out is that the type of person you are will largely determine what you will personally be comfortable with. Just because you're changing where you will be visiting each day and sleeping, doesn't change what makes you feel comfortable. So if your a planner and feel nervous about not knowing what's going to happen next, make those reservations and live the very scheduled life that makes you feel secure.

If you're the adventurous, spontaneous, hate being locked into something when a better option appears out of no where type, then roll the dice, find a place to camp and if you like it and want to stay longer, do it.

There are FT'ers that do exactly that. Stopping in someplace and realizing they love the campground or the area and want to stay a couple weeks. Then them move on and find a new campground and decide it's a one or two night stay and they will drive to a new area in the general direction of their master planned destination. Some only make reservations for major attractions/parks that they know are super booked up and then fill in all the small places along the way with boondocking, Harvest Host, Parking lot overnighters in Camping Worlds, Walmarts and Cracker Barrels.

With all the great options out there for finding camping (Campendium, Boondockers Welcome, Harvest Host, Passport America to name a few), the risk of not being able to find anywhere to camp within a few hours drive of about anywhere is low unless it's a holiday weekend or a very popular tourist destination.

Everyone's level of comfort varies between lets just roll with it to I want a plan. Benefits to both, neither is without significant PRO's and CON's.

Best of luck in your journey and finding the perfect mix that makes you happy!

[Ohmygodfrey]

We have been building to "half timing" over the past 3 years. Ependydad and CincyGus have broken it down exactly in my opinion. I would only add an example which you may identify with being from Florida. We LOVE the COE Parks and we are northerners who come south to escape the snow. If we want to go to WP Franklin near Ft Myers in January, we better be making those reservations at 10am on the morning 6 months prior! In the winter, many from the north fill the Florida parks , as I am sure you have seen 1st hand. In the summer the northern parks have more weekend traffic, so we often go to local area from Sunday- Friday. It's mostly about how you like your expierence to go. I will say we are enjoying or very much in retirement.

[CarpeDiem]

What’s funny is all the responses so far have been great and given many good suggestions. But I was hoping for someone to give me the secret knowledge that so many of you have that would make it a simple, worry free transition. Oh well, looks like we have to think on our feet.

[Scheinin]

I have been full timing for 4 years. I have been all over this Country, including the Arctic Circle. As a general rule I look for a campground about 3 or 4 days out. I am 40 feet and do not fit in most state or federal parks. I use Good Sam park finder to locate a campground.

As stated above, I do not want to be tied into a schedule. If the weather is bad in the North, I head South. If there are wild fires in the West, I head east.

I am now in Maryland, and will soon be looking for South for warm weather.

[Walholler]

I do not full time, however I just completed a trip from Southwest Louisiana to the Piedmont area of North Carolina. I never made reservations at any of my stops, my first night was in Hattiesburg, Miss, second night Ft. Payne, AL, third night near Pigeon Forge,Tenn. Stayed 7 days hooked to water & electric at nieces barn. Return trip, I only stayed overnight in Ft. Payne & Hattiesburg. I did not encounter any problems obtaining a camp site. My trip began on Sept.16th and ended on Sept.30th, 2019.

[frankc7037]

No need for reservations unless you are going to very popular destinations. I never do reservations. We just pull in a have not been turned away.

[mjones12]

Originally Posted by Walholler

I do not full time, however I just completed a trip from Southwest Louisiana to the Piedmont area of North Carolina. I never made reservations at any of my stops, my first night was in Hattiesburg, Miss, second night Ft. Payne, AL, third night near Pigeon Forge,Tenn. Stayed 7 days hooked to water & electric at nieces barn. Return trip, I only stayed overnight in Ft. Payne & Hattiesburg. I did not encounter any problems obtaining a camp site. My trip began on Sept.16th and ended on Sept.30th, 2019.

Just wondering where you camped in the Piedmont, which is where we live and sometimes camp.

[itat]

Originally Posted by CarpeDiem

What’s funny is all the responses so far have been great and given many good suggestions. But I was hoping for someone to give me the secret knowledge that so many of you have that would make it a simple, worry free transition. Oh well, looks like we have to think on our feet.

Your signature says you have a Rockwood pop up. If you are seriously thinking about going full time then IMHO you’ll need to go to at least regular travel trailer or a hybrid. Full timing with a pop up would get tiring very quickly for me.

As for the transition, hopefully more full timers here will tell you what they did. There are also lots of YouTube channels by full time RVers who have talked about their transition to full timing. You’ll also want to give some thought to what you would do if full timing became unworkable, especially if you sold everything before hiring the road.

[Walholler]

Piedmont area I was referring to was at my nieces barn in Chesterfield,NC.

[nikita]

Originally Posted by frankc7037

No need for reservations unless you are going to very popular destinations. I never do reservations. We just pull in a have not been turned away.

We just spent the entire month of August driving from Grand Island, NY to Mt. Rushmore. Stopping along the way one, two, or three nights, depending on the fact that we wanted to tour something or see friends. We had our campgrounds planned, but did not call for a reservation until about 3 days before we would arrive. Never had a problem getting a site until the dreaded happened - we forgot the last leg of our trip was LABOR DAY WEEKEND.

I called the campgrounds that we planned (it was on our way home) and I actually BEGGED them to give me a site for one night, anything, overflow, the driveway - ANYTHING!! NOT HAPPENING!!! So there we sat calling every campground we could find along the way home, yes, we did finally get some sites, but it was not what we planned. So just check your calendar for Holiday Weekends along your way and call those WAY AHEAD OF TIME, lesson learned.

[CarpeDiem]

Originally Posted by itat

Your signature says you have a Rockwood pop up. If you are seriously thinking about going full time then IMHO you’ll need to go to at least regular travel trailer or a hybrid. Full timing with a pop up would get tiring very quickly for me.

As for the transition, hopefully more full timers here will tell you what they did. There are also lots of YouTube channels by full time RVers who have talked about their transition to full timing. You’ll also want to give some thought to what you would do if full timing became unworkable, especially if you sold everything before hiring the road.

It’s true about the pop up. We have had two other travel trailers and if we jump in we will sell the pup and the truck. Buy a class C, tow our Sentra behind and off we go. When I originally wrote the post I wondered if anyone would notice the pup 😂

[Brinkmef]

We have been full timing for 2.5 years. We first set out to try it for a couple of years but are really enjoying it so no end is in sight.
Like many others have said, how you do it or the type of places you stay are up to your own preferences. Don’t be afraid of it. There are multi- million dollars worth of companies out there to support full timers. Anything you will run into, someone else has already had problems with and a solution is out there.
We like to plan our year out ahead if time. We don’t have all the details in place but we lay out a loop through the part of the country we want to explore and then start filling in details. We love the serendipity that comes with traveling slow and taking the time to explore what each new town or area has to offer.
One of the first planning lessons we learned that I can pass on is try to figure out where you will be on Memorial day, 4th of July and Labor day. These are the hardest times to find reservations so reserve early.
Some people enjoy spending several months in one spot for a season. Others like to move around. You will need to find your own style.
Enjoy.

[pgandw]

Not a full timer, but here in our neck of the woods (Colorado), national and state park campgrounds with hookups fill up months ahead for summer weekends. If you willing to boondock/dry camp, you can almost always find something - might not be a desirable site - at the last minute. The warmer state parks stay full on weekends into the Fall and Spring.

Private campgrounds often have sites available when the national and state parks do not.

Colorado State Parks have gone to a 24/7 reservation system - and jacked their rates to the same as private parks. You have to have a reservation to camp in a state park, although you can make the reservation when you arrive.

Many of the National Forest campgrounds (almost all are dry camping) are first come, first served, with no reservations available. The big problem with the National Forest campgrounds is that they typically close the first week in October and don't open until May. A lot of good camping missed because of those closures.

Fred W
camping Colorado and adjacent states one weekend at a time

[quicky06]

In Missouri the state parks book 3-4 months out on average for a summer weekend. During the week they will still book up at
The popular places.

Echo bluff state park booked within a couple days of reservations opening.

If we want a couple days out with no notice we don’t even try on fri or sat. I’ll due Sunday Monday nights or Tuesday wed depending on my schedule that week

[Paulat]

Sometimes we plan a week or two in advance, especially if we are going to an event or to visit someone, but just as likely to not find a space "tonight" and walmart it. I have a list of things to try: 1 Passport America, 2 Thousand Trails (got 1 year when we bought our rv), 3. State campgrounds, 4. Oh Ranger, Park Finder app, 5. State fairgrounds (that one always surprises me), 6. Casinos, 7. Boondockers.org (membership required). If you are retired military, I have another group of sources. you'll be surprised what opportunities present . Go for it. Just learn to relax. Be ready to parking lot it with no power. Be chill. I'm from orlando too.

[Harry043]

This November I have been full timing for 10 years. Started with a 26 foot toy hauler, currently have a 38 foot Cedar Creek Champagne 5er. Sometimes We make reservations, sometimes not. But, I am retired Military, so I do have access to many bases across the country that many don't. My wife pays for Passport America which she swears by, seems able to get very inexpensive reservations when we need one. She says it paid for itself the first time she used it.

[Paulat]

Funny how those holidays sneak up on us. I often dont even know what day it is. Just part of the experience