The 5 Biggest Challenges We Face By Living In An RV Full-Time
Improvements: Jeff painted the room a light blue. We hung curtains, changed our bedding to linen, and added a metal headboard; I bought the butterfly art from Shyngdigz in Richmond, VA. We used the butterflies to pull in different colors. I bought the throw from Crate and Barrel and bought an extra one as a decorative pillow. Jeff replaced the traditional dark wood slide panels with painted “Agreeable Gray from Sherwin Williams” boards.
We’ve lived in our RV for more than two years. We have a Grand Design Solitude 390RK. While we love almost everything about it and will keep doing this awesome adventure, just like everything, there are drawbacks to our RV lifestyle. I thought I’d outline a few for you here so you get an idea of what our life is like on the daily:
Our floorplan
#1 - The Air Conditioning Makes for Up-Close Communication
Keep in mind we live in less than 300 sq feet. The air conditioners are loud because they are separate and not designed well. When we run our air conditioners (we have three - one for each room), we can’t hear each other talk from one end of the RV to the other. That makes for many close-proximity conversations (which is fine because we love cuddling. LOL). We strongly thought about buying a Vanleigh Beacon because their RV air conditioners are designed to be quieter. This one has the same floor plan as ours, but it was $30K more. You definitely pay for comfort.
#2 - Living Closely with Othersand our bikes
Right now, we’re living next door to a family. They have a 4-year-old son who doesn’t get outside much, so he runs in their trailer up and down (and up and down…and up and down). We can hear him do this even up to 11:30 at night. I call him “Thumper” because he sounds like he is “thumping” his way around. Poor kid has to expend his energy somehow, but it’s a drag for us when we’re literally trying to do anything (work, eat, watch t.v.). On the plus side, this is when the loud air conditioner works in our favor (see above).
Bike theft is sadly common in campgrounds. We love our bikes and we keep them inside. We gave up a couch and replaced them with our road/gravel bikes.
In the summertime, we try to avoid the state parks because the people who go there are usually on vacation and need to do the whole campfire thing. This makes for a smokey campground, and that smoke inevitably gets inside your camper. Overall, we don’t usually hear our neighbors, and people are friendly. The first question everyone asks is, “Where are you from?!” Then the conversation rolls from there.
We gave up another coach so I could have an office. I love the natural light that comes through. We changed the wood around the slides and added curtains to brighten the space up. It was feeling dark and heavy. I love how our space has a designed kitchen, family room/office/bike storage/bathroom, and bedroom.
#3 - Minimal Insulation
While it’s true that living the RV life means:
We can explore our beautiful country with all the comforts of home
We always have our bed, our favorite food, and everything else we may need
We never have to worry about forgetting to pack something.
The downside is that the walls have thin insulation, even if the marketing brochure says our RV is built for four seasons. They may exaggerate just a tiny bit (go ahead and read that in a sarcastic voice, especially the words “tiny bit”).
When we lived in the Rocky Mountains at 8,000 feet elevation last summer, we ran the heat at night and in the morning, and then the sun rocked us by noon, and we had the air conditioning on until sunset. The temperature difference was that dramatic. We also got really good at layering.
We added a live edge mantle to our electric fireplace.
#4 - It is Stressful on Moving Day
I know it is stressful to travel overall, no matter your chosen mode. I love flying, for example, but I’m always a little anxious until I get through TSA. When you move an RV, there are many things to do, so move day for us can be busy and a bit stressful. We must store and secure everything (which takes about 90 minutes, minimum), pull in the slides, and hook up the truck. I get everything set on the inside while Jeff puts away the hoses and other stuff on the outside.
Most of the time, we’re good about checking to be sure we’ve done a good job of securing things when we take a break at the rest stops, but sometimes we get cocky and don’t check. More than once, we’ve been unpleasantly surprised to find our refrigerator open, and our food spilled all over the floor when we arrived at our destination.
On moving day, we fill up with diesel at Love’s Truck Stop. We’ve found those are the cleanest, and visiting a franchise keeps things predictable. It is stressful pulling in next to big trucks. Jeff loves pumping the fuel since the nozzles are much bigger, and he can fill up quickly. Paying around $5.00 per gallon for diesel lately hasn’t been much fun.
We don’t like to do more than 300 miles on a moving day. We stop about every 2 hours and trade off driving duties. Staying fresh is important, and driving such a long truck and trailer is a lot of responsibility. We’re more than 60 feet long, which is at least seven feet longer than a semi.
We have to maximize our space. I learned the folded ‘envelope’ style from a friend who loves keeping things organized. This way we can see everything that’s in the drawer and not have to dig for ‘that’ t-shirt.
#4 - Organization
You would think living in less than 300 sq feet would keep you super organized and that you wouldn’t lose anything, right? That’s what I naively thought when we started this adventure, but I’ve learned that if I don’t return something exactly where I took it from, I will likely lose it.
Even though we have good storage overall, we’re constantly curating our things. I’ve also learned how to do the ‘envelope folding’ method in my drawers. It makes it so that I can see all of my clothes simultaneously.
Fortunately, we’ve never had a scary or negative interaction with another person. We’ve stayed safe, and we research where we’re going. We’ve learned reviews matter. The great thing is that everything and our location are temporary. If we don’t like it, we can make a change, and we’ve done that a time or two. Even if it’s just moving to a different spot in a park or camp, it often makes all the difference in our enjoyment of a place. And, since this is our life, enjoyment is key.
You can follow along with our travel adventures on my website HERE. Just scroll down to find the “Where’s Kim” section to see where we are now and where we’re heading this year.