11 years ago today we brought our three cats to our new RV and laid our heads down on the pillows in our bedroom and spent our first night fulltiming. It has been an incredible journey and we hope to have a few more years in us before we hang up the keys. In honor of the 11th anniversary we thought it would be a good idea to share the top 11 tips for living in an RV fulltime.
11. Checklists - there are a number of places where you can get a template for day of departure checklists, indoors and outdoors. Download or create from scratch. No matter how many times you have done it you may feel you no longer need one but sure enough it will come in handy again. Bonus tip inside of a tip: laminate them in case it rains outside plus the inside one will be easier to work with. The first few times you can use a dry erase marker to check the items completed.
10. Oxygenics body spa showerhead - before you even take your first shower be sure and replace the weak showerhead that will be the closest to a home shower you will ever find in an RV.
9. Get your rig weighed - very important to know how much your rig weighs after you have loaded all your stuff. Escapees provides a great service for this at multiple locations across the country.
8. Paper towels - immediately invest in paper towels companies because you are going to use a lot of them. Dishes should be wiped down before washing. Any food that goes down the drain and ends up in the grey tank will decompose and your grey tank will soon smell as bad as your black tank. Tank treatment isn't just for the black tank.
7. Infrared temperature sensor - this gadget will help with diagnosing tire temperatures, air conditioning duct temperatures, and during a pandemic also take forehead surface temperatures.
6. Staytion suction cups - absolute best way to add storage and hooks in your bathroom. We've tried the normal ones and they fall off in a weeks. We've had the ones in our showers for 6 years without a single failure.
5. Quick water connectors - good brass quick connectors have proved to be very handy during setup once you get to a site. We bought our first one for the water hookup to the RV. Constant use caused concern that the threads would loosen and cause a leak. We expanded quick connectors to all of our outside water; filters, softener, and hoses. The ones on the hoses are great cause you loop them together and no leaks inside while traveling.
4. The internet is very useful - campgroundreviews.com is great for finding parks in the areas and then reading reviews to help you choose a park. There are 153 of our reviews to check out. Finding service for your RV while traveling is a challenger. Check out rvservicereviews.com for mobile and dealer service in your area.
3. Visitor Center films - we have visited a lot of National Parks, State Parks, National Monuments, etc. and with no exception that if they have a film about the area it is a very good idea to take the time to watch the film. We always start out our visit at the Visitor Center and look at the displays and watch the film.
2. Blue Dawn - one of the key decision making things to consider is will the item have multiple uses. For example we have a Cusinart Griddler that is one appliance but we can use as a grill or a panini or a griddle. Blue Dawn is one of the most versatile things you can bring along. Obviously for dishes but we also use as a prewash for clothes and if Bob ever gets ambitious and gets grease on his hands it is the best degreaser there is.
Finally the top tip for fulltime rv'ng. Pack your sense of humor.
1. Sense of humor - the very first thing you should pack when you start your adventure is your sense of humor. There will be many an occasion to utilize it. Your GPS will no doubt take you where you shouldn't be or you'll forget something on the checklist with bad results, or .... As long as nobody is harmed or killed in the filming of your adventures it is always better to laugh about it.
We have been to a lot of great places during our 11 years, this is one of our favorite photos taken in Yosemite.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
