The other day I received an email from somebody who was telling me that they were totally unprepared for how much work is involved in the RV lifestyle. They weren’t talking about workamping or making a living on the road. Their revelation was about how much goes into traveling in an RV; packing the rig for travel and unpacking it when you get arrive at your destination, backing into campsites, hooking and unhooking from campground utilities, connecting a tow vehicle to the back of the motorhome, and things like that. Not to mention the effort it takes to maintain any kind of RV.
The lady writing me said she did not want to sound like a prima donna, and that she was certainly capable of doing what needed to be done, either helping her husband or by herself if necessary, but she said she never realized how much is involved in all of that, and how much time it takes. “To be honest, Nick,” she wrote, “I guess we went into this with rose-colored glasses and never realized that there’s more to it than sitting around a campfire toasting marshmallows and making s’mores. We find ourselves staying longer and longer at campgrounds because we don’t want the hassle of moving.”
She is right. While RVing is a wonderful lifestyle, whether you do it as a fulltimer, a snowbird, or a weekend warrior, there is work involved. And some of it can be a grind at times.
I’ve always disagreed with the theory of blue jobs that the men take care of outside of the RV and pink jobs that the women do inside. Traditionally, it seems like I see more men driving or towing RVs while the wives are passengers when underway. This is not to say that I don’t know a lot of women who are quite capable of, and do, drive their RVs. It just seems that, overall, if it’s a couple it’s usually the man behind the wheel. The man is also usually the one that hooks up to the campground utilities and connects everything for towing. Meanwhile, the wife is inside stowing things away so they don’t move while in transit, and she’s in charge of cooking and cleaning and things like that. This is a mistake for both men and women. Both of you should know how to do every job that’s necessary around the RV. It doesn’t mean you have to do it all the time, but there’s nothing wrong with sharing the workload inside and out.
Eventually you get into a routine when you are getting ready to leave a campground that makes things easier. But that doesn’t mean there is no work involved. It’s amazing how stiff and hard to handle a 50 amp power cord can be, especially on a chilly morning. Hooking up a tow bar can be a hassle, too, at times.
Since I’ve never had a fifth wheel, I don’t know what all is involved in connecting to the truck, but I know it doesn’t do it by itself automatically. And the older we get, as our backs and joints stiffen and our eyesight diminishes a bit, it gets even more difficult. Inside the rig, things have to be stored so they don’t fall and break while traveling, or don’t become deadly missiles in the event of an accident.
Once you get on the road it’s not just about holding the steering wheel and pointing the rig in the direction you want to go. Rough roads, construction zones, and other drivers all have to be dealt with. We’ve been on a few roads where it took as much as we could do just to maneuver through the potholes and frost heaves. And traveling on a windy day can wear you out in a hurry!
The driver isn’t the only one doing all of the work. The copilot should be on the alert to warn of merging traffic, hazards ahead and to the side, and be watching out for directional signs because we all know you can’t trust a GPS 100% of the time. The copilot also needs to help navigate into and out of fuel stops. I can’t tell you how many times somebody has driven across right in front of us in a truck stop parking lot like we weren’t even there!
And once you arrive at your campground, you don’t get to just shut off the key and say “Honey, we’re home.” Now you get to do it all in reverse. Backing into a site can be a real challenge for some people, and again, having a copilot outside guiding you in can make it a lot easier. Then you get to do everything all over again, dragging the power cord out and connecting it, hooking up to water and sewer, aiming a TV dish if you don’t have an automatic one, and getting everything squared away inside. Then you have to get the awnings out, drag the lawn chairs out of a storage bay if you want to use them, walk the dog if it needs it, and oh, by the way, what are we going to do about dinner?
No, it’s not all fun and games. There’s some real work involved now and then. But the rewards when you are parked in a nice campground listening to the birds chirping and the wind rustling through the trees can make it all worthwhile. That is, if you can ignore the noise made by the screaming kids running through your site, the barking dogs, and hey, is that a railroad track right next door?
This is not to say that the RV lifestyle isn’t wonderful, because it can be. No matter what you do in life there are always good days and bad days. In RVing, the good days usually outnumber the bad days by a wide margin.
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Thought For The Day – Sometimes my life feels like a test I didn’t study for.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
I’ve learned to do a minimal hookup. Power comes first, level, slide outs and TV. Other hookups are only done when I absolutely need to dump or get fresh water. It made my life on the road SO much easier. If at all possible, I ask for pull through sites so I don’t even have to unhook if I don’t want to. It sure makes life easier.
Oh yes. We loved most of our days on the road. Most of the days. But going into the 7th year we were tired. Time to settle then. Lots of work with a house and 4 acres too. But it’s (mostly) enjoyable. RVing got to be not so much. To everything there is a season.
Speaking of work….. gotta get outside. Finally a dry, moderate day. Perfect day to finish laying the rest of a concrete sidewalk.
Yea, it is a lot of work and add crazy drivers to the mix. We have fulltimed for 12 years and it’s enough. We usually volunteer at state parks part of the year and travel the rest. This year we’ve been on the road since June 5, moving every 1 or 2 weeks. It got to me this year. It was hot, humid or raining. We spent 5 winter seasons in Tucson and decided to sell the big 37′ 5th wheel and buy a park model there. We will try it for a year and see if we like it. We can always buy another rv if we want to.
It helps that I view it as a hobby…
Have replaced 3 ACs, the RV Fridge, brakes, lubed hubs, suspension, vent covers, TV, DVRs, Sound Systems, Microwave Convection oven, Jack gearbox, antenna rebuilt/rewired the HW Heater, some electrical switches and breakers, most recently the furnace – all by myself. Also change Tires from time to time:)
I view it positively I can do all that myself for now as the new Fridge, Furnaces, plumbing, HVAC in our sticks and bricks have to be repaired/replaced by Pros…
My wife does most of the driving because she is a better driver. We don’t let anyone else back us in. When we get to a site, I do the outside, she does the inside and I only hook up the sewer when needed. When we do long drives, we stop early to set up in daylight and have a relaxing evening.
We don’t full time, but travel frequently.
When we started RVing before we retired, I learned to drive the RV. We also had a boat at that time and my husband said I didn’t need to know how to drive it. I told him we were going to sell it when we got home. I told him that if we had something I could not drive, we didn’t need it. Never knew when some type of emergency would come up. After we retired we took a 4 month trip around the continental U.S. and traveled in every state we had not previously visited. My husband died the year after we took our trip, and I am so glad to have all the pictures and memories of the times we had “camping” all across this wonderful country.
Yes it is work, of course traveling by car is also work, packing everything for the trip and making sure you don’t forget that all important small item you must have. Loading the car is also hard because you all ways have more luggage than the car will hold. Packing things to entertain the kids if you have them so they don’t ask are we there yet every 30 minutes because they’re bored. At the end of the day you get to unpack everything you packed at the start because you don’t remember where you packed the essentials. Then inspecting you rmotel room for critters the maid missed when she cleaned. Then you clean up and go in search of a decent place to eat, then back to the motel for some relaxation watching TV that is placed where only 2 people can view it. Then finally it’s bedtime for a peaceful nights sleep on a mattress and pillows that who knows who or what laid there last night but you’re so tired it doesn’t matter. The next morning it all starts again, personally I like the idea of owning 2 of everything, 1 for home and one for the RV, non perishable food always stays in the pantry, perishables can be gotten in a 30 minute rest stop, a leisurely drive of several hrs pulling off the highway for the night, having a meal in or out, watching a few hrs of TV that everyone can see, going to bed in one I know doesn’t have bed bugs, using the bathroom that I know who sat there before me, it all makes it worth the “work” of RVing. Just saying!