Our full-time RV fears

Any dramatic shift in life comes with its share of hesitation and uncertainty. Heck, even minor changes can induce a certain level of anxiety.

When we decided to move into a camper full-time, we did so with a healthy dose of excitement and more than a spoonful of nerves. Call it measured optimism or a mix of yeehaw and whoa, Nelly.

As the time approaches for us to pack up our things and call our camper home, we’ve been trying to pinpoint exactly what our full-time RV fears are so that we can face them head-on.

What better way to explore those trepidations than by jotting them down and calling it a blog?

Things to know:

Moving into an RV is a daunting life change, and it comes with some pretty prominent fears. Here, we’re discussing the biggest concerns we have as we transition into full-time RV living.

Full-time travel challenges

We haven’t lived in a camper full-time (yet), but we have done multiple months in a row in a rooftop tent and nearly four straight months in a minimalist truck camper (Scout Kenai), so our list of perceived full-time travel challenges isn’t totally without context.

We’ve had many nights like this.

Still, we know this lifestyle will be an entirely different ballgame, so we’re looking forward to discovering new challenges along the way!

Working full-time on the road

We have to work full-time as we travel, which comes with a host of potential setbacks and frustrations. That makes this particular challenge a lot like opening a can of worms.

There’s no doubt we’ll dedicate future blogs to this topic because it deserves a dedicated space to be fully explored. For now, we’ll break our work-from-the-road dilemmas into some basic categories.

Connecting to the Internet on the road

Anyone who has spent time on the road–whether they have to work or not–has experienced the frustration that comes with limited or spotty connectivity. Whether you’re relying on mobile data or using satellite internet, there’s no such thing as a perfect solution.

We used Starlink on the road in 2023, and it served us well—but it isn’t perfect.

Because we rely on an internet connection nearly every day for our livelihoods, inconsistent access can be more than irritating–it can disrupt our ability to work and bring in an income.

We have enough travel experience to know that this is a big challenge, and while we’re taking steps to mitigate those issues, they are inevitable (to some degree).

Staying focused (and disciplined)

Look, travel is exciting. New places to see, activities to do, and food to eat can get you buzzing with anticipation. It’s part of what makes the nomadic life so appealing.

We have developed a healthy amount of discipline through our years of being self-employed, but we’d be lying if we said it was easy to remain focused in the face of such tempting distractions.

As we adapt to full-time travel and establish routines, this area of concern will surely fade (we hope).

Limited (office) space

For the last year and change, we have had ample space to stretch our legs, separate our work from our relaxation, and do our best to avoid feeling cooped up and cramped.

While the great outdoors will soon be our living room, there’s no question that our living space will be reduced dramatically. No dedicated offices, no individual desks, no dedicated computer monitors… you get the idea.

Cooking and counter space in a camper

We don’t want to project our experience with our previous truck bed camper to the camper we’ll be living in. They are totally different products intended for entirely different usages. They’re also not in the same price bracket.

The Scout Camper Kenai was stylish, rugged, and minimalistic, but counter space was severely limited.

That said, one of our biggest struggles in the Scout Kenai was the limited counter space for food prep and cooking. We had to change our approach to cooking and split up cooking duties so only one of us was in the “kitchen” at a time.

Not only was this frustrating and prone to messiness, but it also discouraged us from cooking as often as we normally do. If our camper is going to feel like home, we need to overcome this challenge and learn to be comfortable and efficient when cooking most of our meals.

Safety and security as nomads

We have a good amount of travel experience and know many people who RV full-time, so we know (logically) that it can be done safely and securely. Still, there is that voice in the back of our heads that questions how safe we actually are and causes a touch of paranoia. The lack of surety of what’s outside our door is enough to set us on edge.

There are inherent security risks in living on the road, but this particular challenge feels more like a mental hurdle than anything. We are confident that we will adapt to our new lifestyle without losing that valuable gut feeling that alerts us to danger.

Full-time travel and the bathroom

Call us divas; we can take it.

We’ve tried a variety of bathroom solutions while on the road. From digging holes to those fancy bags you get at REI, every option has pros and cons.

If you look carefully, you might spot a bathroom tent.

Unfortunately, there is no perfect solution, and that can be a frustrating barrier that prevents full-time RV life from feeling like a true home. While we think we’ve picked the most convenient option for this camper, even it has a downside–cost.

Full-time RV budgeting

It’s possible to save money with this non-traditional way of life, but it’s not easy. In fact, it can be downright hard, leading to the complete opposite–expenses can pile up real quick.

We’ve gotten a lot better at budgeting in recent years, and Riley has been keeping detailed records for quite some time now, so we know we can stay locked into a reasonable budget.

The question is, will the expenses of frequent travel, eating out, exploring new places, and otherwise leaning into our adventurous side overwhelm our desire to be disciplined? Only time will tell, but it’s bound to be an adjustment either way!

Water usage, hygiene, and relaxation

We’re clean people who enjoy a nice long shower to stay fresh and unwind after a long day. Given the limited water storage of our camper, standing under a steady stream of hot water for more than a few minutes simply isn’t practical.

Campgrounds and vacation rentals can occasionally supplement this lack of endless water, and we have no doubts that we’ll quickly adapt to this relatively minor inconvenience, but we’re also confident that it’ll be a challenge!

Despite our uncertainties, we have no doubt that embracing life on the road will be an exhilarating and rewarding experience for us. So, don’t let us fool you–we’re champing at the bit to pick up our camper and get this adventure underway.

Have you experienced any of these full-time RV fears? Do you have anything else we should worry about? If so, drop your knowledge in the comments below. We’d love to hear from you and welcome you to our little community.

If you’re interested in following our journey, you’re in the right place. We’ll be posting weekly blogs, as well as regular updates on YouTube and Instagram. For a more in-depth look into our life on the road, we even set up a Patreon.

Thanks for reading. We hope to see you on the road!

- Riley + Hanna

Our path to full-time travel

When it comes to people living unorthodox lifestyles–particularly full-time RVers, van lifers, and other nomadic folks–we can’t get enough. It’s amazing to see how people achieve the life they love, navigate the unique challenges of the road, and otherwise embrace full-time travel in a world of sticks and bricks.

As we draw inspiration from them, we thought sharing our own journey to this point might be a fun exercise. We wouldn’t necessarily call our path to full-time travel inspirational, but there’s no harm in laying it out for you to see!

Things to know:

We have a long history of traveling together. From tents to truck campers, we’ve traversed many miles and months on the road, and it has all led us here—to becoming full-time nomads.

From road trippers to full-time RVers

Like many who choose to travel full-time, our interest in the nomadic lifestyle started small. We didn’t jump straight from beach vacations and hotels to living in a camper; instead, the build to this moment was gradual.

The best way to document our journey is to give you a timeline from the early days of traveling together to now. It’s been quite the ride, so buckle up and enjoy!

Cold noses, warm hearts

Before we officially started dating, Riley dragged Hanna on a tent camping adventure in North Carolina. Little did we know that it would set the tone for our future together.

The year was 2016, and we had just reconnected after going our separate ways in college. Riley had been going to western NC with his family since childhood, and as a young adult, he still felt drawn to the area.

Rather than rental houses and hotels, he did what any broke college kid would do–bought a tent from K-Mart (yes, K-Mart) and traveled on the cheap.

After reuniting with Hanna, he had the grand idea to drag her on one of his ventures up I-75. So, we went and spent several nights in the mountains, sleeping as far apart in that little tent as possible.

We’ve been adventure buddies since day one.

We distinctly remember waking up with cold, wet noses from sleeping against opposite sides of the tent, the damp fabric walls pressed up against our faces. Neither of us was willing to break the ice and cross the line into something deeper than friendship.

In hindsight, it’s a hilarious and endearing story, and there’s no question that those adventurous college kids set us on a path for full-time travel today.

Shortly after this and similar trips, Hanna returned the favor. She convinced Riley to get on a plane (for the first time in his adult life) and go to Estes Park, CO. It was his first taste of the West, and he never looked back.

We had no clue what we were getting ourselves into when we flew to Colorado in the winter.

Big sky country and restlessness

By the time Riley got accepted into grad school, we were dating. So, when he decided to take his talents to the University of Montana, we had some decisions to make.

For the first year, he lived in Missoula, MT, while Hanna took up residence near Denver, CO. The long-term thing was difficult, but we both enjoyed experiencing the American West in full for the first time.

After the year apart, Hanna joined Riley in Montana, and we started planning our next steps together.

Our time in Montana only cemented our love for the West.

We weren’t ready to buy a home, and we didn’t really know where we wanted to be, so we did something radical–we bought a Jeep Wrangler, threw a rooftop tent on it, and decided to move into it indefinitely after Riley graduated.

While that didn’t last long–only about two months–it was our first taste of the lifestyle we could attain with a little effort, planning, and commitment.

Tearin’ it up in Tennessee

Our foray into adventure travel may have been brief, but it was just the beginning of our interest in overlanding and extended periods of life on the road. So, we tucked that experience in our back pocket, knowing full well that we would return to it in a more sustainable way in the future.

In the meantime, we decided to bide our time by moving to Tennessee and scratching our adventure itch in a different way–trail riding in Jeeps. This move coincided with Riley’s venture into aftermarket part design and manufacturing, so we bought a Jeep Gladiator as an R&D and marketing vehicle.

Our first stay in Tennessee was filled with days like this.

Equipped with a beastly new truck, we ran with a crew that enjoyed rock crawling, giving us our first exposure to the more extreme side of off-roading. While we still preferred camping (as evidenced by our refusal to ditch the rooftop tent), we enjoyed this new hobby for a year–especially when 2020 hit and we needed a way to stay sane while the whole world felt cooped up.

There and back again (to Montana)

Despite our good run in Tennessee, we craved the West. So, we packed up and headed back to Montana. Riley was still making Jeep parts, so we continued to find trails–this time with an emphasis on the camping at the end of the road.

Montana is a different ballgame from Tennessee in terms of remoteness, so we found ourselves pushing the limits of our backcountry experience. Here, we learned how to be a bit more self-reliant, plan for the worst, and be at home in the great, empty spaces.

You could say 2021 was the biggest shift from where we were to where we are now. Off-roading and camping evolved from hobbies into lifestyles. We knew then that we wanted to build our lives around this form of adventure.

When we got married in September of 2021, this passion for adventure travel was on full display. Instead of a traditional wedding and honeymoon, we lived in our Jeep Gladiator for three months.

Our elopement in Ouray, CO, was out of a fairytale (thanks, Tori of Come to Bliss)

We started in Montana, worked our way down to Ouray, CO, and then spent time in Utah before returning home. Along the way, we camped, explored trails, and eloped in the San Juan Mountains. It was the perfect way to start our marriage.

Even nomads get lost

Married life changed things for us–or so we thought.

Concerned by the trajectory of the world and wanting our new relationship stability to be reflected in our joint life, we decided we wanted to buy a house. Talk about poor timing.

In the post-pandemic market, prices started to soar. Unfortunately, we had already moved out of our apartment in Montana and headed back east in an attempt to find the perfect place to call home.

What followed was two years of biding time in Florida and escaping for a handful of months each year to retain our sanity. While it wasn’t the best use of our time or money–Florida is a long way from the western destinations we love–we made do and counted our blessings.

It didn’t take long for us to realize that the housing market wasn’t conducive to us buying and that we needed to come up with a different plan. Naturally, we went back to what we knew–pushing the limits of how long we could stay on the road at a time.

This prompted us to buy a Scout Camper Kenai–our foray into campers. While minimalist, this setup allowed us to live on the road for around four straight months, traversing from Florida to Washington, and then venturing throughout America.

Our Scout Camper Kenai took us to some unbelievable locations.

In the brief time we had the Scout, we covered over 20,000 miles, explored new places together, and even had the opportunity to represent Scout at Overland Expo East. It was a phenomenal camper, a wonderful experience, and a rewarding opportunity to get to know some rad folks in the industry.

Alas, all good things come to an end.

Returning to Tennessee and scheming for full-time travel

If you’re sensing a theme here, you catch on fast–we have a tendency to return to places we love, especially when we’re figuring out our next steps.

This second (and current) stint in Tennessee fits the bill. After two years in Florida where we paid rent despite being gone nearly half the time, we decided to commit to being in one place for an entire year–something that has been strangely difficult for us.

Tennessee is the perfect place for this phase of life, as it has loads of hiking and outdoor activities to keep our adventurous spirit satiated, a healthy helping of great food in nearby Chattanooga, and a reasonable cost of living compared to much of the country (especially western states).

In 2024, we committed to staying still (for us) and buckling down to advance our business and plan our next step thoroughly. While we flirted with home ownership again, the path forward for us soon became clear–we needed to embrace a full-time travel lifestyle now, or we would always have those lingering “what ifs.”

Round two in Tennessee has been pretty great!

From around August onward, we focused our efforts on determining what full-time RV setup would be best for us, calculating our budget, putting together a loose timeline, and frantically trying to get all our ducks in a row to kick off 2025 on the road.

While we haven’t quite made that goal–our camper is still in production at the time of writing this–we are a few weeks from being fully nomadic for the first time in our lives. Given the investment of time and money in this endeavor, it feels like the first time we’ll be embracing the travel lifestyle without the option of “falling back” on the security of an apartment or home base.

Our journey to this point seems chaotic, and it has certainly been filled with twists and turns. Looking back, however, it all makes sense. From the highs of finding new campsites to the lows of uncertainty, every inspiration and setback has played a part in leading us to this decision.

We’re excited about what this year (and the years to come) has in store, and we hope you’ll follow along as we learn by doing. Life is a big adventure, and we feel incredibly blessed to be on it together.

Feel free to drop a comment below or otherwise engage with our growing little community of wild spirits. We’re happy to have you, stoked to share our story with you, and hope to learn a lot from you as we head off into the unknown!

- Riley + Hanna

Class C RVs - A passing grade, but not for us

In our hunt for the ideal full-time travel camper, we have considered darn near every possibility shy of a covered wagon. Along the way, Class C RVs crossed our minds, and I have to say, we were quite tempted by a handful of them.

At the end of the day (spoiler alert), we decided against the Class C route, but that doesn’t mean they’re without merit. In fact, we could very much see ourselves in a Class C at some point in our lives–especially a 4x4 converted option from U-Joint Offroad!

Things to know:

Class C RVs are a fantastic option for couples in our position, but we ultimately decided against purchasing one for our full-time travels.

Note: By the time you read this, we might already have a camper. Our intent is not to mislead you, we simply wrote these blogs well in advance!

Why we didn’t buy a Class C RV

We know several people, including some full-time travelers, who love their Class C RVs. To be honest, we get it–they have some compelling benefits that make them ideal for a lot of adventurers. In the name of full transparency, we almost reached out to a private seller regarding a 4x4 converted Class C but decided against it at the last moment.

In other words, we really like this class of RV. It just wasn’t quite right for us at the moment.

We bought a big old truck instead of an RV.

The benefits of Class C RVs

No one likes a negative Nelly (who is Nelly, anyway?), so we like to kick off these “why we didn’t buy X” blogs with the good stuff–what we like about a particular camper. Thankfully, it isn’t hard to find things to like about Class C RVs. They have a lot going for them, and they’re just about the perfect fit for some folks.

• Self-contained. There’s no need to exit the living area to get to the driver’s seat, and that is a definite benefit when the weather is sour, or safety is a concern. There’s also just something appealing about an all-in-one RV unit.

• Options, options, options. Several manufacturers produce Class C RVs, and most of them make multiple models. When choosing a chassis, engine, length, floorplan, and so on, you really are spoiled for choice.

• Ample living space and a dedicated bathroom. As full-time workers, we will spend a lot of time in our camper. While we’re no strangers to small spaces and making do with a minimalist setup, more living space sounds like a huge benefit to us. Throw in an actual bathroom with walls and a door, and you have a pretty solid case for selecting a Class C!

Class C-ya-later - What stopped us from getting a Class C RV

For all the amazing attributes of Class C RVs, there are a few key characteristics holding them back–for our lifestyle, at least. If we close our eyes and envision life in a Class C, we could picture a happy and fulfilling adventure, but there are a few sticking points that would prevent us from doing some things we love.

We opted against a Class C RV for many of the same reasons we chose a small slide-in camper two years ago.

Can’t C you off-road

The interior space of a Class C is a benefit, but the exterior size is not. As people who want to get off the beaten path and explore forest roads and rougher terrain, the sheer mass of a Class C RV is a detriment. They also tend to be built for asphalt, sporting dinky tires and lackluster suspension.

That leaves us with two options for exploring the way we enjoy. Option A is to tow a secondary vehicle and utilize it for off-road adventures. Option B is to invest in a 4x4 conversion from a company like U-Joint Offroad to make the RV more capable. Both options are expensive and add complexity to the situation, especially when there are off-the-shelf alternatives.

We were driving downtown

Hopefully, you sang the line above to the tune of Copeland’s “Walking Downtown.” If not, I’ll forgive you; it’s an obscure reference.

Because Class C RVs are a single unit, what you see is what you get. You can’t set up camp and then take your truck into town. If you take a break from traveling, you are stuck using your Class C as your primary vehicle–yikes!

No more two-door Jeep life for us.

The solution to this is, of course, to tow a daily driver vehicle. Unfortunately, this adds length, complexity, and expense. We do not plan to have a secondary vehicle when we travel, so we would be accepting our Class C as our only option–that’s a tough pill to swallow.

Solving for X

All of these Class B/Class C conversations are beginning to feel like algebra. For every camper we rule out, we get closer to solving for X–that mystery RV that’s just right for us. That’s the hope, anyway.

While we won’t be purchasing a Class C RV, we are closing in on the perfect camper for our full-time travels starting in 2025. What we’ve learned throughout this process is that every option includes a bit of compromise, and we think we’ve pinpointed which compromises we’re okay with. That said, we’re still young and impressionable.

So, drop your guidance below. Whether you’ve been a weekend warrior for a decade or a full-timer for a month, we want to hear your stories, insights, and opinions. Give us your horror stories, highlights, and must-know tips. We’re here to learn, and there’s no better teacher than you–our tight-knit community of adventurers!