We did survive a northern winter as of writing this, however you may have noticed a lack of activity around here. A good chunk of this has stemmed from how we've been looking at full-time RVing, and we'll give you an idea of how we have tackled this lifestyle for the last five years.
When you're a "young full-timer" (pre-retirement age), you do have to be somewhat concerned about income generation, because any amount of savings you had will dry up quickly. So our initial strategy, when first starting out, is that we would pick a part of the country where we want to go, try to line up a workamping job, and do that for a few months. Although many workamping jobs are lined up at least a year in advance, there are some that fall through, and you'll be able to pick them up at the last second. There's certainly temptation with wanting to be on the road in this lifestyle, but with fuel as one of your largest costs, it's best to minimize how much you do that with the trailer. Plus, if what you lined up doesn't come with a site included, campground fees are much cheaper when you go by the month.
Which leads to another thing that has been noticed: Because of the rising costs of apartments, coupled with reactions to the lockdowns of 2020, many have turned to living in RVs. Year-round campgrounds across the country are catering to long-term stays because it gives them guaranteed income for a certain number of months, with the possibility to extend. Sure there may be some additional challenges when being in the north for a winter as we discussed previously, but it's one of those things you get used to doing in the lifestyle. Sometimes in travels as well, you may have picked up a side job in a site-only spot that you really enjoyed, or you even get recruited for a job in an area. If you're able to work with the employer, you may be able to head back there after spending a season in a different climate, as what happened to us with this trip.
In speaking of being recruited for a job, another trend that has shown itself in recent years is the travelling professional. Usually this is found in the medical industry, but it could also apply to other manual labor, such as construction or farming. If you've ever heard of a "travelling nurse", this is usually a full-time RVer that will spend a six month term at a hospital before moving on, and they'll be taking their house with them. Even if you don't have the advanced degree, these industries are still always looking for people at the lower levels, and would be able to cater to you in a similar fashion. Banking on some of the other experiences you may have had while workamping, you'd be surprised as to what they will accept on the CV.
When you're on the road, you never know where your Internal Compass will take you. Sometimes, you just go with the flow and certain things will come forward.
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