After that first trip to Walt Disney World and the few road trips that followed, the travel bug had taken a firm hold of me. The dream of full-time travel was percolating and that is when I came across the idea of RV living.
When my husband, who works from late spring to late fall, began commuting 2 hours to and from work everyday, it was clear the home we were living in was not going to be our forever home. It was time to make a move.
I began looking for homes closer to work and was quickly humbled. How did anyone afford these prices? While looking for the answer to my question, I came across a group of people who live the “rv life.” Most were young people, who worked online and didn’t have kids. But some, lived in larger RV’s with their growing families. Still, most lived in places where winters are mild. But, I began exploring the possibility and how it might work for our family.
Could an RV Get Us Closer to Work?
First, the main mission was to get closer to my husbands work. This meant finding a place to park an RV from late spring to late fall. This did prove a challenge. We were surprised to see very few campgrounds and trailer parks were open into October here in Ontario. Second, there were many rules out their about “living in the campground” which we would have to work around. And lastly, some parks were particularly picky about what your trailer looked like (think HOA for RVers).
Could We Road School from an RV?
Once I answered all these questions for myself, the next one to answer was school. My kids were in kindergarten and grade 2. I had already been considering homeschool for my second grader who was beginning to hate school. And my youngest was among the youngest in her class and I had wondered whether she had perhaps gone to school too early. I had no doubts on my ability to teach my kids. But, if we took this leap, it would not be as simple as registering them for school again if we changed our mind.
Snowbirds
If I was able to make the first two things work out, what were my options for the winter. Since my husband’s industry slows down in the winter I knew being in Ontario would not be necessary (and not possible in an RV in the winter). Could we afford to travel during those winter months, towing our home behind us? Could we be a family of snowbirds?
The Experiment
We bought an inexpensive motorhome and parked it in campgrounds close to work that next summer. We lived it it for a month straight with the kids sleeping on the dinette turned bunk bed and us crammed into the tight quarters of the “master bedroom”. The kids learned to swim in the campground pool. We visited local tourist places. And we taught the kids about campfires and cooking food outdoors. I washed our clothes by hand while the kids road their bikes then we would take some time to practice reading. This “van-life” actually had some real potential.
The Decision
We decided to make a go of it. We would rent our house out while in the RV so that we didn’t have to worry about the bills at home. The only question was whether to buy a new RV and try for a full-time spot at our campground of choice or stick with the old motorhome and be more transient going from park to park while working during the summer. After crunching the numbers, the new RV won out. We were officially moving into an RV, homeschooling our kids, and becoming snowbirds.
The First Winter Living in an RV
The first winter was a success. We opted to stay in Ontario until Christmas and lived in Airbnb’s for the 6 weeks between park close and Christmas. The day after Christmas we headed south. We towed our home from Ontario, to South Carolina, along the entire Atlantic and Gulf Coast of Florida, and back up along the Mississippi River. My youngest learned to ride her bike on the hard sand beach at Hunting Island State Park. We learned all about Sea Turtle Protection in the Florida Keys. We couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw just how many alligators make the Everglades home. And we couldn’t resist a stop at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground. That’s just touching the surface of our adventures during that first winter.
More Adventures
We continued living like this, visiting other places in North America, until the COVID-19 pandemic when we needed to make some changes. The winter of 2021 brought us some new Canadian adventures but by the winter of 2022 we were ready to call it quits on full time travel and settle down in a new home.
That is not to say we have given up on travel all together. We just do it from a home base like most travellers. My kids are now in public school so family trips are limited to our schedules but I am looking forward to more solo trip and trips with just my husband and I to come.
