The Retiring Nomads: So Many Roads to a Life of Adventure

Yes we have and yes we are. Starting in May of this year we became full-time RV'ers. We sold our house and moved into the RV and a campground. The end of October 2018, I will quit my job and we will go full-timing. It has taken about 2 years of planning and considerations. We will head south for winters and then see where the weather and wind take us. We will be utilizing my husbands military benefits and staying at some bases in their RV parks along with regular campgrounds. What we love about this type of retirement is the mobility and ability to truly travel and see things. Our bucket list includes seeing all the Presidential Libraries and as many of the National Parks and Monuments as possible. At some point we may run across a place that grabs us and where we may want to put down roots, but until we find that place, we are happy being nomads. As I write this I am still working but life just feels a little lighter and more relaxed. I am not worrying about getting this or that done on my days off. I have a small space that takes at most to clean from one end to the other about 1 hour - tops!! This type of life is not for everyone, but should be a consideration for some, especially those who love to travel and like experiences over stuff (living in an RV you are limited on what you own).

Kim H ^^ I am jealous!!! Hubby and I would love to do that, but it's just such a huge step, selling everything (but I'm working on it!) We live in a small Cape Cod style house in NJ, with my 80++ year old mom, who is still really active (I just turned 50 and hubby's right behind me), so we have a couple years still but, we are working on our retirement plans - and those involved lots of travel and definitely down-sizing! Would love to know how your planning and adventures turn out!!! Best of luck!! (PS - I'm about to follow the "Senior Nomads" and follow their journey as well!) Enjoy life!!

During our 40+ years of marriage we moved frequently for my husband's job. Perhaps being slightly nomadic for most of our lives and enthusiastic RVers for almost 30 years made it easier for us to give to our kids, sell or donate everything when we retired, except the RV and car. We now travel as we wish. We seek weather and scenery that interest and please us, and we are not afraid to admit if we have made a poor choice for ourselves. By good luck and following hunches, we have found some very interesting places that are not national parks or traditional tourist stops and we can stay as long as we like. We feel fortunate to have met some truly kind and interesting people on the way; we arrange to reconnect with several of them at other campgrounds during our travels. If you are considering making this kind of change I would encourage you to consider it seriously. Possessions can be stored and homes rented so you can return whenever you'd like. We realized that we were never going to be as young as we were then (67 and 68), and we were fortunate to be fairly healthy. We have been enjoying our travels full-time for more than 2 years now, and still enjoy this choice we've made.

What do RV ers do about getting mail and prescription medications?

This article about Snowbirders has a section on mail. There are many possible solutions. https://www.topretirements.com/blog/home-and-garden/snowbirds-leaving-for-the-winter-checklist.html/
Virtual mailbox services like https://www.usglobalmail.com/ (it seems to be for expats) will receive and scan your mail, shred it if you want, or get it to you. https://ipostal1.com/how-virtual-mailbox-works.php is another service

Prescription drugs is trickier, but if you use mail order or a big chain you should be able to manage. Ideas from other folks?

Dear RV adventurers:

For fun I listen to Robin at Creativity RV on You Tube. She is a wealth of information and the best resource I have found. Below is a link to mail and packages. She is living the life in an RV while writing a book. Check out her channel.
/www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ne1XYe100g&t=5s

For my expat scuba diving buddies that live around the world they mostly use this option. I have recommended this vendor previously on this website so here you go again:

https://dakotapost.net/

We have toyed with the idea of getting an RV which makes sense for us since we want to go to Florida every winter but hate looking for rentals. We have always gone camping and figured this may be for us. The last couple of years while we drove from upstate NY to FL I started paying attention to all the RVers we passed along the way and what they were driving, writing down the size we thought was best, and the ones we liked the looks of, etc. I even noticed about 80% of the drivers wore baseball caps (my husband noticed 100% of the drivers were males).
This year we have brought our camping stuff in our car and have stayed at a few campgrounds as we make our way to southern FL, and have started talking with those in the RV areas- they all are very willing to talk about how much they love it. We have found this is a good way to research this way of life and are learning a lot especially when we watch them back there homes into a campsite. This morning we were told by a camper of AARP's website which happens to talk about this very thing-the RV life, but they also mention you can rent RVs and also rent yours when not using it . Has anyone done this ? Wondering how it worked out

The rental part sounds great to me! I would Also like to know the best way to find RV places to stay for one to three months? And best companies to rent from? Thanks

Virginia,
We have many RV communities listed, which you can find by clicking on the “Search” tab found at the top of Topretirements homepage. Scroll down to Advanced Search, and here you can check RV/Mobile Home under “Type of Community”, and a list of RV communities will be generated for you. There are many other criteria you can check on this page to help you find the perfect retirement spot!