The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.
― Terry Pratchett, Diggers

Our decision to full time RV evolved, albeit rapidly, from “Wouldn’t it be cool if” through varying degrees of “Could we really do this” and “OMG this is actually feasible” before settling decisively on “We are doing it,” and this evolution proceeded under the influence of both adult beverages and extensive research.

Google provides. Our at first random queries quickly exposed an overwhelming amount of available information: innumerable travel bloggers, RV discussion forums, traditional articles, YouTube videos, downloadable books, spreadsheets, and more. I chose that word, “overwhelming” quite intentionally. The challenge was not finding the answer to our initial tentative questions, but rather sorting out a manageable amount of accurate and balanced information while avoiding the “down the rabbit hole” effect of opening up tab after tab of interesting pages demanding to be read and absorbed.

Our favorite and most valuable sources of knowledge are the full time RV bloggers whose lives we will soon emulate. Put away any notion you might have that the only demographics for this lifestyle are retirees in Florida, neo-hippies in the Pacific Northwest, and Doomsday Preppers in places without people: this way of living has a shockingly diverse group of participants. To see what I mean, here is a short and not at all inclusive list of RV bloggers that have heavily influenced us:

Technomadia: A youngish couple of tech savvy nomads travelling the country in a heavily modified vintage bus. Excellent source for technology driven options for improving any RV. I especially appreciate their battery and solar panel posts.

Interstellar Orchard: A young college educated woman in her 20s living solo in a 17 foot trailer and making ends meet via seasonal work. One of our earliest indications of how diverse the full time RV community is.

Geeks on Tour: A mature couple travelling the country teaching technology applications via in person seminars and online videos. Among the many things we learned from them was how incredibly easy and cheap it is to set up a blog.

Tioga and George: An older retiree defying traditional age expectations by not merely living in his trailer, but traveling the U.S. and Mexico in it. Not as active blogging these days, but really poured his heart out in his old blog.

Wheeling It: A couple of highly educated, middle aged professional engineers who dropped out of high paying jobs to travel full time while keeping an income stream via remote contract work and several small RV related endeavors. Provided our best understanding of the costs of the FT RV life with his detailed breakdowns.

Gone With The Wynns: A camera-ready young couple essentially running a complete online RV based travel show. Professional video equipment, scripts, locations, sponsors, and enthusiasm… all they need is the contract with Nat Geo or the Travel Channel.

Travel with Kevin and Ruth: A pair of early retirees from Canada in their seventh year of travel blogging, predominately out of their motorhome, Sherman. We pay close attention to their blog since our retirement timeline mirrors the one they took, and they are particularly good at stretching the dollar to support their travel life both in North America and overseas.