RVing is one of the cheapest ways to enjoy prime real estate, especially in California where astronomical coastal properties are out of reach of most ordinary people. We found that one way to experience the best of California beach camping without the hefty price tag is through our Passport America camping club membership.

Once again our $44 yearly Passport America membership has paid for itself. Last Tuesday after a sad goodbye to my family in Los Angeles, we headed south to San Diego to see Tripawds friends.

Our destination was Mission Bay RV Resort, which offers 50 percent savings to Passport members during winter. This coastal campground is normally $50 a night for a bare bones back-in RV site, but with our Passport America membership we got our sweet spot for half off!

Many of Passport’s affiliated RV parks are located in smaller towns that want to attract more tourists, but oftentimes you’ll find gems like these in major destinations.

We’re always super frugal about paying for campgrounds, but since joining Passport in 2008, we’ve never once regretted spending the money on this membership. It always seems to come in handy whenever we need full hookups.

If you’re on the road and haven’t joined this club, do it today. I guarantee you a Passport America membership will pay for itself the very first time you use it!

Until recently, full-time RVing with kids was uncharted territory for all but a handful of courageous families. But now for the first time ever there’s a comprehensive how-to book that can assist you in making this life changing decision.

Written by Full Time Families founder Kimberly Travaglino, “How to Hit the Road: Making Your Family’s Full Time RV Dreams a Reality,” explains how to start making your family’s RV dreams happen!

Get Your Family Full-Timing Faster

If you’re unsure about embarking on a full time RV adventure, fear not: How to Hit the Road takes you from the earliest stages of envisioning your ideal road tripping lifestyle with kids.

From sharing your RVing dreams with loved ones, to selecting the RV that works for your family, to finding ways to afford this unique lifestyle. Along the way you’ll read real-life testimonials from families who are creating unforgettable memories as they experience these joys together.

How to Hit the Road addresses everything your family should consider before you roll away. As a fellow Dave Ramsey follower, we love her advice to eliminate all debt prior to leaving.

While some aspects of How to Hit the Road doesn’t dive deep enough into important topics like budgeting and choosing a domicile, it provides resources for learning more. Overall, How to Hit the Road is a perfect place to begin planning your family’s full time RV adventure.

Make Your Dreams Happen
Buy How to Hit the Road Today!

Join Fearless Families Across the Country

Travalgino’s group, Full Time Families, is a support group for courageous parents who are living the full-timing dream. Check out FtF’s magazine, rallies and discussion forums for endless ways to make your dream happen.

Why wait? In our four years of traveling, we haven’t met one family who’s regretted their decision to fulfill their RV road trip dreams!

Do you road trip with debt? If so, does debt interfere with your ability to enjoy your nomadic freedom?

Roadtripping with debt didn’t seem like a problem to us in 2007. After all, this lifestyle was only supposed to last a year. After that, we were supposed to settle down and get back into the “normal” routine of a mortgage and living beyond our means with the miracle of plastic.

We didn’t know that being normal was dumb.

But when we discovered that we we loved the nomadic lifestyle too much to stop, we knew we had to scale back our spending to keep going.

We still had no idea where our income would be coming from, but our original road trip budget could last another year if we got out of debt. Meeting real life examples of debt free road trippers also helped.

Old Habits are Hard to Break

In 2008, we painstakingly cracked open our nest egg and paid off our last debt, the rig. But old habits are hard to break, and we kept using credit cards.

There’s something about the security of using a plastic when you don’t know how much money you’ll make each month.

Physically we were debt-free, but mentally we were still enslaved by the credit card security blanket. We paid off the balance each month but I would sweat as I scrambled to find the funds.

But I Pay My Balance Every Month!

Studies show that when you use plastic to shop, you’re automatically spending more than you would if you paid in cash. But somehow I thought I was different, and poo-pooed those studies thinking “Oh  not me! I’m always careful.”

But after some agonizing credit card billing hassles with Bank of World Domination earlier this year, we burned the security blanket and committed to paying cash for everything.

Because we have the most sporadic, unpredictable income, suddenly every purchase we made was under scrutiny. Knowing that we could suffer the embarrassing fate of being declined at the checkout counter gives us a self-discipline like we never had before. It was scary as hell the first two months, but now it feels “normal” to us.

The Results

Since we stopped using credit cards, I can’t say that our expenses have gone down a whole lot (after all, we were pretty frugal to begin with), but the peace of mind I find in knowing that everything in our possession, everything we eat or consume, is paid for on the spot.

Next week we’ll hit the road, completely, truly debt-free for the first time ever. I can’t wait!

Disclaimer: I’ll confess that we still use one piece of plastic to handle some aspects of our business. The efficiency and protection our card company offers when dealing with vendors, product returns and exchanges and other things that make our businesses run can’t compare with the lame customer service we get from our bank. I know Dave Ramsey would disagree, but since we don’t use the business card for normal everyday spending, I’m OK with it.

We still pay our balance every month, but until our business ventures stabilize our income to a level where I feel comfortable dealing with vendors in cash, we’ll continue wearing the credit card security blanket for the business.

And now with our new business venture, that shouldn’t last too much longer!

Recommended Reading:

Debt Free For Life: The Finish Rich Plan for Financial Freedom, by David Bach



Don’t Own, Don’t Rent, Live Well: How to be Debt Free, Build Your Nest Egg & Live Life on Your Own Terms, by Matthew & Fiona Peters

Our health insurance is so horrendous, we know that unless we’re bleeding to death, using it would bankrupt us. We had another opportunity to test this theory recently when a tree fell on me.

Watch Out for that Tree!

What began as a volunteer effort to clear slash piles from our community greenbelt turned into a scary reminder that life can change on a dime.

As we were preparing to wrap up the day, I was about to bend over to pick up my work gloves to leave.  Then, WHAMO! A sickening CRACK! knocked me to the ground.

(this is not the tree that fell on me!)

I  fell, and when I opened my eyes, I swear I heard birds chirping around my head. I wondered “What the hell?

Wrong Place, Wrong Time

A nearby volunteer had been goofing around and decided to push over the one, dead  limb-less tree left in the work area, not realizing that this 25-foot tall log would fall directly on top of me. Everyone saw what was about to happen, but apparently were too dumbfounded to yell out “HEY!”

I never saw it coming as it struck me dead center on my noggin’.

EMTs showed up, a cervical collar was slapped around my neck, and in my woozy haze, my fuzzy mind heard someone say “Life flight helicopter” over a radio.

“Noooo! I will NOT go to the hospital!” I yelled out.

I could sit up, turn my head, see straight and although I felt like hell, I knew whatever had happened wasn’t going to instantly kill me. At that moment I felt strong enough to walk out on my own.

Recollections of my 2001 motorcycle crash came flooding back as I recalled the $8,000 life flight ambulance ride and the $25,000 in medical bills from one emergency room visit. No way in hell would I get in an ambulance. After all, I wasn’t bleeding or unconscious, so I didn’t need it.

After convincing Jim I didn’t need to go, and a long verbal wrestling match with the EMTs, I signed a waiver of responsiblity, and we left the scene.

Brain Hemorrhage or Just a Bad Headache?

Being one hour away from a hospital is a scary thing when you think you might need one. That evening, I felt like I might need a doctor, but I knew if I woke up in the morning, it would’ve been a waste of time and money.

What doesn’t kill ya makes you stronger, right?

The next day I felt like a truck ran over me. So away we went to see a doctor, who gave me mental competency tests to ascertain the severity of the blow.

I never realized how frightening it would be to have a doctor look you in the eye to examine your mental capacities.

After passing the test with a “D,” the doc said to me: “Hitting your head the way you did is just like when a diver hits the bottom of a swimming pool.”

Oh crap.

“You’ve very lucky that you seem OK. But you need a CT scan and x-ray. You could have bleeding going on around your brain and not know it.”

Damn. Medical bills!

Diagnosis: Lucky Girl

I shook all over and wanted to puke, not knowing if brain surgery was in my future. But less than an hour later, I found out I was OK, relatively speaking.

My moderate concussion me out of commission for all of last week and somewhat this week. But after several days of medicinal naps, restricted computer time and general malaise, I’m feeling better. My brain is still playing tricks on me when I try to do things like focus and type, and my neck is still tweaked, but it’s better than having a hole drilled in my skull.

Just another reminder that life is darn short.

Sometimes a lot shorter than we ever think it could be.

Now get off your computer and go live, darnit!

When it comes to your RV’s cost of ownership, is it what you expected?

Many RVers freely share worksheets showing what it costs to live on the road, but the elephant in the room is the long term costs of maintaining your RV and support vehicle.

This is my first post dedicated to long-term costs of towing our 2007 24′ Arctic Fox fifth wheel trailer with our 2006 Dodge Ram 2500 diesel 4×4 SLT quad cab.

Why We Chose This Combination

• You only deal with repairs on one engine
• The cost: we didn’t have to mortgage it.
• The Dodge Cummins diesel engine is the best EVER.
• Arctic Fox trailers are renowned for quality (there are exceptions, of course)

Dodge Pickup Cost of Ownership Revealed

With that being said, the Dodge pickup isn’t exactly known for a low cost of ownership. Edmunds says our 2006 model should be expected to cost about $56,561 over five years to own (including everything from taxes to repairs), while our dream truck, a 2011 Dodge with a built-in exhaust brake will cost $65,159 over five years.

So, how accurate are their numbers?

According to my records, we’ve spent a grand total of $29,513 on our Dodge since we bought it with about 24,000 miles on the engine in April, 2007. For numerically challenged people like myself, that’s $7,378 a year.

This figure includes everything including fuel, registration, insurance and repairs. Buying used probably helped reduce Edmond’s figure, assuming they include the hefty licensing and registration fees that accompany buying a new vehicle.

That makes me feel good! Especially considering the kind of wear and tear we put on the truck by hauling the house around. As our odometer hits 100,000 miles in the next season and our Cummins engine warranty expires, let’s hope we can keep this low cost of ownership up!

Arctic Fox Cost of Ownership Revealed

Here are our facts and figures for our Arctic Fox 24-5N fifth wheel.

Since we purchased it in 2007, we’ve spent $8,662 on everything from trailer brake repairs to solar upgrades to general maintenance.

That’s $2,156 a year.

RVers are left by the wayside when it comes to the real cost of ownership.

There are no sites like Edmunds (that I know of) which show RVers what to expect over the long haul for their make and model.

Maybe this is because RVs come with so many options and variables, some with more duct tape, some with less, some get hauled up, down and around the country, some hardly move at all.

This RV.net article is one of the best I’ve found when it comes to analyzing RV ownership facts and figures over a year, but it still doesn’t consider long-term variables.

One thing RVs all have in common is their rapid depreciation rate, which, like a car, is all the more reason to buy a slightly used model.

I confess that we didn’t buy a used trailer: at the time of our purchase, we weren’t living the debt-free lifestyle, and neither one of us had ever owned any brand new vehicles. We felt that a brand new trailer was our reward for knocking ourselves out over our business for the last decade. Even though debt-free guru Dave Ramsey would think we were morons for buying new, we both still agree that we made a good choice. I’m certain we wouldn’t do it again, however.

Our Choice Still Works for Us

Owning a RV isn’t cheap for anyone, but it’s the overall lifestyle itself that costs less than when you live in a stick house. Some RVs like ours are cheaper to own than others but they all have necessary repairs, which although they shouldn’t be a surprise, are always painful and happen when you least expect them to.

Most of our road ripping friends have gone through at least two different RVs since they started, but we still love our house on wheels.

The main reason for staying with what we have is also about money; getting into anything newer would require financing, which we just won’t do.

Our fifth wheel – truck combo has worked well for us and and while I would love to feel like a rock star in a Prevost or a Foretravel, I know I wouldn’t love the cost of paying for a single tire on one of those beasts, unless I could pay for every single related item in cash.

That ain’t gonna happen today, but hey, that’s the goal!

Summer is in full bloom here at 8,500 feet and we are loving it! But the other day, we had the talk.

“What do you want to do this winter?”

“Are we caretaking? Are we Slabbing? Renting a space with full hookups?”

Notice how workamping or getting a seasonal job didn’t come into the conversation.

We might consider caretaking if the right gig in Texas came along, but long ago we concluded after my last failed attempt to work for The Man that seasonal work was more emotional trauma than it was worth, and even the best  workamping job would take us away from that which we do best. So forget those ideas.

Winter 2011/2012: Now What?

The only thing we know for sure is that we don’t want to stay here as late as we did last year, when the snow was so deep we couldn’t find the trailer.

Originally we had grand plans of making another East Coast loop, but it looks like that idea’s getting shelved until our income is up and we can justify the expense.

East Coast RVing will drive low-budget snowbirds into the poorhouse.

For us, the West is the Best, and that is where we shall fly. Onward to the free boondocking lands of New Mexico, Arizona, California and then, finally, to our long-awaited return to all points east, west, south and north Texas (which isn’t all that cheap, but it sure is fun!).

So now our question is, What are YOU doing this winter?

We used to despise everything about casinos; the stinky smoke, slot machine granny zombies, throwing money at games of chance, and because the house always wins.

I always wondered why fellow frugal road trippers Sean and Louise stay and dine at casinos around the country.

Other than the large parking lots that can accommodate their magic bus, why would they actually go inside, when, like us, they’re rarely willing to pay for campsites? What could possibly lure them in?

Last year when we saw Willie Nelson at Morongo Casino Resort and Spa in Southern California, we understood why. Casinos not only welcome RVers, but many reward us for sticking around.

Why Try Casino Camping?

• Lots of casinos have dedicated RV parking
• Multi-night stays are often fine
• Unhitching is tolerated at many places
• Parking lots are usually well-lit and patrolled by security
• Most have restaurant discounts if you join their “Player’s Club”

We never thought we would surrender our IDs to a casino to join their stupid gambling discount club (did I tell you I hate gambling?).

But when we stopped at Morongo recently, we were hungry and didn’t feel like cooking. Eating out is a rare treat for us, but Morongo has several eateries including a good lookin’ buffet restaurant.

The normal price to eat-till-you-puke at Morongo’s buffet is $15. Join their Winner’s Club and  you can get one $10 voucher per person toward dining or gambling (guess what we chose), plus another $4 off your meal total each time you dine there. We ended up paying $6 for an all-you-can-eat orgy! Six bucks!

All casinos have some kind of discount club to keep the gambling junkies coming back for more. Although you’ll need to hand over your ID and allow them to cram your mailbox full of stupid promotions, you’re bound to get some free meals and overnight spots in return. It’s a win-win for everyone!

Casino Camping Tips

Always follow casino parking etiquette, which is similar to behaving at Wally World:

• Ask security. Find the guy on patrol and ask if it’s OK to park there, where you should park and for how long.
• No setting up camp. That means your generator stays off, your jacks remain up, your awning’s rolled in and your crap stays inside.
• Keep it neater than you found it. Don’t dump your trash there, save it for the gas station that’s ripping you off at $4.50 a gallon.
• Give them some of your cash. Gambling’s stupid in my book but it’s your choice. There are other ways to thank the casino, like dining inside or even just having a beer at the bar. Remember, join their Player’s Club to save tons!
• And if you win big because you tried casino camping as a result of this post, send some our way!

I’ll never bash casinos again, we’re hooked on casino camping! From now on, if we have a choice between a WalMart or a casino with a restaurant, guess where you’ll find us?

Warning: California’s fuel prices may be hazardous to your health.

We’ve seen diesel as high as $4.87 a gallon in Southern California and gas at $4.39 here in Humboldt County. Considering that we were expecting diesel to be over $5 in Humboldt, I suppose this was a relief in a sick sort of way.

Getting to Humboldt County was an epic journey, as usual.

Imagine yourself traveling over the Sierra Nevadas in a covered wagon, and you’ll have a good idea of how rough it can be to bring a RV here.

Although Humboldt’s five hours from anywhere, the hard road to get here is a small price to pay when you do lay your eyes on the land of giant redwoods and lush green forests filled with so many shades of green that you never knew existed.

Escaping the Fort Davis Fire: a Sign from the Universe?

The weird thing about being here for Chris’ memorial this week is that originally we were supposed to be in Fort Davis, Texas today, to check out the McDonald observatory we’ve always wanted to visit. Our plan was to go there and then on to Big Bend National Park.

But I just learned that Fort Davis is on fire, and so is the area between there and Marfa, another town we were supposed to visit afterward.

The biggest fire in Texas history is burning the very place we would have been in at this moment.

It’s good to know we didn’t get stuck in another Texas natural disaster.

I just keep thinking, if we hadn’t turned around and headed back up here for Chris’ memorial, what would have happened to us out there at Fort Davis?

What does this major change to the remainder of our winter snowbirding plans mean? Are we meant to go home early for some reason?

Who knows. All I know is that for every wrong turn we make on the road of life, there’s a right turn just ahead.

This is a little something that former RVer Lisa Pucell told me about. Now, I’m telling you, because every RVer needs Skoy Cloths in their rig.

When you live in a RV, regular kitchen wash cloths take forever to dry out. If you’re somewhere like the damp Pacific Northwest or humid Southern states, they’ll get stinky and mildew after just a day or two. And forget those bacteria-factories known as sponges, they’re just as gross.

Skoy Cloths, however are different. These fabulous little eco-friendly clean up towels are super absorbent and meant to replace any paper towels, rags or sponges around the house. They’re so good that

Using a Skoy Cloth is equivalent to using 15 rolls of paper towels in an average home.

These mighty little towels dry within minutes, even in the dampest climates.

This means that bacteria has no time to grow on them. If you suspect they’re getting icky, stick ‘em in the microwave. And when they get really dirty, you can throw them in the wash. They’ll last several months until you need to toss them. And when you do, you won’t clog up landfills either.

“Skoy Cloths are 100% biodegradable because it is made from a natural cotton and wood-based cellulose pulp.  SKOY cloth is a chlorine-free product using water-based colors and inks.  After an independent composting test, SKOY cloth broke down completely within 5 weeks.”

I use Skoy Cloths in the kitchen and bathroom, and can’t imagine life without them now. I also feel great about buying this product from a small, woman-owned business. Skoy Cloths are simply awesome.

A NuRVers member recently posted this question in the Discussion Forums:

Hi all, I am hoping to be on the road by April. I am wondering what you “old timers” would do differently if you were just starting out?

While we don’t like to “should” all over ourselves, through the four years we’ve been on the road we’ve learned that there are some things we might have done differently when starting out.

1. Sign up for Passport America.

We hardly spend time or money at RV parks, but this club has saved our necks and our wallets several times. Nearly all camping membership clubs suck, but not Passport.

There are tons of participating RV parks, most without tight restrictions, and they cost half of what they normally would, some as little as $7 a night for full hookups!

Our first year out we spent far too much money paying full price for RV park stays. Now, I wouldn’t travel even halftime without a PA membership.

2. Join Escapees, become Texans and use their mail forwarding service.

It took us two years to figure out that the services you get from Escapees can’t be beat. Our first year out we had a family member do our mail for us (they volunteered). But it was a hassle for them, and we felt the weight of obligation after we knew this sabbatical was turning into a lifestyle.

We also would have saved a ton on our residency / vehicle fees had we turned Texan sooner.

3. Invest in a bigger solar system.

We started out knowing we would boondock, but we didn’t realize the extent of it, nor how much it could save us. Our system was adequate for a long-term vacation but not for making a living with.

We’ve slowly upgraded, but when we had the money four years ago we should’ve started out with a bigger system.

Boondocking gets us closer to our “real” camping roots as backpackers, by allowing us to get as far away from civilization as possible, without having to dig a craphole.

4. Travel without debt.

When we started out, we had not paid off our rig, even though we had the money in savings. I hated knowing that we had real bills to pay and no real income, but I didn’t want to see that pile go away.

Then we met a debt-free home-schoolin’ Christian family, and jumped on the Dave Ramsey bandwagon they riding. We paid off all of our debt and vowed to never take it on again.

For the first time in our lives, we truly felt the meaning of “freedom.” Living a with debt, much less fulltiming with a sporadic income and debt, is a big drag on happiness…at least to us it is.

That’s about all of the “should haves” we can think of. Remember, researching your road tripping lifestyle is key to long term success, and planning how you’ll be comfortable is critical. Don’t hit the road without doing either.