What We Learned From 8 Years Of Cruising North America In An RV

Our wedding on a private cruise ship in Washington’s Lake Union on August 8, 2008 led us directly into a cruising lifestyle — and not just on the water. After saying I do, we turned our honeymoon into eight years of criss-crossing North America in an RV. After that, we settled down in Arizona, which we treat as a base for our world travels, and I got to work on my first book, Carolina: Cruising to an American Dream, which chronicles our unforgettable RV adventure. It includes not only my immigration and love story but also a great many RVing lessons. These are the most memorable ones.

Choosing The Right RV Makes All The Difference

The first problem we faced as we imagined our new on-the-road lifestyle was choosing what RV to buy. We settled on a used 24-foot Class B motorhome for $10,000 — and recouped most of that by selling our furniture and car in yard sales and on Craigslist. We stored the rest of our belongings in my daughter’s garage and rented out our condo.

I called our RV Star. She had enough storage space, and I appreciated that the bedroom/bathroom could be closed off from the living/driving areas. We bought for her a companion I called Vino, a blue scooter, too.

Star and Vino took us from Seattle to Calgary, through the Canadian Rockies, on the Alaska Highway, around Alaska, to the Arctic Circle, down through British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, and into Mexico, then across the Gulf States, and into all of Florida. We stayed an average of three to four days in a place. We celebrated our first Christmas away from home in Orlando, Florida. In almost a year, we saw so much on just slightly more than it would have cost us to live at home.

Fuel efficiency, easy maneuverability, and low initial investment — those were the criteria we used in choosing the Star-and-Vino tandem.

You’ll Have To Find Your Own Right Way To RV

There was one drawback to all our driving around: It was somewhat tiring for my husband. We needed to tweak our arrangements a bit.

We quickly learned that camping costs were our single biggest expense, not fuel. We bought a membership in a national campground network. This reduced our camping expenses from about $30 to $5 a night over the next five years. And it was sad considering I loved them so much, but we eventually had to trade in Star and Vino for a 37.5-foot Class A motorhome with a used compact car for a dinghy. The newlyweds finally had a “home” where they could host guests, stay in resort campgrounds for weeks instead of days, and explore each area extensively and comfortably. And now it was life on fewer dollars than living in our condo!

If you are retired or your career is portable, living this dream is a smart way to travel in North America. If, however, you are tied to a job, to family, or for any other reason, you may consider “escaping” on weekends and holidays. Start by transforming your vehicle into a campervan, if suitable, or renting a small RV. You will be thrilled to get to your coveted destinations with the utmost freedom of movement.