We’ve been asked some interesting questions, ever since we started RVing.
While they seem funny to us now, I know that we have had some of these same questions before we started RVing as well. Due to that, I knew I had to answer some of the most common RV questions we have received in a blog post.
Some of the questions we are asked are from those who think we are crazy for living in an RV. Whereas, others are from people who are interested in RVing, but are unsure about certain things. Either way, I hope to clear up a lot of the common RV questions we receive.
You will never know: maybe, I’ll convert some of you. 🙂
Below are questions that I’ve been asked by friends, family, readers, and even strangers. It’s always an interesting time, trying to explain RVing to strangers who stop me at the store after they’ve seen me get out of our RV.
It’s a lot of fun, though. I love answering RV questions and getting others hooked on this lifestyle!
1. Do you shower?
Yes, we shower. We have a shower in our RV. I use soap, shampoo, and everything else. I shower just like how I would at home.
The water is hot, too. We have a tankless water heater, and while it’s not always perfect, I am still able to shower.
2. Who dumps the gross stuff?
Wes, my husband, of course.
I have never dumped either of the tanks, and I don’t see that happening any time soon. That was actually the number one rule when we decided to get an RV – that I would never dump the tanks.
Ha!
3. What do you do when you have to use the bathroom?
We use it.
Haha! For real, we have a flushing toilet in our RV, so we use the bathroom, just like if we were in a “real” home.
4. How/what do you eat?
We make food in our kitchen. We have a table, fridge, microwave, stove, convection oven, and a slow cooker. We are able to cook, just as if we were at home.
5. What do you do for internet?
I have a Verizon MiFi that I use for internet. With this device, I can access the internet from almost anywhere.
RV park internet is notoriously bad. If you plan on working online while traveling full-time, I highly recommend having an internet device.
6. Why are you RVing? Do you like it?
We love RVing for many reasons:
- We love to travel. RVing allows us to visit so many more places than if we lived in one spot.
- We love being able to take our home to fun destinations and not having to pack up every single time.
- It’s a relatively affordable way to travel and live.
- It’s much more comfortable and easy to bring our home with us to all of the places that we want to visit.
7. Is RVing safe?
Yes, I believe that RVing is safe. We’ve never felt unsafe, while traveling in our RV.
8. Do you ever do laundry?
Interestingly, this is one of the top questions I hear.
Yes, we do laundry!
Most RV parks have laundromats, so we are able to do laundry as often as we need to.
9. What do your dogs do all day?
Sadly, there are some who don’t think we’re treating our dogs well, due to the fact that they live in an RV. I’m not sure how this is any different from someone, who keeps their dog in a house or an apartment, as our dogs still have multiple sleeping spots. They can stretch their legs, eat and drink, and more.
They are actually more active now, because I take them for hikes every single day. Our bigger dog walks around 5-10 miles a day and sleeps the entire rest of the day. Our smaller dog, on the other hand, hates going outside, so he is definitely perfect for RV life.
Our dogs go on fun hikes all the time. They also enjoy paddle boarding (yes, they LOVE it), and lots of lovin’ while in the RV.
10. Do you hate each other yet?
Nope! Living in an RV has actually brought us closer together.
11. What do you do for a living, so that you can RV full-time?
This isn’t a common RV question that I receive from readers. However, I hear this all the time when I’m on the road or when I bump into someone in person.
This is a question that is always funny to answer, because many don’t think you can make money while traveling. However, you can!
I make my living entirely online through my blog. I earned over $300,000 in 2015 through my blog, and I am hoping to double that in 2016.
Related: How To Make Money While Traveling
12. How do you receive mail?
We belong to a mail forwarding company, called My Dakota Address. All of our mail gets sent there, and then this company forwards our mail to wherever we are.
13. Where do you like to stay?
I’ll be honest and say that we are not usually huge fans of RV parks. There are some nice ones out there (we’re at an awesome one right now in Tucson that we love), but we don’t like to be packed in the middle of a bunch of RVs, which is how most RV parks are.
If we do stay at an RV park for a long period of time, we like to make sure that we have a view, where at least one side of us backs up to something awesome, such as the ocean, desert, mountain, etc. The RV park that we are at right now is amazing. It is affordable, and our spot backs up to 40,000 acres of beautiful state park and national park land. This is the best RV park we have stayed at yet.
Usually, though, this is why we prefer campgrounds at state parks, national parks, and so on, because you get a much better view and a little more space.
14. What kind of gas mileage do you get in your RV?
We actually get somewhat good gas mileage in our RV. We get around 14-15 miles per gallon!
Our RV is not the norm, though. I believe the average RV gets less than 10 miles per gallon.
15. Why would you want to explore the U.S.?
This is my least favorite question and it honestly makes me want to scream.
BECAUSE IT’S FUN.
The U.S. is full of awesome landscapes and there are so many beautiful and fun things to see here. Just take a look at some of my Instagram photos below for proof.
16. Are you happy in your RV?
I honestly don’t think we’ve ever been happier. We love everything about our new lifestyle.
The only thing I would change is that I wish we would have known that we were going to be RVing full-time, because now we want to tow a car. With our current RV, we are unable to tow anything more than 2,000 pounds.
Other than that, though, everything is perfect! We are extremely excited to see what the next year (or more!) brings us. Our plans for the next year after Tucson include Phoenix, Sedona, Grand Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, Moab, numerous places in Colorado, and then slowly making our way to the Florida Keys.
It will be an amazing year!
Side note: My friend Heath also just wrote a similar post about interesting questions him and his wife are asked all the time as well. Check out 21 Questions Everyone Asks Us About Living In An RV! If you’re seriously interested about living in an RV, I recommend you check out Heath’s blog. Heath and his wife are amazing.
What other questions do you have for me? Do you think you could do RV life?
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I bet strangers ask you all the time how you make money- especially since you probably run into lots of older people at RV parks. Do they give you crazy looks when you tell them you’re a blogger?? I bet there are plenty of older people who haven’t even heard of that. Too funny!! 🙂
Haha surprisingly it seems like a lot of RVers blog!
Exactly, just because we live and travel in RVs doesn’t mean we don’t know how the internet works lol, now that’s funny!
Just started to RV and wondering if you can have propane on while driving for the fridge
Hi Dee. What do you and your husband do about healthcare? Also, do you find it difficult to make reservations for the Parks? My husband and I like to go camping, but find it difficult to get spots sometimes! Thank you for posting!
Is this question aimed at me or Dee?
If it’s at me, then we actually belong to Liberty Health Share. We just started with them in January of 2016.
For reservations, I recommend making yours ahead of time. We learned that the hard way!
Sorry Michelle and Dee! Michelle! Wonderful post! Thank you!
These is great questions. I love the pictures of your travels in the RV. Brings me back 26 years ago when my folks and siblings went on trips around the U.S. in a Winnebago. Not much of internet access back in those days. My father was retired military so he had discounts such as the PX, commissary, and access to the military campgrounds. Unfortunately, it was a few trips and there the RV stayed on the driveway till it was donated. My folks are older now and are still working full time jobs. Now that I have a family of my own, traveling is something we want to do in the future. Thanks again for sharing your experience!
Thanks Christopher!
I’m so happy for you – it looks like you’re having a blast!! Do you ever stay in hotels or spend time in a home? Have you ever been to New Mexico? New Mexico has some of the most beautiful skies, in my opinion, of course! What has been your favorite place to visit so far? Do you stay in the US, have you ventured, or thought of venturing to Mexico or Canada in your RV? This is truly fascinating! Thanks for sharing your journey; it really helps me to get a different perspective. One doesn’t have to have an office to make a living online. The open road and beautiful landscapes are your office! High five!!!!!
We definitely want to go to New Mexico soon. The campgrounds there are beautiful and I’ve heard that they are SUPER cheap 🙂
My favorite place… That’s hard. We’ve honestly loved everywhere!
We haven’t ventured out of the country yet, but we definitely want to go to Mexico and Canada one day. I think we need more RV experience before we go to Mexico, though.
We also live in an RV and get a lot of funny questions too. We love living in an RV and I agree that it makes you closer. Living in a small space tells you a lot about your relationship. We also have a 1 year old so that makes things extra interesting. So glad ya’ll are living your dreams. I actually wrote a post recently called the Side Effects of Chasing Your Dreams. Good luck on your journey. Hope you have an awesome year.
Thanks Tiffany!
Camping in general is fun for me so I can see how even greater RVing is. Since you would want to tow a vehicle, could you sell your current RV towards getting one that can tow? Keep up the fun! Also, if you haven’t been to Banff National Park in Alberta yet in the summer, it’s definitely worth the drive! I went with friends once, after experiencing Stampede in Calgary and I completely fell in love with the Canadian Rockies.
We have thought about selling, but man, RVs really depreciate after just a few months of owning it haha. We plan on waiting until it’s a little older so that we don’t take as big of a hit.
I am so curious about the RV life. I’m not sure if we’ll ever do it, but it’s so interesting to me. You should stop by Bryce Canyon. It’s not too far from Zion and it’s awesome! I worked at the national park there after college. So much fun hiking in the area.
Yes, we definitely want to go to Bryce this year!
Hi There, Your blog is a lot of fun, and your lifestyle looks amazing. But I gotta ask, just because it occurred to me: If you are making a lot of money blogging and you live in an RV, why do you not trade up your RV to get one that can tow a car, and then get a car to tow? I don’t mean to pry, but since you mentioned regretting not getting a bigger RV, I just wondered…
Depreciation on an RV is HUGE and we would lose about $40,000 by trading it in after just a few months. While my income is high, I just can’t lose that much money haha.
Fair enough! All the best!
Thanks Heather!
Great Post! I am an avid RVer, just not full time yet.
A couple of our little RV quirks are: We (almost) never use the RV toilet for Number 2. Emergencies excluded, we find walking the few steps to the campground facilities adds to the adventure of everything, and also keeps the tanks that much fresher and emptier. Same thing with showers, we put on our flip flops, grab our ditty bag and towel, and go use the campgrounds facilities. We are quite nimble at it. And our gray/black tanks don’t need to be emptied as often.
We also have been subscribers to Dish network and take all of our channels and dvr on the road with us. I know tv is a plague, but I need to keep everyone in our family (wife) happy. My tv bill is $90/month which includes HBO.
Thanks again for a great blog!
Yeah, we really need to start using public facilities more. It seems like everyone else does!
This is awesome, Michelle! How wonderful that you guys are doing exactly what you want to do. I love the photos, especially the kayaking ones and the one of you looking out over the cliff.
Thanks Sarah!
Hi Michelle,
We love your blog and I share it with my post-college “kids” as an example of how to pay off their college debt.
We also love to promote the “RV Lifestyle”, and rent out 4 RV’s here in beautiful West Michigan, along Michigan’s “Gold Coast”. Please come check it out sometime, especially Sleeping Bear Dunes!
For your readers who want to “Try Before You Buy”, check out our rental RVs at:
http://www.DavesRVs.com
Thanks,
Dave The RV Guy.
Thanks Dave!
Thanks Endre!
Thanks Elise!
I worked at an RV campground for 5 years and loved it. Pump outs were great because it was me and a buddy driving the truck around all day, would get some tips, and were free from the normal nonsense at work.
Nice!
Rather than getting a bigger RV with a larger tow capacity you could consider buying a Smart Car that spec’s shows weighs in @ 1,984 lbs. Or you could go the fun route and find a NICE older VW bug. The spec on a Pre-1970 stock bug is around 1807 pounds. Since you like to stay in parks you maybe could find one converted to a Baja Bug that would also be fun on dirt roads. It should come in lighter with all the fiberglass front, rear, and fenders. We had one for many years and took it everywhere. A Smart Car would have current safety features but in CO a pre-1975 car can be licensed as a Vintage Auto with a plate having a 5 year expiration and after the initial licensing doesn’t require a new emissions test to renew every five years. You do have to meet whatever CO residency requirements to license though. Just some ideas… Keep enjoying your RV lifestyle.
We really don’t feel comfortable being that close to the tow capacity because we know of people who have done the same and horrible things happening. We did think about it for a second but we don’t want to put us or other people at risk.