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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That question asking you why you’d want to visit the US is infuriating. It’s as if people think nothing here is worth seeing and you have to go overseas. So untrue! But I’d get the same flack from people especially if I chose a vacation destination that wasn’t California or Florida. Like why in the world would I want to visit Ohio? Because it’s not Illinois and I’m curious!
Oh and those questions about showering and using the bathroom. Too funny. Have these people never seen an RV before? 🙂
Haha thank you Nicole!
I hadn’t thought about the logistics of living in an RV – I guess I just assumed it was fine, which it sounds like it is. This was very interesting! You are really living in a tiny house that happens to be mobile.
My additional question for you: How much time do you like to spend in one place vs. traveling from place to place (i.e., do you stay somewhere a week and then drive half a day to the next spot? a month and then a few days of driving?)?
Before just a month ago, we were actually moving every day or two and we thought that was fun. But, at the end of December we went to Tucson and actually haven’t left this same RV park haha! I think we really like staying put. Driving the RV, even though it is small, is a headache.
I like that the question about #2 is listed accordingly as #2. I don’t think I could do it either. Eeew! You didn’t specify where you dump. Are there specific locations designated for that? My other thing is I don’t think I could drive the damn thing and I don’t think it would be fair to make one person do it. Sounds totally awesome though. There are so many places in the US that I have not explored and would love to.
Haha I have only driven about 1,000 or 2,000 miles on the RV. I don’t think Wes trusts me enough – I have horrible eyes to be driving something so long!
We have an Rv and I was wondering if you can hang things on the walls and what do you use
Have you tried command strips?
I love your blog and think it’s great that you are so successful. I would like to follow your path and start a profession that I can do from anywhere. Instead of the RV/land based route you have chosen, we are boaters and plan to move aboard full time one day. Currently, we just live aboard on the weekends in the FL Keys. If and when you make it there with your RV, I hope you love it as much as I do. Be sure to book your reservations early and don’t miss Bahia Honda State Park. The RV sites are just steps from the ocean on probably one of the most beautiful beaches in the Keys or all of Florida. Safe travels.
We have dreams of living on a sailboat one day. Hopefully you do that before me, start a blog, and allow me to follow your footsteps 🙂
My sister and her husband are just beginning their RV lifestyle here in British Columbia. They sold most of their things, rented their home to her daughter and struck out in the RV. They haven’t gone too far yet, they are still in an RV park close to their home, but as soon as the weather warms up they will be up and off to explore all of BC before they begin to make their way across Canada. I envy them and you for the ability to just pick and go wherever you want whenever you want. I hope it continues to be the lifestyle you love for a long time to come.
Thank you Barb! 🙂
This is an excellent post. I can’t believe someone asked why would you want to explore the US? That was the weirdest question out of all of them to me. I would have asked the reader, why not?
I know, right?!
Hi Michelle,
This was an excellent post (although all of yours are in that category!). I would love to full-time RV, but it is a little scary to “give up” living in a house. We bought a 34 ft used RV in 2015 and have enjoyed traveling in it. We live in So Cal and have been up to Oregon and all the way out to Michigan to visit family. We’ve camped in RV parks (yuck) and dry camped for seven days out in the desert (LOVED IT)!
I sell products on Amazon and have even fulfilled orders from the road! I have a portable printer and I use the Karma Go for my wifi. It works like a prepaid calling card and has been awesome w/r/t connection strength.
This was so fun to read, thanks for sharing your answers and beautiful pics!
I’ve been looking at the Karma! I just don’t like how anyone can connect to it. Does that scare you at all?
Hi Michelle, at first I was nervous about that but now I’m fine. Here’s why…
anyone who tries to connect through your Karma device must have their own separate account with Karma and they can’t access the internet unless they log into their account. I tested this by having my Mr. try to get on my Karma Go with his laptop. Unless he created his own Karma account, no dice, can’t get on.
people jumping on your Karma Go are pulling from their own “data” account, not yours. They supposedly don’t aren’t able to “see” what you are doing and if you are using secure websites, then you should be as good as if you’re on any other wireless device. I must admit that I don’t do banking transactions while on the Karma Go because I’m waiting to hear if anyone starts having problems.
I’ve been using it since August and we’ve been to round trip CA to MI and back (gone over two weeks). We’ve had several other trips dry camping in the desert (each a week long). I do still have my Verizon account tied to my phone. On the very rare occasions where we’re somewhere that the Karma isn’t so great, I switch over to that.
My favorite thing about the Karma is how easy it is to use and that you never lose the data you buy. Use it up and buy some more when you need it. Twice since I put in my order, Karma has offered a 2 for 1 deal. I bought in once with 10 gigs for $100 and they gave me 10. That’s a sweet deal!
How does that compare with your Verizon MiFi?
All great to know! That is good to know that they have to have their own Karma account, I did not know that! I’ll have to look into getting this 🙂
For Verizon, I believe it’s $80 for 10 gigs and the more gigs you buy then the cheaper it is. I just wish they still offered unlimited!
My dogs are my furkids and I always tend to VaCa with them in mind. That’s so great yours are with you all the time. What do you do if they have to go to the vet?
Yes, our dogs are definitely our furkids. I am a crazy dog person 🙂
If they have to go to the vet, we just plan on taking them to one wherever we are.
RV’ing sounds pretty fun. How often do you do this yearly, Michelle?
Every single day 🙂
Great post, you living a life of my dreams. I would recommend to anyone to try this. Five years ago, me and my wife rented RV and went from Alabama to California and to Washington and back to Alabama. It was incredible. Best vacation ever. Maybe this year in September we could make same trip again.
You should! 🙂
Michelle
can you publish some images inside your RV, I am interested in buying similar, I have 35000$ budget, so I am going to buy used one. What should I look for is there any bad thing on which I should pay attention. Thanks
I have to do this soon. I keep forgetting!
I’m really admiring what you guys are doing, I think it’s awesome. I’m also a bit jealous of course! 🙂
The first couple of questions made me laugh! 😀
Haha thanks!
The title of this post alone was enough to make me read it. 🙂 Thanks for the laugh. I’ve actually wondered some of these things when I heard that you were living in your RV full time.
Haha, I tried to create a catchy title. I think I did! 🙂
Thanks for sharing the answers to all of these questions about using a RV! I didn’t realize that you could actually have a working shower in a recreational vehicle, but that would definitely make things more convenient! My husband and I have been considering buying a RV, so we’ll definitely look into finding one that can have a shower. Thanks for the great post!
The majority of RVs have a shower, so you shouldn’t have any problem.
Great post Michelle, I love the clear answers you provided. the pictures make me want to go
RVing.
I am jealous because I love to travel as well. I have heard of MIFI, is it any good?
The Verizon Mifi is good, but it’s expensive.