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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Thanks! 🙂
Very interesting! I don’t think the RV life is for me – I’ma homebody through and through – but you certainly make is seem appealing. And I would make the same stipulation before agreeing to live on an RV. 🙂
Haha yes!
Sooo……what happens when you both eat too much chili for dinner? 😀
Also, have you seen any of those crazy German RVs that look like mobile battle command vehicles? In Alaska, they always looked like they could get to the best off-road places and away from all the crowds.
Haha luckily that hasn’t been a problem yet 🙂
That’s interesting that you’d be questioned on why you want to explore the U.S. Can’t imagine asking that question, as I’ve seen 47 of 50 states (though admittedly can’t travel much at all now with kids and work). Great that you guys seem to have a “Growth” mindset!
Thanks Ray!
I love this post. And I can’t believe someone asked you why you wanted to travel in the US? I’m not American but each time I visit the US I love it a little more. There is such diversity – from the Rockies to Moab, food from every culture in the world and super friendly people. I think the US would be perfect for living in an RV. You’d never get bored.
Yes, I agree!
I don’t know if I could ever do it, but after seeing your pictures, I definitely want to. Kudos to you for living life on your own terms!
Where do your dogs go when the entire family is out exploring?
They usually come with us and explore as well. If we go to a place where they can’t come (most national parks), then we just take them out for a long walk beforehand and wear them out. In general, though, we try to only do hikes that they can go on.
I live in a camper parked on family land. It was a big change for me but it’s like living in a small apartment, just me and my cat. It’s also a lot cheaper paying the monthly payment on the camper than for an actual apartment and it will be paid off in a few years. I’m also looking into solar panels to be more energy efficient. Unfortunately since I live by myself the dumping duties are mine.
Great post and website. Our big family has been slow traveling Canada/USA/Mexico much of the time since 2007 via sailboats, rooftop tents, and now converting a school bus. Its totally doable and a great way to build relationships, get a practical education and keep out of the rat race. Like somebody else mentioned, its basically a tiny home on wheels…we get to change our living room view whenever we feel like it!
How do you compair an RV to a trailer that you haul? I was thinking with a trailer you would still have a vehicle to use. With an RV, if you take a car, you have 2 vehicles to maintain. We’re not people who can repair our own auto.
There are lots of different positives and negatives to each. For us, we like a motorhome because they are usually more liveable when you are stopping without having to take the slides out, it’s easier to just stop on the road and go to the back to use the bathroom, eat, etc. We also like being able to tow our Jeep and others like being able to tow a smaller car, instead of a huge truck that is usually needed to tow a trailer.
You only get away from home for a total of 7 days a year? That’s sad
Hi Michelle without going into like our whole life story which would take forever we’re in a situation where we are moving out of an apartment in Baltimore City and we have thought about you know buying an RV and and driving across the country my question is what is dry camping and we were headed for Oregon and we read up on a beach you know RV and we’re wondering if staying there for you know like a year or you know nine months a year or whatever if that is possible my daughter our daughter would be going with us she is a server and a bartender and you know would work my husband and I my husband filed for his retirement early and I live on SSI and I’m afraid that when that salary we may not be able to make it we just want to like kind of be nomads you know there’s nothing keeping us in Baltimore anymore and you know it sounds like a great idea but is it possible you know to stay at one place for maybe year round you know I don’t know please you know I need some answers I’m kind of lost and I don’t you know I don’t we we did rent in RV some years back and we drove as far as Colorado to visit some family and it was wonderful you know we camped out and it was great you know but you know it was for it was for 3 weeks actually and and it was wonderful we loved it but I don’t know for sure if it’s feasible my husband has an internet business where he sells rock and roll memorabilia which you know he could continue to do on the road you know I think we could make money along the way but what about some kind of stability and and money I don’t know yet can you just help me out you know I’m not sure if this is the right move and also the thing is we want to you know a time crunch you know it’s February 17th I believe and we are leaving our apartment March 31st so it’s kind of a quick decision you know we thought of moving to Salisbury Maryland near the ocean yeah maybe this is you know this is a good thing to do you know I can’t see really any you know any problems with that I just want to know if it’s feasible you know due to cost and you know making money we would be taking a car with us or you know she’ll be sell the car for you know it’s a brand new car it’s my daughter’s you know I don’t know they’re sending me on the answer questions because we would like to stay put you know you don’t want in Oregon maybe you don’t want to beach for 9 months to a year can you help me thanks Teri
Perhaps this will help you? https://fund-rise.live/2017/04/how-to-find-free-camping.html%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Thank you for your blog! I am beginning this journey, the start of a five year plan, to get out of my line of work. I have started a podcast, Thru the Wringer with Mike and Jo, and now am going to work on starting a blog. We have other ideas brewing and are working towards being free, traveling, working together, and living in an RV! It is going to be a lot of work, organization, planning . . . but I am determined to make it happen. Thanks for your example!