It Is Interesting how people are all different!!!!!

In an earlier post about buying an RV there where many opinions on what to do. I found reading them interesting.

I used to toy with the idea of a RV and traveling the country in one. My first wife and I even took a few trips in a borrowed one. Here is my take on an RV.

1) If you take an RV anywhere the wife really does not get much of a vacation. She still has a home to clean and other household chores to do. It just now is smaller and on wheels. I know we men can do them and try to share doing them but the reality is that the wife usually does most of it.

2) The total cost is about the same as vacationing other ways. The cost of the RV plus the maintenance and fuel will buy a whole bunch of hotel rooms. Meals too.

3) If you go some where and stay there for an extend time than the RV makes more sense. Those that travel south for the winter are a good example.

Now where we all differ.

I have spend a large part of my life working to have a home and roof over my head. So why, now that I have that, would I want a BOX on wheels to live in???? An especially the more rougher camping as in a TENT!!! I have worked/paid to avoid having to live in a tent so why volunteer for it. LOL

Also I have found I don't want to travel much anymore. Maybe a days drive away and a stay of a few days is more than enough for me.

I have seen a lot of the world in my earlier days. I have found as I get older I really do not want to travel that much. I have often thought about traveling to Alaska or Australia. Some long extended vacation. The long and short of it is I usually am sick of it in a few days/hours.

I would rather be home. My life is easy now. I have chores but I really do not "HAVE" to do them. The boys can do them or I can sell the cattle and such. It is the same way with the crops. It is work to raise them but I could really make just about as much clear money renting all of the ground at today's rental rates.

So I jokingly tell people that if I hit the lotto I can become a profession HERMIT!!!

LOL I find the life of a hermit kind of attractive many days anymore. Just tired of the BS that seems to be throughout life anymore.

So I think it is just entertaining how many people have such diverse tastes, wants, and needs.

So do we have enought to start a HERMIT forum??? The real problem would be who would take the time to make it work. Most of us want-a-bees hermits just would not want the interaction with the people involved.

I find myself asking this question a lot in my head when someone come in the lane: "What the heck do they want of me now???? " LOL I am not usually jumping for joy when visitors come around anymore.

I feel very much the same, but you expressed it better than I could have. Just got back from a
few days in KY visiting family and friends. Was gone a week and had a great time, glad I went, but glad to get back to my mundane routine.

I, too, enjoy being home more than away. We are taking my daughter out to Norman, Oklahoma to grad school for a few days. I'm more worried about the seven dogs that will be left at home. My SIL will feed and water them, but there are lots of night hours for people to cause mischief.

I would like to spend some time around the Sand Hills of Nebraska and the Flint Hills of Kansas before I check out. I'd like to sit at the end of one of Allen's fields and ponder what the pioneers must have thought as they looked out on a land that never ended. And I'd like to do it alone.

Larry

Back in the 70's I spent 40 weeks a year flying across the U.S. and Canada. Now I don't care to go anywhere away from home for more than a few hours.

Ah, for some peace and quiet. Let the rest of the world duke it out. I wish there was a forum for us people that think this way.

JD Seller

You hit it right on the head. Spent 21 years in the Air Force and don't care if I ever get on another airplane as long as I live. Would like to get a small camper to go camping with family and friends though.
Feel the same way about being a hermit. I live in the state of 10,000 tax's/snow storms and in the winter one will only see a path from the house to the mail box at my place. Just keep the internet and Satalite tv on and I'll be in heaven.
Merle

One thing I could never figure out about camping for us who live in rural areas. You leave your quiet home to get away and pull into a campground where 25 foot away another camper pulls in next to you.

I can understand city folk for wanting to get out of the city but not for me.

We bought a fifth wheel camper and after about 2 one week trips I sold it.

Might as well have someone in the hotel room next to you but at least you don't have to clean the room when you leave to come back home.

We can build a campfire at home and sleep in our own bed every nite.

We like to travel but my wife needs a vacation as well from cleaning and cooking.

I sold the cattle a few years back to do some traveling as I didn't have any boys to do chores when I was gone and I could not relax wondering if the cattle where ok and where they belonged while I was gone leaving the chores to a neighbor kid.

Now if we decide to leave for the weekend we throw a few clothes in the car and we're gone.

Gary

This post pretty well reflects my thoughts below, i.e. DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS.

YES the key word to differing lifestyles is indeed DIVERSITY as the post describes, which is a wonderfult thing about our country, the right to choose our recreation lifestyles and methods and modes AND WE CAN DO AS WEEEEEEEE LIKE NOTTTTTTTTTTT WHAT OTHERS MAY LIKE, be it the RV or non RV lifestyle..........

As I noted the RV Lifestyle IS NOT FOR EVERYBODY, and likewise, the NON RV Liferstyle IS NOT FOR EVERYBODY. I just feel so much safer and cleaner in my own bed and bathroom knowing who slept there the night before and who last used the bathroom facilities and especially who cleaned them. When it comes to my safety, health and well being and sanitation, I just trust myself and my wife over some stranger who may be a druggie or crackhead who cleans my rooms or prepares my meals lol NO OFFENSE TO ANY RESTAURANT OR HOTEL EMPLOYEES, COOKS MAIDS ETC., AS MOST ARE HARD WORKING HONEST PEOPLE......

It would be soooooooooo boringgggggggggg if we all had the same likes and dislikes now wouldnt it.

Actually, as I joked about below but was serious to an extent, I prefer more and more people DO NOT TAKE UP THE RV LIFESTYLE as its starting to get more crowded with all the baby boomers taking it up grrrrrrrrrrrr lol DONT TRY IT NEWCOMERS, YOU WILL HATE IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, as I stated earlier, the RV lifestyle has brought me and my family the most joy, peace, FREEDOM, adventure, travel, seeing this great country and camping in most of its beautiful National Parks I JUST CANT DESCRIBE HOW MUCH I HAVE ENJOYED THAT LIFESTYLE.

Sure, I have a nice big comfy home and farm and at times choose to stay in nice motels and eat at a lot of restaurants BUT I HAVE ANOTHER OPTION AVAILABLE and that freedom of another choice just appeals to me versus being tied to ONLY ONE MODE OF TRAVEL, I can do either!!!!!!!!

YES DIVERSITY IS GREAT,,,,EACH OF US HAVE CHOICES, IM GLAD FOR AND RESPECT YOURS AND EXPECT THE SAME IN RETURN.........

God Bless you all and hope you get to experience our beautiful country and its National Parks, regardless of course, the method of travel you might choose..........

Ol John T and all

Guess this saying sums it up...

Home is where the Heart is..

JD Seller, you mentioned a first wife...is there a second wife now? Is she the one interested in the RV life?

I'm going through something like that now. During my first marriage we bought a farm, horses, trucks and trailer to haul them, chickens, etc. Then we got divorced and I minimized things. Still have the farm, my two Belgians and two ponies.

My second wife now wants the "farm life", with her own horse, chickens, etc. But I'm not in my 20s anymore, I'm in my 40s. And I have a different job now where I have a loooong drive to and from work. I can barely get the hay made in the summer. Understand that my wife is a wonderful person, but doesn't seem to get that animals are WORK. And frankly, I'm not interested in taking on more work. If she wants to have them, great, I'll 'help', but the onus is on her. Basically, I think she's jealous of the life I had with my first wife, and she wants something similar.

And shouldn't she have some of that? After all, I didn't sell the farm and move to town. I didn't get rid of MY horses. In fact, when courting my current wife, I used the farm as a selling point! So I have to compromise. But - lessons learned from my first marriage - I will NOT be the sole 'caretaker' for her animals. I will help, but so will she. Or we will get rid of them. I hardly ever said 'no' in my first marriage, and I think that had a lot to do with it's unravelling.

Maybe my rant had nothing to do with your RV rant. But it seemed similar.

I'm the same way my 'vacations' are going to an auction sale or something similar.My wife and I have worked to create the type place we want here and have no desire to go somewhere else.Also some people are spectators in life like to look at what others have created I'm not happy unless I'm actually doing those things I like.

My father-in-law want and bought a lake lot back in the 70's about 100 mile from home. Never did nothing with it, but ask me one day what I thought of him buying that lake lot. I told him with the farm I do not know why you did that. I could see someone in town buying one. Must of been a high pressuer saleman that day.

To each his own. I am single and care giver to my elderly father (101) The fifth wheel is by far the cheapest way for me to take him travelling and give him the level comfort he needs and deserves. At a wayside he prefers to walk the 12 steps to the camper than to be wheeled in the wheelchair to the restroom. most times, unless we are daytrippin', he is 12 steps from his bathroom, own food, and custom mattress. I still have the necessary domestic chores, but I can do the cleaning and pre-prepare some meals after I have him to bed at night. The electric scooter rides on a custom carrier on the back. This way, even at his age he can still enjoy seeing the country

Our thoughts are so close that we could have been cloned. My home, my things, my solitude.

As long as you don't tell me that I can't have an RV and go where I want and do what I want, we're cool.

I despise camping as I get older.Why sleep on the ground when you don't have to.When I have to travel for work I bring my sleeping bag to sleep in rather than sleep in a bed with god knows what in it.I agree with you on people just stopping by unannounced.Rather annoying as I am usually doing something that doesn't require their help.If it did I would have called them.

I still enjoy traveling with my wife as this is a common interest for both of us.Just hate driving more than 6 to 8 hours to get there.Had a travel,drive to get there,job for 3 years and that pretty much burned me out from distance driving.I could ramble on but what is the point.

Somedays I feel like I am turning into a weenie.

JMHO

Vito

I make a bicycle camping trip to the Adirondacks every summer and I really enjoy that because I can hike in and camp beside a lake or a river and be out of hearing of a road. It is very peaceful. Here where I live the road runs right through the middle of the farm about 30' from the house and barn, and while there is not a lot of traffic it is pretty fast and loud when it does come with our 55 mph speed limit.
Zach

I have no use for an RV as such, but I am looking for a horse trailer with living quarters. I enjoy going places to help people, with my horses, and HATE staying in other peoples home. This way I can travel, take my horses and dogs, and enjoy my OWN space.

When I was on the harvest I experienced both worlds; living in motels and living in a camper. Like you said, for a long stay in one place a camper is the way to go. I've spent an accumulated two years of my life in motels and now I don't really care to step foot in one again. When I stayed in a camper for most of a summer it was nice to come 'home' to the camper every night. When we moved to a new location there was no need to pack up and throw the suitcase in the back of a pickup full of everyone else's suitcases. With the camper, when we moved someone hooked a pickup to it and pulled it to the next campground up the road and it was ready to go by the end of the day. I would not enjoy dragging around or driving a camper or RV on a one week vacation. Jim

Inlaws' have one that basically is their cottage where father in law grew up. The house he grew up in kept getting vandalized to the point of it being no good to stay in so we boarded up the house and tow the RV there and bring it home when done to sit safe in the driveway.

Beats going to stay in the house and finding someone has kicked the door in again or smashed all the windows out again, or relieved themselves everywhere in the house etc.

I agree with you to a degree. The wife and I have a cottage about eighty miles from our home on a nice lake. So we spent our time at our cottage that is about 1 1/2 hr drive away. No roughing it in a tent,(been there,done that. No noisy motels,..just peace and quiet in our own space.
Here's a picture of our cottage as we built new this year. The old cottage got torn down and this is it's replacement.

If your boys were 2000 miles away you , think anther way. I am 58 and live in eastern ia, my 3 boys are in there 20,s and on there own 2000 miles away. I have been thinking the same thing, I have an older brother that can hall my feed to the elv , so I can jet away ones in awhill. I think I will just use the car. We flew out two times in the last year for weddings good time.

A lot of good points JD.It's different stroks for different folks.
I nor my wife have a desire to be RV'ers but have friends and relatives who love it.My idea of a vacation isn't having a job everyday before I can go to bed.Then in the morning having to work to just have to work at the end of the day again.
If your doing it right you take a second vehicle.Gas ,insurance,license ect ect.
Then there's the driving factor.I think there should be a law that says you need a CDL to drive one.And a separate test to get the license.There's a lot of people that ain't got any business even attempting the act.Here's a woman 70 plus years old that's never drove a pickup truck going down the interstate 80 mph and not having a clue.Don't say I'm wrong because you all know I'm right.I've been behind grandma and grandpa in Custer State park driving the scenic route.Not a pretty sight.
I also think there are certain people who should be put in jail.The people that rent motor homes and the people who rent them.Figured that out on our last Yellow Stone trip.
We did a trip last year with a couple that drove there RV.Wife and I stayed in a hotel next to the camp ground.They spent a lot more money and didn't have any better time.And I did all the chauffeuring to boot.
Everybody do what you want and enjoy your life.We all have worked hard and deserve the reward.

1) If you take an RV anywhere the wife really does not get much of a vacation. She still has a home to clean and other household chores to do. It just now is smaller and on wheels. I know we men can do them and try to share doing them but the reality is that the wife usually does most of it.

Don't think you'll win any friends with the women on this forum. The fact of the matter is and, I hate to say it, most men don't do a lot of household chores because they're lazy and figure it's women's work!

I guess the idea of RV'ing appeals to those who like their own home, but get tired of it being in the same place, lol.

We have a condo up in ski country that I used a lot when I was doing ski patrol, now that I stopped doing that (as well as stopped skiing - can't bring myself to actually pay for a lift ticket after so many years of the wife and I skiing for free!) I don't really use it that much. My wife likes to go up there, it's secluded and quiet, but I'm a tinkerer and I go nuts when the "vacation" plan is to sit around. We usually vacation a couple weeks in Maine at a friends place, I like it because the place is an ongoing project and there stuff for me to do. He usually has a list of things for me to fix on his boat too, so while the wife and others sit and read and enjoy the solitude, I fix stuff. Now if I could just get as motivated to fix my own stuff I'd be all set!

Boy that's a mixed bag of answers. Kinda funny to me. My wife loves to camp. I hate it. She brags that she was both parents a lot while I was "away" with the Army over 20 years and she's right. But while I was away sleeping on a tank or the ground, in all weather conditions she was in a nice, comfortable bed with heat and AC. While she was cooking for the kids I was eating C's and MREs. The Army says MREs are Meals, Ready to Eat. Most soldiers called em Meals Rejected by Ethiopians. I'd rather stay home, she wants to travel.

My sisters MIL&FIL started taking vacations from the farm in the mid 70's. At first they stayed in motels and ate at cafes. Then the old tight wad decided he could save money with a motor home. The MIL started to complain that her vacations ended there because she was right back to cooking and cleaning again every day.

If I were to travel I'd hate paying for motels every night but would want my wife to be able to enjoy the trip too. But here again we differ. I'd like to travel and see some of the big tractor shows and attend some shooting events. Those would be better if they would just hold them in my local area. Toss a couple of museums in and I'm good. She would like to see the Rockies, Black Hills and such and a few museums. So if we got a camper (I'm done with sleeping on the ground) we'd eat out for breakfast so we could get moving and not have to wait for her to clean up in the morning. Most likely eat out for lunch or have a cold lunch and then she would have to cook dinner. Don't see it happening anytime soon.

Rick

Just a question,how or what did you have to do for him to be able to get in or out of the FW,if he can't walk?Since my wifes accident,she can't make the four steps up into or out of the camper and I haven't found any good lifts yet.

It has been said that campers, are so people who do not live in trailers can vacation in one.
That being said I do have a camper and enjoy using it a few times a year for a week or so at a time. Any longer from the house and I get a bit stir crazy.

That was fun, how people choose to vacation is about like asking if Ford or Chevy or Dodge is the best truck ???? WE ALL KNOW ITS CHEVY RIGHT,,,,,THATS A "KNOWN FACT", YOU CANT ARGUE WITH THAT LOL

And similar, I doubt anything anyone says here will change any minds

John T

Not trying to change anyone's mind. Just find all the different likes and dislikes interesting. Also it is interesting how your own change as you age.

When my kids were small I toyed with the idea of buying an RV but couldn't justify the cost. I've only been on 2 vacations in my life, we took 2 trips out west and stayed in motels and cabins. We had a great time and no extra work.
I worked for the Arkansas parks and tourism for a couple of years. It always seemed to me that the same people that wouldn't dream of living in a trailer park would go to one on vacation. :?

JD seller, GOOD POST!! I have lived in country for most of my life and when I am invited to go camping I usually do BUT tell others this is why I live in the country.. I CAMP EVERY DAY.. yet I can sleep on a bed. A REAL BED..

The hermit thing funny you mentioned that my family calls me "The Hermit on the Hill".. Im proud of that title. I got that title because I like my own company. Like being outside.. by myself doing what ever it is I want to do. Wife and I both work 30 min away. So usually gone for atleast 11 hours a day 5 days week paying for the place in the country to which when Im home I like to stay home.. This is also why I have a fenced place with two swinging gates on the front..keeps rif and raf out.. lol

After seeing your posts for several years, that is the first one that has been totaly wrong.
Just the opinion of another old fuddy duddy, for what it is worth.

Keep on keeping on, Joe

Whoooooooo meeeeeee wrong lol lol

I was hopin to get a raise and a bit of good fun from the Ford or Dodge boys wink wink

Its a known fact lol

Ol John T

Sure, I know you werent, I was just lookin for some good hearted fun from the Ford or Dodge Boys

John T

I like staying close to home. Wish there were a few more lakes to go fishing in the area but even fishing gets to be a whole lot of work now days. Son just got back from driving to Calif with his family. He would have to pay me really good to make a trip like that. Daughter called from Florida last winter, says it's 86 degrees here dad. I said, don't blame me, I didn't make you go.

To cut doun on the time of cookin and cleaning, we often use paper plates. Microwaveable soup in a boul with a sanwich makea a quick lunch. some frozen entries like stoufers lazanga. one quick favorite meal of mine is diced chicken breast(1 per person) browned, when its done, cover it with traditional spagetti sauce and motizerlli cheese and serve it with a side of quick spanish rice.(forgive the spelling errors, I"m on a computer in a hospital waiting lounge without spell check), wait a minute, when did this tread become a cooking discussion???

In the late 70s through the 90"s I had a aunts and uncles on my mothers side of the family that took their retirement from farming very seriously. admittedly gas and other costs were cheaper in those days, but they had class c's and traveled more than they were home, before they passed away they wore out ( alaska highway was rougher in those days, they made that trip a combined total of 9 times) a total of 7 campers.I loved family reunions on that side of the family to listen to their travels.
One time My Uncle (by marrage) Carl and my aunt were in eastern canada. They stoped at an open house saturday at an agricultural college. this college was designed to take anyone, city kids included, and teach them everything they would need to know about farming. He was watching a demstration put on by the students of backing a tractor and spreader through a obstical course. He stood and laughed at them knocking over cones and having to try again and again so much the instructor came over to him and said," If you think it's so easy, why don't you give it a try??". Carl hoped on the 656 utility on the spreader (he had had one just like it on the farm) and backed it through on the first try, then jumped on the tractor and wagon and did that on the first try too. jumped off, told the shocked instructoe and students, "piece of cake, cant see why you think it's so hard" and walked off laughing. (please excuse spelling errors, I'm typing this on a computer in a hospital waiting lounge without spell checker)

He can walk. he gets around the house with walker. he gets out to the car with a cane and we support the other arm. We recently added a set of steps over the cement porch steps giving us twice as many steps, with only 1/2 the rise. He can get into the FW because he can help himself with the grab handles, And I built half steps that set on the inside steps. These are planks wraped in carpet remnants that set on 1/2 the step and are 1/2 the step hight. makes twice the steps, one half the hight. I also have a wooden step that sets on the groung to make the first step up easier.

Well said! Thanks for distilling it into a few sentences.

Is that why there is only one Chevy.chassis under Class C MH vs 20-30 MHs with FORD chassis under them??Hummmmmmm.

Used to drive truck, and I don't care to go that much anymore. It wasn't so bad til I spent 5 years on the east coast. I am a firm believer that I-95 should have 2 additional lanes off to the side for RVs. And trucking companies that won't set their governors to more than 65 MPH.
I think an RV would be too much like a truck. Last time I spent a night in a sleeper it took me three days to get any ambition back, and I think spending a couple hours running a combine are what really did it.
If I really want to save money on a trip I'll toss a cap on the back of the pickup and sleep in the bed. But I have very little trouble with staying in a $50/night room versus a $100+/night room.