Pat G's Tin Can - Recreational Vehicle
Pat G - I live full time in what we affectionately call our Tin Can, a 35 foot, two slide RV(recreational vehicle) with about 350 feet of living space.
In 2008, there were approximately 250,000 people living full time in some sort of recreational vehicle for a variety of reasons. I believe our reasons are gypsy blood, wander lust,travel fever or as we call it hitch itch. When we are in an area too long we hitch up the car to the RV and move on down the road.
In 2000, we sold our house, most of our wordly possesions and started traveling. We don’t own a lot of material objects and what we do have, we have to make sure it is worth our time to carry it with us. We have traded lawnmowers, garden tools and tons of useless catch alls for bikes, kayaks, hiking boots and beach chairs.
What we also have are fond memories of the places we have seen and most of all, the friends we have made. Almost everywhere we go we know someone. They are our RV family. Full-timers are a special breed who enjoy life and their surroundings. We have met fulltimers from every walk of life, from every state and Canada.
We have learned to use a lot of different resources from getting our mail, banking, and seeing doctors. Now our computers and cell phones get reception almost everywhere so keeping in touch with our children and grandchildren is easy. In my column I plan on sharing the tips and tricks of an RV lifestyle and also the beauty of the places we visit along the way.
Yes, we are fulltimers and hope we can keep this lifestyle for quite awhile.
From September 1992 until February 1993 we made the decision to live in a 26-foot recreational vehicle that we had for weekend getaways. Before taking a job in Hawaii, I had several months respite so we decided to use our getaway vehicle to get across the country. Problem is we had so much trouble hooking up and unhooking the vehicle to our car, the car struggled to pull it; and we were never able to get all the mechanics straight, taking hours to do the simplest things with the toilet and all. So kudos to those who could and did, as we soon didn’t and were glad to be back in an apartment in a stationary place.