Full-Time RVing

Driving around with your home pulled behind you, seeing the country, leaving if it's toxic or noisy, and living the life of a gypsy...what's not to like about that?

 

I'm tormented with the fact I don't know WHERE to move. Northern Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Oregon, and Maine have been on the top of my list. What about all the locations that might be great and I might never know? Am I limiting myself to what I know at the risk of missing out on the most perfect place? Will I settle for second best because I stopped looking? The problem is I've never been to any of these places and I'm having a difficult time figuring out how to visit without taking weeks to drive there. So maybe that's what I need to do? Be nomadic. Look around. With my house behind me?

I considered full-time RVing as a future housing plan a few years ago. After visiting several dealerships I was pretty much limited to looking at one RV per day because of the very strong chemical smells that would knock me on my ass with one inhale. Most of the time I'd leave running for my life before I even reached the RV due to all the cologne the shifty salesmen were wearing.

Many of these mobile home manufacturers use the cheapest, most toxic materials possible such as Styrofoam, plywood, fiberglass insulation, caulking, plastics, adhesives, vinyl, laminates, and particle board. These materials are lighter weight which is very important in designing a trailer to be pulled by a vehicle. The problem with lightweight, modern materials is they are all created and then treated with various types of highly toxic chemicals and VOCs, formaldehyde being the most problematic. Propane, a convenient and cheap method of energy for small spaces and commonly used in RVs and camper-trailers, is often toxic to MCSers as well. Unfortunately, many RV owners, even those not chemically sensitive, negatively react to these offgassing chemicals in their tiny mobile homes so this is an industry issue. It stands to reason companies would want to improve the health standards of their products.

There are RV/trailer brands that claim to be "green" with an official TRA Green Certification or LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) approval such as Evergreen, Earthbound, Jayco, Coachman, and Airstream. Unfortunately, this doesn't necessarily mean their products are free of all offgassing chemicals nor healthy for the chemically sensitive, but they are headed in the right direction. RVs can also be custom designed to your personal specifications, but finding a company that understands chemical sensitivity might be a challenge.

During my initial investigation I also projected financial costs of full-time RVing. With camping costs, dumping fees, vehicle and trailer maintenance, insurance, high-tech Internet, and gas, it seemed RVing would cost more than living in my house. I also tested some campgrounds one summer and found them to be filled with insecticide-bathed campers, campfires, and free-roaming, free-crapping, barking dogs. Frustrated, I shelved that idea...

...until this week. I discovered Taylor Design Healthy Homes, a manufacturing company in New York that takes old Airstream trailers and converts them to non-toxic mobile homes for the chemically sensitive. Check out their website HERE.

I could live in a high-tech, non-toxic trailer like that! Some of the designs are as big if not bigger than the tiny houses and with the same efficient layout principles. The designers at Taylor Design use non-toxic materials like aluminum, wood, stainless steel and ceramic tiles. Very exciting. Whether or not they are truly non-toxic for me personally I have yet to discover. They will send you a sample of their materials for $25.00 so you can do the sniff test, but I don't know if I feel comfortable trusting this process. These trailers aren't cheap. It would be horrifying to invest all my money in one and then find I couldn't use it.

Assuming this trailer style or another would be healthy enough to live in 24/7, where will I put it? Could I avoid overpopulated, over-stinky campsites? There are remote and free camping options, but would those be safe enough? Would it be possible to find a caravan of MCS RVers to hang out with? I am discovering many full-time RV bloggers who claim it is less expensive than home ownership, but you have to know the secrets. They also say they would never go back to living in a house. It's very encouraging.

So my new idea...I can't move to Canada to join a MCS eco-village because Canada won't let me be a resident, but I wonder if they'd let me visit temporarily for six months with my gypsy trailer? Or I could zip down to Arizona and check out Snowflake to see if it's really a bad idea? Traverse over to Colorado and see if the air quality is as good as they say? Down to New Mexico for the winter. Keep going to Maine, the state with the least amount of chemical pollutants? Up to Novia Scotia where they don't even allow perfume. Over to England, Ireland and France on the ferry from Greenland just for fun. I can see myself living in France.... I've wanted to travel more, but getting on an airplane is out of the question. As I criss-cross around the country, if I find a place I really, really like, I'd stop. I wouldn't have to worry about renting or buying a [toxic] house nor dealing with the hassle (HASSLE!) of searching for something suitable because my safe home is with me!

The various websites on full-time RVing claim some of the more difficult aspects of a nomadic life are: selling your house (I can't wait!), leaving your community (good riddance, Rathole!), leaving your friends and family (I rarely see anyone anyway), and getting rid of stuff (hmmmm...). It's the getting rid of stuff I've had my whole life that will be a problem. Stuff makes me feel grounded and secure. I worry if I'll change my mind after a while, long for some stability, desire to find a real house, and regret getting rid of things. I have antiques my grandparents owned,  a library of beautiful books I've collected over the years, ceramics I've made, furniture I've painted...STUFF I'm rather attached to and couldn't easily replace. I don't even have a lot of stuff, but much more than will fit in a pint-sized trailer. I'll need storage until I can somehow detach myself from it. Living simply and lightweight has always been the ideal, but can I really do it?  (BE BRAVE, the goddess whispered.)

Is this dream possible?

Well, not with Peter unless I can put him in a mini-trailer pulled behind my trailer. Or on TOP of the trailer with the wind blowing through his long, floppy ears.

 

I don't think he'd like that much. I may need to put this on hold for a little while. In the meantime, I'll be researching.

I've always wanted to be a gypsy. Call me "Yatna, the Gypsy."