Seniors Living in Vans. and RV's

I think living in a small RV would be preferable to being homeless, but many people who think that a nomadic lifestyle is inexpensive are in for a rude awakening. Of course there are plenty of people who park on public lands or city streets for free, though they don't have water/sewer/electric connections and are often hassled by police.

I could not live in a car. Just couldn't do it. Life is really hard for some people, though.
 
If it were just me, I’d go back to living on a boat and preferably on the Mississippi.

I’ve had a couple of RV’s and a self renovated Blue Bird school bus and actually lived in them when I was doing a lot of traveling across the U.S.
Why I was traveling is a story for another day but suffice it to say, when I had my cabin cruiser on Lake Mead and another at the Watts Bar Dam in Tennessee, the only complaint i had is that it wasn’t on the Mississippi.

Note for boat lovers: Marina’s have slip fees and if a boat has been abandoned and the fees are way past due, sometimes a person can purchase the boat by paying the back slip fees with a little interest.

Note for school bus renovators: School buses that have mandatory expiration dates (by county or state regulations) can be purchased for a song. My Blue Bird cost $250. Each tire was worth that much but even the tires, as good as they were, had too many miles on them and were up for replacement too.
 
My first question is what did they do wrong about retirement planning? If you can furnish a van and live in it you can work and even part time is available all over. Let’s not get into state/federal/local resources.
This may seem interesting but it is not inexpensive and does not last forever. A fad created by social media. Yes, there were some hard core ones out there but that was it.
 
Beth Gallagher said:
I think living in a small RV would be preferable to being homeless, but many people who think that a nomadic lifestyle is inexpensive are in for a rude awakening. Of course there are plenty of people who park on public lands or city streets for free, though they don't have water/sewer/electric connections and are often hassled by police.

I could not live in a car. Just couldn't do it. Life is really hard for some people, though.
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Beth , I'm sure you could do whatever you had to. You seem to have that fighter mentality about you, thats good.
 
When he retired, my older brother sold the farm, the house, the horses, and everything else and bought a large travel trailer, which he pulled with his large pickup truck. He and wife toured America for over a year before health issues forced him to give up the nomadic life. But he/they loved every minute of it while they were able.

Personally, it would be my worst nightmare.
 
Bobby Cole said:
If it were just me, I’d go back to living on a boat and preferably on the Mississippi.

I’ve had a couple of RV’s and a self renovated Blue Bird school bus and actually lived in them when I was doing a lot of traveling across the U.S.
Why I was traveling is a story for another day but suffice it to say, when I had my cabin cruiser on Lake Mead and another at the Watts Bar Dam in Tennessee, the only complaint i had is that it wasn’t on the Mississippi.

Note for boat lovers: Marina’s have slip fees and if a boat has been abandoned and the fees are way past due, sometimes a person can purchase the boat by paying the back slip fees with a little interest.

Note for school bus renovators: School buses that have mandatory expiration dates (by county or state regulations) can be purchased for a song. My Blue Bird cost $250. Each tire was worth that much but even the tires, as good as they were, had too many miles on them and were up for replacement too.
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We thought of boat life before we got this place.We still watch podcasts of boat dwellers.2 most watched below,

These lived on boat with 3 kids.
 
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Hoot Crawford said:
When he retired, my older brother sold the farm, the house, the horses, and everything else and bought a large travel trailer, which he pulled with his large pickup truck. He and wife toured America for over a year before health issues forced him to give up the nomadic life. But he/they loved every minute of it while they were able.

Personally, it would be my worst nightmare.
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Hoot ,its not for most. Some choices are limited and they go for the least worst.
Affordable housing is now a thing of the past for low income elders.
 
Some people dreaming of the nomadic life have absolutely no idea what they are getting into with an RV. RVs are not built for long-term living; even the most expensive of them are flimsy and need a lot of maintaining. They are built with lightweight materials for the most part, and all the shaking and rattling while driving down the road means that things work themselves loose. We have friends who own a $300k motorhome; the microwave fell off the wall while they were rolling down the highway.

We owned a motorhome for over 10 years and it was fine for 2-week trips, but by the time we got home we were more than ready to be back in our house. It is work to set up and break down campsites, and a lot of that stuff is not for the elderly.

Then the associated costs... maintenance, insurance, fuel, roadside assistance, etc. It's just not a cheap solution unless a person buys an older travel trailer and permanently places it on some land.

I don't know anything about van dwelling or living in cars, but it must be a hard life.
 
Beth Gallagher said:
Some people dreaming of the nomadic life have absolutely no idea what they are getting into with an RV. RVs are not built for long-term living; even the most expensive of them are flimsy and need a lot of maintaining. They are built with lightweight materials for the most part, and all the shaking and rattling while driving down the road means that things work themselves loose. We have friends who own a $300k motorhome; the microwave fell off the wall while they were rolling down the highway.

We owned a motorhome for over 10 years and it was fine for 2-week trips, but by the time we got home we were more than ready to be back in our house. It is work to set up and break down campsites, and a lot of that stuff is not for the elderly.

Then the associated costs... maintenance, insurance, fuel, roadside assistance, etc. It's just not a cheap solution unless a person buys an older travel trailer and permanently places it on some land.

I don't know anything about van dwelling or living in cars, but it must be a hard life.
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So true about how flimsy RV can be, that's why I loved my school bus, it was built for safety.I loved it. Jake and I rebuilt it and it was great!
I like going to Skoolie.com and looking at the buses there, lots of happy campers. I was one of them for a while:cool:
 
Marie Mallory said:
Hoot ,its not for most. Some choices are limited and they go for the least worst.
Affordable housing is now a thing of the past for low income elders.
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I never claimed it was for everyone or for most. For the both of them, it was a reward for having worked and saved for years. They loved it, and knew exactly what they were "getting into". Never complained about any mechanical issues, or the costs. It was freedom, and had health issues not come up, they would have liked to have spent another year or two traveling around. Not sure why folks feel the need to disparage his experience. Sadly, that same brother is now in hospice care, but he still enjoys the memories from when they were "on the road".
 
Hoot Crawford said:
I never claimed it was for everyone or for most. For the both of them, it was a reward for having worked and saved for years. They loved it, and knew exactly what they were "getting into". Never complained about any mechanical issues, or the costs. It was freedom, and had health issues not come up, they would have liked to have spent another year or two traveling around. Not sure why folks feel the need to disparage his experience. Sadly, that same brother is now in hospice care, but he still enjoys the memories from when they were "on the road".
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You're right, Hoot. Many people absolutely love it. :D
 
If was rich, I'd buy one of these. Only costs $165,000. 00.

s-l1600.webp


I'd travel all over the US.
 
Hoot Crawford said:
I never claimed it was for everyone or for most. For the both of them, it was a reward for having worked and saved for years. They loved it, and knew exactly what they were "getting into". Never complained about any mechanical issues, or the costs. It was freedom, and had health issues not come up, they would have liked to have spent another year or two traveling around. Not sure why folks feel the need to disparage his experience. Sadly, that same brother is now in hospice care, but he still enjoys the memories from when they were "on the road".
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You misunderstood my reply, I was basically agreeing with you Hoot.
 
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