You Purchased an RV, now what??

Well before you ever hit the road, and shortly after you drop a whole lot of money on your RV, the expenses start to add up. I am not trying to put a dash to anyone's hopes, but only to provide a taste of reality.  Of course, you have likely planned for additional setup costs as you are setting up a mini second household.  However,  if there is one piece of advice I can pass on, prepare to add an additional $3-5000 to your overall budget in addition to your RV purchase price. 

Here is a modest example of how those costs can add up for the items you will need straight out of the gate (and this doesn't include the actual vehicle to tow the RV!)

• RV Hitch Kit (we are pulling a 5th wheel) - $1734

• Air Suspension Kit (must have to preserve your vehicle) - $423

• 50 Amp RV Power Cord - $177

• Voltage Protector - $161

• Wheel Chocks - $55

• Rear/Side Camera system - $933

• Tire Monitoring System - $212

• Battery Isolator - $82

That's almost $3800 before household goods such as sheets, towels, pots, pans, knives, etc.  You get it.  

I left the details of operational must-haves to Jeff, and trust that he knew what was needed (including a new stinky slinky, hitch guard, black tank deodorizer, gray tank tablets etc.)  The start-up list is long, but fortunately almost all a one-time buy. 

We also had the additional cost for outfitting our RV with 2 virtual workspaces to be able to work.  This meant investing in a Verizon Wifi box for the best connectivity.  Most RV campsites provide free WiFi but are notorious for lacking bandwidth and speed. 

Last piece of useful advice.  Consider investing in an RV App (or 2) to assist with finding campgrounds & services.  Most of the Apps out there are reasonable, and many include a discount to partnered campgrounds.  We went with RV Life & The Dyrt and also purchased an Arizona State Park past.  The latter is because even though you may be paying for an RV camping spot, the State Parks will still charge you THEIR entry fee as well. 

Getting Started

It has long been a dream of my husband (Jeff) to buy an RV and experience the country via fun road trips and adventures. I grew up camping in Arizona, and he in North Dakota.  Early in our relationship, we continued the camping tradition as a family as well as in Boy Scouts (he was a leader.) 

We shifted from regular tent camping to owning a small cabin in Heber Arizona, which we decided to sell in 2018 as we were not using it as much as we could be, and let’s be honest, a cabin is stationary.

There has been a lot of thought going into the decision to purchase an RV.  Everything from the fact that we are getting closer to retirement (still a way off, but time marches forward.)  We both love to travel and enjoy a good road trip. There are so many places around the US (and even Arizona) that we would love to see, but it gets expensive when you factor in hotel, Air BnB, and pet sitting.

The pandemic helped advance the plan to get our RV.  We couldn’t travel for the majority of 2020, and in 2021, much of our travel was not by air.  We also had loads of extra time to ponder what we wanted to do, and how.  Unfortunately, most people felt the same way as finding an RV with a reasonable price tag became a challenge.  EVERYONE was hitting the road it seemed.  The newly established virtual work environment also added to this challenge.

We finally found the right RV, for the right price, and landed the right deal.  The Momentum M388 we purchased had only 2 previous owners, with the second one barely using it for more than a bunkhouse to go with his other jumbo Class A palace on wheels.  We had found our home away from home!

 

We named the RV Crazy Days and Knotty Nights, adapting our previous Cabin name to the new Adventure wagon. As we set out for this new experience, I am going to capture the moment via blog, pictures, and videos.

Travel along with us, and let us know what you think!