Full-time RVers are a unique breed. They are a lot like full-time boaters, except they live on their wheels instead of the water. You full-timers know who you are. Nonetheless, not every full-time RVer lives the same type of lifestyle. In fact, there are three different categories of full-timers.
Some full-timers are what Connecticut-based AirSkirts refers to as ‘road warriors’. Others are snowbirds, while the remainder tends to be permanent parkers. Are you a full-time RV resident? If so, which of the three categories best describes your lifestyle?
The Road Warrior
The road warrior is so named because they spend all year on the road. This type of full-timer is one who cannot get enough travel. Wanderlust rules the day, compelling the road warrior to pursue a continual circuit that passes through each of the forty-eight continental states. Some are even daring enough to go to Alaska or Hawaii.
This type of full-time RV lifestyle is arguably the most challenging. For starters, the road warrior puts a lot of miles on their rig. With miles come maintenance and repairs. Above and beyond that, the road warrior also has to spend more time setting up and tearing down.
That may not seem like a big deal to weekend warriors but imagine a task like installing RV skirting. More complicated skirting products can take 30 minutes to an hour to deploy, and the same amount of time to take down. AirSkirts RV skirting can be set up and removed in under 20 minutes, but there are still a lot of other tasks to do. Needless to say, you really have to be dedicated to enjoying being a road warrior.
The Snowbird
The snowbird is a full-time RVer content to chase the sun and warm temperatures. Summer months are spent camping in northern and midwestern states. Snowbirds travel south and southwest for the winter. During spring and fall, everything in between is on the table.
Snowbirds typically do what they do because they have an affinity for warm weather. They are different from road warriors in the sense that they are not packing up and traveling every week or so. They find a nice campground and call at home for three or four months. As a result, they aren’t setting up and tearing down quite so often.
The Permanent Parker
Last but not least is the permanent parker, a full-time RVer whose motorhome or trailer remains permanently parked in a single location. Travel around the south and you will see plenty of motorhome parks populated by this particular group of full-timers.
Why would someone choose to be a permanent parker? Some transition to the lifestyle after spending many years as road warriors or snowbirds. Others choose to be permanent parkers because RV living costs less than maintaining a site-built home that requires more expensive insurance, separate utility payments, property tax payments, etc.
The one downside to permanently parking an RV is the extra maintenance required. RVs are meant to move; they are not meant to be parked in the same location for years. Thus, owners have to be a bit more diligent about routine maintenance.
There is something to be said about each of the three types of full-time RV living. Neither is better or worse than the others. Rather, they are all different types of RV living that appeal to different types of people. It is all good in the end. If it were not, there wouldn’t be so many people whose only dwelling is a fifth-wheel, camping trailer, or motorhome.
