Our names are Lee and Tracy Perkins and we have been full-time RVers since November of 2014, traveling in a 40 foot Open Range fifth wheel. After 25 years of marriage and raising 3 beautiful daughters, we knew we needed to find a way to reconnect with each other and deal with our empty nest, so despite having never camped before, we decided to try RVing. A few months later our plans to become full timers were in full swing. If you would like to read the details about that experience you can purchase the ebook of how we began our journey or check out our Becoming Full Timers Step-By-Step page.
In a relatively short amount of time, we sold our house, Lee quit his job and Tracy took her corporate job on the road. After a year of working as a mobile corporate employee, Tracy took advantage of a company buyout and we started earning the money we needed with work kamping positions. The question for us was could two people with limited savings and minimal debt earn enough money to support themselves on the road and what did that look like. Although we feel we have certainly proved it was possible, the question of how that lifestyle looks long-term is still one in which we are exploring.
Our main goal is to write the blog we wish we could have read prior to becoming full timers. To that end, it is as honest as we can stand to be and includes detailed information on our monthly expenses and revenue. We have certainly made our share of mistakes along the way, but also had some amazing moments and hopefully you will enjoy reading about them. If you don’t have time to read every post, please feel free to “skim” our story by reading some of the summary posts listed below or if you want to start from the beginning click here for our first fulltiming blog post.
We are glad you found us and please feel free to reach out with any questions at camperchronicles@gmail.com. We love getting emails from readers and will either respond privately or answer them in an upcoming blog post. If you like what you see and are interested in supporting our blog please consider purchasing our recipe book. It contains 80 Real Recipes for the RV Lifestyle made by us in our RV and includes categories such as Happy Hours, Pot Lucks, and Instant Pot recipes. You can also buy the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
Thank you for sharing our journey with us. It truly is a labor of love and when we started writing it, had no idea how much sharing our story would impact us. Our life isn’t always glamorous and certainly is not without it’s challenges, but it truly is beyond anything I could ever have imagined when we first started.
Getting Started (First Ever Blog Post)
First Time at an RV Show
First Time Buying a 5th Wheel
First Time Full Timing (First Full Timing Blog Post)
Establishing Residency in Florida
Putting Regular Gas in a Diesel Vehicle
First Time without a “Regular” Job
First Year – By the Numbers
First Year – The Emotional Arc
How To Survive (and even thrive) in Quartzsite
Summing Up Alaska
Second Year – The Emotional Arc
Second Year – By The Numbers
First Time Getting Mor Ryde Suspension and Disc Brakes
Third Year – By the Numbers
Third Year – The Emotional Arc
Comparing the Big Five Work Kamping Jobs
Original Expectations Versus Reality
Fourth Year – By the Numbers
Fourth Year – The Emotional Arc
Trying to Adopt a Dog on the Road
Five Year Camper Anniversary…How it has Held Up
What Lee will do to Ride in a Helicopter
Fifth Year – By the Numbers
Fifth Year – The Emotional Arc
Sixth Year – By the Numbers
Sixth Year – The Emotional Arc
Seventh Year – By the Numbers
Seventh Year – The Emotional Arc
Eight Year – The Emotional Arc
Eight Year – By the Numbers
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Camper Chronicles 
Hi Tracy, How are you guys? Pam and I started full timing in August 2016. I have been working fulltime, living in Miami for the past year and have the opportunity to work 100% remote with my current job. It is still a commitment but from the sound of it it’s been quite a commitment for you guys work kamping. We are planning to go to Mesa AZ in Sept and then to Corpus Christi in the winter months. We will be moving evey 3 months but its better than being stuck in one place. I love being able to work out of our RV as I have a great office set up with our Grand Design 366DEN. I am happy to hear your looking for a consulting position. If there is anything I can do to help you please let me know. Also add me to your Linked In contacts if you want. Good Luck on the job hunting. This is a great time to be looking.
Hope to see you on the road sometime!
Greg Smythe
Hi Greg,
So nice to hear from you. Moving every 3 months sounds about perfect to me and I will absolutely look for you on Linked IN.. Appreciate you reaching out.
Hi, my husband are beginning our RV life plans. Looking forward to reading you rposts!
Hi!! Welcome..hope you enjoy them.
Hi I’ve been following you both for a short time now,I’m glad you’re both doing well at Amazon. I am on the 7 year plan to fulltime RVing,early retirement,as a single person.I am just curious about your ages and social security income and why you have to work so hard.
Hi Susan,
We are not retired. We had the opportunity at 47 and 49 to quit our jobs and go on the road and for a variety of reasons took it. We had some savings, but not enough that generates revenue, and we knew we would have to work along the way. What we didn’t realize was how difficult it would be to make enough money at these seasonal jobs to coast in between. Originally we thought we would work a little, play a little, but it has turned into working a lot me playing much less. We can work with that, but we are struggling to find a formula that works where we don’t need to dip into savings. It is possible, we know people who do it, but most of them have a set route and go back and forth between two jobs they really like. Nothing wrong with that, but we haven’t found those jobs yet and it’s complicated by the fact that our family is on the east coast and we love the west. Still working through it as you can see and next year we will definitely be making changes to make this more sustainable
Tracy and Lee, my name is Bobbi MacDonald. My husband and I are overnighting in Charleston. Last night we ate at High Cotton and Kirsten was our server. She is such a sweetheart. We loved talking to her and learning about your travels and blog. We took a selfie with her to wish you Merry Christmas. Not sure how to send it to you on this blog. If you’lol let me know how to get it to you I’ll be happy to send it.
Hi Guys,
My name is James. My wife, Patsy, and I have bought a 2012 Open Range 386FLR that we intend to go full time in. It’s our first rig!!!
As you know, there is not a lot of information about these rigs, so I’m asking for suggestions
I want to add solar panels to the roof, and a new converter, and the like. Where would you suggest as a place to rub wires from the solar array on the roof down to the front compartment where the batteries and solar controller will be installed?
Also, I may want to upgrade the existing converter. Where is it?
Lastly,what do you think about a second inverter hooked to the bedroom 120 volt AC outlets? My wife uses a CPAP breathing machine at night and we meet it to be on no matter what.
Thanks so much for the reply and I hope we can meet on the road some time
My husband and I just met your daughter and son in law at High Cotton tonight in Charelston. We are from Portsmouth NH, so we had a lot to talk about. They are both just wonderful. They told us all about your adventures, and we thought it’s just an amazing fun adventure you two are on. We envy your bravery and hope one day to find a way to let go and really start our own adventure. We look forward to following u. Please let your daughter and son in law know how much we enjoyed meeting them! Diana Kirkpatrick
Thank you. She told me that she had talked to someone about full-timing.! Very nice of you to reach out. They are a lovely young couple. Can’t wait to see what beautiful grand babies they make 😉
Hello,
I just stumbled across your blog and found it very helpful. After 32 years as an ER nurse am burned out, kids out of college and ready to do RV life FT! I am a minimalist and my boyfriend/domestic partner is a collector! We will need to compromise,he loves the idea of RVing and travel, freedom, as we are both hikers, campers, rock climbers etc. But he thinks he’ll be claustrophic in an RV in Winter. Have the diesel truck, fifth wheel, house rented, Conex storage container on some land we own, quite my 70 hour poer week Nurse manager job ( yeah!!) and will move FT into the RV June 1.
I’m totally excited, Brandon has some reservations. What have you found for good mobile internet soplutions? a dish on your roof?
Thanks!
Barb and Brandon , Golden, Colorado
Hi Barb…congratulations! I tend to be claustrophobic as well but since we try to follow the weather we are rarely in climates where the outside off totally off limits. It’s a good point though and I have found it’s important that our RV is laid out so we can spend rainy days inside without completely getting on each others nerves lol. We use a Wifi hotspot with AT&T along with a cell phone booster and rarely are in situations that have no coverage at all. Then again we are usually careful about that when we travel and absolutely adamant about having some sort of coverage when we stay in a place for awhile. The infrastructure across the country has improved in just the three years we have been traveling and I expect will continue to do so as the demand rises. Even National Parks are getting in on the action because kids don’t want to come and volunteers don’t want to stay there, so usually all of them have at least some coverage at the entrance of the park. Anyways have a wonderful time and be patient with each other. It is an adjustment but that is totally normal.
Thanks for the info . I have ATT with a microcell booster at home , so may be able to take that on the road . I may take a few travel nurse assignments with several months off in between
to start the income . Brandon is a carpenter and mechanic so lots if work .im an optimist and dreamer while he is a worrier , so have my work cut out for me getting him to embrace the idea 100%. But we are a good team and compromise well.
Barb
I was the worried (there generally is one in a couple) and that is t necessarily a bad thing. I HIGHLY recommend your going to an RV Dreams rally so he can meet other people just like him. That is what ultimately gave me the courage to go on the road
Hi Lee or Tracy,
I have been following your post ever since you started out and I enjoy reading about your experiences. One day my wife and I may take the plunge and become full-timers. I still have some convincing to do though…
A few years ago you posted about your rig’s suspension problem and fix. I believe it was right before you headed up to Alaska. Can you forward me a link to that post? I think I’m facing a similar issue with my 5th wheel, and I’m trying to read-up on the issue before deciding how/when to upgrade to heavy duty shackles and bolts for the suspension. Since we’re not fulltimers yet, we don’t put many miles on the rig, but, we’ve owned it for 7 years already and rust and age are taking it’s toll on the suspension. I just replaced the brakes and hubs, and noticed the rust and thought of your blog.
George
Hi George nice to hear from you. We did two different things. We upgraded to heavy duty shackles before Alaska, you can read about that here https://camperchronicles.com/2016/04/29/first-time-with-a-major-repair/ and that worked ok, but ultimately we got the Mor-Ryde suspension upgrade and you can read about that here. https://camperchronicles.com/2017/10/13/first-time-getting-a-mor-ryde-suspension-and-disc-brakes/ If you have the means I recommend just going ahead and getting the full upgrade, because I really think the better brakes make it more than worth the investment, but the shackle upgrade was good although we still bent a spindle later which caused the complete upgrade.
Hello Lee and Tracy,
I came across your blog and what you wrote about the breeders in Mason, TX. I want to thank you very much for that. We lost our dog after 14 years of having him and we are devastated. So, we started looking for breeder of Westies and these breeders in Mason, TX. You helped me a lot with your comments.
Well thank you! That’s nice to hear. Jacks been a real joy for both of us
Really great Blog!!! So much great info. I do have a quick question about Lee and his RV tech cert. You had mentioned in another blog post that with the traveling around and such that it hasn’t or wouldn’t be a good option for extra income. I’m too going to be getting that cert later this year as well as become a Level 2 RV inspector. I spoken personally to workampers that have this cert and are actually very busy at the campgrounds they stay at even if they are workamping. The first campground that I’m working at is very excited and happy that I can offer this service even though I’m not officially certified. I’ve been a Jet engine mechanic for over 30 years and an RV’er for over 20 with a lot of experience rebuilding them and working on them. Has this gotten any better for an additional income stream in the last 4 years you both have been out on the road? Again, love this Blog. Keep up the great content….
Rich from Southern Maine
Hi Richard. If you stay in the right campground all winter you can definitely make money. We know folks who have been very busy. We never wanted to stay in the same place that long though so it didn’t work for us traveling every couple of weeks or so. That being said, we have slowed down considerably and I could see it working if we went back together same place year after year for sure.
I was talking with a friend of yours/ours today, Hank Sneed. He said you had experience with Guard1 work camping. Any information on this and other workcamping opportunities you would share is greatly appreciated. Also I would like to follow ya’ll on any and all blogs and pages you are on!
Thanks
Tim&Dawn Dye
Thanks. I though Guard 1 was a great company. They did an excellent job of making sure we had water, fuel, etc and their supervisors visited us once a week just to check in. I would absolutely work for them again and recommend them. We also worked for Gate Guard Services who we really liked as well.
Would like to follow your blog. Thank You Fred Croscut
Hi Fred thanks. There is a subscribe window on the home page that should let you put in your email address and follow us
Hi Lee or Tracy,
My wife and I recently bought a new(er) used 2020 TT with a GVWR of 7700 lbs and it still has the original tires that are made in China. I want to replace them with a good quality brand and find out if you’ve done any research or posted on the topic of tires.
Any help would be appreciated.
George
Hi George , trailer tires definitely require research but we have American made G rated tires. If your trailer will handle them I definitely recommend upgrading to G but you absolutely have to research your individual trailer . Sorry
Hi guys and Merry Christmas!
Patsy and I follow you from time to time here since we have the same camper as yours. I have a problem I hope you can help me out with. Our furnace has times it refuses to even try to start: no relays clicking, no fan blowing or anything. We have had a mobile tech out once who removed and reattached one wire to the controller board and it started working for a short time, but now is dead again. The only access to that board is through the kitchen cabinet and is tight! Have you ever worked on that furnace and if so, did you provide for an easier way to access it for future repairs? It looks like open range installed the furnace, then built the rest of the camper around it without thought of replacing it ever. Thanks for any ideas!
We had issues with our furnace for over a year, and it finally took a very small tech who could fit inside the “basement” area under the bathroom to get to it to repair it. Based on what you are saying, it sounds like the control board needs replaced. I agree that it’s a TERRIBLE design and location, if ever we need work done on ours again, I will probably relocate the furnace to a more accessible location, it’s just absurd where they put it. – Lee
Great articles!! Sounds like you both are having fun in the Southwest.
If you haven’t visited Slab City, south of Palm Springs, I suggest you do so. Just a car trip. A very interesting place!!!!! Unlike anything I have ever seen!
Take care!
Mike
What internet service do you recommend. I am a travel nurse and move sometimes every three months and would like good mobile internet for streaming. Much appreciate any advise.
WE used ATT unlimited plan for years and it worked almost everywhere. Personally I am a big fan. I found Verizon (which I have for work) less reliable
Do you have a mobile modem? Thanks
We do!
Who do you use for internet? Thanks
For the past nine years we have used an AT&T cellular hotspot device with unlimited data. – Lee
Thanks for the info I got one and now have working internet!!