George’s sister Laurie and her husband, John live on a lake near Wilmot, South Dakota. It is really out in nature with not a lot of people. On our travels from Wisconsin we were able to stop and see them. This was the first time visiting them at their beautiful home they had built and they have lived there six years! This is one of the excellent reasons to have a motor home, it takes us to family we love and that fills us with happiness.
Laurie and John had a place out front for us to park our RV and car. We stayed in our motor home while we were there. I told Laurie we were neighbors while we there, awesome. And we essentially were and that’s a another good reason to travel in your home.
The first morning I woke up and looked out my bedroom window to see three wild turkeys walking past eating seeds out of the grass, not having a clue I was watching them. Later when Laurie took us on a walk we saw two fawns just jumping and moving through the tall grass in a playful manner. There were butterflies everywhere you went, I couldn’t believe it! It was a real paradise in the middle of nowhere.
Ruby, John and Laurie’s dog, is a short haired pointer and while we were picking apples from there apples trees in the backyard, we all saw Ruby stand completely still with her tail straight out. John said she found a gopher. Ruby is a good girl. First time I have seen a dog point like that before.
John had caught some perch earlier in the week, so they prepared us a delicious fish dinner with all the fresh produce they had harvested from their garden. I said they were almost doing subsistence living.
Not only did we get two nights of free parking but Laurie and John sent us off with: apples, cucumbers, onions, corn on the cob, tomatoes, green beans, pasta salad with basil that John grew and tomatoes from the garden, bacon, fish, home-made chocolate chip cookies, upside down rhubarb cake and zucchini bread.
Wow, Laurie and John you know how to treat your guests. It was a five star experience. Thank you both and we love you!
Greetings and thanks for your anecdotes and information. I’ve rented many times over the years, and am close to retirement. I think I will turn my house into a rental, and RV in a smaller used unit for a couple years to ensure I like it before making the transition to a vehicle closer in specifications to yours. How much a year do you spend, including fuel, insurance, campground fees, maintenance, everything. I will pay cash for an RV, but my home taxes, utilities, HOA fees and maintenance are about $1000 a month (which goes away of course), and I can rent my place for $3000 a month or so. I believe that plus the $3 to $K a month I can draw in retirement should be enough to live on full time. Anything you can share is appreciated.
I think you’ll be just fine. The expenses vary wildly dependending on where you stay, how often you move and what kind of maintenance crops up. We have stayed on BLM land with water and dump station access for as little as 3$ a day. We’ve also paid as much as 80.00 in special areas. We try to average $20 a night, and the rest just depends. Good luck!!