RV Life: Top 5 RV Living Lessons After 5 Years on the Road

I've been living on the road for five years traveling, living, working in an RV. I've learned a lot in those five years about how to live in an RV and about life. Today I'm going to share with you the five things I have learned living on the road the last five years to help you in case you're planning on living in an RV or you're just kind of curious about what life lessons and RV lessons you might learn along the way. So stay tuned. Oh wait! I have six things. I have a bonus one for you and I think the last one, I'm going to count down, I think the last one is really, really, if you've been watching me for a while, I think it's really going to surprise you. So make sure you stay to the end and watch the bonus thing that I have learned. Hey friendlies, I'm Carolyn and this is My RV Life. In five years I've traveled more than 70,000 miles. I've been to more than 30 states. I've been in countless Bureau of Land Management districts and national forests and a few campgrounds here and there but not a whole lot. I mostly stay on public land, state forests, I mean you name it. I have been there. I have done that. I have learned a lot. I've even been to Alaska and in case you missed the Alaska series, I'll put a link up here and in the video description. It's still most of my viewers favorite road trip. Stay tuned this summer. I'm really excited. I'm feeling better. Those who've been following me for a while know that my health has been off the last year. I'm excited about exploring the northeast this year. So stay tuned. There's a lot more fun and adventure to come but today I thought I would share with you the five things that I have learned living in an RV as a nomad for the last five years and stay tuned till the bonus that is going to be six actually. So I'm going to count down to the biggest lessons that I've learned with the bonus at the end which like I said I think is going to surprise many of you. I think you're going to be shocked. All right so number five. I learned that nothing out here is as hard as I thought it would be as far as just the everyday living stuff. I was really worried in the beginning like that I would I was constantly checking my monitors. I'm going to run out of water. I'm going to run out of propane. My tanks are going to get full and I'm going to be out in the middle of nowhere. It's going to be really hard to find a cell signal so that I can work and none of that is harder as hard as I thought it would be. I don't worry ever about running out of stuff anymore. Just as you live in your RV and as you travel you really start to get a hang of how long things are going to last. You know I know now that when my my fresh water tank says it's on empty I actually have about three days left of water if I conserve and you know so little things like that you really pick up. I think my advice on that would be like don't sweat the little stuff in the beginning. The first year you really do sweat the little stuff and RVing and boondocking has really taken off even in the five years that I've been doing it. I was always worried like is how hard is it going to be to find propane? How hard is it going to be to find a dump station? I've never had a problem ever ever. Some states are a little harder than others for things like propane because every state has different regulations. It just might mean you have to plan a little bit but nothing as far as just the everyday like utility aspect of RVing is as hard as I thought it was going to be and everybody wants to know how do I get internet on the road. I've done so many videos about it. I'm going to put why don't I do this why don't I put a playlist of all of or links to everything that I talk about in this video so be sure to check the video description afterwards and any questions you have will be answered including how do I dump where do I get water even mail and how about internet. I'll put all those links below okay so that was number five. The fourth lesson I have learned or the fourth thing that I've learned being on the road for five years is that not every road is worth exploring. Those of you who followed me since the beginning know that I came out here fearless. I would I got myself in some pickles. Some of them I caught on camera some I didn't but I really got myself in some hairy scary situations even recently in Cody Wyoming. One thing that I have learned you know I still want to go out and find the best most secluded boondocking spots I can but I've learned over the years that not every word not every road is worth it. It's like you know what I'll park here I'll walk I'll explore on foot or you know what the site is perfectly fine I don't need to go further. My goal has always been and still remains to go as remote as possible although maybe I've let up on the remote thing. I may have let up on that a little bit maybe just the reality of it has hit me that it's really not worth it you know I mean damage to the RV getting stuck that all just creates more headaches. So I think the fourth lesson I've learned is that not every road is worth exploring and sometimes it's okay to just say okay this is good enough you know and then like I said just go explore on foot. So that's the fourth lesson I've learned uh you know I don't know am I getting a little uh more scared a little you know gun shy. I've I've learned the hard way I learned every lesson the hard way. So that was lesson number four that not every road is worth exploring. The third lesson that I have learned and I think this might I think this is important and maybe it might surprise some of you considering the climate that we live in uh sociologically the people the anger there's just division uh boy it's just gonna you know I hit the road right before it was April right of 2016 and uh the election was November 2016. So I've been on the road throughout the last all through the last presidency. I don't know travel under any other president except for recently and a lot of people ask me they they worry about the anger and what they might experience out here and my third lesson is the third thing that I have learned being on the road is that people are kind and people are friendly and people are helpful pretty much wherever you go. I really have not had I mean I've had scary situations and we're going to get to that in a minute. I've had situations but not because of my politics. Nobody has ever come up to me and said hey you need help who'd you vote for nobody has ever ever said that to me and I think that that might shock a lot of people. I know like I said people are concerned about the about the temperature about the anger of about just where we are as a nation and rightly so rightly so. I mean decisions about my future are on hold still I mean there's there's is a lot up in the air so rightly so but I gotta tell you the red estates are really some of the I don't want to say they're the most friendly people are friendly everywhere everywhere they want to help you they're they're outgoing they want to share their stories and as long as you're not a butthole you know as long as you're respectful as long as you don't go someplace trying to cram your ideas down other people's throats and I've never done that I've always been a good listener partly because I've always been the minority always I've always been whether it's politics or whether it's well not necessarily living in the bay area but or religion or just my very uh open views on social issues I have all I've I've always kind of been in the minority on a lot of things and so I've learned not to push my beliefs on other people I've had to listen to other people push their beliefs on me a lot a lot you know that's a story for another video but I uh I I listen you know I don't even challenge people I I challenged one lady in Wyoming last year who said that um the communists were gonna take her business away and I said yeah you know that sounds more like capitalism to me uh you know than than communism but I rarely do that and I think that that is a place going and just hearing other people experiencing people who don't agree with us without feeling like we need to change their minds that we need to correct them as hard as it may be online I know we do it all the time I do it all the time at least I used to trying to get away from that but it's very different in person in the three-dimensional real world so yeah I across the country across the nation far and wide people have been nothing but friendly and kind you might remember the the beautiful I I will forever remember them the couple in Tennessee who came I was on public land that their grandparents used to own state forest right behind their property they brought their ride mower out and mowed me a path to my screen room so I wouldn't get chiggers and they brought me veggies from their garden I sweetest and they also complained about all the big city folk coming in and changing their way of life something that makes sense to me I can understand how they felt that way I may not have understood or agreed with some of their solutions to that or whatever or some of the deeper dives on that but I didn't need to they were good kind people so yeah that's number three people are helpful and kind wherever you go just don't be a butthead number two not every bump in the night is a murderer my first year on the road you know not that I was terrified of every bump in the night remember in North Carolina I was on the side of an interstate and a truck showed up in the middle of the night they flashed their their headlights directly in my bedroom window my old RV Matilda I watched I wanted to see what was going on and they grabbed shovels and in a situation like that especially the first year on the road especially because I was used to being alone and backpacking alone and camping alone logically like intellectually I knew there was a logical explanation for what they were doing and they weren't like preparing to murder me but still you can't help but go to that place of what if right and I had nights like that like what if what if oh my gosh what if and I think in in the end I ended up laying down that night and just saying okay they're off in the woods I don't know what they're doing and I went and looked the next day see if they went and buried a body we're so brainwashed by TV and drama and movies I mean really we are and the fact is so you know this this lesson is not every bump in the night is a murderer the fact is the 99.9999% of the universe of the world is going on without you they don't care about you they're doing their own thing they're living their own lives whatever it is and they're paying you no never mind right I mean you know we we I think we all kind of think you know oh the world revolves around us in some way shape or form right they're out to get us they're here to murder us they didn't even know I was here so how could they be coming to murder me so but we all have that to a certain extent and I think it's because of all of the media that we consume all the scary movies and the news that highlights the worst case scenarios I've said this before the news doesn't talk about you know that the 99.9% of our society that didn't get victimized yesterday you know the hundreds of thousands of people who didn't get robbed yesterday you know that's not what the media focuses on they don't focus on what happens every day because that's not interesting that's not sensationalist that's not news and so learning that that not every bump in the night is a mass murderer or serial killer or somebody out to get me is another lesson it's just it just helps me be more relaxed doesn't mean I'm an idiot and I'm okay somebody's out there you know why are they out here I'm in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night you know but my heart doesn't get to racing like it used to I mean you still have to be smart you still have to be aware of your surroundings you still kind of have to see what they're doing and if they start coming towards your RV you know running through the what-ifs and how am I going to protect myself but for the most part you start learning that every bump in the night is just a bump in the night usually it's a critter all right and number one before I get to the bonus the the biggest second biggest lesson I have learned since I've been on the road kind of learned this before but in a different way is that I can handle anything no matter what the universe what the road throws at me I've handled it hasn't always been pretty I haven't always done it with the best patience or the best whatever I mean there have been times I've literally like kicked and screamed and thrown things waking up in the morning when I have an appointment or an important doctor's appointment to a flat tire in the middle of the desert and two roadside assistants not acting the way I thought they should have acted I mean there have definitely been times I know Sadie's out there somewhere I'm on a hill so this is great I can watch her so you know the flat tires the getting stuck how many times have I gotten stuck I got stuck on New Year's Eve didn't shoot a video because I'm like I'm sick and tired I got stuck in a ditch in Quartzsite and a viewer hi I don't remember his name Tim stopped and helped me he was driving along and he turned around he's like I had called the tow truck I literally got stuck in it it was terrible and we had to jack it up an inch at a time and move it it was it was pretty bad but viewer stopped it helped me out so yeah no matter what I with roadside assistance with the right tools and enough just I can't curl up in a ball and cry that's not going to help just what do I need to do what you know go ahead and throw the temper tantrum and then figure out what I need to do to get myself out of this situation so not only like flat tires and getting stuck but things like strange men approaching me remember the highway of tears it near the highway of tears in British Columbia I had seen all the pictures of missing women thought nothing of it until a guy approached me weirdly check out that video very weird and my gut said I need to go and I went and it's I'm a processor so it took me a while to really process I firmly believe now and after talking to my therapist about it like two months later she's like why didn't you tell me about this before like you know it was just another one of those things but I really really believe now that if I had reacted any differently if I had said yeah okay you do tours sure take me on a tour that I wouldn't be here today so all in all the what I've learned is that I can handle anything I can handle strangers approaching me and know what to do know how to react to take care of myself I know what to do when I get stuck when I'm on a really rough road that's scaring the hell out of me when I get stuck in a ditch when I get stuck in the sand when I get stuck in a wash you know when I have a flat tire I mean anything when my dog dies and my refrigerator dies on the way back from Alaska probably one of the worst times I've ever had in my life and then having to get towed I had there was some time uh where was I in the Yukon oh I woke up to two flat tires one night so Capone is dying my refrigerator is broken I woke up to two flat tires 50 miles from where was I someplace in Yukon had to call a tow truck it took them like three hours no it was a couple hours it was far had to wait for the tow truck to come out it was a mess and then on another leg of that trip my fuel filter was clogged so I had to get towed had to go to a shop that all happened while my dog was dying if you can get through that you can get through anything so being on the road alone really teaches you you can do anything you can get through it no matter how hard it is you really find your inner strength your inner ability to just take care of ---- when it needs to be taken care of digging deep to levels that maybe you didn't even know you had just to be able to take care of yourself sometimes taking care of yourself when you don't even realize you're taking care of yourself like the dude on the highway of tears and the dude on the Pacific Crest Trail who wanted to camp right put his tent right next to me you know all of these things when you practice them they start becoming second nature and you learn that you can take care of yourself no matter what all right and the final lesson that I've learned being on the road alone for the last five years the bonus one the one that's going to shock you is that I don't think doing this completely alone the way I have is sustainable um it just seems to be getting harder and harder I don't mind being alone I'm not lonely well I'm not really lonely I'm craving company more this year of the last couple years maybe than I ever have before you know me I I spend a couple days a year well I don't know maybe this year especially my friend Christy's come out a couple of times with the pandemic and everything but out of 52 weeks a year I probably spend maybe maybe two weeks with people literally like with friends you know I have friends and I see them sometimes a couple times a year and or maybe a few long maybe a few more than that I don't know I'm thinking two three weeks max I did have this year has been a little bit more maybe that's why I'm craving it a little bit more I met a really nice guy who I I met uh through some van builds or something a couple years ago and he knew me from my videos Tom hi Tom met him in uh Colorado this last summer and we camped kind of close for about a week and had some campfires and some nice conversation and so yeah not only am I missing you know what it is it's it's not that I'm lonely or that I'm feeling alone I'm bored I'm really just starting to get really bored I mean I'm trying to find I'm trying to find a better work balance and so if I'm not working 12 or 16 hours a day I I'm struggling to find more things to fill my space I'm feeling better so I am starting to hike more and spend time with Sadie and things like that maybe I always spend time with Sadie but I'm just bored and I'm kind of craving company I'm craving good company good conversation and not only that it's just really hard dealing with everything alone you know a lot of you ask me how have I been able to stay out here how am I able to do this alone uh and I don't know I I'm actually I told you I'm writing I'm writing my story and I've realized I've always been alone my father left when I was I don't know 10 or something my mother kind of started doing her own thing after that so I I I've been alone pretty much since I was like 12 or 13 I have been alone I've been very lonely and it wasn't until I was older and realized I'm okay I don't need people I don't have to be lonely if I don't want to be but so I'm used to being alone and I do not mind being alone but just the little things and maybe it's also just because I've been sick this year you know I got sick right after I got Sadie very active very needy puppy and I would just I didn't want to get out of bed and I'd have to take her out and exercise her and I started thinking how much nicer it would be if I had somebody and not necessarily even a romantic partner I don't know that that's even something a consideration at this point in my life you know but just even a good friend that I could travel with and male or female you know just somebody that I really click with that understands boundaries and space and you know that I'm an introvert and I really do need my time alone and somebody that I you know most of the people I meet who I enjoy are as independent as I am and so that's why we don't see each other very often they're as independent as I am and you know just somebody to help me when I when I'm taking my RV into a shop and the guy comes back and says yeah you need four thousand dollars worth of work somebody to bounce things off of somebody that I trust somebody that I know and knows me and knows my history and you know just that kind of connection somebody to split even the maybe not necessarily romantic but I'm even thinking somebody to split the grocery shopping with or the cooking with or the cleaning you know I mean just all of the things life is harder in the in like the the very tactical like having to get things done you don't have anybody to divide the labor with you have to do everything yourself you know I have to empty the tanks myself I have to fill the water I have to cook I have to clean I have to shop I have to take care of Sadie I have to work I have to try to get some exercise I have to try to get some downtime for myself to repunish myself I'd like to do more hiking you know the the travel when I'm traveling I have to do all the driving when I'm editing and making videos I have to do all that myself I I've watched a few of the couples less junk more more journey you know I've seen some of their videos and I'm like oh wow how nice it must be to be able to split that work I have to do it all myself so that's the biggest lesson that I have learned that's kind of like a new realization for me I don't know how sustainable it is for me to keep doing it so alone not saying I want to get married I'm not saying even like I said I'm not even necessarily looking for a romantic partner I can't even imagine that at this point but just having more people in my life I've been kind of thinking more about like how do I how do I let people into my life that's totally on me there are many many many people and this video is probably going to cause me to get hundreds of invitations to hang out but it's all on me and my own issues around connection and closeness and intimacy and there are plenty of issues there I guarantee you and so that's the I wanted to share that with you because you know I've been so such a champion of solo life still am still I don't want to give up my autonomy I don't know even what that might look like you know I'm thinking maybe just some more friends you know maybe just a couple close nomadic friends that I can see and hang out with maybe even a couple times a year I can't imagine anything more than that really even though I just talked about splitting all my labor but I can't imagine any I'm kind of babbling because I I'm thinking about this as I'm talking I don't know what that looks like for me it's not yeah I don't know what that looks like I just wanted to share it though because I think it's a consideration for people who especially are a little reticent about thinking about doing this alone they're like I don't know you know I don't know if I can do that alone if that's you I'm gonna say you're probably really gonna struggle but because even me who has been alone my whole life enjoys being alone after five years I'm starting to think you know maybe completely alone 90 percent of the time isn't gonna last isn't isn't the way to go for me I might need I might need people after my therapist has been telling me that for years I'm like I don't need people she's like everybody needs people we're humans we're social animals and I actually said well maybe I'm more involved than that and she just laughed no you're not and it's taken me five years I don't regret the last five years at all I love my solitude I love my independence like I said I am not willing to give that up for somebody who's gonna smother me or whatever you know so I'm not saying that I'm gonna like get married I'm just saying that for it's important to consider that being on the road for a while you might get to a point where you can't do it completely alone for whatever reason so that I know that was a lot I was kind of thinking it through as I was talking about it trying to kind of figure out my own process here and what I don't know what that means for me and I don't want a bunch of marriage proposals I think that's where I'm struggling with I don't want you know that's happened in the past you know that's another thing let me just say that I'm alone because I choose to be there is no lack of interest from the opposite sex or the same sex for that matter you know I mean it's it's not like I'm sitting here going I don't want to be alone and nobody wants me that's so not my my reality it never has been really I'm just uh that's not what I want so yeah so this isn't an invitation for for proposals let's just put it that way all right those are the six things I have learned the biggest lessons I've learned being on the road for the last five years and we'll see what the next five years brings I have no idea I'm not ready to make any serious changes yet we'll see after my travels this summer so all right I hope you found that interesting insightful maybe a little entertaining and I appreciate each and every one of you for being here and supporting me in all the ways that you do a lot of you reached out after all the crap that's been going on the last couple of weeks a couple of you felt like you needed to talk me off the ledge after the last uh video that I did but hey you know what we all have our days and luckily they don't last here I am living my best my best doggie life living my best carolyn life thank you all so much I will see you next time in the meantime be happy be free and be kind I'll see you soon