Getting Started — Otherworld Travels

As much as I would like to tell you how easy and risk-free it is to jump into the full-time RV lifestyle, that wouldn't be true or helpful to those who want to do this. It's been a roller coaster of extreme ups and extreme what the f*@k did we get ourselves into?!?

If you really want to live the full-timer lifestyle (and we definitely recommend it!), there are some things you need to know - things we didn't know before getting into it. Depending on your financial/living situation, the process of buying and moving into an RV could be as simple as any other move or car purchase. It was not for us. We had some major hurdles to jump before making this move. Since we didn't have any warning these issues would occur (even after extensive research into all things RV) we wanted to share our story.

How do we get the money!?!

We found our home in mid-June. She was perfect: the exact size, make, condition, and price we were looking for. Ah, our months of research paid off. $500 down and a celebratory beer. It was a great day- one of the ups.

The following day we applied for financing never having been denied out-right (at least Loren hadn't). It turns out, banks don't want to loan two women in their early-late twenties $40,000+ to buy a recreational vehicle. I lost count how many banks we applied to, maybe 5ish?

We were getting so discouraged. Just before we gave up I looked to forums. Desperately, I read others' stories of the same dilemma: "don't tell the bank you'll b full-timing", "find a bank that loans to full-timers", "get someone else on the paperwork, like a co-signer but they own your house."

Two weeks pass. I found a bank that loans to full-timers by reading a story quite similar to our own. A young couple that could not get finnced for all the same reasons. They applied to Alliant Credit Union at an RV show, and were approved! Without expecting to get the same result, I put our application through on my phone while watching Netflix that evening.

APPROVED!!!

We had it. Just within reach. However, the bank disagreed on the price our dealer set, so another several days of negotiation took place. Terms were reached, and we had another one of those up days. We had the keys. It was ours! Celebratory sushi anyone?

Where do we park our home?

Now, all we have to do is find the RV park! Simple, right? WRONG!

I'll set the stage: July, 2017, Portland, OR. People of all ages are amassing to the Pacific Northwest. Tourists, snow-birds, young bohos, all different types of people pilling into this 145 mile city for the summer.

We visited our first pick of RV parks. Full. No vacancies for at least a year. Strange, we had thought. All well, on to the next. We visited our second pick. Full. No vacancies, try again in September. We could't afford to wait until September.

This is when we came to the realization that we could not have learned without experiencing it first-hand: this will be harder than we thought. We began to lower our standards, justifying this with 'we will have to go a little farther out.' No, it was the same response everywhere we went: "no vacancies", "apply to be on a wait-list", "how old is your RV, doesn't matter we don't have room."

After calling every RV and mobile home park within a 50 mile radius, we decided to take a break from trying. Sad margarita anyone? The dealer allowed us to store it on their lot for free, for which we could not have been more grateful. Out of options, we stayed in our expensive, mold-ridden, noisy apartment for another month. This is when our obsession with Drag Race began, but that's for another day.

No, seriously. Where do we park our home?!

August came quickly. No vacancies still. We had not realized the influx of travel the eclipse would bring to our area. Portland was crowded, traffic-ridden, and overall not where we wanted to be.

We began to panic. Should we leave? Quit our jobs? Move back to Texas tails tucked between our legs? Where can we stay? How can we get out and make money? As a last desperate attempt, we started looking into camp hosting and work camping.

I printed out an application for the Oregon State Park Hosting program and read it carefully. It took us about a week to actually send it in, thinking it wouldn't get us anywhere. Now into the second week of August, Loren's impatience was rising to it's peak.

She emailed Silver Falls, because Stevie Nicks kept telling us to go there (again, it's for another day). She got a response! "Let us know when your application goes through." We did and here we are. Three months after finding our home, we finally moved in!

Champagne and hot dogs all around!

Living the Dream

There are several catches to our current situation though: our assignment is only for a month. Loren had to quit her job, and I'm commuting 1.5 hours to work. WORTH IT!

A little over a week in, and we decide we need a plan for next month. It'll be October, so plenty of space will be open, right? WRONG. Still full. Portland isn't big enough for our beautiful 33' Rhiannon. Our search was already broad, but we broadened it even more. Emailing and calling any RV park in sight (and out of sight).

Days past, stress increased, and we began to discuss leaving again. This seemed to give us an extra boost, because the next day we spammed even more parks. Loren got the response we'd been waiting months for: no monthly sites until November, but you can stay weekly until then and switch after that." It's still an hour commute for me, but it's a place to park and plug in. It's a plan.

A restful night's sleep anyone?

*UPDATE* We never ended up staying at that RV park, because Silver Falls kept us on until we found our next hosting gig! Loren got great job closer to where we host, so I no longer have to commute the crazy 1.5-2 hours! We're so lucky and very grateful to everyone that helped and encouraged us in those stressful months.

Do you have a crazy getting started story? Let us know in a comment below and subscribe to our email list!