Tag: full time rv

May 2023 Financial Update

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We finally got around to writing this financial update after a busy travel schedule. In the last couple of weeks we have gone from Southern Utah to Idaho and now Montana. This is the stop we have been waiting for as we booked our stay here over a year ago. And as far as camping goes, there is no place like Montana.

This will be a busy, and pricy, summer. Our goal is to make it to as many National Parks as possible along our route this season. The adventure was supposed to start with Zion National Park in southern Utah. Unfortunately bad weather and family obligations held us back.

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What’s Our End Game?

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After being on the road and seeing the country it’s only natural to start asking questions. The biggest question that comes to mind is…. What’s our end game? We love being on the road, but it would be naive to think we can do this forever. Our family would certainly like to know the answer to this question. Some of them think we are crazy for living this way to begin with.

In hindsight, this is probably something we should have considered during the planning phase. But back then we were focused on getting to a better place in life. We have always known that our end game didn’t include staying in a high tax state like California. It was always just a matter of time before we moved somewhere else regardless.

In a way we are just doing what we do best, winging it!

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Campground Review – Mesa Regal RV Resort (55+)

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In this edition we will be providing a campground review of Mesa Regal RV Resort which is a 55+ resort located in Mesa, AZ.

This was our first time visiting the resort and we were there for a whopping 5 months. Now, our stated goal in our campground review series is to give an unbiased and unemotional opinion. We want our readers to have information so they can make an informed decision before spending hard earned money booking a site.

In the interest of transparency it should be known that we work-camped at this resort for the duration of our stay. The experience was less than ideal, to put it mildly, and not something we would recommend to our fellow travelers. We have documented that experience here if you would like to read more about it.

In this campground review we will attempt to take a step back from our work-camping experience and focus solely on the resort.

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April 2023 Financial Update

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April went by in a flash and it feels like May is shaping up to do the same. Ever since we left Mesa we have been busy trying to get caught up on projects and hobbies while at the same time getting back to enjoying the things we love like hiking and sightseeing. And since we have family that lives close by we have to make sure we find time to visit and catch up while we can.

Over the last month it has been great to be out in the open air and enjoying nature again and we have tried to get out for a nice size hike at least once a week. The great part about being full-time in our RV is we get to enjoy things while everyone else is busy working and the kids are in school. Often times when we go on hike we are the only people around which allows us to enjoy the views and our surroundings undisturbed. That will begin to change over the next few months so we are trying to take advantage of it while we can. We are hoping to hit Zion National Park before it gets too crowded and we have to leave. It’s been awhile since we have been there and it has some of the best hiking!

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April 2023 Dividend Portfolio Update

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Time flies when you are having fun and feels like April was over before we could even get ourselves completely settled in and back on track.

As the markets struggled for direction so too did our dividend portfolio. At times it seemed like April was going to be a banner month as earnings overall were turning out somewhat better than expected. Then our account took a hit with the earnings release for Abbvie (ABBV) which is the largest position in our portfolio. The subsequent drop in the stock price was a bit odd as the numbers were actually pretty good, but the erosion in the sales of their flagship drug after losing patent protection was just too much and the stock sold off.

Over the last couple of trading days the markets rallied and ABBV recovered a small portion of the drop. Our portfolios roller coaster ride ended slightly in the positive for the month which we are always happy to see. Of concern going forward is the continued volatility, continued fed incompetence and yet another bank failure which could have further negative impact on the economy and the markets.

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Operation Enduring Mesa

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It’s no secret, we had a pretty miserable experience at our Fall/Winter work-camping gig. While we wanted to give more details throughout the months of frustration, we refrained from doing so on the off chance someone at the resort would run across our blog and it would make it’s way back to management thus causing more problems. Not that we really cared what they thought, but there were other people who were work-camping there too and it wouldn’t be fair to them if things went sideways even more because of our blog.

While it might sound like we are giving our little blog too much credit when it comes to exposure, it’s not hard to put two and two together and figure out who we are when we are at a campground. It’s happened before so it can happen again and there were about 3000 people at this resort so caution was warranted.

Prior to this gig we had only one other work-camping job and we absolutely loved it. In fact, we loved it so much we became lifelong friends with the owners of the campground and we talk to them all the time. They actually sold the campground they owned and are now full-time RV’ers too!

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March 2023 Financial Update

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Free at last! As we mentioned in our March Dividend Portfolio Update we are finally back on the road and settled in Utah once again. Most importantly, we are free from the work-camping hell we found ourselves in for the last five plus months.

We will be doing another blog on the experience, but in short there were many issues we, and every other work-camper, had with our time in Mesa as it turned out to be a terrible experience.

For starters as we said the deal itself just wasn’t worth the time or hassle. We knew the details, or most of them at least, and we agreed to them beforehand so that’s on us. We hoped to find a place that we enjoyed and could return to when we winter in the southwest and we were a willing to take a subpar deal if it meant being at a great place. The bad financial deal turned out to be the least of the problems as the whole experience in and of itself was horrible.

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