Campground Review – Mesa Regal RV Resort (55+)

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.

Continue reading “Campground Review – Mesa Regal RV Resort (55+)”

March 2022 Financial Update

Another month in the books! We finished the month of March in the black marking our first positive month the year. But like most of you, we experienced our first negative quarterly returns in two years. At the lows we are nearly $175k in the hole so it was nice to see a recoverey albeit a small one. There is a long way to go just to get back to breakeven on the year, but that is really out of our hands so we will just take it one month at a time.

Given the current geopolitical environment and rising interest rates the chances of a rally to higher levels, similar to what we had in the last three quarters of 2020, seam to be slim to none. If things continue down this road the best outcome we can probably hope for is a breakeven too slightly positive year. Even that might even be a stretch.

Continue reading “March 2022 Financial Update”

One Year On The Road

Towards the end of February we passed the anniversary date marking one year full-time on the road. We didn’t get a chance to celebrate this milestone. As a matter of fact, we didn’t even know it happened. The date came and went as we were busy preparing to hit the road once again and failed to recognize our accomplishment.

Reflecting on the last year we have come a long way and yet it seems as though we are just getting started. Perhaps this is because we began our adventures in February, but it took another seven months before we actually started living life on our own terms.

Continue reading “One Year On The Road”

2021 Year In Review

What a difference a year makes! As a matter of fact, we never published our 2020 year in review for a few reasons. Mostly because 2020 just plain sucked! The pandemic ruined everything from our son’s senior year of high school, large parts of our college road trip, his freshman year in college and our plans to start our full-time RV life. And who can forget the financial rollercoaster from the top of the world down to the pit of despair and back again? Publishing a blog post and reliving it all over again was the last thing on our minds.

Here we are at the end of another year and still dealing with the continued fallout from the pandemic. Some things have remained the same. Everything else in our lives has changed for the better.

Continue reading “2021 Year In Review”

September 2021 Financial Update

Well it finally happened, we had a negative return month. This is our first month in the red since January, which is pretty remarkable, and even in January we were barely negative. In fact we would have to look back to October 2020 for the last significant negative month which shows that a correction was probably long over due. Of course everyone, including us, loves to see their portfolio go up month after month but in reality that is not healthy or sustainable. While it’s never fun to see your portfolio decrease, sometimes dramatically, these pullbacks create the opportunity to take up new positions, add to existing positions or to dollar cost average. Plus they are a healthy aspect of a long term investment strategy.

Continue reading “September 2021 Financial Update”

Becoming South Dakota Residents

To us one of the essential parts of becoming full time RV’ers was to establish residency, or domicile, in a state other than California. This is something most full timers do if they no longer intend to have a permanent residence or home base in a state. There are several reasons both financially and logistically to take this step and although it takes a little bit of work it is a fairly easy process and well worth the time.

When it comes to full time travelers some states are more beneficial than others. Have you ever noticed that many RV’s on the road are to be registered in South Dakota, Texas or Florida? This is because these three states are considered full time friendly states and make it very easy to become residents even though you don’t intend on being in the state most of the time. Another thing these three states have in common is they have an income tax rate of ZERO!! That’s right, if you are a resident of one of these three states you do not have to pay a state income tax. Contrast that with California who has one of the highest state tax rates in the nation and you can start to understand our motivation for getting out of the state. Continue reading “Becoming South Dakota Residents”