May 19, 2025
By Sheila Bressler
We are very excited to be invited back by Tom Schaeffer’s Camping and Travel Center, Inc. to share our experiences of traveling across America while working and living full-time in our RV. We are Mike and Sheila Bressler, and we can’t wait to share what we have learned (good and bad) about the lifestyle. First, here’s a little bit about our background and our journey into full-time RV living.
First of all, WE LOVE CAMPING! We have camped together since we were teenagers and have had many different camping experiences over the years. Our first camping trip was to a private campground in Northern PA, where we spent two nights sleeping in a tent in 30-degree weather alongside the Pine Creek. To say that our first camping experience was cold and uncomfortable is an understatement, but something about waking up to the sounds of the birds singing and the creek, accompanied by the smell of fresh air, had us hooked! Thankfully, over the next thirty-plus years, we were able to upgrade our sleeping quarters to units that had heat and more comfortable beds, including a pop-up, various travel trailers, a Class C motorhome, and, currently, a fifth wheel camper. Now, don’t get me wrong, we still occasionally pull out our little two-man tent and get back on the ground for a good night’s sleep, but the older we get, the more we enjoy modern comforts and conveniences.
Over the years, camping became our primary way to travel when we took vacations from our full-time jobs. Sheila was a social worker for 28 years, and during that time, Mike worked in road construction, HVAC, and as an RV technician. In addition to our full-time jobs, we always had part-time jobs. Although our income was modest, we were able to own a home, cars, trucks, campers, pay our bills on time, and invest a nice amount of money, but what was it that made us want to turn our weekend camping trips into a way of life?
Well, it all started in the summer of 2008, when we took a three-week vacation out West in our Class C motor home to see the beauty of South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota. It was the trip of a lifetime! While we were traveling, we couldn’t help thinking that we would love to be able to live like this forever. Little did we know we would soon meet the inspiration for that dream, which would kick off 12 years of plotting and planning to make it a reality.
It was day 17 of our journey. We had spent the day driving part of the scenic loop road in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, enjoying the landscape and the wild animals. We planned to spend the night at Cottonwood Campground inside the Park. As we entered the campground, we were greeted by a very nice gentleman, Bill, who introduced himself as the “Campground Host”. He proceeded to tell us which site we were staying in for the night, the rules of the campground, and where we could find any supplies we might need in the nearest town. Now, it had been a long day, and Mike was anxious to get to our site and get settled in for the night with a beer and a campfire, but Sheila was intrigued by what a “Campground Host” was and how to become one. Upon questioning, Bill explained that several years ago, he and his partner gave up “sticks and bricks living” (that is what full-time RV’ers call it when you live in a house) and had been living and traveling in their camper ever since. He went on to share that their life consisted of traveling the country, volunteering in National Park campgrounds, and, in exchange for their volunteer time, they would receive a free campsite for the duration of their stay. Wait. What? A free campsite in exchange for some volunteer time? That sounds amazing! Where do I sign up for that? It was at that point that Sheila told Mike to save his money, because one day, we were going to be campground hosts.
That dream became reality in September of 2020 when we started full-time RV living. Yup! Right when COVID was ravaging our country. Full-time RV living was something we had been working towards for a long time, and no worldwide pandemic was going to stop us from living our dream! Since 2008, we had researched, saved money, paid off our debts, and bought our truck and fifth-wheel camper that we hoped would serve as our house on wheels for years to come. Now, not every full-time RV’er takes 12 years to make their dream come true.
Some folks make the decision, sell their house, and hit the road within a couple of months, but we are planners, and making sure we were financially stable and had the knowledge we needed for full-time RV living was what made us feel most comfortable.
The thought of selling your house and most of your belongings to live in an RV full-time may sound romantic, scary, and unobtainable all at the same time, but if you want it, you can do it! We want to help!
In this blog, we will share with you tips on how to get started, how to find jobs, types of campers to consider for full-time living, pros and cons of the lifestyle, what to do with your house and belongings, how to get healthcare/insurance, how to get your mail, helpful internet resources, and so much more.
We love questions, so feel free to post them, and we will do our best to answer each one. If living and traveling the country in an RV is your dream… Don’t wait! DO IT!
