Alrighty... This grew looong. "The text that you have entered is too long (10357 characters). Please shorten it to 10000 characters long." So this is PART ONE to be followed immediately by PART TWO.

PART ONE

This is Pamela, Lloyd's other half. We just hit 2-years of full-timing on March 1st.

Where to start ...

I'll focus comments on my point of view since you already have Lloyd's opinion. Overall, we love our full-timing experience.

TRAVEL BUG:
Both Lloyd and I have always had wanderlust. We have travelled extensively together and separately, before we met. We've done it all, from tents to luxury cruises, but full-time + Prevost is something altogether different.

SPACE:
It's worth pointing out that Lloyd and I have different "needs" when it comes to lifestyle which we've had to address. He could live in a cave, but I need light and (a lot!) of space. He could be with me 24 hours a day every day; I need a little 'me time'. He needs a desk and many techie accessories. If I can, I play and work outside under the awning, or on the beach, or in the leafy shade. When I really need my space (Lloyd works a few days a month via conference calls), I escape to a cafe, a beachside pavillion, a library, an authentic Mexican restaurant, etc. So. We make it work. The ONLY time the bus feels small when we're both in it is when it's dark and rainy during the daytime. Honestly, that's the only time. On those days, if I don't feel the urge to fly the coop, I sequester myself in the bedroom if I need concentration time to write and such--always feels a little like a luxury anyway.

MORE SPACE:
We exercise as much or more since we left Nova Scotia, which is sometimes a togetherness activity and sometimes a solo activity. We can walk, jog or bike through most campgrounds or nearby locations. Admittedly, when we don't have the opportunity to get out on our feet and explore, we get a bit antsy and search for a place to burn some physical and mental energy.

Sometimes campground club houses, pools, breakfast rooms, and other public areas are attractive places to lounge about.

Often we find space in local areas as we just wander or hunker down at a local venue to people watch or read, write, eat, take in the music, loll and listen to the surf, etc.

HEALTH:
This was an important consideration for us even though we're both healthy healthy, we're told.

We decided on global medical insurance which covers us beyond what our NS health care covers (they cover whatever they would've covered had the incident/illness/etc. happened in NS). We have more med insurance than we need, plus duplicate emergency services through the various RV assocations. We just didn't want to have to worry in the slightest when it comes to medical care. (Ditto for duplicate emergency roadside service)

One of our favourite local experiences in this regard is the local (and hopefully organic) farmers markets. Additionally, experiencing the local food and dishes is always a treat.

THINGS:
I value experiences much more than possessions and always have. I'm kind of a minimalist. Lloyd ... mmm ... he has a shopping gene, I swear it, but he weeded his things down to essentials when the house in Atlanta sold. In our opinion, there are few things more freeing than unloading yourself of inessential "things". I think most people find that the urge to acquire lessens when you have to think about where and how to store it in the generous yet limited storage that 340ish square feet (in our case) offers. Having said that, we've shipped our share of boxes back home to be stored.

HOBBIES:
What are your hobbies and are the suited to an on-the-go lifestyle?

We write, read, photograph, play guitar (badly), and seek out live theatre, cinema, cultural events, art events, live music and authentic and local food wherever we can.

STYLE:
What is your travel style?

We travel at a fairly leisurely pace. We rarely stay less than 4 nights or more than 1 month at a destination and rarely drive more than 2-3 hours to the next destination.

We tend to split our time 50/50 between touristy/local attractions. Local recommendations for local hot spots are often the best and most memorable of the hangouts!

We always allow for down time. It's easy to get wrapped up in tourist mode. "We have to see everything while we're here." But you'll wear yourself out! We learned, fast, to choose highlights and supplement with local recommendations and--often as rewarding--things we just wander upon.

We really enjoy drives between the destinations. We avoid major highways if we can because the secondary roads usually offer better sights and a glimpse into the local communities.

CAMPGROUNDS:
In my opinion, this is the biggest unknown of all the variables in the full-timing experience.

First, take into account your taste. We love provincial, state and national parks most though, on occasion, our size restricts us from such parks.

Campgrounds can also be one of the most disappointing or, conversely, pleasantly surprising aspects. It seems to me that what you read in Woodalls (or whatever) or see online, is almost never quite what you envision or end up with once you arrive at the campground, which may be for the better or worse. We have learned to run down our short checklist when we reserve to ensure we'll have what we need when we arrive and eliminate most of the negative surprises.

Again, we like the provincial, state and federal parks most. Otherwise, we prefer campgrounds with good-sized sites, some privacy, and with some kind of evidence of Nature. Failing that, we go for something at least somewhat esthetically appealing because that's important to us.

We also like to dry camp and find we can easily do so for a week and could push it to or almost to two weeks with prudent sailing tactics.

To be continued...