Traveling in California

Deciding to RV is a lifestyle decision. It is not a budget travel decision. It is unlikely that you will save money over "standard" travel.

For what it is worth, parks in NorCal will be a rock bottom $600 a month but more likely $800 plus. National forests are much less but with few facilities and usually an hour or more from assignments.

If you do go RV, consider joining a Moose or Elk lodge. They have lower cost parks but fewer facilities and some inconvenient rules.

Maintaining a tax home is worth about $10,000 a year in the bank for most travelers. If you were thinking about selling your home and becoming a full timer, you will lose the tax benefits of travel nursing.

Picking agencies and recruiters is highly personal and can be likened to choosing a spouse. One that works for someone else may not work for you. Only way to find out is by talking to many of them and filtering down to the five best for you.

I know a little something about rv travel nursing. My wife and I have done it for about two years now. First of all Ned is right. You can't give up your tax home. The reason we profit (or one of them) is that I can deduct the trailer as a second home. I manage to pay as little as 16$/day for rv rent and it usually runs around 450 per month if you pay monthly. Weekly rates are higher. We recently did a contract or two north of the bay and the monthly rate was about 900. But I still managed a profit because of the deduction and because Cali per diems are higher. There are other pitfalls but getting a reservation is not usually one of them. I can always find a place to park it. I'm not sure I would do it this way if my wife wasn't also a travel nurse with me. But if you do it right then you can have cheaper housing and make a good profit doing it. I've done it for a while.

Its only super expensive in Cali because everything is ridiculously pricey in Cali. We were making around 1800/ week each after tax on 36 hrs contracts. Naturally it would be higher for 48. This was Napa, Santa Rosa, st. Helena area. I'm ER. Wife is ICU.

How are the pay rate out in Northern Cali currently? With housing and without?

Pay rates are dependent on your specialty, experience, agency, current needs (crisis versus standard rates). Total pay should be the same whether you take provided housing or a stipend. The deal with finding your own housing or going the RV route is that if you spend less than the stipend, the balance is yours. So it is popular, but of course getting your own housing is a hassle.

The economics of travel by RV look somewhat better when not traveling solo, especially with two nurse travelers. It is a real luxury not to have to pack and unpack every 13 weeks. If you have pets, RVing can be very attractive as regular short term pet friendly housing is very hard to find for a reasonable cost. RV parks are pet friendly.

So it is all about the lifestyle. The downsides are the upfront costs of an RV (I didn't know until I read pinktermite's post that travelers rented RVs), maintenance, insurance, gas costs (even with our current half price gas it really adds up at 8-10 mpg), depreciation, bad internet connections at parks will always be much more than you expect. Parks may be very difficult to find and/or expensive in urban areas (some parks in NorCal are 2K a month), and many RVs cannot handle winter weather. Many RVers need a second vehicle to get around. You may be able to avoid that if you haul a trailer instead, but then you are stuck with a large thirsty truck for daily commutes and sightseeing/errands.

I meant rent for the rv spot costing what it does, that 450 or 900 per month is to rent a place to park it. I own the trailer. That's how I deduct it as a second home. Sorry if I wrote that confusingly. As far as I know you can't rent a fifth wheel, trailer, or motorhome on a somewhat permanent basis. And yes, the cost of that big diesel pickup is worth mentioning as well. Thanks Ned, my sentence structure needs a little work.

It doesn't take much to confuse me.

I travel with a Travel Trailer. some hospitals allow RV parking and have RV spots. Check the hospital out on google earth. I also do not stick around during the week and live relatively close to my permanent home and tow it home weekly. I did spend the whole summer camping in the NF and on BLM land though. That includes mountains and beaches. This is a picture from monday.

I have looked at RV parks in northern CA and they vary wildly. I have not seen any as expensive as Ned states, most are $600-$1200(when you include utility charges). The $1200 is on the beach just outside of San Fran. Considering that a 1 bedroom in the area is easily twice that it is a win for me. I dont have to pack anything up either. I have driven a large truck my whole life and my large diesel gets 18mpg without a trailer, 12mpg with it. The truck thing is not a big deal for me. My truck is also paid for. My trailer cost me about $300/month.

If you buy a trailer/RV do NOT pay anything close to sticker price. Get whatever model number you like and shop the internet. They are EASILY 25% off sticker price in other parts/dealers of the country for current year models. Find what you want in an RV/trailer at an RV show or go to alot of dealers and check them all out. Look at a minimum of 20 different RV/trailers.

Coaches are more expensive and you will need a small tow car. Trailers are less expensive but you need a truck to tow it, the big trucks are expensive if you get a heavy trailer. I had a truck already so the trailer was the easy pick. If I had a small car already and no truck I would have looked at the motor coaches closer and probably ended up going that route.

I can live off grid with my travel trailer for about a 3 day stretch currently without needing to plug in or charge off my truck. I am installing a solar system this week though and will have infinite power after that. There are free dump/fill stations all over the country.

If you have never traveled before, you might consider trying it the more traditional way without an RV to see how you like it first. It is nuisance to spend ten thousand plus dollars and much effort into the RV world only to find out that travel is not for you. Another factor to consider is the RV market in different areas, especially used. I have no doubt that supply is higher in some parts of the country, and lower in others. California and of course Arizona (drier climate prolongs vehicle life) seem loaded with RVs to me. Buying a used RV takes a good bit of due diligence on your part. Fixing defects (like a bad roof, leaky plumbing, or bad electric circuits) may add a lot to the cost. New RVs have huge margins and drop 20% mile one.

If you get to California sans RV and decide to go that way, you have just saved a good bit of money in gas and maintenance and depreciation by not having driven across the country in an RV. Some travelers leave their RVs in California and fly or drive back home for that reason. If you really want the full Route 66 RV experience and have the time to stay off of interstates, then you can always do that between assignments.