10/10/2018 scrngrab 0 Comments

Why should you obtain motorhome insurance if you reside full-time in your RV? Reportedly, a number of insurance firms market motorhome insurance policies to “full-timers” today. Some excellent reasons support maintaining this type of coverage.

Frequently, RV living entails a number of recurring expenses. One of the costs which budget-conscious owners should not shirk involves paying motorhome insurance policy premiums. Popular considerations for including this protection in your budget include legal liability coverage requirements, the availability of reimbursement against some types of thefts and property losses, and peace of mind.

Liability Insurance

Since most states classify motorhomes as a type of vehicle, owners need to obtain at least the minimum required level of liability insurance for these assets. Liability coverage protects other people in the event your RV becomes involved in an accident. The level of minimum required coverage varies from one jurisdiction to another.

Just like liability insurance for an auto, motorhome liability insurance becomes a prerequisite for taking your RV on the road. Driving a motorhome without this vital coverage could subject you to legal penalties, including steep fines. The fact many so-called full-timers reside throughout the year in their vehicle does not diminish the importance of maintaining adequate levels of motorhome liability insurance coverage.

Obtain Reimbursement For Property Losses

Motorhome dwellers today also have an opportunity to obtain insurance coverage to safeguard them against the impact of specific types of thefts or accidental property losses. Policies sometimes vary with respect to the extent of coverage in specified situations. For instance, in some cases, insurers will only pay policyholders for thefts following forced entry into the RV or its locked storage compartments.

If you reside around the year in your RV, you may find it helpful to compare several different policies to select the one with the most comprehensive protection against property losses. If you travel in your motorhome along with important possessions, this type of insurance policy supplies a way to make certain a severe thunderstorm, or a theft won’t burden you with significant debts when the time comes to replace your essential belongings.

Obtain Greater Peace of Mind

A third reason to seek adequate motorhome insurance relates to a psychological issue: peace of mind. Residing in an RV all year won’t bring much satisfaction if one also lives in constant fear of an accidental loss or a theft wiping out the household financially. To truly enjoy life as a full-time, many RV owners require the knowledge they’ve obtained adequate levels of insurance.

Peace of mind supplies a number of benefits. Numerous scientific studies have demonstrated it offers tangible health advantages. If you’d like lower blood pressure and a reduction of stress in your life, then maintaining this psychological state holds great value.

 

Investing in Motorhome Insurance

Varied motivations underlie the decision to seek motorhome insurance. Fulltimers definitely need this coverage. It offers enhanced financial security!

09/12/2016 scrngrab 0 Comments

My recent travels took me through Colorado, winding my way east from Utah along I-70 and then north from Denver with a stop off in Boulder before heading to Fort Collins and on to the Pawnee National Grassland. Colorado was always a favorite spot for family vacations growing up. In the winters, we would pack our skis and snowboards and head to Breckenridge for the holidays. This always felt special, because the closest thing to a white Christmas at home was building sand castles on Florida’s white sand beaches. The summers we didn’t spend at the beach, we would occasionally fly out to Colorado for a week of hiking, fly fishing, and breathing in the crisp morning air of Colorado summers – a far cry from the oppressively humid clime of our home state. It was in Colorado that my brother and I spent one of our college summers tackling 14ers, pushing our bodies beyond what we knew we were capable of. All that to say, Colorado holds a special place in my memories and in my heart.

Signing Away Your Health

On this trip through Colorado, I noticed something that hadn’t really caught my attention before: oil rigs dotting the beautiful landscape of northern Colorado. Perhaps my senses were heightened because of documentary I had recently watched called Gasland, in which filmmaker Josh Fox reveals the impact of natural gas drilling in communities throughout the United States. In the film, he visits with residents in one area of Colorado whose lives have been flipped upside down by agreeing to sell the rights to the minerals on their property to oil and gas companies. Many residents see the dollar signs and hastily sell mineral rights, while others happen to just live on land that’s adjacent to an area being drilled. Either way, thousands of people in Colorado and other parts of the U.S. have had to deal with the ramifications of oil and gas drilling, and in particular, a new method of drilling called fracking.

Fracking on the Niobrara Shale

Northern Colorado lies along a portion of the massive Niobrara shale play, a large oil and gas-rich region that also runs through Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. While the area has been drilled for years, it wasn’t until the past decade that companies adopted the practice of fracking. This newer process pumps waters and chemicals deep into the ground at a high pressure, fracturing the shale and releasing oil and gas. While considered revolutionary by the oil and gas companies because it allows drillers to reach previously unreachable pockets of trapped oil and gas, this method is the worst nightmare of environmentalists and most landowners.

What’s the Risk?

Why is fracking so bad? One of the main cases against fracking is the use of a proprietary blend of chemicals that is pumped into the ground, which poses a water contamination risk for humans and animals. No one is entirely sure what chemicals are involved, but communities where fracking takes place have experienced an increase in birth defects, cancer, and nervous system disorders, among other maladies. If you need convincing that the water is contaminated, just watch what happens when a resident who lives near a fracking site lights her tap water on fire. Additionally, fracking has been linked to increased seismic activity, putting millions at risk from man-made earthquakes. If that wasn’t enough, each well uses up millions of gallons of water.

Current Tone in Colorado

These facts are especially startling in light of the number of wells in Colorado that now use hydraulic fracturing. According the Bureau of Land Management, approximately 95% of new wells in Colorado are fractured. At the moment, a drop in worldwide gas prices has put a lot of Colorado drilling on pause, but it’s just a matter of time before operations resume and expand. Across the state, anti-fracking activists, also referred to as “fractivists”, have begun petitioning the state government to regulate fracking more heavily. They hoped to get two anti-fracking measures onto the November ballot, but were shy of the verified signatures needed to do so.

Striking a Balance

As someone who loves Colorado and its incredible people, I hope that organizations like Yes for Health and Safety Over Fracking will continue the fight for responsible and transparent drilling practices. I’d hate to see the Centennial State ruined by greedy oil money, but I also understand that the oil and gas industry provides lots of economic benefit through jobs and the purchase of mineral rights. In Colorado, and across the country, the oil and gas industry has a lot of cleaning up to do.

05/11/2016 scrngrab 0 Comments

You don’t often hear of people downsizing from an apartment to an Airstream, but about a month ago that’s what I did. My small Airstream Sport is about 16 feet by 8 feet so at 128 square feet, my personal space was shrinking to almost a tenth of my apartment space in Austin. Traveling the States for a year in this tiny contraption meant leaving many of life’s luxuries behind.

Decluttering

I first scoured my apartment for items that I could get rid of by selling on Craigslist or donating to Goodwill. Made some good money selling a couple of old Macs on Craigslist and took all of my unwanted clothes, Abercrombie circa the 2000s, to Goodwill. Since I plan on having full-sized living quarters again when I return, I didn’t want to get rid of my furniture. I hired some hourly movers to haul the non-essentials to a storage unit in San Antonio. I’m not sure if I’m returning to Austin, so I figured I might as well store things near my brother.

What Made the Cut

On board the Airstream, space is extremely tight. There’s a small closet and limited storage compartments, but my Land Cruiser does offer additional storage. Here’s what I brought along with me:

  • Clothes: 2 pairs of jeans, 2 pairs of shorts, 5 long sleeve shirts, 5 short-sleeve shirts, 1 Patagonia pull over, and 1 heavy jacket (though I’ll be close to Florida by winter so hopefully won’t need to use this). All of these clothes easily fit in the hanging closet
  • Activewear: It’s hard to hike and run in traditional clothing, so I brought a pair of hiking pants, running shorts, and a few breathable shirts
  • Shoes: One pair each of running shoes, hiking boots, boat shoes, and flip-flops
  • Dishes: 4 plates, 4 bowls, 4 glasses, 4 forks, 4 knives, 4 spoons. At any given time I can only seat 4 people comfortably for dinner, so I figured this was the most I’d need. Plus, not having more clean dishes available forces you to wash the dirty ones more often.
  • Kitchen items: I frequently make smoothies and protein shakes so a blender was a must. For my coffee addiction, I brought a compact coffee grinder and I’m improvising with my collapsible coffee pour over device that I usually take camping. I brought one kettle, one large pot, one deep pan, one large knife, one paring knife, a thin plastic cutting board, one mixing bowl, and a few kitchen utensils.
  • Linens: Two towels, two washcloths, and one set of bed sheets. I keep a laundry basket in the back of my car and do laundry as infrequently as possible.
  • Recreational things: I plan on doing a lot of backpacking and fishing this year, so I did bring along a bin with all of my backpacking and camping gear, as well as my fly rods. This easily fits in the back of the car.

This experience has already taught me how little we really need to get by. I can see why the Tiny Home trend has gotten so much attention recently. Living without the extra clutter and noise of stuff feels extremely liberating.

Other Logistics

  • Internet: I had an old iPhone with a removable SIM card, so I went to TMobile and purchased their mobile hotspot plan. Now I have internet wherever I can get cell reception. Most RV parks do offer free wifi, but the hotspot comes in handy when wifi isn’t available, and since I need to be connected to do my work, it’s essential.
  • TV: The Airstream came with a space for a small mounted TV near the foot of the bed, but most of the time I just end up watching Netflix or Hulu on my laptop. Now that I’m done binge watching Breaking Bad, I spend more time working and reading than watching TV.
  • Books: I kept my Austin Public Library card, and can check out eBooks through the Kindle app on my phone for free. I honestly don’t know why people still buy books.
  • Laundry: I keep a laundry basket in the back of the Land Cruiser for dirty clothes, so they aren’t cluttering the trailer. I can usually stretch clothes two weeks before needing to spend an afternoon at the laundromat. Having fewer clothes means I waste less time deciding what to wear and doing laundry. I also don’t see people as often so the definition of “clean” has changed a bit.
  • Showering: The bathroom is a little tight so I try to only use the shower when absolutely necessary. Most campgrounds have showers available that make life much easier.
  • Septic: Yep, you do have to dispose of your waste at some point. Since my tank’s not full yet, I haven’t tried this. I’m sure I will have a whole blog on this when it happens.