Beware of Grouchy Bloggers

Our Biggest Lesson Learned So Far

The biggest thing we have learned 6 months into our adventure is to not to believe all of the bad posts about how hard it is to do this (RV life).

We did a lot of research and read a lot of blogs/reviews prior to making the transition to an RV. We read horror story after horror story about life in an RV. We were at the point of “who in their right mind would want to do this” and then we realized 2 things:

1. For every 1 horror story, there are literally thousands of great fun stories and happy adventures. Those don’t get blogged about as much, but they are out there if you look for them.
2. Think about the context of any post; both what is written and sometimes you have to read between the lines, too.

If Its Made By People, It Will Break

If someone is complaining about how crappy their 2007 RV is, you should remember that is 10 years old – stuff wears out or, yes, just breaks after that many years. Its pretty unrealistic to think that your equipment won’t experience problems (some significant perhaps) as it ages. Even humans tend to encounter more issues as we age and put miles on our bodies (a blog for a different time). Time passes quickly and sometimes you have to pause and remember that the RV you bought new just isn’t so “new” anymore. How you maintain and use your equipment can also significantly impact its useful life expectancy. We have parked next to RVs that don’t appear to have been washed in years, so I can only imagine what other gaps there are in the maintenance.

Its also possible that your new RV will have issues. This is why warranties were created. It’s not the end of the world, more like a fact of life.

Obviously if someone has a bad experience or runs into trouble with their equipment that is out of the norm, we definitely want them to share their experiences and help the rest of us be more informed. But, bloggers (anyone posting really) should also be realistic and honest when they do this. Some bloggers tend to leave out critical bits of contextual information (i.e. the RV they are so mad about is 20 years old and they bought it used from a 3rd owner 10 years ago or they bought a base model but wanted the features of an upgraded model, etc.) that help the rest of become better informed.

Other bloggers/reviewers get so caught up in their own negativity it seems all they do is rant – reasonable or unreasonable, we just avoid these types of folks now.

Choices

If you are worried about your RV breaking, buy new and buy good quality. There is a reason some RVs cost $50,000 and others cost $300,000. If you are just starting out and its more of a hobby or something you are not fully committed to, you can make choices between quality and price. If you can’t afford the RV you want, save until you can. These are choices. Deal with it.

You also have a choice of how to respond when something breaks on your RV. Its ok to be frustrated. Its ok to take a deep breath. Its not healthy to let it eat at you or whip yourself into an angry frenzy. Make sure level of response is appropriate for what happened. Freaking out over a squeaky fan is probably not the best use of your time. Being sad when a 16 year old crashes into your brand new RV is ok, but its not worth creating a scene or dwelling on it endlessly. With a little bit of time and distance most of these instances can become funny stories instead of a “I will never RV again, I hate the world” rant.

It Really Is All About What You Choose to Make of It

Even when we wake up in a crappy RV park, I choose to try to find something good about each place we stay and try to make the most of it. Even if its not ideal, I recognize its also not forever and most things are endurable for a short amount of time. Its how you choose to react to the imperfect times and situations that will determine if you are a happy person overall or not. Appreciate the good stuff (even if its small) as you find it and don’t trash on someone else’s good time. If you can’t find something good where you are, move on (literally and figuratively).