# Moving Around the US For 2 Years As A Nomad, Month To Month, City by City
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-around-the-us-for-2-years-as-a-nomad-month-to-month-city-by-city/807827
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [January 30, 2018, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-around-the-us-for-2-years-as-a-nomad-month-to-month-city-by-city/807827 "2018-01-30T19:44:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@toast\_pakora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toast_pakora)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2018, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-around-the-us-for-2-years-as-a-nomad-month-to-month-city-by-city/807827/41 "2018-02-07T13:54:07Z")
Enjoyed reading your blog **Aro** and refreshing my memory of some lovely French villages. Safe travels.
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### Author:  [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2018, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-around-the-us-for-2-years-as-a-nomad-month-to-month-city-by-city/807827/42 "2018-02-07T19:56:53Z")
> [@luvrbcs](#):
>
> …And, as a bonus, the sale of the house is tax free! We have no mortgage…
Sounds like a neat experience, however you do it - I fantasize about doing something like that if the opportunity arises (we do have adult kids who are still at home, as well as elderly parents we’re supporting so…). Honestly, the 5th wheel or other RV option really sounds ideal for what you want to do. Long-stay hotels certainly will allow pets and will have kitchen facilities, but may get pretty spendy. Imagine 150 a day (or more, I haven’t priced such places lately) = 4500 a month. On the other hand, at the end of that month, you just toss your clothes and your dogs into the car and drive away, no RV maintenance, no hassle of driving or towing something huge and heavy…
I zeroed in on the sentences I clipped above: The house will be tax-free if your gain is less than 500,000 - which is fairly likely unless you bought it decades ago and your market has gone absolutely insane. It has nothing to do with whether you have a mortgage. You probably knew all that and I’m being an idiot, but just in case…
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### Author:  [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2018, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-around-the-us-for-2-years-as-a-nomad-month-to-month-city-by-city/807827/43 "2018-02-07T21:05:38Z")
> [@luvrbcs](#):
>
> Thinking of getting residency in South Dakota for tax purposes and mail forwarding. Still working on what else we are missing, but, we have some time. The logistics are maddening! And, the timing, I still don’t have that down. But, never the less, exciting.
My folks RV’d summers for nearly twenty years, before the drive got to be too much for my dad. They didn’t have pets.
They are friends with a family that is the same as you, no house, just RVing around the country. There’s an outfit where you can get your mail sent to them, and they will forward it to you wherever you land. My folks had General Delivery when they worked in West Yellowstone ([workamping](https://www.workamper.com/) is a HUGE thing for retirees.)
I would start with some short trips, maybe within your state, for a few weeks, to test out the logistics and find out what you need to consider, before going whole hog.
Sounds like a blast. Have fun!
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### Author:  [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2018, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-around-the-us-for-2-years-as-a-nomad-month-to-month-city-by-city/807827/44 "2018-02-08T00:38:33Z")
A better solution than mail forwarding is not getting mail at all. While you won’t be able to do this for all mail you can do for a significant portion. So systematically check the mail you receive until you leave and consider alternatives for each item. A major portion of your important mail will be bills and a very large number of these can be switched to paperless bills. Also set up online bill pay of one kind or another. Other mails you don’t want to receive anyway so asked to be removed from mailing lists. There are addresses to get your name removed from general junk mail. Instead of paper ads from companies you like switch to email ads. Perhaps you can keep in touch with family and friends via email, Facebook or phone calls instead of letters.
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2018, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-around-the-us-for-2-years-as-a-nomad-month-to-month-city-by-city/807827/45 "2018-02-08T02:26:29Z")
> [@luvrbcs](#):
>
> We actually are still thinking of renting a Class C for a long weekend to a campground near by to experience it.
>
> We are trying to think this through completely, this is one of those life affecting events. I just hope we just don’t miss something major. But, 18 months is a long time to plan, and drive yourself crazy sweating the small stuff. 🙂
We’re planning to go to NY and London for 3 - 6 weeks, and I’ve researched places in NY. There are a fair number of options, expensive of course, though going to Astoria would be a lot cheaper.
Do you want to experience cities or just different places? My wife drove an RV around the country (literally around - the book she was working on was about exploring the edges of the US) and it worked pretty well. But RVs are not things to drive in cities, so that won’t work if cities are your goal.
We’ve found that being able to walk or take public transit to museums and theaters works a lot better than being far away and driving in or taking public transit that takes hours to get to the city center.
Our dog is way too old to be schlepped around the country, so we’ve invited our daughter to stay in our house when she is between jobs. But I fear she is going to be too efficient at finding the next one.
But it is a great idea!
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