We attended our first Full Time Families Rally this week on a whim and it was an incredible experience. We have been full time living in an RV for 18 months now and in the beginning we had a hard time meeting families on the road. We referred to these families as “Unicorns” because although pictures of them existed all over social media we’d never actually spotted one.
Our first year on the road we were SUPER excited. Excited for family time, adventure, travel, and all the amazing benefits of living on the road full time. It did not disappoint and we were loving it, but something was missing from our lives…COMMUNITY.
We were having a blast, but we discovered this lifestyle would be even more spectacular if we could meet more people and families on our journey.
We’d wrongly assumed it would be easy to randomly run into families at campgrounds, but that was not the case for us. It took us about 6 months before we actually met a family living on the road and it truly felt as if we had found a unicorn. It was beautiful!
Now that we approaching our second year of RV living, we have finally found some great outlets to meeting these families that we wish we had know about when we started our journey. Fulltime Families is a helpful group and a great way to make new friendships while connecting with like minded travelers. We knew about this event, because we follow them on social media as well as the Fulltime Families website. It is a great resource and here is what we learned at the Fulltime Families 2017 Family Reunion in Tallahassee Florida.
This particular event was large with around 84 families in attendance. From what I hear from previous rally attendees, this was almost double the size of most rallies in the past. We unfortunately did not get to meet all the families, but we did make some incredible friendships that we hope will continue “down the road”….literally.The rally had organized activities for littles, middles, tweens, teens, and even some games for adults. Aside from games, we enjoyed yummy potluck meals and campfire hangouts before bedtime. Those campfires encouraged people to open up and share stories of travels, experiences, and facilitated friendships. It was truly one of the best parts of the rally.
Another fun activity they included was called Tour of Homes. Volunteers graciously opened up their home on wheels for the rally members to tour. This was an amazing experience getting to see all the renovations people had done to make their RV feel like home and the different layouts families used for full time living. Click here to see a video of the tour.
Our 2 year old daughter had a BLAST playing with all the kids and it is a very laid back enviroment. There are so many activities to enjoy and our advice would be to not over plan your schedule. It is hard not to want to do everything, but don’t feel overwhelmed with the agenda. The schedule is up to you how little and how much you would like to do as a family or individual family members. The packed schedules and late night campfires can make for some exhausting days so just relax and enjoy!
Another piece of information I wish we had known, was that people arrive before the rally and even stay after the rally to continue the party. Looking back if we would have know this, we would have arrived a day or two early. We did end up staying a day after the rally, but most people left after this additional day.
So if you’re on the road and looking for community or if you are new to the full time RV life, attending a rally is a great way to get started. Don’t spend time looking for unicorns. Look for a rally!