Support Your RV Lifestyle! An Insider's Guide to Working on the Road, by Jaimie Hall

COMPANION CD

Since its first appearance in 2002, Jaimie's Hall's Support Your RV Lifestyle! has set the standard for books about living and working on the road. This new edition is updated and expanded to include even more resources than the original - and the original was already a treasure trove of practical wisdom, advice, and tools for doing exactly what the title declares you can do: Support your RV Lifestyle! An added feature of the new addition is the info-packed companion CD, which includes job-finding tips and success techniques as well as 13 more articles by Jaimie Hall. Two ebooks are also on the CD: Taking the Mystery Out Of Retiring to an RV by Alice Zyetz and Malia's RV Checklist by Malia Lane.

(June 2021 Update: A third edition was published subsequently to this review. There is no indication that it includes a companion CD.)

Not only for dreamers who are just beginning to think about living and working on a roll, this book is a great resource for those who are already familiar with the RV lifestyle. With over a decade of experience living and working on the road, Jaimie Hall shares her own extensive knowledge as well as advice from many others who have discovered a wide range of fascinating and fulfilling ways to generate income while full-timing.

The book is divided into five sections. In the first, Hall gives an overview of the challenges and rewards of full-timing while working and offers tools for figuring out how to decide what kind of employment to seek and how much income will be required. Section 2 provides the "nitty gritty" of how to find jobs, how to stay in touch and use a computer and the Internet while traveling and job hunting, how to develop a resume, how to negotiate compensation, and what tax and legal issues are important. Hall explains how to start a job-seeking notebook and how to do the kind of "homework" that will bring the best results.

Section 3 lists over 350 money-generating possibilities suitable for RVers, from seasonal jobs in national parks to operating a small business. Hall explains how to find and apply for all the jobs she lists and includes plenty of wisdom from people who have been successfully employed in a wide variety of capacities while RVing. In locations from Antarctica to Alaska, fulltime RVers have served as dog show judges, NASCAR officials, RV delivery drivers, advertising salespeople, mystery shoppers, circus workers, writers, rangers, tour guides, pilots, inspectors, teachers… the list goes on, and the opportunities are real. As Hall explains, the challenge is not finding employment. It's finding the job that gives you what you want, both in terms of compensation and location as well as personal fulfillment. Mixed in with all the concrete suggestions are tremendously valuable caveats about what to avoid. A "free campsite," for example, can sound like a wonderful bonus until an easy calculation reveals that it might really amount to working for $2 an hour. Tips like this can make a steep learning curve far less formidable.

Section 4 covers RV expenses and a variety of issues facing fulltiming workers. The budgeting information is detailed and comprehensive, providing an excellent platform that can be tailored to individual circumstances. The last section of the books includes extensive appendices and lists of resources.

For anyone who loves the idea of spending a summer in Alaska or a winter in the Everglades but always assumed it was financially impossible, Jaimie Hall shows how anyone with determination and the kind of knowledge this book provides can make it happen. Some books are known for inspiring readers to let their dreams take flight. This one brings them down to earth and sets them on a roll.

Megan Edwards
10/29/06