Recently, a guy named Matt asked how Colorado’s been working out for us, as our primary full-time RVer residence. He asked:

hi there! thanks for writing this article. Just curious how this has been working for you since you wrote this in April 2022? 

Matt, comment on “A Full-time RVer’s Domicile Dilemma (Solved!)“

I started to comment in response, then thought Hey! This would make a fantastic blog post! So here goes.

How is Colorado Working as our Full-time RVer Residence / Domicile?

We became Coloradoans last April. In a nutshell, it’s been the best thing we ever did. But like anything, choosing Colorado as a full-time RVer residence has pros and cons. For example:

Renewing our Colorado vehicle registration tags was relatively easy.

We were in Oregon when our tags were up for renewal in 2022. The Colorado DMV requires yearly smog inspections for diesels older than 2010. And we weren’t about to go to Colorado just for that process.

We had to get a state DMV waiver to validate that our truck was not in-state. But the only way to get it validated was to go to a local DMV in our location at the time. I chose a small Oregon town to get the waiver signed by the state vehicle inspector. Colorado DMV accepted it. Things worked out beautifully.

This year we will be out-of-state again when our tags come due. I’m not sure how that will play out when we ask for an out-of-state waiver two years in a row. My fingers are crossed for an easy process.

Was this process as easy as Texas DMV makes it to renew vehicle tags? Not by a longshot. It also cost about twice as much money.

Our Colorado mail service is phenomenal.

We chose Anytime Mailbox out of Fort Collins to handle our bureaucratic mail like DMV stuff, health insurance, and voter registration. Our business is still headquartered at Escapees’ Rainbow’s End in Texas, so we are paying for two mail services. I don’t mind though.

Anytime Mailbox made it easier than ever for us to vote last year. But that’s mainly because Colorado is a vote-by-mail state. This means that all registered voters automatically receive ballots at their mailing address. We got ours, and sent them back without any hassles.

The address that Anytime Mailbox provides still can’t be used as a residential address. You can’t use it as your only address for official paperwork. Anyone without a house to use as an address should just become a paper Texan through Escapees. The address they issue through their domicile service works as a residential address because there is an RV park on the property. It’s the only mailing service I know of that makes it this easy for full-timers to get mail.

Kaiser Colorado health care is still working as well as it can.

We have Kaiser Permanente Health Insurance. The Colorado-based plan has covered us in multiple states with only a few minor hassles. The biggest is that if you need health care on the road, if you seek help at an in-network Kaiser practice (located in CA, OR, WA, and CO), you must become a “visiting member” there. We now have three different membership numbers (Colorado, California, and Oregon). Some cross-state billing issues have cropped up after seeking care. But, these administrative hassles are no more inconvenient than billing issues we faced with other companies in the past. That’s just the way that health care for nomads works (and oftentimes doesn’t).

Having property makes full-time RVer residence life easier

Our Colorado duplex still serves as our residence. Having an actual physical address with our names on the title is the best way to keep bureaucrats off our backs when we need to deal with that inevitable question “What’s your residence address?”

Even if you don’t own property when you hit the road, the fact is that not even full-time RVers are truly free from government bureaucracy. In our society, everyone must have somewhere to call home, at least on paper. And that paper must be approved by the powers that be. That’s why full-timing as an Escapees domicile member is just smart. They make it so easy to handle that important detail.

One year later, I’m glad we made the leap back into property ownership, especially in a place that we love. I’m looking forward to going back for a little while this summer.