How to RV when you don't have your RV yet
Most people say they want to travel someday. A few people make it happen--most don't.
Some people plan on traveling, but end up continuing to plan and run out of time.
The timing is never just right
How much planning does it take for you to take off for a weekend during the next month and spend it in a hostel? You can probably come up with a lot of excuses, but my guess is that there is no real reason. So just do it. If you can't make this happen, you should stop kidding yourself and give up on the idea of every living the RVing lifestyle. It's not going to happen.
One of the best things about traveling is getting to enjoy new experiences, seeing wonderful sights, and meeting interesting people. You've heard the old saying, some people make things happen, so watch things happen, and some wonder what happened. (I know you've heard it if you've read many of my books.)
When you're traveling you are getting to meet the people who are making things happen. You won't meet any of the people who are watching things happen or wondering what happened. They're still at home sitting on the couch with the remote control surfing through channels and complaining because they can't find anything interesting to watch.
The RVing lifestyle is fun, interesting, and adventuresome. But you don't have to wait until you get your RV before you can start experiencing all of these things.
Consider this option
Find a town a few hours drive away from where you live that has a hostel. Hostels in the US are not as common as they are in Europe, and other parts of the world, but with a little searching you can find one in a town you want to visit.
You can go stay in a hostel for $25 to $35 for a night (the same as staying in an RV park in your RV). Stay two nights, walk or drive around the city, check out the local food, and music.
Go with the flow, and enjoy the experience. It's not a 5-star resort. When you check in they will probably hand you your sheets, pillowcase, and a towel (or the sheets will be folded and laying on your bed). When you check out, you're expected to take the sheets off your bed and put them in the laundry basket in the laundry room.
Some hostels will have loner bicycles you can use.
One of the best things about RVing is the interesting people you meet. If you stay in a hotel when you're traveling, you probably won't get to meet other people except to say hello to them.
But when you stay in a hostel, you will meet a lot of fun-loving, interesting people. Most of them will be young people, and some of them will be from other countries. I've never stayed in a hostel that I didn't meet someone from outside the US.
Some people you'll meet when you stay in a hostel will be traveling across the country, some will be in town for a special occasion, and some will be there just to be out doing something.
Hostels have some private rooms, but they are more expensive, and you will miss a lot of the comradery that way. I Usually stay in a dorm room setting with four bunk beds (eight people total). The coed dorm rooms are the most interesting and lively. There is more talking going on and you learn more about why people are there and what they have done or what they plan to do. The bathrooms are down the hall.
Below is a picture of a typical sleeping room in a hostel. Some hostels have a curtain around each bed for more privacy, and to make it quieter (like the Crash Pad hostel in Chattanooga, TN as shown below).
Here is a picture of a typical dorm-type sleeping room in a hostel.
Some also have a USB port, an AC outlet, and a little shelf up in the corner above your head.
A light breakfast is included. I was at one hostel and for breakfast everyone got their eggs cooked just the way they liked them. I'm sure they did because on the kitchen cabinet was some cartons of eggs and some skillets. In other words, everyone cooked their own eggs.
Don't just stay in a hostel one weekend and think you've experienced hostels. They are all different and they all have their own personalities. It would be like someone from France going to Disney World and Orlando and thinking they had seen the United States.
Visit different hostels in different cities. You will have a new experience on each trip. That kind of describes the RV lifestyle. Each trip is a new experience. Even if you go to the same hostel a few weeks later, the experience will be different because the people will be different.
Bottom line: Spend the weekend in a hostel and at the end of the weekend, you haven't spent much money, you've met some interesting people, learned about their culture and their lives, and really gotten to know them. In other words, you've basically experienced an RVing weekend without the RV.