For some
– especially retirement-aged Baby Boomers – full-time RV living
can be a mobile dream come true.
Bud and Shirley Brower used to camp on vacations. Once the kids, the tent and the gear were loaded in the car, the Orange county-based truck driver and his wife would barrel down the road, gunning straight for their destination.
They’d barrel straight back, too, arriving back home with just enough time to rest before work the next day.
“We always said when we were through working, we were going to take our sweet time,” said Shirley, who retired from a job in the electronics industry in 1992 and moved with Bud to the Southern California desert community of Twentynine Palms.
Along with their new home, the Browers also bought a fifth wheel trailer. When they hit the road, it was the start of an adventure that has consumed them ever since.
Across America, couples like the Browers are pulling up their roots and, instead of investing in Arizona homes or Florida retirement communities, hitting the open road.
No one knows exactly how many RVers have gone full-time, but as Baby Boomers age into retirement and the recreational vehicle industry prepares to reach new heights, the call of the open road beckons.
The phrase “RV” topped eBay search lists in 2004 and 8 million of the vehicles are projected to be on the road by 2010, according to a University of Michigan study.
Owners with pricey rigs that range into the hundreds of thousands of dollars criss-cross the Sun Belt, following good weather, close friends and the sights along the way. It’s a life that comes with its own set of challenges, from getting the mail to figuring out how to hang a heavy picture on the RV’s thin walls securely.
For the Browers, who recently sold their stationary home to their daughter, it’s space that comes at the biggest premium.
They’re going to be buying a larger trailer to replace the 32-foot fifth-wheel they’ve towed behind their pickup truck since 1997, and storage space is at the top of the list.
“The only thing I’m really interested in is my pictures,” said Shirley, who was docked at Morgan Hill’s Thousand Trails RV park. “I have all my pictures of my kids, my grandkids and my great-grandkids, but I’ve put a lot of them on a disk for my computer. If I want to sit and reminisce, I just pop it in, and it takes up less space. You’re always looking for a way that takes less room.”
But while Shirley and her husband sometimes feel cramped, a trailer is plenty of room for 61-year-old Eddie Roundtree, who was passing through
Morgan Hill’s Thousand Trails park en route to Vacaville before swinging back down to Hollister. The former Morgan Hill resident who retired from his job as owner of a Santa Clara-based engraving shop a little over two years ago, said he’s found a home on the road.
Last year, Roundtree circled the nation on a 10,000-mile road trip through America’s suburbs and small towns, chasing golf courses, jazz festivals, good bike paths and professional sporting events. Along the way, the single man met a cavalcade of characters, all of whom seemed to be friendly and happy to see him, and he’s happier now than he can remember.
“I think I’m enjoying it probably more than when I was married,” said Roundtree, a former weekend RVer. “It may be because of the ex-wife I had, but I like socializing with people. All you have to do is go outside your rig. You start talking with someone about your experiences and where you’ve been and the next thing you know, you’re being invited over for dinner.”
Roundtree comes home to the South Valley for about three months of the year – just enough time to get all of his doctors visits and personal business out of the way. As soon as he’s clear, it’s time to move east again. He never stays in a campground more than three weeks, but little things like mail delivery and physicals do get in the way.
Most full-timers contract with mail-forwarding services or rely on family members to do the job. Once they’re settled in a camp, they relay their position to a dispatching office, which routes them their mail. Many have to go home for at least part of the year, as distractions like part-time jobs or jury duty pop up. Most of them are also retired, but not everyone.
Carole Lovett conducts business from the RV she and her husband Ray have called home for the last three years. A full-timer since 1998, she was drawn to the idea of working close to the office, despite the fact that her offices were constantly changing. As a wholesale parts representative for franchise car dealerships, she goes wherever she’s needed, doing business out of the RV.
Despite the liberated feeling the RV gave her, Lovett wasn’t ready to give up what she calls her “stick house,” either. She and Ray installed a high-tech security system in their Modesto-area home, hired a gardener and asked the neighbors to keep an eye on the place. They travel with a pack of about six die-hard RVers who run between camp sites throughout the greater San Francisco Bay Area, and hope to someday join the masses traveling south to Arizona and Mexico in the winter and north to Oregon and Washington in the summer.
“Most of your RVers join a camping club because paying $35 or $40 a night for an RV site gets expensive quick, but after that, it’s a very inexpensive way to travel,” said Lovett. “The new members (in Thousand Trails RV club, which operates sites in Hollister and Morgan Hill) are paying $1,200 a year, but you buy your membership for life. Some of the older members who joined in the ’80s are paying $350.”
When your house is on wheels, gas is also a concern, said Lovett, whose RV gets about 11 miles to the gallon. Newer models on the market get 13 or 14 MPG, but older RV’s can have fuel economy as low as 8 MPG, she said.
But the locked prices of RV campgrounds, combined with the lifestyle’s mobility and the security of the campgrounds keeps Lovett hooked.
“You have everything you need, and the best part is, if you don’t like your neighbors, you turn that ignition, and you drive away,” she said.
It’s not a lifestyle any of these campers plans to leave soon.
“The only time I plan on putting down roots is when my health won’t allow the traveling anymore,” said Roundtree, who’s already picked out the next two campgrounds he’ll visit. “Then what I’ll do is buy myself an RV pad. As far as buying another house, I don’t think I want to do that again.”
You can take it with you
Think RV living is all bare-bones necessities? Not anymore. One of the most popular activities for full-timers is a tradition called boondocking.
RV enthusiasts, who can carry their own water, generate their own power and bring all of the conveniences of home with them, are heading off the beaten path and into areas without other humans around. It’s a great way to enjoy wildlife, according to enthusiast Carole Lovett, and an unmatched means of getting a little rest and relaxation.
If you’re worried about the facilities being too primitive, check out a list of what trailer-dweller Eddie Roundtree tows with him:
40-foot Alfa Gold fifth-wheel trailer with three sliding sections for added space
35-inch television
Complete surround-sound system
Two-in-one washer/dryer combo
Satellite television and wireless Internet
Full-sized shower
Queen-sized bed
Thermostat-controlled heat and air conditioning
On-board generator
Outdoor entertainment area complete with television and a refrigerator stocked with water and beer.
